Achievers
-- Tradeshow Week, 6/9/2008
President
Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau
Ahlers is on his second tour at the Anaheim bureau. He spent seven years there as a convention sales manager in the 1970s. A lot's changed for the Anaheim CC since then, including previous expansions and a new one in the works – a roughly 200,000 sq. ft. addition that will give large tenants like The NAMM Show and Natural Products Expo West/Supply Expo more space for their already maxed-out showfloors.
Executive Vice President
Healthcare Convention & Exhibitors Assn.
Allen's been associated with HCEA for 12 years and its executive vice president for the past six. During that time, the association representing one of the busiest tradeshow sectors has grown its membership to a record (more than 700), broken attendance records at its annual meeting three out of the last four years and developed multiple new services for members. Also in multiples: the number of association executives who say they wish their organization was run as well as Allen's.
Chairman
Andry Montgomery
Forty years after Sandy Angus entered the events industry, he's as visible and well known in every corner of the world as ever. He's been, at one time or the other, chairman of IAEE, president of UFI and director of the Assn. of Exhibition Organisers in the United Kingdom. Angus runs the family business founded in 1895 with a global portfolio of more than 70 exhibitions and events.
President
Smart City Networks
Paul Ashley can now take a break. Due to retire next month after eight years as head of Smart City and 24 years in the cable television and data industry, he'll pass the torch to someone else, confident of his success with transforming a small technology company into the largest provider of telecommunications services for the tradeshow and convention industry. Under Ashley's leadership, the company tripled its work force and now services more than 5,500 events at 62 convention centers in 14 states every year.
Chairman
Intl. Assn. of Exhibitions and Events
Corporate Relations and Exhibits Director
American Assn. of Critical-care Nurses
In his day job, Bauler manages the Natl. Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition, one of the largest annual nursing conferences and tradeshows in the United States. An active member since 1988 of what's now IAEE, this year Bauler's pulling his shift as its volunteer chairman. He's made turning every showfloor into a drug-free zone one of the hallmark goals of his term in office.
Vice President, Sales
Las Vegas Sands
Eric Bello doesn't stay in one place for long. With group sales to oversee in six existing and developing properties from Las Vegas and Pennsylvania to Macau and Singapore, Bello's job has helped him collect his fair share of frequent flier miles. As the Sands continues to expand, the 17-year industry veteran stays in step, working to keep more than 2 million sq. ft. of meeting and convention space filled in Las Vegas alone.
Senior Vice President, Conventions, Seminars and Forums
Natl. Business Aviation Assn.
When Blouin joined NBAA as a senior manager in 1992, the NBAA Annual Meeting & Convention had just more than 600 exhibitors. Now, the 1 million net sq. ft.-plus show with 1,152 exhibitors is No. 10 on the 2008 TSW 200. During the last 15 years, Blouin's launched European, Latin American and Asian versions of the business aviation show, along with running nearly 25 seminars and other events annually.
COO, Intl. Assn. of Exhibitions and Events
Executive Director, Center for Exhibition Industry Research
Cathy Breden has a full plate: She's IAEE's COO, executive director of its for-profit IAEE Services and now executive director of CEIR. But Breden, in association management since 1984, can handle it. She's been instrumental in reorganizing IAEE, which now comprises 1,200 member organizations. And in her 11 years there, she's helped IAEE weather industry downturns, reach reciprocity agreements with 16 national and international event organizations and expand its offices from Dallas to Brussels, Belgium; Singapore; and Beijing.
President and CEO
High Point Market Authority
Ever since Casey took the reins at the High Point Market Authority two years ago and started overseeing the High Point Markets (Spring and Fall), he's had his work cut out for him. The World Market Center in Las Vegas decided to horn in on High Point's dominant position in the furniture tradeshow market by launching a few Las Vegas Markets. As a result, Casey's not only had to keep his own shows relevant to buyers, but also fend off encroachment from the west. So far, so good.
