Associations World Congress & Expo

Rachel Almeida has over 20 years’ experience of event and project management in the public and private sectors. She has worked for the Association of Colleges for 15 years and has been Head of Events since 2012, becoming Head of Events, Training and Sponsorship in 2019. Her role is to create and drive the events and training strategy, manage the overall events, training and sponsorship division and drive quality and standards across all AoC conferences, workshops and training solutions. Rachel oversees the delivery of the flagship AoC Annual Conference and Exhibition which attracts over 1200 attendees and 100 exhibitors each year.

After completing a Bachelor degree from HEC Montreal and a Master degree from EMLyon Business school, Valentine began her career in event management in the hospitality industry and then worked for international organisations such as the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). She is currently working at the European Respiratory Society (ERS), mainly focusing on the ERS International Congress which brings together more than 20’000 participants and ERS Satellites, a recently awarded, innovative event.

Michael Collins is a specialist providing consultancy and mentoring in data strategy and the use of marketing databases and CRM. He is a Chartered Marketer and a Lifetime Fellow of the Institute of Data and Marketing and has taught database marketing and CRM at several London university business schools

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LinkedIn: micollins
Twitter: @dmcounsel

Rodney Cox is the Events Director for the International Gas Union (IGU).  Founded in 1931 the IGU represents more than 90% of the global gas market through it National Association membership. Rodney has over 20 years’ event management experience, across five continents; this includes trade exhibitions, conferences and consumer shows – mostly on behalf of industry associations. He previously served as Vice President of the Exhibition and Event Association of Australia (EEAA) and twice headed the Best Show Team winners at the EEAA Awards of Excellence, for the 16th International Conference and Exhibition on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG 15 Algeria in 2010) and 26th World Gas Conference (WGC 2015 in France). For more than fifteen years Rodney has lectured at undergraduate and postgraduate levels at the University of Technology, Sydney.
 

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LinkedIn: rodneycoxeventinnovator/?originalSubdomain=au

Claire Fennelow, now Executive Director of EVCOM has several decades of experience behind her in the planning and delivery of national and international programmes, including professional development, awards schemes, B2B events and consumer events, conferences and bespoke projects. Extensive experience in both the corporate and not for profit environments, with specific knowledge of the creative sector.

At EVCOM (representing the corporate event and film industries) she is responsible for developing and driving strategy to help our members succeed through championing creativity, creating business opportunities, showcasing the best work through a collection of awards schemes and campaigning for the rights and recognition of the industry.

Sasha has over twenty-five years' experience of creating conferences and summits, starting her career in the commercial conference industry. She is skilled at curating and shaping events – product development, market mapping, sponsor research, speakers and marketing. Sasha is Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Marketing, The Royal Society of Arts, a visiting lecturer in event management at The University of Westminster, London and judges industry awards.
www.thebusinessnarrative.com

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LinkedIn: sashafrieze/?originalSubdomain=uk

James is Head of Events & Member Services at the MTA. Previously, James worked at the British Precast Concrete Federation before joining the MTA as Skills & Communications Manager. James has been at the MTA since 2011 and oversaw the delivery of the previous show, MACH 2016 & 2018

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LinkedIn: james-fudge-7791b917
Twitter: @@mta_uk

Kathryn is a co-organiser of events in the #RSCPoster Twitter Conference series: annual events in unique online format which bring members of the scientific research community together to share their research, network and engage in scientific debate.  

As co-organiser of the 2019 event and lead in 2020, Kathryn oversaw the growth and establishment of the events into a globally-recognised flagship series.  

Enthusiastic about encouraging communication and interaction with science in creative and comprehensive ways, following her degree specialising in chemistry, Kathryn joined Publishing Directorate of the Royal Society of Chemistry. She is currently a Deputy Editor on the RSC’s open access journals. 

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LinkedIn: kathryn-gempf/?originalSubdomain=uk
Twitter: @KGempf

Nina Harrison-Bell is Head of Industry News at ITN Productions. Nina has over 20 years of experience working in video and digital communications. She is a former journalist with Reuters, Channel 4 News and the Associated Press. Nina has advised associations large and small, in the UK and overseas, as well as global brands and public sector organisations in strategic communications throughout her career. She makes it her mission to achieve the best possible outcomes for clients and their communications objectives.

 

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Twitter: @NHarrisonBell

Catherine is a co-organiser of events in the #RSCPoster Twitter Conference series: annual events in unique online format which bring members of the scientific research community together to share their research, network and engage in scientific debate. 

As co-organiser of the 2020 #RSCPoster Twitter conference and lead organiser of the 2021 event, she oversaw the expansion of the conference with live webinars and video pitches for an immersive virtual conference experience.  

