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New Eventia Leadership Elected

The annual general meeting of Eventia, held on Wednesday 8th June at the Science Museum, London, saw the election of a new Chair to lead the association over the next 12 months.

Rob Allen, CEO of TRO takes over from Mark Saxby, Sales and Marketing Director at events agency Universal WorldEvents as the new Chair of Eventia. Commenting on his election, Rob said: “I am delighted to be back in the Chair for a second term of office and especially encouraged by the really strong make up of our new board. It is also highly reassuring that Simon Hughes moves into the Vice Chair role and I will enjoy working with him immensely.

Naturally we will continue to look at how we can add to and improve member services,  and indeed work in stronger collaboration with other associations to beat the drum for the events industry in the UK.”

The AGM witnessed several further changes to the Eventia Board. Standing down from the Board were:

• Mark Taylor – BI Worldwide
• Stephan Roberge – Monacco Tourist Authority & Convention Bureau
• Ruth Robinson – Lancashire & Blackpool Conferences
• Alison Ayling-Hogberg – DeVere Venues (co-opted)

Newly-elected to the Board were:

• Paul Hussey – BSI
• Dale Parmenter – drp group
• Alison Ayling-Hogberg, DeVere Venues
• Emma Cashmore - Axis Marketing
• Pauline Houston – Carlson Wagonlit Travel (co-opted)
• Rory Sloan – RPM (co-opted)

The following continue to serve on the Board:

• Rob Allen – TRO
• Mark Saxby – Universal WorldEvents
• Alan Newton – Grass Roots Group
• Brian Kirsch - Event Assured
• Karen Rice – Banks Sadler
• Rick Stainton - Smyle
• Mark Sale, Air Partner
• Matt Storey, Gallowglass
• Andrew Wright, FAB!
• Mike Jackson, Stage Electrics
• Simon Hughes, COI

From which the Executive Team will consist of:

• Rob Allen, TRO - Chairman
• Mark Saxby, Universal WorldEvents – Immediate Past Chairman
• Simon Hughes, COI – Vice Chairman
• Tracy Johnson, Eventia, Marketing Services Director

Mark Saxby now assumes the position of Immediate Past Chairman and sums up his time on the Board as follows: “My time as Chairman has been a challenging but rewarding experience, made far easier by the consistency of a competent, proactive team and an enthusiastic Board who have taken their roles very seriously and in some cases have achieved quite significant benefits to the overall industry. Clearly the economic climate has hit most industries including Events and, whilst some of our members continue to face challenging times, I am pleased that we met our realistic expectation for Eventia to break even this year with a modest loss.  We have continued our growth in membership and as long as we ensure we deliver benefits to the members and support their businesses then we are doing our job as the industry association.”