Conferon Acquires Bellwether Group and "meetings.com" By Rick Binford, CMP, National Director/Corporate Sales Conferon recently took another major step in its continued expansion efforts, announcing the acquisition of The Bellwether Group effective June 4, 2002. The Bellwether Group, a site selection and meeting planning services company that also operated “www.meetings.com,” was founded in 1996 by meeting professional Michael Reader and was based in Nashville, TN. The Bellwether Group historically serviced a wide range of clients such as GE Capital, Cahners Publishing, National Piggly Wiggly Operators Association, Things Remembered Stores and others. Michael Reader has joined Conferon as Director of Enterprise Sales & Marketing. One of his tasks will be re-branding and enhancing the functionality of the website “Meetings.com”. Future plans for the site include a more robust database of facilities and suppliers along with a directory listing of the various Conferon services. Additionally, through further development and enhancement of the client service capabilities associated with the “Meetings.com” website, Conferon will be able to extend a broader range of services including convenient online searches of hotels, resorts, convention centers, industry suppliers and available services. Development plans for this new service are being finalized and should be introduced later this year.