Director
Hanley Wood Exhibitions
Net square footage at World of Concrete dipped ever so slightly this year; attendance, a little more. That doesn't tell the real story though. When Cindric took over management of the event in 2001, its showfloor was somewhere around 650,000 net sq. ft. and it drew fewer than 26,000 attendees. This year? Try 893,129 net sq. ft. and 84,789 attendees – all during what's supposed to be a shakeout in the construction and real estate industries.
President and CEO
Exhibit Surveys
If there's a science to exhibitions, Cox is the resident Ph.D. For decades, show organizers and exhibitors have looked to Exhibit Surveys' measurement services for ways to quantify their success. Cox has been intimately involved with that process for a large part of its history, having started at ESI in 1971 as an assistant survey director. Today, as president, CEO and the face of the company to the larger industry, Cox is a regular speaker at industry events and meetings.
President
Corporate Solutions
Curci's not the type of guy to pass the buck when a deal comes across his desk. He personally handles the process from beginning to end, and maybe that's why so many companies have trusted him to take care of their transactions. Curci's specialty is the boutique deal, anything from the sale of dmg world media's home and garden shows to Hotrod & Performance's sale of a tradeshow and magazine to Bobit Business Media.
President and CEO
JDEvents
JDEvents seems quiet these days – maybe too quiet. After a flurry of activity a few years ago that included the successful sale of ad:tech in 2005, followed by the acquisition of KioskCom, Davis has been busy nurturing his garden of eight or nine tradeshows and conferences, many of which he launched himself. Look for one or two of these to ripen soon into prime acquisition targets, followed by new acquisitions and launches, followed by prime … well, you get it.
Vice President, Corporate Events
Champion Exposition Services
Derby's been in the tradeshow and hospitality industry for 16 years, 10 of those with Champion, taking on numerous roles, including local and national sales executive. He now drives the company's sales and business development efforts in the corporate market. Derby's team also makes it easy for event managers to monitor the planning of their events with C3 event portal technology, which just rolled out an updated version, C3 2.0.
President and CEO
Center for Exhibition Industry Research
Since joining CEIR in 1998, Ducate's run the organization that evaluates the effectiveness of exhibitions. However, he's for many of those years also been the tradeshow industry's biggest cheerleader. Before his involvement with CEIR, Ducate was associate executive director of the Society of Petroleum Engineers for 26 years, managing its 30 conferences and 15 exhibitions in oil-producing regions worldwide, most notably the Offshore Technology Conference.
CEO
CMP Asia
One could forgive Essink for feeling a bit claustrophobic in his relatively new job running CMP Asia. After all, its 80 or so tradeshows and 20 publications are limited to the Asian continent. That's in contrast to his previous job as president of VNU Exhibitions Asia and VNU Exhibitions Europe, where virtually half the world was his workplace. Nevertheless, over the last year, Essink's CMP Asia's one company that has taken advantage of the new tradeshow destination of Macau, with show launches so far exceeding its wildest expectations.
Executive Vice President
Assn. of Woodworking & Furnishings Suppliers
Six years ago, Gangone was an exhibitor at AWFS Vegas. That's when he jumped the fence to show management – a move he calls one of the best he ever made. Since he's taken over, AWFS has reclaimed management of the show from the independent operator that previously ran it for the association and relocated it from Anaheim to Las Vegas. At the same time, Gangone's quickly made his way up the ladder at AWFS, moving from vice president of tradeshows to association executive vice president earlier this year.
Managing Director
UFI, The Global Assn. of the Exhibition Industry
Gerard became UFI's managing director in 2001 with the goal of expanding the membership base and strengthening UFI as an international association. He seems to be succeeding. Gerard's doubled the number of members to 530 in 84 countries, opened offices in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and Hong Kong, and expanded UFI's range of member services to include research and education. Gerard also helped raise industry standards through auditing of show statistics and grew the number of UFI-organized major events from two in 2001 to nine last year.
