Valérie Lobry, MD of the Agriculture equipment, Food, Construction and Optics (AFCO) division of Comexposium, will retire on 31 October, as announced in Paris on 14 May.
This comes after 25 years in events, and nearly 20 years at Exposium, and then Comexposium. She will be succeeded by Laurent Noel, current director of Strategy & Integration for Comexposium.
“Valérie joined Comexposium in 2009 to take on the role of GM of the food and agriculture division, as she had extensive experience in these sectors, and with Salon International de l’Alimentation (SIAL), the international food exhibition,” said Renaud Hamaide, chairman of Comexposium.
“During her tenure, she grew the business exponentially and added more sectors to the portfolio, notably Intermat, a construction and infrastructure event, and the Silmo optical show.
“In addition, she was a key driver in the international growth of Comexposium, taking several of her brands, such as SIMA and SITEVI, into new geographies, with particular success in building the strong international SIAL network of events. We are incredibly grateful for her leadership, guidance, and friendship, and wish her all the best in her retirement.”
Valérie Lobry will continue the day-to-day guidance of the AFCO division through SIAL Paris, 21-25 October 2018, which will be the largest SIAL ever with over 7,000 exhibitors. During this period, she will work closely with Laurent Noel on the on-going strategic planning for the growth of all the events in the division, ensuring a seamless handover at the time of her retirement.
“Thanks to Valérie’s tremendous work with the AFCO division, Laurent’s well positioned to continue accelerating our growth momentum in these brands, along with the passionate teams that run them,” said Simon Foster, CEO of Comexposium.
“During his short time at Comexposium, Noel has distinguished himself with work on sales excellence, integration, and transformation projects.
“He also has a strong background in event leadership from his time at Reed Exhibitions, both in France and the US, as well as at ITE Group plc in London. We are confident he’s going to be able to build on the strong legacy Valérie is leaving,” added Foster.
