Global association of the exhibition industry, UFI has announced its new Board of Directors line up for the 2020–2023 mandate.
Elections to the UFI Board take place every three years. The Board is tasked with implementing decisions taken by the General Assembly, developing UFI policy, and preparing all proposals related to matters affecting international tradefairs.
All proposals are submitted for vote to UFI members at the annual General Assembly.
The Board is made up of a maximum of 60 members and the new mandates will commence after the UFI General Assembly on 10 November 2020.
The newly elected Board members include:
- Saif Mohamed Al Midfa - Expo Centre Sharjah (UAE)
- Ahmed Al Obaidli - Qatar National Tourism Council (Qatar)
- Said Salim Al Shanfari - Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre (Oman)
- Xabier Basañez - Bilbao Exhibition Centre - BEC (Spain)
- Carina Bauer - IMEX Group (UK)
- Sergey Bednov - EXPOCENTRE AO (Russian Federation)
- David Boon - BRUSSELS EXPO (npo) (Belgium)
- Gerald Böse - Koelnmesse GmbH (Germany)
- Sébastien Brunet - GL events (France)
- Panittha Buri - BITEC (Thailand)
- Benjamin (Kai Leung) Chau - Hong Kong Trade Development Council (Hong Kong)
- Diane Chen - Shenyang New World EXPO (China)
- Lisa Aixin Chen - Donghao Lansheng (Group) Co., Ltd. (China)
- Geoff Dickinson - dmg events (UAE) ▪
- Klaus Dittrich - Messe München GmbH (Germany)
- Severine Dubarry Bardon - Comexposium (France)
- Michael Duck - Informa Markets - Asia (Hong Kong)
- Roland Fleck - NürnbergMesse GmbH (Germany)
- Lisa Hannant - Clarion Events Ltd. (UK)
- Hugh Jones - Reed Exhibitions (UK)
- Carin Kindbom - Svenska Mässan Stiftelse (Sweden)
- Taro Komiya - Japan Management Association (Japan)
- Ned Krause - E.J. Krause & Associates, Inc. (USA)
- Michael Kruppe - SNIEC (China)
- Mary Larkin - Diversified Communications USA
- Wolfgang Marzin - Messe Frankfurt GmbH (Germany)
- Lau Wai Meng (Benson Lau) - Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (Macau)
- Trixie LohMirmand - Dubai World Trade Centre (UAE)
- Eduardo Lopez-Puertas - IFEMA (Spain)
- Juan Pablo Maglier - La Rural, Predio Ferial de Buenos Aires (Argentina)
- Giovanni Mantovani - Veronafiere SpA (Italy)
- Daria Ostrovskaya - RusJewellerExpert (Russian Federation)
- Enrico Pazzali - Fondazione Fiera Milano (Italy)
- Matt Pearce - Talk2 Media & Events Pty Ltd (Australia)
- Valerii Pekar - Euroindex Ltd (Ukraine)
- Corrado Peraboni - Italian Exhibition Group S.p.A. (Italy)
- Pietro Piccinetti - Fiera Roma SRL (Italy)
- Kyriakos Pozrikidis - TIF-HELEXPO SA (Greece)
- Birgit Rieder - MCH Group AG (Switzerland)
- Maria João Rocha de Matos - Lisboa Feiras Congressos e Eventos (Portugal)
- Constanti Serrallonga - Fira de Barcelona (Spain)
- Mark Shashoua - Hyve Group Plc (UK)
- Lori Silva - Emerald Expositions (USA)
- Xueli (Shirly) Song - Chongqing International Expo Center Co., Ltd (China)
- Georgy Surkov - RESTEC Exhibition Company (Russian Federation)
- Saleem Khan Tanoli - FAKT Exhibitions (Private) Limited (Pakistan)
- Dina Tomšić - Zagreb Fair Ltd (Croatia)
- Sergey Voronkov - ExpoForum International LTD (Russian Federation)
- Simon Wang - TAITRA (Taipei)
- Erhard Wienkamp - Messe Düsseldorf GmbH (Germany).
Previously elected to the UFI Board as the chairs of the Regional Chapters are:
- For Asia-Pacific: David Zhong (VNU Exhibitions Asia, China)
- For Europe: Andreas Gruchow (Deutsche Messe AG, Germany)
- For Latin America: José Navarro Meneses (Tarsus Mexico)
- For Middle East/Africa: Albert Aoun (IFP, Lebanon).
And elected to the Board as the chair and vice-chair of the UFI Associations Committee:
- Chair: Chris Skeith, AEO (UK)
- Vice-chair: Jörn Holtmeier, AUMA (Germany) .
And already elected in their roles as the UFI Presidential Trio are:
- Anbu Varathan, IMTMA and BIEC, Bangalore (President 2020 – 2021)
- Monica Lee-Müller, HKCEC, Hong Kong, Incoming President
- Mary Larkin, Diversified Communications USA, Outgoing President.
“I wish to congratulate all elected and re-elected board members. This year, we have seen a record number of industry leaders standing for these elections. It stresses the role UFI is playing in supporting and representing the exhibition industry globally,” said Mary Larkin (pictured), UFI president and president Diversified Communications USA. “I am also very pleased to see more diversity at UFI Board level: 28% of the UFI Board is now made up of women. Just seven women were part of the UFI Board in 2017 so we have more than doubled the female representation. I am very happy that I was able to move the needle there during my year as UFI president.”
