WORLD – Deutsche Messe AG’s Andreas Gruchow has been elected president of exhibition industry peak body UFI for 2017.
A member of Deutsche Messe AG’s managing board, Gruchow has served on UFI’s executive committee since 2011. He will succeed 2016 president Sergey Alexeev from Russia's ExpoForum-International.
Gruchow, who is based in Germany, said he was delighted with the appointment, announced at UFI’s meeting in Turkey today (17 June).
“UFI has a unique global position in the industry and is well-positioned to address the key issues affecting our members all over the world,” Gruchow said. “The UFI Board of Directors and all the members of UFI can rely on me to do my utmost to take UFI even further than where we are today.”
Current UFI president Andrés Lopez-Valderrama welcomed the result.
“Andreas represents one of the world’s leading trade fair organisations and has played a very full and energetic role in his position as a member of UFI’s executive committee,” Lopez-Valderrama said.
“We are all convinced that he will carry over this enthusiasm into his future Presidency of UFI in 2017 and, in the meantime, will provide great support to Sergey Alexeev during his Presidency next year. I look forward to working with both of them”
Gruchow graduated from the University of Hannover with a PhD in mechanical engineering, before joining Deutsche Messe in 1994 as director of Expo 2000 in Hannover.
From 1998 to 2000 he worked parallel as a senior vice president of the EXPO 2000 Hannover GmbH.
During his time as senior vice president of international trade fairs at Deutsche Messe, Gruchow was in charge if events such as DOMOTEX, LIGNA, BIOTECHNICA and INTERSCHUTZ.
In 2008, Gruchow he was appointed to the board of the European Major Exhibition Centres Association, where he has held the roles of president, vice president, treasurer, and vice president EU relations.
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