MN2S secured three-time World Figure Skating Champion Ilia Malinin for a private executive reception at HFMA AC26, giving AKASA a competitive edge no exhibition stand could replicate.
HFMA AC26 is, in Libby Monette’s words, “the Super Bowl of healthcare finance technology.” More than 4,000 CFOs, revenue cycle directors, and health system executives gather in one place, and every vendor in the space competes for their attention. Corporate dinners, drinks, and budgets spent for the sake of it, delivering nothing beyond something material.
Libby Monette, Director of Marketing Events at AKASA, was not interested in competing on those terms. “With countless steak dinners and happy hours competing for attention, I wanted to offer a compelling experience that would stand out and attract executives who don’t routinely follow the crowd. My objective was to deliver an experience that would inspire connections that lasted beyond the event.”
The solution was to go earlier, go smaller, and go bigger in terms of the experience itself. AKASA booked the opening night of the conference deliberately. “I purposely booked our event for the conference’s opening night to put our name into conversations from day one and sustain the buzz all week.” AKASA came to MN2S to build it.
The Talent
MN2S booked Ilia Malinin. At 21, he is already one of the most significant sporting figures of his generation. He is the reigning three-time consecutive World Figure Skating Champion, a four-time US national champion, and an Olympic team event gold medallist from Milano Cortina 2026. At the 2026 World Championships in Prague, he finished more than 22 points ahead of his nearest rival. He is the only figure skater in history to land a quadruple axel in international competition, a feat he achieved in 2022. In 2025, he became the first skater to cleanly execute seven quadruple jumps in a single programme. The nickname “Quad God” is not hyperbole.
On paper, an elite figure skater and a room full of healthcare finance executives might seem like an unlikely pairing. Monette is candid about that. “Placing a Gen Z-er called the Quad God in a room with the country’s most influential healthcare professionals might’ve seemed like an oil and water mix, a gamble at best.”
But examined closely, the logic is precise. “Ilia’s credibility is built on shock and awe achievements made possible by a lifetime of training, resilience, and the relentless pursuit of excellence. This story made him a 10/10 fit with our audience,” Monette explains.
Healthcare revenue cycle management is, at its core, a discipline of precision under pressure. The executives in that room spend their careers navigating denials, regulatory change, billing complexity, and margin erosion. Malinin’s achievement is individual, technical, and the product of years of accumulated mastery. Every performance is a direct function of preparation, discipline, and the capacity to execute complex sequences under intense competitive scrutiny. The parallel is not forced. It is genuinely coherent.
The thematic alignment with AKASA‘s own positioning reinforces it further. AKASA applies generative AI to automate the revenue cycle’s most complex workflows, helping healthcare providers achieve outcomes previously considered out of reach. Breakthrough performance. Technical precision. Doing what others have not yet managed. These themes run through both Malinin’s career and AKASA‘s product narrative.
The Event
MN2S secured Malinin for a private executive reception on the opening evening of AC26 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. The format was deliberate. Approximately 45 senior executives attended, including leaders from major healthcare systems and health technology organisations. The evening opened with a hosted cocktail reception before a sizzle reel set the tone for what followed.
The centrepiece was a 35-minute moderated fireside Q&A, with questions shared with the talent team in advance to ensure the conversation addressed themes most relevant to the audience: preparation, resilience, performance under pressure, and the mental discipline required to attempt what no one else can do. Malinin then remained in the room for a 45-minute meet-and-greet and photography session, giving every guest personal time with a world champion.
The choice of format over a conventional keynote or panel was not incidental. “Our guests spend long days in presentations and panel discussions, being talked at,” Monette explains. “This conversational Q&A format brought our guests into relationship with Ilia and us, and gave Ilia the freedom to be authentic rather than recite a rehearsed keynote.”
As Sharron Elkabas, CEO of MN2S, puts it: “What AKASA understood, and what more B2B brands are starting to understand, is that the executive relationships that matter most are built in rooms, not inboxes. The brands winning in complex, high-consideration markets are the ones investing in experiences that give their target audience something worth remembering. Talent is central to that. The right person in the room doesn’t just add star power. They become an active part of the experience, anchoring the conversation, creating moments that wouldn’t exist without them, and giving attendees a reason to stay, engage, and connect with each other as well as the brand. That is what Ilia did for AKASA at AC26, and it is what we aim to bring to every talent partnership we book.”
