MCI is recently announced two leading PCO companies will be joining the group: Eurocongress International from The Netherlands and Event Planners Australia.
An agreement has been reached with Mariëtte Helmann and Michelle Labouchere, co-owners and managing directors of Eurocongress International, to merge their company with MCI. Eurocongress will integrate the current MCI Amsterdam operations to form the leading Association and Congress Management company in The Netherlands. The Amsterdam team works closely with the MCI office in Brussels under the leadership of Idoia Rodes Torrontegui, regional managing director and member of the MCI Management Board.
“Eurocongress is a very well established company, which occupies a leading role in the Dutch conference market,” said Sebastien Tondeur, CEO of MCI. “They serve as core-PCO and AMC for several important associations, for which they manage events worldwide. We are proud to have this experienced team join MCI.”
“We are very pleased to become part of MCI,” said Mariette Helmann. “As we manage conferences all over the world, we believe MCI and its global presence can be a great asset to deliver increased value to our clients. MCI also offers exciting new opportunities for our staff, many of which have been working with us for a long time. The combined strengths of MCI and Eurocongress will be unique and we see great growth opportunities in The Netherlands and abroad.”
Event Planners Australia is one of Australia’s largest (more than 40 full time core project management staff), longest established (31 year history) and most awarded meeting and event management companies with five fully resourced and staffed offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart.
“Event Planners Executive Management Team have become a major shareholder in MCI and will be part of the MCI senior leadership,” said Ray Shaw, founder and chairman of Event Planners Australia and Australia’s longest serving Accredited Meeting Manager of 37 years. “The merger provides Event Planners’ clients access to global resources and a suite of complementary services; our staff with worldwide career opportunities and the Australian business events industry access to a pipeline of international business opportunities with their eye on Australia.”
“Ray and his team have played an important thought-leadership role in the business events industry in Australia for many years,” said Robin Lokerman, president Asia Pacific of MCI. “They have won many industry awards including the 2009 Meetings and Events Australia national award for the best Meetings Management Company with over eight employees and serve a wide range of long term clients. We see great growth potential for MCI in Australia and also believe the Event Planners team can support the rapid growth of our PCO business in Asia.”
