Blackthorn, a Salesforce®-native event management platform, has launched a suite of advanced event capabilities aimed at empowering event planners to drive engagement and showcase the impact of their events directly within their system of record.
New Features Enhance Event Management Capabilities
At the forefront of these new offerings is Event Navigator, a mobile application for attendees that pulls event details directly from Blackthorn. This eliminates the need for additional manual setup or external integrations. Event organizers can now easily manage agendas, send notifications, and update event details within Salesforce, while attendees can access schedules, session information, and speaker details seamlessly from their mobile devices. This ensures all event information remains organized and current in one centralized location.
Additionally, Blackthorn is expanding access to its Messaging app, which allows for native 1-to-1 and 1-to-many SMS communication to be managed and scheduled directly from Salesforce. Customers are being offered 1,000 free messages to utilize for their events and other communications. Alongside Event Navigator and Messaging, Blackthorn has also rolled out split payments, a feature allowing organizers to separate donations from event-related payments during the registration process, streamlining fund reconciliation.
“Events are business-critical for many organizations, yet traditional solutions require planners to work in fragmented, disconnected systems,” said Chris Federspiel, CEO and cofounder of Blackthorn. “At Blackthorn, we’re eliminating this friction by bringing event management fully into Salesforce. This allows planners to move past data gaps and unreliable integrations, enabling them to focus on creating impactful experiences.”
Blackthorn Deepens Event Industry Expertise with Executive Hires
With its rapid expansion within the event technology sector, Blackthorn is strengthening its leadership team with the addition of two industry veterans, boasting over fifteen years of combined experience in leading event technology companies.
Chris Kearney has been appointed Senior Vice President of Sales. With over a decade of experience at Cvent in various sales roles within both mid-market and enterprise segments. During his tenure, Kearney played a crucial role in launching Cvent’s London office and expanding the company’s European presence.
“Event planners are becoming part-time data scientists because there is a clear need to demonstrate return-on-event,” noted Kearney. “I am excited to help more organizations create impactful, data-driven events and help event planners articulate their impact on the organizations they support.”
Lauren McCullough has been named Senior Vice President of Marketing. Prior to joining Blackthorn, McCullough served as Vice President of Marketing at Bizzabo, where she spearheaded the launch and demand generation for the Event Experience OS and Klik, Bizzabo’s Smartbadge technology.
“Events are one of the most impactful marketing channels, but that impact is often hard to quantify,” said McCullough. “Blackthorn eliminates the manual work and lengthy delays from wonky integrations, letting you build and manage events directly from Salesforce. It’s a no-brainer for any marketer, and I’m thrilled to help ensure every organizer can use it.”
Blackthorn Hosts Inaugural Customer Conference
Blackthorn’s impact is already being realized throughout the industry. Earlier this month, the company hosted Homecoming 2025, its inaugural customer conference, drawing leaders from over 35 top colleges and universities. Attendees explored the future of event technology, delving into how Blackthorn is integrating AI-powered event assistants via Salesforce’s Agentforce.