Chairman and CEO
SmithBucklin
Givray runs the largest association management business in the United States. It has some kind of involvement in more than 235 associations. For them, it organizes some 55 tradeshows, four of them on this year's TSW 200. Givray spent 13 years managing the company's technology industry area before leaving his post in 1996 to run CourtLink, an online service for retrieving court records and filing legal documents electronically. He returned to SmithBucklin as CEO in 2002.
Managing Director
Veronis Suhler Stevenson
Few private equity funds are in the market to buy companies with multibillion-dollar multiples, but Greenberg did just that at VSS when it bought Advanstar Communications last year for $1.4 billion. No U.S. B-to-B deal since has come near it in scope. Advanstar's just one of many deals Greenberg has handled for the firm, including buying and then selling Hanley Wood Exhibitions and Canon Communications, or the recent purchase of U.K.-based Clarion Events.
Member, Managing Board
Deutsche Messe
On its management board since April, Gruchow's been venue and show organizer Deutsche Messe's executive manager and head of its international tradeshow division since 2000. Nowadays, he's also in charge of all of Deutsche Messe's activities at its massive facility in Hannover, Germany. Gruchow, who played a significant managerial role in Expo 2000 Hannover, has established numerous spin-offs of major Deutsche Messe events overseas and expanded collaboration and alliances with multiple global players.
President and CEO
Diversified Business Communications
In 2003, Hasselback moved up from Diversified vice president of business development to president and CEO. She's spearheaded rapid growth at the company that started out with four tradeshows and three magazines in 1993, and built it into a powerhouse with 60 trade and consumer shows and five trade magazines on four continents. Hasselback oversaw the acquisition of Australia's leading exhibition firm, expansion into Canada through a partnership, the launch of a seafood show in Europe and ethnic food shows in the United States, and the acquisition of Full Moon Communications in the United Kingdom.
Co-president
George Little Management
A lot has changed for Little in the past year. And yet, not that much has changed. Little now is co-president of GLM, a dmg world media company. What's different is that dmg bought the remaining 51-percent stake it didn't own in GLM last fall. What hasn't changed is that GLM continues to manage the shows it did before, including two editions of the New York Intl. Gift Fair, Nos. 27 and 29 on the 2008 TSW 200.
Senior Vice President, Retail Group
Nielsen Business Media
If not for mergers and acquisitions, Loechner might still be working for Pacifica Publishing, the employer he started with in 1983. As the company proceeded from one name to another (becoming Nielsen in 2006), Loechner worked on some of the biggest shows the company has, including stints as show director of Action Sports Retailer World Trade Expo and Outdoor Retailer Summer and Winter Markets. Now he oversees Nielsen's large and profitable retail group, with a handful of his old shows still in the portfolio.
Vice President, Events and Communications
Specialty Equipment Market Assn.
MacGillivray may have relocated last year to his native Massachusetts from Southern California, headquarters of SEMA, but it doesn't matter; he hasn't missed a beat. Since MacGillivray started with the association in 2001, the SEMA Show, which he manages, has gone from No. 21 on the 2002 TSW 200 with 635,000 net sq. ft., 1,262 exhibitors and 45,677 attendees to No. 7 on the 2008 TSW 200 with 1,063,970 net sq. ft., 2,203 exhibitors and 80,200 attendees.
Vice President, Meeting Sales and Operations – Las Vegas
Harrah's Entertainment
With the responsibility of selling and managing more than 1 million sq. ft. of convention and meeting space spread across six Las Vegas properties, you'd think Michael Massari wouldn't know which end was up sometimes. However, since the 2005 merger of Harrah's and Caesars Entertainment, Massari's not only helped streamline the multiproperty, multibrand business, he's also redefined it by consolidating meeting sales and operations under one umbrella: Las Vegas Meetings by Harrah's Entertainment.
