According to Plan
Event planning pioneer to Mary Tribble retire from the biz

By Bea Quirk

Charlotte—and probably the country—will never see an event planner like Mary Tribble again.

After 25 years in the business, Tribble announced she’s selling Tribble Creative Group to the company’s director of events, Cassie Brown, who’s been with the firm eight years. The transition will be final by year’s end.

In 1985, most people had not even heard the term “event planner,” and the industry was in its infancy. Tribble helped legitimize it and set the standards for professionalism, creativity, and effectiveness.

But for Tribble, who will turn 50 this year, it was never about the glitz or the showmanship.

“I’ve always been more motivated and driven by the content and substance of events rather than the flash,” she said. “It’s the power of events that can cause people to change—themselves, their community, their world.”

And that’s the real reason Tribble’s role and influence will never be duplicated.

Still, her flair defined many of the city’s crowning moments in the last 25 years: the NBA All-Star Game and the Final Four, plus the openings of Royal Insurance, the Bank of America Corporate Center, the NC Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, Spirit Square, the Levine Museum of the New South, ImaginOn, and the Levine Children’s Hospital. She was also a major impetus behind the creation of the NC Women’s Conference, now an annual event, and the Forum for Corporate Conscience in 2003.

“We’ve been part of just about every milestone Charlotte has generated, and we’ve been part of shaping the city and celebrating its successes,” Tribble recalled. “It is humbling—and awesome.”

Tribble has written extensively over the years about her spiritual journey through life, and she has acknowledged that the last few years have been challenging.

Her business partner of seven years, Linda Libby, left Charlotte in 2007. Then she lost her father. On Christmas Eve 2008, she was in a serious car accident, the kind that is often fatal. During her recovery, she reexamined her life.

“I realized if I wasn’t careful, I would wake up at 65 and wonder what my life would have been if I didn’t transition out of this job. The car accident created some urgency,” she explained.

And, like everyone else, Tribble Creative Group was hit hard by the recession. There were three layoffs, and the staff of 15 has shrunk to four. “The last few years have been difficult for me personally and the industry generally,” she said. “And I realized that I don’t have the energy, the drive, or the heart to rebuild the company.” So she turned to Brown, 39. “I am leaving my legacy in good hands,” Tribble said.

Brown exemplifies how the event planning industry has changed since Tribble started the firm. Brown majored in tourism and event management at George Washington University and has a master’s in hotel, restaurant, and tourism from the University of South Carolina.

“It wasn’t even a career path when I started,” Tribble said. “Now there is more respect for the industry, and there is a knowledge base people are expected to have. Plus, clients expect a lot more and are more discerning.

“Fortunately for me, that wasn’t true when I started,” she laughed. “When I look back that Royal Insurance hired me for their grand opening, I wonder, ‘What were they thinking?’ I must have been really convincing.”

But when she tells the story of how she got started in event planning, it’s easy to see why people hired her.

Tribble was raised in Miami and graduated in 1982 from Wake Forest University with a degree in art history. Her first job was working as a field researcher for the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts for about a year before moving to Charlotte. While working for a small ad agency, she serendipitously discovered special events.

Let Tribble take over the story: “I saw that Clark Tribble Harris & Li (a former Charlotte architectural firm) was opening their new building on North College Street, and I thought they were a potential client for the firm I was working for. I wasn’t related to Mike Tribble, but figured if I called, said I was Mary Tribble, and asked for him, they’d put me through.”

They did. Mike Tribble put her in touch with the company’s marketing director, she put on the grand opening, and a star was born.

“I loved it,” Tribble said of that first event. “There was the immediate gratification the night of the event, then the letters that came later saying the event was fun. The attendees were all potential clients, and I felt I might be on to something.”

Tribble does not yet know what the next something in her life will be. She plans to stay in Charlotte—for now—and continue working with the NC Women’s Conference and hosting “women treks” to Peru. She’ll keep practicing yoga and has just run her first half-marathon.

But Tribble will never completely leave the business. “I’m excited for Cassie. But I hope she’ll let me still get involved with some projects.”