Powering the future of global creatives under expanded leadership

Events.com, a global innovator powering the experience economy through event discovery, management, sponsorship, and AI-driven insights, announced its merger with Summit, an invitation-only membership community and events platform.

For the past 17 years, Summit has served as the pioneering platform to convene the world’s most exceptional creative and entrepreneurial leaders. Through intimate, invitation-only gatherings, Summit has convened forward-thinking makers, entrepreneurs, business leaders, athletes, and artists from around the globe.

Summit has fostered community and conversations among visionary creators, challenging conventional thinking and exploring new frontiers. Notable collaborators and speakers have included Richard Branson, Kendrick Lamar, Jeff Bezos, Quincy Jones, Jane Goodall, Malcolm Gladwell, Quentin Tarantino, and many more exceptional people. (See past speakers here.)

Renowned for its non-traditional and immersive programming, Summit has redefined the experiential event space. Now, within the Events.com ecosystem, Summit will gain expanded reach, resources, and impact to enable a broader range of offerings and global engagement.

“Our team at Events.com deeply honors what Summit has created over the past 17 years. We share a value system and know how Summit gatherings impact the community members’ lives, their businesses and endeavors that the community members run and operate. Our Events.com team is dedicated to making the Summit global community even stronger,” said Mitch Thrower, Summit community member, CEO, chairman, and co-founder of Events.com.

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The Summit team is already working on new offerings, excursions, partnerships and experiences. Membership programming will roll out over the coming months. Among the first flagship events is the highly anticipated return of Summit at Sea, in partnership with Richard Branson’s Virgin Voyages, scheduled for April 23-26, 2026.

The founding team and leadership will remain deeply involved to ensure Summit’s legacy thrives. This includes Summit’s founders, its global extended family, and key leaders such as Global Director and CEO Jody Levy, who has guided the organization through the past five years. The Events.com team has the utmost gratitude for the Summit co-founders Brett Leve, Jeff Rosenthal, Elliott Bisnow, Jeremy Schwartz and to Partner, Global Director, and CEO Jody Levy.

Levy shares a bit about the merger, “For the past months, we have been working with many great groups evaluating the best path for Summit’s next chapter. We have chosen to merge with Events.com, made up of a group of people and an ecosystem that is aligned with Summit’s values, shares our integrity, treats people with care, and is dedicated to the continuation and expansion of the Summit vision.”

Within the Events.com ecosystem, Summit will be led by CEO Chris Stakich, formerly Chief Experience Officer at YPO, and CEO and chairman of the board of global travel company Rustic Pathways, as well as Summit veterans Perry DeCoveny, Chief Experience Officer; Langely McNeal, Chief Community Officer; Hayden Geller, Summit Vice President; and James Turle, Chief Technology Officer. Global Director and former CEO Jody Levy and founders Brett Leve and Jeff Rosenthal will remain integrated as creative and strategic directors and will continue to support the special Summit experience design and programming.

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“Seventeen years ago, we started Summit to unite a generation of entrepreneurs to support one another in building companies that could reshape our world for the better,” said Summit founder, Brett Leve. “What began as a gathering has grown into a global community that’s helped launch ideas, scale missions, support world-changing nonprofits, and shape culture. We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve created, and, with this new partnership with Events.com, we’re confident that Summit’s impact won’t just endure, it will expand. The values, connections, and spirit that have defined Summit will continue to inspire and empower future generations.”

Events.com’s mission is to help people experience the most meaningful moments in their lives. Poised to be the tech platform for our collective future, Events.com is where we go to gather, how we find the things that feed us, and a toolset and a portfolio of experiences that we all get to be part of to expand our own businesses.

“The Summit community of business and community leaders have all created other communities, events, platforms, retreats, and gatherings, large and small, and have become the conduits to more and more global impact and change. They all have one thing in common: they lack tools to expand and manage their own networks and growth, they lack the time and resources to invest in technology that helps them stay in front, and stay top of mind to their clientele, sponsors, and patrons,” explained Levy.

“The Summit x Events.com partnership is a powerful new chapter for Summit that allows the original vision – to connect and inspire the thought leaders of our time – to expand in ways that we have always wanted,” shared Summit co-founder Jeff Rosenthal. “This partnership will enable Summit to continue to grow and flourish.”

Events.com founders and executives have been part of the Summit community for years. This includes Mitch Thrower, CEO and co-founder of Events.com; Stephen Partridge, president, co-founder and COO of Events.com; Doug Harrison, Events.com board member, repeat Summiteer (and “jam room” frequent performer); and Paolo Privitera, who sold his AI company to Events.com.