Michael Hough Passes Away at 65

Industry veteran Michael R. Hough, 65, died Dec. 25 of undisclosed causes.

Hough co-founded the A/E/C SYSTEMS tradeshow for the design and construction industry and was a founding member of the Society of Independent Show Organizers. He lectured and wrote about producing tradeshows and authored two editions of “The Profitable Tradeshow.” In addition, he co-founded the Exhibition and Convention Executives Forum and the Large Show Roundtable with Sam Lippman, now president of (ism2) integrated show management and marketing.

Hough later left the tradeshow business to open a successful gourmet food and wine catering business in the Hartford, Conn., area where he lived.

He was well-known to a number of people because of his many years in the tradeshow industry.

“I was very fortunate to have Mike as a partner,” Lippman said. “I learned a lot from him. He was the only retired millionaire I know who worked on weekends. He was curious and intellectually honest and had a heart as big as Kansas, and he would do anything for his friends.”

Steve Schuldenfrei, president of the Trade Show Exhibitors Assn., said of Hough, “He was a great guy. He was brilliant. A civil engineer by training, he once described to me the Interstate highway signage system as we rode in a car.”

Schuldenfrei added that Hough “was way ahead of his time. For instance, he was a pioneer in database management. For the A/E/C show, he knew practically everyone who attended. He worked the list like we all do now, but he was the first. He taught the rest of us how. He had a marketing knack that most engineers don't have.”

Jason Chudnofsky, CEO of pulvermedia events, said, “I first met Mike at the creation of SISO, and it was all about giving back to the industry for him. He wasn't about PR or the press.”

Fellow SISO pioneer Bob Birkfeld, managing partner of Compass Group Intl., said Hough was not only one of the principle founding members of SISO, but also a “key ramrod in putting together financials from show to show. He was a great pusher for the industry and for surveys of comparative financial ratios.”

Birkfeld added that Hough was a classic entrepreneur, intense and focused, who did some extraordinary things.

According to Bob Dallmeyer, president of RD Intl., “Michael was one of the true leaders in our industry. We have lost one of our seminal leaders.”

Steven Hacker, president of the Intl. Assn. of Exhibitions & Events, called Hough's death the sad loss of a pioneer of the modern industry, a consummate show organizer and entrepreneur.

Hacker added, “He always said the secret to success was to focus on three things: create a concept, promote the hell out of it and make a profit. He was very good at taking a simple concept and making it work.”

Peter Nathan, president of PWN Exhibicon Intl., said, “Mike was a very close personal friend as well as a business associate. We and our wives were very close. We got together every six weeks or so for lunch and to talk, and I enjoyed meals at his catering business many times.”

Eric Udler, president of FSI, said Hough mentored him and helped him understand the world of the for-profit show owner.

“He was a great guy, and it's very sad that he died so young,” Udler said.

A private family service was held Jan. 5 and a public memorial service will be scheduled some time in the future. Memorial contributions may be made to The Salvation Army.

“He was a humble man, and the charity his family chose for donations in his name says a lot,” Chudnofsky said. “It's a selfless organization, and that's how Michael was. He made a lot of money when he sold A/E/C and in his other ventures, and it's sad that he didn't have more time to enjoy it.”