Who's In Charge?

Diane B. Lyons, CMP, DMCP
President and Owner

Diane Lyons has worked in the New Orleans convention business as a destination management professional since 1977. She began her career in the industry as a Tour Guide, working part-time with a small child at home. In the early 80s as tourism begin to grow in New Orleans, Diane was asked to become Director of Operations for a new destination management company. The unique concept for this company was that they traveled with their clients. Diane learned to provide Guest/Spouse Programs from Las Vegas to Orlando, a concept that was unheard of in the early 80s. Later she moved to the position of Director of Sales at a local destination management company in New Orleans.

A teacher by profession, in 1990, she began to notice a growing number of baby strollers at her events and young children attending or trying to attend meetings with their parents. As a working mother herself, she realized there was a need for a service that would allow children to travel with their professional parents. With her bachelor's degree in elementary education, her firsthand knowledge of what parents want and need and her hands-on experience in the hospitality industry, Diane knew she could develop such a service using her combined teaching, parenting and meeting planning skills. The company would specialize in safe, secure, entertaining and educational programs for children during meetings and conventions. Thus, ACCENT on Arrangements, Inc. was born. The special division focusing just on children was ACCENT on Children's Arrangements, Inc. Over the years AOA has worked with various customers and provided the adult programs and meeting assistance as needed. In 2000, to better service their customers, ACCENT added a division to provide in-hotel programs, meeting registration, spouse/ guest programs and more.

Jonni Adams, CMP, DMCP
General Manager and Director of Operations

Although Jonni Adams initially joined ACCENT as an accounting professional, her attention to detail, organization skills and love for the industry have made her a rising star. From accounting, she moved into the position of Production Manager and, in 2008, she was promoted to General Manager in which she oversees all operations of the corporate office. She also serves as Director of Operations and Director of the Children's Department. Jonni graduated from the University of New Orleans with a degree in Business Administration, and also holds her DMCP and CMP certifications. Jonni’s love for children makes her the perfect person to manage the special niche of children's programs for ACCENT. She has a nine-year-old daughter and together they are the proud parents of a dog named FeFe Leigh, and they collect anything with a frog theme!