Vice President, Business Development
Intl. Council of Shopping Centers
McGuinness has a new job drumming up business for one of the most innovative tradeshows around, ReCon, The Global Real Estate Convention (formerly the ICSC Spring Convention Leasing Mall & Trade Expo). However, up until May 15, he was executive director of NYC & Company, saddled with the frustrating job of drawing tradeshow business to a city that can't decide whether it wants to expand the Jacob K. Javits CC or not – and whether it still wants to be a tradeshow power or not.
Managing Director
The Jordan, Edmiston Group Inc.
Since joining JEGI more than a decade ago, Mead's overseen the successful completion of close to 100 transactions. The deals read like a who's who of the B-to-B media industry, including most recently dmg world media's acquisition of the remaining 51-percent interest in George Little Management for $155 million and the sale of Gartner's Vision Events to CMP (United Business Media).
Senior Vice President
Global Spectrum
Mobley, a venue management veteran, is responsible for the 20-plus convention centers Global Spectrum runs, everything from the Duke Energy Center in Cincinnati to the Pueblo (Colo.) Convention Center. And, of course, he's looking for more venues to manage. Global Spectrum was in the news most recently when it decided to join with the manager of one of the Miami Beach Convention Center's biggest shows in a proposal to take over management of the center together.
Chairman
M|C Communications
When Mooney won the inaugural 2008 Robert L. Krakoff Industry Leadership Award, Cherif Moujabber, president of Creative Expos and Conferences, said Mooney has “not only done well, he has done good.” When Mooney founded M|C Communications in 1994, he was managing one event. Today, the company provides education programs for physicians through its Pri-Med, LiveMed and Physician's Weekly brands, and has managed the AIA 2007 Natl. Convention & Design Exposition (American Institute of Architects), a TSW 200 event, for the past 12 years.
President
Creative Expos and Conferences
In 1975, penniless, Egyptian-born Moujabber moved from Lebanon to Massachusetts. He started out in the Horizon House mailroom and within a year was organizing its overseas tradeshows. Moujabber's subsequent international tradeshow career culminated in the 1993 founding of Creative Expos and Conferences, which organizes its own events and advises others in the launch of shows outside their national bases. He's also on the SISO board and has received numerous tradeshow industry awards for his service.
COO
United Business Media
Mozarsky's been behind the expansion of UBM's portfolio as the company's gone on a worldwide hunt for shows to acquire. He joined UBM in 2000, and for the last eight years has been in charge of corporate development and M&A for all of UBM's U.S.-based subsidiaries. With more than 60 transactions successfully completed, there's no doubt that Mozarsky's still on the lookout for that next key to the puzzle.
Managing Director
AUMA (the Assn. of the German Trade Fair Industry)
For information on the German tradeshow industry, look to AUMA – and ultimately to Neven. AUMA represents the German industry, providing information on tradeshows in Germany and overseas. AUMA tracks about 5,000 events with more than 170,000 exhibitors and 9 to 10 million visitors every year – so it's a big job. Neven went to work for AUMA in 1988 after studying economics, research and social sciences. He's also a frequent guest lecturer at universities, colleges and other educational institutions.
Chief Marketing Officer
Freeman
In less than a month, Parsons will take on a new, expanded role in the family business. With her father Donald S. Freeman Jr. cutting back on day-to-day responsibilities, she'll become vice chairwoman, along with her current duties as CMO. Parsons is the third generation of Freemans to work at the family-owned business started by her grandfather, D.S. “Buck” Freeman in 1927. Parsons joined the company in 1985 as an account executive in the Dallas office.
President and CEO
The Expo Group
The Expo Group may not be the biggest service contractor in the business, but the Dallas-based company that Pekowski heads gets plenty of attention. Its Show Manager of the Year Awards that recognize outstanding tradeshow managers is a highly lauded industry event every year. Pekowski, a 30-year exhibition industry veteran and member of numerous industry associations, created TEG in 1987 with its patented customer service model – what he calls a Single Source Solution for exhibitors and show managers, providing one point of contact for all services required for a show.
