Melanie Colton has joined Convene Hospitality Group as Chief Product & Technology Officer, the company announced August 26. The hire places an executive with deep media-tech and AI credentials at the helm of CHG's product, engineering, data, and infrastructure functions — a signal that the operator of 38 global meetings and events destinations is treating enterprise technology as a core growth lever, not a back-office cost center.
CHG operates the Convene and etc.venues brands, making it the largest dedicated provider of meeting and event spaces across the U.S. and UK. As CPTO, Colton owns the company's full digital stack — from front-of-house experience tools to the underlying data infrastructure that informs revenue decisions across its portfolio.
The Hire
Colton arrives from Axios Media, where as Chief Technology Officer she built the product, engineering, and data organizations supporting the outlet's editorial, commercial, and consumer platforms. She was among the first technology leaders in media to deploy AI across newsroom and business workflows and led technical due diligence for Axios's $525 million acquisition by Cox Enterprises. That background — scaling AI in high-velocity content environments while managing complex M&A integration — translates directly to the operational tempo of a multi-location hospitality operator running large-format events.
"Technology isn't separate from that environment; it's a foundational element of the guest experience," Colton said. "Our focus will be to deliver intuitive tools that drive revenue while ensuring our digital infrastructure remains efficient and sustainable."
Ryan Simonetti, President and CEO of CHG, framed the appointment around data velocity and experience design: "Bringing Melanie on board allows us to innovate with incredible precision and empower our teams to use data more creatively. We look forward to how she reimagines our digital experiences and powers the next generation of meetings and events."
What's at Stake
Meetings and events venues operate at the intersection of hospitality technology's most complex disciplines — PMS-adjacent event management platforms, client-facing booking and catering tools, AV and environmental controls, labor scheduling, and increasingly, AI-assisted personalization. For operators at CHG's scale, modernizing the enterprise platform means integrating those layers into a coherent data model that can surface revenue insights in real time.
The broader meetings-and-events segment has seen accelerating technology investment since post-pandemic demand recovery. Enterprise clients now expect seamless digital experiences from RFP through post-event billing, putting pressure on venue operators to match the digital fluency of the hotel brands and OTA platforms they compete alongside. CHG, backed by Ares and Brookfield, has the balance sheet to make meaningful platform investments — and Colton's mandate to identify new revenue streams suggests product-led growth is part of the roadmap.
For operators evaluating how hotel and venue technology leadership is evolving, the CHG appointment reflects a broader industry pattern: hospitality groups recruiting from outside the sector to import AI and data-platform discipline. The move mirrors hires seen across restaurant and foodservice tech, where operators have tapped retail and media executives to accelerate digital transformation. Colton holds an M.S. from Columbia University and a B.A. from the University of Maryland and is based at CHG's New York City headquarters.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