The Strategy
Three decisions shaped the outcome of this activation.
The first was audience-led talent selection. This is a crowd, as Monette puts it, “familiar with the usual headliners like former presidents, Hall of Fame athletes, tech entrepreneurs, and medical celebrities.” The brief required someone whose story would land differently, not because of name recognition alone, but because of what the story means to the specific people in the room. MN2S identified Malinin as that person and built the case for a fit that, on the surface, was not the obvious call.
The second was format. Volume was never the goal. Forty-five executives in an intimate setting, with a structured Q&A and genuine face time, creates conditions a 500-person branded event cannot. The format prioritised depth of connection over reach, because depth is what drives the outcomes a B2B brand actually needs from an activation of this kind.
The third was timing. AKASA took the opening night deliberately, ensuring the evening would seed conversation that carried through the entire week of the conference. HFMA’s own research, conducted in partnership with AKASA, found that 80% of health systems were exploring, piloting, or implementing generative AI for revenue cycle management by the end of 2025. The executives in that room are the decision-makers determining how those investments are made. An evening like this, at exactly this moment in the category’s development, is a strategic intervention, not a scheduling convenience.
The Result
The room responded immediately. “The room was completely captivated from the moment the conversation began,” Monette says. “What surprised me most was the sheer number of audience questions and how long the conversation would’ve continued if not for the clock.”
What made the evening work was not the star power in the room. It was the quality of the connection Malinin created. “Make no mistake, his aura is stratospheric and one is undeniably in the presence of greatness,” Monette says, “but Ilia was also warm, easy, present, responsive. The conversation flowed naturally, mixing insights, anecdotes, and aspirations with humor, including a perfectly timed joke about ‘free healthcare’ with the CFO of one of the world’s most renowned healthcare systems that had the entire room laughing.”
The atmosphere Malinin created was unlike anything the format might suggest from the outside. “Despite being near one of history’s greatest athletes, this Q&A and meet-and-greet setting felt like friends having a chat. It wasn’t a big name performance or entertainment. Ilia created a genuine connection with and between everyone in the room. This is the dynamic that made the evening unforgettable,” Monette reflects.
The effect proved difficult to define but impossible to miss. Monette captures it with a moment from the days that followed. “One moment that still makes me smile came later, when I saw Instagram photos of Ilia speaking to a classroom of elementary school students. They were leaning forward, completely engaged, with expressions remarkably similar to those I’d seen on the faces of senior executives at our event. The Ilia effect.”
The commercial impact extended well beyond the reception itself. “Although the event hosted only about 45 executives, its impact extended well beyond the room and became one of the most talked-about experiences of the conference,” Monette says. “Throughout the week, conference attendees stopped by our booth to ask about the ‘Ilia event’ they had heard about or missed, while guests who attended returned to reminisce and continue conversations that began that evening. Those interactions naturally opened discussions about our solutions. This social event ultimately drove booth traffic, opened opportunities, deepened relationships, and accelerated pipeline conversations.”
The evening has already shaped AKASA‘s thinking about what comes next. “After hearing so much positive feedback, we’re currently concepting a series of ‘AKASA introduces’ events in 2027 modelled on our Ilia event,” Monette confirms. The formula she intends to carry forward is specific. “The secret sauce is working with a partner early to find someone willing to be authentic rather than performative, and by making the audience an active part of the experience. Ilia was an exceptional choice, and this experience has me thinking much more intentionally about intimate, conversation-driven talent experiences across our major events.”
Working with MN2S
MN2S identified the talent, made the case for the fit, and managed the full delivery from briefings and logistics through to Q&A preparation and on-the-night execution.
“MN2S was a true partner throughout the process, helping us craft exactly the kind of experience we were going for,” Monette says. “While managing dozens of stakeholders and suppliers across a major conference, working with a team that communicated deliverables clearly and stayed responsive throughout the entire timeline made my job easy.” The result was a private reception that gave AKASA a competitive advantage no exhibition presence could match, and a model for executive hospitality the brand is already building on.
If you are planning an executive event and want talent that transforms the room, get in touch with MN2S today.