President and CEO
New Orleans Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau
Having once been chief of staff in former Louisiana Gov. Mike Foster's office likely gave Perry the knack he has for grace under pressure. New Orleans went from being one of the top 10 tradeshow cities in the country to near decimation by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Now, almost three years later, Perry's steadily worked to rebuild the Crescent City's lucrative tradeshow industry and lure back one big meeting after another.
Director, Expositions
Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute
Somehow, Pittas has managed to grow a show that seemed like it just couldn't get any bigger. The biennial Pack Expo Intl. routinely snags the No. 2 ranking on the TSW 200. In 2006, it was up in square footage, attendees and exhibitors. We'll see if Pittas can keep the streak going, but in the meantime he's taking strides to ensure the upcoming edition is friendlier to planet Earth with this year's conference titled “Change, Innovation and Sustainability.”
Director
Dallas Convention and Event Services
Poe, a Texas native and 34-year industry veteran who directs the Dallas Convention Center, helped bring The FMI (Food Marketing Institute) Show back to Dallas in 2009. From 1994 to 1997 he was director of Dallas' event facilities and cultural affairs department before a seven-year stint as executive director and CEO of the Birmingham-Jefferson (Ala.) Convention Complex Authority. Poe's a Convention Industry Council Hall of Leaders inductee and past president of the Intl. Assn. of Assembly Managers.
President, Radius Events
Chairman, Society of Independent Show Organizers
In the next few months, Pugh will wrap up his term as chairman of SISO. He began his events business in late 2003 after successfully running tradeshows for others: first CMC, then Cowles Events (now Primedia), Mecklermedia and most recently the technology events division of Penton Media, generating as much as $80 million in revenue during the tech boom. His career started with PDN (Photo District News), a leading magazine for professional photographers that morphed into his first tradeshow, for that sector, in 1983.
Executive Vice president, Sales and Marketing
GES Exposition Services
As the one responsible for GES' exposition and event sales (along with a few other duties), Quade was involved in the company landing the American Foundry Society's triennial CastExpo last year. The show took place this year for the first time with GES as its general service contractor May 17-20 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. When it last took place in 2005, it was No. 168 on the next year's TSW 200. Now under Quade's watch, can this year's show beat that?
President and CEO
Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau
After a long career in the hotel business, Roby knows what it takes to please a lot of the people a lot of the time, a necessary skill for the top spot at the Windy City's bureau. It also takes being a good multi-tasker, and Roby's that in spades. He's had to juggle attracting an entirely new type of show, one that's more meeting space-oriented to fill the McCormick West building that opened last year, while still catering to the mega-shows that have been Chicago's bread and butter for years and the reason it has the third-most TSW 200 shows.
Executive Director
Massachusetts Convention Center Authority
Rooney's job is to generate economic activity in Beantown, and he's done it well: Several large consumer shows, including the New England Boat Show, have been able to grow by moving from other venues around Boston to the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center since the state legislature changed a law restricting their movements a couple years ago. He's also reduced the operating deficit at the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial CC to its slimmest in its 20-year history.
Co-founder and Chairman
ConvExx
A past chairman of IAEE, Schwartz conceived the idea and name of IAEE's annual Expo! Expo!, and in 2004 received IAEE's prestigious IAEE Pinnacle Award for outstanding service to the exhibition industry. He started his tradeshow career in 1976 after 20 years in the retail automotive aftermarket. Now, Schwartz's ConvExx produces, among other events, the auto aftermarket SEMA Show, which spans more than 1 million net sq. ft.
President
Sellers Expositions
There's more than one way to grow your show. This is how Sellers did it with the Intl. Lawn, Garden & Equipment Expo, a mere No. 21 on last year's TSW 200: He merged his for-profit show with that of two associations, renamed it the Green Industry & Equipment Expo, held it on close to the same dates in the same venue in Louisville, Ky. – and instantly grew the show by 80,000 net sq. ft. and 150 exhibitors, jumping five spots on the 2008 TSW 200 to No. 16 in the process.
