The Association of Equipment Manufacturer’s (AEM) director of Ag & Utility Exhibitions and Events, John Rozum, has been recognized by the Event Service Professionals Association (ESPA) as their 2022 Meeting Professional of the Year. Rozum was selected by a committee of services professionals for the collaboration between Louisville Tourism and his Utility Expo team in bringing the show safely and successfully back to the Derby City in September of 2021.
“With all the challenges that John and the team overcame to put together one of the largest trade shows of 2021, we couldn’t think of someone more deserving to win this award,” says Nicole Hallada, senior vice president of exhibitions and marketing at the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), owner of The Utility Expo. “Under John’s leadership we launched a completely new identity for a decades-old show, added a whole new element of equipment demonstration, and managed through the challenges of COVID to host an incredibly successful and safe show. Congratulations to him for this well-deserved recognition.”
According to ESPA, the Meeting Professional of the Year award recognizes the hard-working meeting professional who exhibits personal and professional characteristics that create an environment that focuses on teamwork, as well as shows support for the convention services profession.
ESPA is the association and voice representing event service professionals from convention and visitors’ bureaus, hotels and convention centers from across North America. It is a community for convention service managers, an educational resource and a place and forum for event service professionals to be heard and to learn. Founded in 1988 as ACOM, the Association for Convention Operations Management, the association has grown to nearly 500 event service professionals from across North America. In 2012, the association changed its name to the Event Service Professionals Association.
