Chief Executives: The Next Generation

CEOs come and go. Where they go is easy to track: They retire; they get better offers from competitors; their companies are purchased, and they become executive chairmen; they leave to "spend more time with their families."

Where they come from is not always as clear. Often companies have someone (or two or three) lined up to step into major leadership positions, but because their bosses are the ones whose faces are on the SISO-IAEE-ECEF-UFI industry meeting circuit, it's not always apparent who they are.

In the following pages are 10 tradeshow industry executives who, in the very unscientific analysis of the Tradeshow Week editors, are firm possibilities to take the seat at the head of the boardroom table when the opportunity arises.

Title: Senior vice president; director, New York Intl. Gift Fair

Company: George Little Management

Career path: Belshaw went to work for GLM 15 years ago, shortly after graduating from Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. (as did a number of other GLM executives). She spent several years in its new business division, where she was involved with the development of the San Francisco Intl. Gift Fair, GLM's interests in the Dallas Intl. Gift & Home Accessories Market, the launch of EX•TRACTS and the New York Marathon Expo. In 2001, Belshaw moved to Los Angeles to run GLM's West Coast interests, including the California Gift Show and divisions of the Seattle Gift Show. She recently returned to the New York office to oversee the New York Intl. Gift Fair.

Why she's one to watch: George Little Management Executive Vice President Alan Steele said he got a good idea of Belshaw's competitive spirit little more than a week after she joined the company back in 1992. The two were on their way to a meeting in Atlanta. "I started doing a New York Times crossword puzzle," Steele said. Belshaw, perhaps the most junior member of the company and fresh out of college, did likewise. "It was a terrifying moment," Steele added.

Title: General manager, tradeshow division

Company: Business Journals

Career path: Enright already had 12 years and 37 national and international events under her belt when she joined Business Journals in December 1997. The business publishing company had just purchased a tradeshow and, said President and CEO Britton Jones, "We didn't know what we didn't know about the event business." He hired Enright as director of operations. In the last 10 years, she has taken on more and more responsibility, now overseeing marketing, operations and styling for fashion events AccessoriesTheShow, Moda Manhattan and FAME.

Why she's one to watch: Jones said that, if not for Enright back in 1998, "our show could have very easily gone out of business." Not only did she successfully get AccessoriesTheShow up and running the very first year Business Journals owned it, but she also "brought an aesthetic sense that things were changing for the better. It piqued people's curiosity and got them excited," Jones said. Two or three years later, she also oversaw marketing for the show, and has continued to get more and more responsibility all the time. Today, she's involved with every facet of the fashion events: running photo shoots, managing trend events and, "you also have someone who's very facile with the numbers," Jones added.

Title: Senior vice president, health care and life sciences

Company: Reed Exhibitions

Career Path: Megan Forrester has had a busy professional life. Luckily, she sees a common thread to it all: "entrepreneurship and business development." She began her career with Miller Freeman in 1991, taking on a variety of senior management sales and marketing positions. Forrester then became manager of the electronic OEM division, where she helped grow the Embedded Systems Conference into an international brand. In 1999, she joined Penton Media to run its Internet World portfolio. After the tech bubble burst, Forrester landed at Diversified Business Communications, where she managed its Incubator Group, launching tradeshows in emerging health care sectors. Though she found her time with Diversified both "creative and invigorating," by March 2006, Forrester was on her way to Reed Exhibitions, where she now develops and seeks acquisitions for its medical education portfolio.

Looking ahead: According to Forrester, what technology was to the '90s, the health care and life sciences sectors are to the '00s. It represents "the next great frontier of innovation." She believes that, to stay on the cutting edge, any CEO in this era must also keep in step with the developments in online technology, remaining ready and willing to unleash its potential.

Title: President

Company: Reed Exhibitions Latin America

Career path: Marco Giberti became president of Reed Exhibitions Latin America in 2005 when Reed bought out E.J. Krause & Associates' share of a partnership in Brazil and Argentina. Before joining Reed, he was the executive director of EJK in Latin America; co-founder of Mind Opener, a publishing group in Latin America that was sold to London-based Pearson Media Group; co-founder of e-mind, an Internet and media communications company sold to Englewood, Colo.-based Liberty Media; and president, CEO and co-founder of Mind Trainer, a firm specialized in the organization of major regional tradeshows and events.

Why he's one to watch: Under his leadership, Reed Exhibitions Latin America has become the leading company in the region with more than 40 events annually in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. He's a regular speaker at conferences and business schools in Latin America, the U.S. and Europe, and is considered a referential figure in the Latin American media, marketing and events industries.

Distinctions: Giberti has won several awards, including the 1999 Entrepreneur of the Year award from Maniana Profesional, an entrepreneurship magazine in Latin America.

Title: Executive vice president

Company: Hanley Wood Exhibitions

Career path: Green was a controller with a trade association when he discovered the tradeshow industry through its events. In the mid-1980s, Green and Hanley Wood Exhibitions CEO Galen Poss started Precision Planning and Sales, a management service company for exhibitions. They sold the company to Miller Freeman in 1993, and Green became its senior vice president of tradeshows, managing portions of tradeshow operations for all Miller Freeman shows, until he and Poss moved on again in early 2000 to Hanley Wood.

Why he's one to watch: He and Poss jointly run Hanley Wood, though Poss is typically the face of the company throughout much of the industry.

