Foreign agents

Tom Beyer

CEO, Stockholm Intl. Fairs

The current president of UFI, Beyer has been involved in the northern European exhibition industry since 1968, starting with the Scandinavian Technical Fair and growing Stockholm Intl. to the point where it now has 80 trade fairs and 1,000 meetings serving 1.5 million visitors each year. Prominent in his home city's civic affairs, Beyer was also instrumental in forming Fairlink (the Scandinavian Trade Fair Council).

Wolfram N. Diener

Vice president, conventions and exhibitions, Venetian Macau

After successfully opening one of China's largest new convention centers, Shanghai New Intl. Expo Centre, Diener was hired away by the Las Vegas Sands to perform the same kind of magic at its developing tradeshow destination in Macau. Diener is responsible for all the company's tradeshow operations there. Working on an Asian property for foreign bosses (in this case Americans) should be little problem for him, having gotten the Shanghai center off the ground for a consortium of German owners.

Jime Essink

CEO, VNU Exhibitions Europe and president, VNU Exhibitions Asia

Essink definitely has the global touch. In his dual roles with VNU, he oversees 50 events in the Netherlands, Belgium, Russia, Turkey and Thailand; as well as 24 projects in mainland China and Hong Kong. He had experience to draw upon from his prior position as managing director of Miller Freeman's Dutch office, where he was responsible for food and pharmaceutical ingredient shows worldwide. Essink has a ringside seat to watch the Chinese trade fair market grow.

Vincent Gerard

Managing director, UFI —

the Global Assn. of the Exhibition Industry

From his office in Paris, Gerard runs the association that — although often thought of as European — has been more successful than any other at encompassing the worldwide exhibition industry. UFI recently opened an office in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (adding it to the one it already had in Hong Kong); has held its last two annual meetings in Moscow and Bangkok; and its 322 member organizations come from 74 countries on six continents.

Edward Liu

Founder, managing director and CEO, CEMS

Dubbed by the Singapore press "the Exhibition Man", Liu was the first elected president of the Singapore Assn. of Convention & Exhibition Organizers & Suppliers in 1980, and is still actively involved in its programs. He opened IAEM's Singapore office and is still an instructor in the various certification programs the group offers there. Look for him to play a major role in Singapore as the Las Vegas Sands builds out its planned casino-resort-convention center complex there.

Ernst Raue

Managing board member, Deutsche Messe Hannover

At the top of one of the largest messe companies in Germany, arguably the European country with the oldest, most active exhibition industry, is Raue. With Deutsche Messe since 1980, he has primary responsibility for two of its largest fairs, Hannover Messe and CeBIT. Although CeBIT seems to be in a transition period with some major exhibitors opting out, after the IT industry shakeout of the last five years, it still remains one of the largest shows in the world.

Paul St. Amour

Director general, E. J. Krause de Mexico

St. Amour has been involved with North American trade-shows for more than 15 years. Fluent in Spanish, French and English, he is responsible for the 60-person E.J. Krause & Associates Mexican subsidiary, which organizes 10 tradeshows and conferences annually. Those include EJK-owned shows and joint ventures with such organizers as Reed and Hanley Wood Exhibitions. He is also involved now with the nuts and bolts of developing a new venue in Acapulco in conjunction with SMG.

Peter Sutton

President and CEO, CMP Asia

Sutton has been in Hong Kong ever since CMP Asia was formed in 1994, long enough to laugh when American show managers speculate on how China is "becoming" a market ripe for harvesting. He runs Asia's largest Western-owned tradeshow operation with massive shows in all the biggest mainland China venues, as well as in Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan, Korea and Singapore. Recently, CMP Asia expanded with the acquisition of a majority stake in the Guangzhou Beauty Fair.

Cliff Wallace

Managing director, HML

HML is the private company that runs the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, one of the busiest in the world. Part of its popularity, many believe, is due to Wallace, its ubiquitous 11-year leader. In August, he was named ambassador to China for IAAM, of which he's a past president. In 2004, he became the first vice chairman of UFI's Asia Pacific Chapter. Wallace is also chairman of Hong Kong-Shanghai Venue Management.

Wang Jinzhen

Assistant chairman, China Council for the Promotionof Intl. Trade

Beijing-based Wang might not be the top man on the totem pole at CCPIT, but he's one of the most accessible for anyone interested in learning about China's exhibition industry. In addition to his CCPIT duties, Wang is vice chairman and secretary-general of the China Expo Forum for Intl. Cooperation, an annual gathering that educates organizers from around the world on the opportunities in the so-called Middle Kingdom.

Paul Woodward

Principal, Business Strategies Group

Based in Hong Kong, Woodward has been editing and publishing, managing tradeshows and consulting on the Asian business environment for more than 20 years. A veteran of Miller Freeman Asia, he runs UFI's Asia/Pacific office and — while extremely knowledgeable about the Chinese tradeshow scene — also has a considerable background in some of the harder-to-get-to Asian markets.