President and CEO
Experient
Four years into his role as leader of one of the largest meeting and event service suppliers in the industry – done with the merger of three companies, a name change and a rebranding – Shartar's hard at work on the next steps: Taking advantage of new technologies and adjusting to the reality that face-to-face marketing has become a global enterprise with tradeshow attendees pouring into U.S. events and American companies looking for help as they market themselves in other countries.
Chairman
J. Spargo & Associates
Since 1973, J. Spargo & Associates has provided housing, registration, lead retrieval, exhibit sales, exhibit management and meeting logistics assistance for countless events. So far, 2008 has been an exciting year as several associations selected the company's services. JS&A will sell and manage the exhibit hall for The Natl. Assn. of State Boards of Accountancy's 2009, 2010 and 2011 Natl. CPE Expo, and for the 2008 Chicago Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology.
General Manager
Donald R. Stephens Convention Center
At 29, Stephens is probably one of the youngest convention center general managers in the business. He keeps the tradeshows coming to the once-but-no-longer-tiny Chicago suburb that his grandfather, Rosemont's long-time mayor and convention center namesake, transformed into a tradeshow powerhouse that today has a $350 million economic impact on the area. Stephens is currently in the forefront in the development of Rosemont Walk, a proposed 60-acre, $500 million entertainment district project.
Senior Staff Vice President
Natl. Assn. of Home Builders
After 28 years at the helm of The Intl. Builders' Show, Stetson's been around long enough to not let the current housing crisis spook him too much. The most recent show, held Feb. 13-16 at Orlando's Orange County CC, was down 11 percent in attendance, but Stetson's counting on a move to Las Vegas next year after four years in the Sunshine State to give the show the spark it needs to bring people back.
Managing Director
Berkery Noyes
Thomas has been on a deal-making roll ever since she moved to Berkery Noyes in 2003 from private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson. Even in a dicey financial market, she's getting things done – like Hanley Wood Exhibitions' recent acquisition of The TFM Show, ENK Intl.'s purchase of WSA Global Holdings and The WSA Show, Nos. 3 and 5 on the 2008 TSW 200, and Investcorp's scooping up of Randall-Reilly and its trucking shows.
Group Show Director
ASR, Cycling and Fitness Groups, Nielsen Business Media
Obviously, Tompkins is a guy who likes to have fun. He started his professional career at Marvel Comics before transitioning to Miller Freeman as a sales assistant in the Sports Group. Tompkins climbed through the (now) Nielsen Business Media ranks to his current position as group show director of Outdoor Retailer Summer and Winter Markets. He has a couple of brand new posts too, heading up Interbike Intl. Bicycle Expo and Health & Fitness Business Expo & Conference.
Executive Vice President
Reed Exhibitions Americas
Walsh's title changed last October, from senior vice president to executive vice president. So did a lot of her duties. Today she's essentially in charge of all Reed Exhibitions' operations in North America, which entails every detail of the 70-plus events it has in its portfolio. In the past, Walsh and her boss Chet Burchett have told TSW that a third of the business the company has now didn't even exist three years ago.
Vice Chairman
China Council for the Promotion of Intl. Trade
Arguably the most important Chinese government official involved with the tradeshow industry, Wang's appeared to be at the forefront of efforts to “rationalize” the country's fast-growing exhibition industry, calling for more regulations than in the past and a pause as the growth of shows catches up with the rapid construction of venues throughout the country. Earlier this year, Wang told TSW, “2008 will be a year of consolidation for our industry.”
Principal
Business Strategies Group
From his perch in Hong Kong, for years Woodward has had his hand on the pulse of the Asian tradeshow industry, churning out detailed reports on all aspects of the continent's business. He seems to know as much about what's going on in the relatively low-profile countries of southeast Asia as he does about the enormous industry in China. Woodward also runs UFI's Asia/Pacific office and, in that capacity, has begun reporting on the industry beyond Asia, like the assessment he wrote late last year of the global venue inventory.