Looking ahead: "I would have to say that I am already living my career goals," Green said. That goal was to use the best of his and Poss' experience to create a well-respected and powerful exhibitions company, including finding and cultivating the highest-quality staff in the industry. That process continues, he said: "We have built HW Exhibitions from the ground up and are enjoying the rewards of this quality organization."

Title: Vice president

Company: dmg world media

Career path: Fresh out of college in Illinois, Kisner got her first job in the industry in an entry-level position supporting the exhibit hall leasing sales staff at the Atlanta Market Center (now AmericasMart Atlanta). She quickly moved up to show coordinator for Men's and Boy's Apparel Market and in 1988 became a part of the Surf Expo team, which she now leads for dmg world media. "This Midwestern country girl (and a non-surfer) received a crash course in the business of surfing," she said.

Why she's one to watch: Growing the show from 388 booths to 2,500 and pushing the winter version to No. 107 on the 2007 TSW 200 is no small feat. She's in one of the top spots at dmg, but said she doesn't imagine the company's CEO, Mike Cooke, plans to retire any time soon — though she'd still like to run her own company one day.

Industry affiliations: She's a member of IAEE, the Orange County Convention Client Advisory Board and SISO, and advises or sits on the boards of the Surf Industry Manufacturers Assn., Board Retailers Assn., Water Sports Industry Assn. and the America Winds Sports Industry Assn.

Title: Senior vice president, retail group

Company: Nielsen Business Media

Career path: Loechner began his tradeshow career as a booth and advertising sales representative for Pacifica Publishing and then-fledgling Outdoor Retailer in 1983. From there, he went on to Gralla Publications and Miller Freeman before joining VNU (now Nielsen). He ran several shows before becoming group show director for the sports group, with seven shows and five magazines. Loechner kept moving up, to group vice president and then group president. When the company reorganized into larger market-focused groups late last year, Loechner was named to his current position.

Why he's one to watch: Claiming to have never had a defined career path, Loechner nevertheless has managed to find himself one of nine senior vice presidents at Nielsen, in charge of one of its largest and most profitable groups.

His responsibilities: Loechner handles 26 tradeshows, including Interbike, Outdoor Retailer, Jewelers of America Intl. Jewelry Show Winter and Summer and Fly-Fishing Retailer World Trade Expo. He also is in charge of six magazines, nine conferences and 11 Web sites for the sports, jewelry, merchandise and food groups.

Title: Executive vice president, fashion group

Company: Advanstar Communications

Career path: Laura McConnell joined Advanstar Communications' MAGIC Intl. division in 1997 after holding several different sales and marketing positions in the apparel business. Her industry savvy propelled her progressively up the ladder, from general manager of women's fashion events in 2000 to general manager of all fashion events in 2002. In her current position, held since June of last year, McConnell answers only to CEO Joe Loggia in the Advanstar pecking order.

Why she's one to watch: A fashionista by trade, McConnell is one of those rare tradeshow executives who learned to parlay industry knowledge into a successful media-business strategy. On her watch, not counting the post-Sept. 11 hiccup, TSW 200 heavyweight MAGIC Marketplace has seen steady growth and continues to reinvent itself according to fashion-industry trends. If she could translate that ability to Advanstar's other areas of specialty, she'd make some investors very happy.

What kind of CEO she'd make: Employees and contractors alike describe McConnell as smart and easy to work with. Less interested in tradeshow-industry activities than some, her loyalty seems to be first to the worlds of fashion and MAGIC.

Title: Executive vice president

Company: Advanstar Communications

Career path: Phillips started out in the tech industry in Britain before making the transition to the tradeshow business with his first event, the London CadCam show. He joined Advanstar in the U.S. in 1996. By 2003, he was with the company's Powersports, Off Road and Automotive Groups division, which he currently runs.

Why he's one to watch: At the top of one of Advanstar's three divisions, he's responsible for a number of products serving the fast-growing vehicle industries: magazines such as Dealernews, DIRTsports, Off-Road Business, Aftermarket business, ABRN and Motor Age; and shows such as Cycle World Intl. Motorcycle Shows, Dealer Expo, Big Twin Expo, Off Road Expos and the Off-Road Impact Show. He's grown the motorcycle series to 13 shows in 13 cities, expanded the entire portfolio across platforms and added significant value to existing events. And he still wants to do more, including launching new events and online products.

Biggest challenges: Juggling so many products and growing them at the same time takes a lot of skill, but he's up for it. He said he's always looking to improve quality, build long-term business models in enthusiast sectors and be on the lookout for ways to take advantage of new auto and motorcycle segment opportunities.

Title: Vice president, Latin America

Company: E.J. Krause and Associates

Career path: Paul St. Amour began his career organizing trade fairs and missions in Canada and Europe for the Canadian Foreign Service in Ottawa. In 1994, he joined E.J. Krause Mexico in Mexico City, at the time its only office in the region. Since then, St. Amour has opened EJK offices and organized Expo Comms in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Sao Paolo, Brazil; and Bogota, Colombia. Today, EJK Mexico stages 10 shows each year with 65 employees.

Why he's one to watch: Early this year, St. Amour was promoted from EJK Mexico director general to vice president for Latin America, reporting to President and CEO Ned Krause. He moved back to Toronto in 2005, where he now spends part of his time working on new business opportunities for EJK, along with managing the company's operations in Latin America.

Industry affiliations: A long-time member of AMPROFEC, the Mexican Assn. of Professionals of Fairs, Exhibitions and Conventions, he served on its executive committee, as well as that of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Mexico.