Global talent from the exhibition industry have been selected as the first ever recipients of the new “Next Generation Leadership Grant” launched by UFI.
The programme promotes the next generation leadership in the exhibition industry, who demonstrate 'change and innovation' in their respective area.
Out of the numerous applications from 16 different countries, a jury, chaired by UFI President Sergey Alexeev, selected the five recipients of the grant:
• Adeline Larroque Desages, acting head of exhibition planning and organisation section, Quatar Tourism Authority (Qatar)
• Jennifer Feeney, account director, Freeman XP (USA)
• Vineet Mahajan, general manager, Reed India (India)
• Farokh Shahabi Nezhad, co-founder, Eventbox (Iran)
• Matthias Pollmann, project manager interzum, Koelnmesse GmbH (Germany)
“We received many great applications from all around the world, and we could have awarded the grant to most of them. So we needed long and hard discussions. This shows just how full of talent our industry truly is”, said Alexeev. “I am very pleased that we came up with this fantastic group of people from all around the world.”
The grantees will meet in Paris in June for a two-day workshop at the UFI Headquarters.
There, they will exchange views on the future of the exhibition industry and start working on their joint session for the 2016 UFI Congress, to be held in Shanghai from 9-12 November, 2016.
Throughout their preparations, they will be mentored and coached by the UFI team.
“The current hot topics range from disruptive technology all the way through to optimizing customer experiences at exhibitions”; summarises Kai Hattendorf, UFI managing director, the industry outlooks that were presented in the grant applications. “This will add up to a fascinating dialogue with our industry’s leaders – in Shanghai and beyond.”
The selection jury was comprised of Sergey Alexeev (UFI President and VP Expoforum, St. Petersburg), Enrica Baccini, chair of the UFI Education Committee, and chief research and development officer at Fondazione Fiera Milano), Julian Baker (group strategy director at Reed Exhibitions), Kai Hattendorf (UFI managing director), and Angela Herberholz, (UFI marketing and communications manager).
The Next Generation Leadership Grant is supported by Reed Exhibitions.