The Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) has formed two new regional advisory boards for the Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA) and Asia-Pacific (APAC) regions to help guide its global expansion.
The formation of the boards was announced at Convening Leaders 2017, which was held in Austin, Texas last week.
The boards were established to help PCMA develop its presence in key regions as it seeks to establish itself outside of its North American core business. Headquartered in Chicago, the PCMA has partners around the globe and activities across 37 countries.
The new regional advisory boards will collate that activity into regional groups and act as a sounding board for the business events industry in these markets. This feedback will help guide the PCMA with its rollout of education products and services to the business events industry.
The regional advisory board members include:
APAC
- Anna Aquino, Visa Worldwide Pte. Limited
- Karen Bolinger, Melbourne Convention Bureau
- Oscar Cerezales, MCI Group
- Ivan Ferrari, UBM Media Asia
- Tania Goodacre, Minerals Council of Australia
- Jeannie Lim, Singapore Exhibition & Convention Bureau
- Angelina Lue, Kuala Lumpur Convention Cnetre
- Shirlena Soh, SACEOS
EMEA
- Sven Bossu, SWIFT
- Sandrine Castres, MCI Spain
- Chris Foy, VisitBritain
- Ben Goedegebuure, Maritz Global Events Inc.
- Davi Kaur, European CanCer Organization
- Dermot Ryan, K.I.T. Group GmbH
- Klaus Span, IBM Power Systems EMEA
- Christoph Tessmar, Barcelona Convention Bureau
- Christine Trimmer, World Obesity Federation
Luca Favetta has been appointed to lead the EMEA board. Based in Switzerland, Favetta joins PCMA after a substantial career in corporate events having led global teams for HP and SAP.
Board members are volunteers who have signed up for a 12-month term of office, with an option to extend for a further 12 months. They will meet twice a year: once at Convening Leaders and once in the specific region.
Sherrif Karamat, chief operating officer, PCMA, says the establishment of the new regional advisory boards for Europe, Middle East, Africa and for Asia Pacific, is a signal of PCMA’s intent to become the predominant global association for the business events industry. “We have appointed board members who have outstanding professional reputations in their home territories and are willing to share that expertise with us, their PCMA colleagues on a global level,” he explained. “In our new EMEA region, we are thrilled to welcome Luca to the team. It’s an exciting time for us and our success mirrors that of the global business events industry which is increasing in confidence every year.”
Leave a Reply