About Us

CNS Consulting Group is a full-service, woman-owned meeting and event production company with over 25 years of experience delivering exceptional live and virtual experiences. From intimate meetings to large-scale conferences, conventions, and incentive programs, we bring vision, strategy, and flawless execution to every event we touch.

Whether you’re launching something new, reimagining a long-standing event, or executing a pre-defined plan, we meet you where you are—and elevate from there. Our services are fully scalable: we can lead your event from start to finish, support a specific element, or seamlessly integrate with your in-house planning team to enhance outcomes and ease the load.

Meet The Team

It takes a village. A posh, well-dressed village.

Cindy Nachman-Senders

Cindy Nachman-Senders is a nationally respected, award-winning event and meeting producer with over 25 years of experience delivering high-impact experiences for a diverse range of clients. Known for her precision, creativity, and calm under pressure, Cindy brings deep expertise across contract negotiation, budget management, and end-to-end coordination. Her skill set includes audio-visual production, staging, hotel operations, branding, creative direction, virtual events, technology integration, and customer experience design.

What sets Cindy apart is her ability to blend strategic thinking with exceptional attention to detail—transforming bold ideas into flawlessly executed events. Her solution-driven mindset, collaborative style, and unwavering commitment to her clients have earned her the trust of federal agencies, Fortune 500 companies, nonprofits, trade associations, and tech start-ups.

A recognized leader in the industry, Cindy serves on the advisory boards of Marriott International Luxury Brands, the University of Richmond’s Customer Experience Program, and Imagine an Answer to Kids’ Brain Cancer (IAA). She also lends her time and expertise to support numerous local charitable initiatives.

Cindy holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a minor in Public Health from the University of Maryland. Outside of work, she enjoys life with her husband, two sons, and their beloved rescue dogs.

Tina Hamlin

Tina is a veteran meetings executive who has proven success with C-level meetings and events, while enhancing customer relationships, experiences and profitability. She has extensive knowledge of database and meetings management, contract negotiations, marketing, virtual production, creative design, business development and corporate partnerships (sponsorship).

Tina has developed and implemented numerous financial investment symposia in the U.S. and abroad, ranging in size from 80-1,800 delegates. These hybrid events incorporated live webinars, formal presentations and over 500 one-on-one meetings at any given time for more than 150 publicly traded companies. She also has executed highly visible events with the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq OMX, Toronto Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange to enhance the deliverables to her clients. Hamlin’s talents also extend to her deep experience planning and organizing executive level retreats, board meetings and national conferences.

Tina is known best for her genuine personality and as a highly respected partner who looks to provide value to all involved. A life-long connector, she believes in finding opportunities to strengthen connections to ensure a rewarding and lasting relationship. Her proven customer relationship skills are a welcomed asset to any team. Tina’s industry knowledge and insight has been sought by many corporations, having served on several advisory boards, including Marriott International Luxury Brands, Sea Island, Leading Authorities Speakers Bureau, and Associated Luxury Hotels.

Hamlin earned a B.S. in Merchandising and Buying Operations from Louisiana State University. She balances work life by spending quality time with her husband Jim,

Hanna Empen

Hanna Empen has been a member of the CNS Consulting Group team since 2013. Hanna’s extensive experience managing the planning, logistics, and execution of meetings and events of all sizes is an asset to her clients, and our group. Hanna excels at project management, and her creative problem-solving skills means that events and meetings are expertly managed from concept to completion. She is a strong multi-tasker, and has unique and extensive hands on experience with the planning and execution of wine and spirits competitions.

With a keen understanding of technical matters, she is skilled at navigating new and complex systems, and is an expert working with all Microsoft Suite products. Combining analytical and creative thinking, she deeply cares about consistently delivering exceptional results. With her “have fun while you work hard” management style she is beloved by her team and clients.

During her tenure at Bacara Resort & Spa, she earned Team Member of the Year for her contributions managing their F&B and Spa. Hanna has been called “one of those treasures that surface only rarely and her many positive contributions to our business will last well beyond her departure.”

Hanna strives for constant improvement and growth in her skills, education and capabilities. Hanna earned a Master’s Degree from Norwich University with a concentration in Project Management and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly), San Luis Obispo, with a minor in Psychology. When not working, Hanna enjoys traveling the world with her husband Josh and their adorable daughter Madison.

Connie Nkosi

Connie joined CNS Consulting Group in May 2020, and is the newest member of our team. Connie’s expertise is in technical production, including knowledge in photography, film, videography, editing, and various virtual event platforms. Prior to joining CNS Consulting Group, Connie was a live events operator at Verizon Media and a monitoring operator at Verizon’s Networking Operating Center where she was responsible for conducting network surveillance, initiating and resolving incident management tickets, and examining physical layer and logical problems. Prior to Verizon, Connie was a Lead A/V Technician for PSAV, where she was responsible for strategy and planning, set design, and the utilization of technology solutions to create inspiring events of all types and sizes.

Connie was accepted into the National Association of Broadcaster (NAB) Technical Apprenticeship program, were she attended the NAB Show in Las Vegas to learn about the latest technology in broadcasting, and was selected to travel to California to train on-site with engineers at Microsoft. At the completion of both trainings, she received a coveted certification with the International Association of Broadcasters and Media (IABM). Concurrent to her NAB apprenticeship, Connie interned for NBC Universal as a media specialist.

Connie’s ability to intrinsically weave her artistic and creative sides with her technical abilities have made her a valuable addition to the CNS team.

In her free time, Connie has worked for many years as a freelance content creator for the Southern African embassies in Washington DC. Outside of work Connie enjoys advancing her skills in Adobe creative suite, working out, and hanging out with friends.

Paul “JP” Smith

Paul or “JP” as we call him, has been a member of the CNS Consulting Group team since 2005. He is a logistics expert with the ability to seamless manage complex projects and tasks in often high-pressure environments. Paul brings his positivity and dedication to every project and is frequently requested by clients. You will see him working registration, loading transportation, managing signage and organizing the many moving parts and fine details of an event before doors open. He is a master of multi-tasking and doing it all with a palpable sense of joy.

As a former team leader and merchandiser for Target, Paul’s customer service skills and eye for making all that he touches visually fabulous is truly legendary.

JP is also a trained chef, and when not working he likes to show off his creative skills in the kitchen. JP is also a successful podcaster and he and his husband Andy love to travel and spend time with their adorable dog Cooper.

Melissa Smith

Melissa has been a valued member of the CNS team since 2004. With over 25 years’ experience in the hospitality and convention industry, she brings a plethora of skills to every event. Melissa has held a variety of leadership positions in the hotel industry and her knowledge makes her role a pivotal part of the logistics and execution of each event. Her expertise is in the areas of contract negotiation, reservation and registration management, attendee arrival experience, on-site registration, and overall management of the attendee stay experience. As a hospitality industry leader Melissa has won many hotel awards and has received numerous accolades from Marriott International. Along with her strong leadership experience background, Melissa is also a strategic communicator, and excels at managing challenges by looking for the win-win.

Melissa’s passion for her family, travel, and for hospitality is evident when you meet her. She enjoys visiting new places, meeting new people, and finding unique experiences through her travels.