Korse Set to Leave IDG World Expo
By Rachel Wimberly -- Tradeshow Week, 10/16/2006
David Korse, president and CEO of IDG World Expo, is leaving the company Nov. 3. He said he's "coming home" to Southern California where he not only grew up, but also still has family, including his daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren.
The day of the announcement, Oct. 3, Korse told Tradeshow Week his decision to leave the Massachusetts-based company had as much to do with the fact that his granddaughter was turning 3 that day and his grandson (both in California) would turn 5 the following week as it did with his professional life.
"I was commuting back and forth so much I probably single-handedly helped UAL (United Airlines) out of bankruptcy," he joked.
Korse also told TSW he was fortunate enough to have a couple of options on where he might land next, though he hadn't made a decision as of yet. He insisted it would be a position within the tradeshow industry. "I'm not planning on opening a car wash or anything," he said.
Bob Carrigan, president of IDG Communications, which owns IDG World Expo, said, "We are actively interviewing some top candidates from inside and outside the company for this position. Our goal is to get the very best person for the job."
If IDG World Expo does not have a new hire before Korse leaves, Carrigan said he would step in to take over the day-to-day management until someone was found.
Korse joined IDG in June 2003 — six months after then-president Charles Greco left — and helped grow tech show brands Macworld Conference & Expo and LinuxWorld Conference & Expo, among others.
Macworld, which serves the Mac community, is a semiannual show that IDG launched in 1985. Korse said he was proud of the show, the company's single largest event, and how it has "continued to become more dynamic and more successful."
LinuxWorld, which serves the open source community, launched in 1999 and is held in San Francisco, Boston, Toronto and a number of other cities worldwide annually. It was in only four countries when Korse started with the company and now is in 20.
During his tenure, Korse said, he also helped launch a number of conference-centric shows that are gaining traction in the market.
Carrigan said there were no plans to make significant changes at IDG World Expo after Korse's departure, "other than to build upon the great success we've had over the last few years in growing our core events and launching new events."
Beyond his day job at IDG, Korse chaired the task force on Exhibition Industry Best Practices and Standards, which came up with the guidelines for audits and then transformed itself into the Exhibition and Event Industry Audit Council, also chaired by Korse.
