(Pictured L-R, top row: Mike Davis, John Hile, Roman Moszkowicz, & Rob Dunn. Bottom row: Angela Donka, Paula Handra & Jeff Fortmann)
Cities are opening back up for business and furloughs are ending—and not a moment too soon! CORT Events has promoted Mike Davis to president and COO, John Hile to executive VP of business strategy and Paula Newell to executive VP of operations.
Industry veteran Mike Benson is going to head up a new division at Sho-Link as director of general contracting and events and Bill Furlong was named CEO of Atlanta-based International Market Center’s Juniper, their new fully integrated omnichannel B2B e-commerce platform.
After nine years of leading beMatrix USA, Robert Laarhoven is leaving to launch his own consulting firm and will support beMatrix in that capacity.
EDPA board member Dana Esposito, formerly of Elevation3D and ACCESS TCA, will be taking on a new role as VP of Brand Strategy and Experience at Sacks Exhibits in Andover, Mass.
TideSmart Global named Jeff Fortmann executive VP/general manager. Previously with Highmark TechSystems and Access Intelligence, Fortmann will lead their experiential offerings division, TideSmart Experiential (formerly EMG3), focusing on events, engagements and activations.
Washington, D.C.-based mdg, a Freeman company, has appointed industry luminary Erin Lee to oversee the continuing growth and transformation of its digital, data and web departments.
Penn.-based IMS Technology Services has expanded their team and hired Mike Schisler as a senior project manager and Christopher Kissel as a national account manager. They also promoted Chris Leonard to director, technical operations, Brook Kebede to production supervisor and Brian Johnson to warehouse supervisor.
GCI Graphics, a division of Exploring, Inc., has hired print industry expert Jayme Carey as a senior client experience manager.
Don & Mike Show sponsors Circle, an Omnichannel Guest Experience Agency, has added to their team with Paula Handra as VP of event operations based in the San Francisco Bay area and Las Vegas-based Angela Donka as controller and Anthony Warren as project manager. Warren has 16+ years of experience, having worked at Astound Group and Xibit Solutions.
New England-based CorpCom welcomed Bob Rucci as their new senior graphic design director, joining them after more than 15 years with Elevation3D.
ESCA board member and Metro Exhibits co-founder Bobby Lee has joined CSI Worldwide to run their General Service Contracting division.
Iowa-based Trusswork has hired Roman Moszkowicz to lead their new LED LIGHTING SOLUTIONS division as they become more than just truss. He was formerly with Prism Lighting Group.
In new business development positions, ProGlobalEvents welcomed Rob Dunn to the team as the new senior business development manager in Fremont, Calif., and Momentum Management added Stephanie Worley as their newest senior account executive for the West Coast.
Industry veteran Christopher Kappes, the founder and COO of Exhibitshub, an online marketplace of exhibits and services has joined St. Charles, Missouri-based Craftsmen Industries, Inc., with the title of client development and BeyondLive, Inc., a leading-edge developer of 3D virtual experiences for corporate clients, announced the addition of Patrick King as a business development manager.
EDPA NE board member/treasurer Matthew Johnson has joined Nationwide Displays as VP of business development. He was formerly with Elevation3D in Mass.
Exhibit and event marketing veteran Misty MacGregor joins the ADEX International team and will focus on the Florida tradeshow/event market.
In international news, INVNT, a global live brand storytelling agency, has appointed U.K.-based Peter Clarke as director of business development for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. INVNT also launched a Higher Education Division with Sarah Winkler as senior VP and JoAnn Peroutka, as VP of the division.
Paris-based Sonia Thomas has joined jwc GmbH, global exhibition and conference industry consulting firm, as a senior consultant. She previously served as COO of UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, from 2006-2021. Also at UFI, Michael Duck was elected incoming president for 2022-23.
In other association news, Michelle Mason, FASAE, CAE, current president and CEO of the Chicago-based Association Forum, will become ASAE’s next president and CEO effective Sept. 1 and the Professional Convention Management Association has named Meghan Risch as vice president, strategic and corporate communications.
In convention center news, Spectra Welcomed new social sales manager Kasia Koontz & operations and custodial manager of Thomas Dyer to the Owensboro CC and historic Owensboro Sportscenter in Kentucky. The San Diego CC named Sufi Karaien executive chef as Daryl O’Donnell (Chef D) moved to Tennessee after working at Centerplate for 22 years and serving as executive chef since 2013.
Melbourne Australia’s Convention and Exhibition Centre COO Leighton Wood has announced he’s retiring this summer and Helen Fairclough was promoted to fill his COO position.
This story originally appeared in the July/August 2021 issue of Exhibit City News, p. 50. For original layout, visit https://issuu.com/exhibitcitynews/docs/ecn_july-august_2021