Passionate about science communication, she gained an MChem degree from Durham University and worked at the Science Museum before joining the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) in 2017. Since then, she has edited a variety of journals throughout physical chemistry, nanoscience, organic chemistry and chemical biology before moving into her current role within the polymer chemistry and biomaterials journals.  

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LinkedIn: catherine-hodges-480b92172/?originalSubdomain=uk
Twitter: @HodgesCat

She is Deputy Editor at Royal Society of Chemistry. Before that she was PHD Researcher at the Chemistry Department at the Durham University.Hannah is a co-organiser of events in the #RSCPoster Twitter Conference series: annual events in unique online format which bring members of the scientific research community together to share their research, network and engage in scientific debate. 

As lead organiser of the 2019 event, Hannah oversaw the event broaden to accommodate all topics within chemistry.  

Following a degree and PhD in chemistry at Durham University, she has worked at the Royal Society of Chemistry for 4.5 years. She has contributed to journals covering nanoscience and materials chemistry and currently sits on the open access team, developing and launching new journals. 

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LinkedIn: hannah-kerr-543459106/
Twitter: @hk_chemistryy

Professional appointments: 1995 Assistant Professor, Department of Anaesthesiology, Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (LMU); 2002 Associate Professor, Department of Anaesthesiology, Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (LMU)

Academic appointment: Professor of Anaesthesiology; Department of Anaesthesiology; Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (LMU)

Steve’s background is in marketing and operational roles in the UK and France (British Airways, Disney) before making the move after his MBA to the not-for-profit sector with English Heritage and the National Trust. Moving to the sunny South of France just over 3 years ago with his family, he now works for the European Society of Cardiology where he heads up a new team that encompasses business insight, audiences and membership. He is trying to learn the guitar and has bought a kayak to explore the stunning coastline around the Cote d’Azur.

Miguel is EventMB’s Editor-in-Chief and likes to describe himself as a, "curious creator and caring curator of computerized content and a conscious connector of charismatic characters". He lives and breathes the event tech sector and is deeply engaged in the global online community of event professionals. Miguel is a Portuguese soul who built a career in the UK and is now raising a young family in southern Denmark.

Helen is leading CANSO’s membership, sales, and marketing activities. This includes ensuring Members get value from their membership, and developing and implementing the CANSO business development strategy. Helen has 25 years experience in Sales and Marketing, over 18 years experience with International organisations and over 10 years working with Associations.

Brenda Sanderson is an association executive and designer living and working in Montréal. She is Executive Director of IxDA, the global network dedicated to the professional practice of Interaction Design and was previously Managing Director of Icograda. Through her responsibilities at Icograda and her current position, she has worked in more than 25 countries—bridging cultures, language and timezones to use design for progressive change since 2005.

As IxDA's Executive Director, Brenda leads distributed, virtual teams who organize two annual international meetings for 1500+ attendees - Interaction Week and Interaction Latin America. Other programs include the annual Interaction Awards, IxDA Design Education Summit, and IxDA Student Design Charette. 

From 1994-2005, Brenda held successively more responsible creative positions in the publishing and advertising sectors. Her work for Nova Scotia Tourism was twice awarded the Canadian Advertising Campaign of the Year and she received the Kenneth R Wilson award from the Canadian Business Press. A highlight was designing Canada's identity for Expo 2000.

Brenda has served on numerous volunteer boards, including the Data Interoperability Standards Consortium, the Ottawa Tourism Client Advisory Board, and the National Council of the Graphic Designers of Canada (GDC). She is an Ambassador for INDIGO, the International Indigenous Design Network, and a member of the Mandela Poster Project Collective (MPPC). 

Brenda is a CGD certified member of the Graphic Designers of Canada (GDC).

Céline has been working for more than 15 years in the Medical Association World. She has begun her journey within the association management department of Kenes Group in Geneva where she was involved in the coordination of projects for different associations and federations with various focus. 

From 2011 to 2014, she worked in the events industry, first for a Geneva catering company and then she actively participated in the launch of a special events venue. 

In 2015, she joined the European Association for the Study of the Liver, initially as an Event Coordinator then as Event Manager. She was leading an annual congress of 10’000 participants and about 10 additional conferences per year all around Europe.

She joined WHF in 2019 as the Director of Congress and Events. 

Holding a Bachelor of Science in International Management Hospitality from Ecole Hotelière de Lausanne, a Project Management Professional (PMP) from PMI, she is also a certified Digital Event Strategist (DES) from PCMA.

Dan has worked in the events industry for the last 12 years holding senior commercial positions at respected event companies such as Terrapinn and Clarion Events. Since making the jump into the event tech space 7 years ago with Eventsforce, Dan has worked closely with many different types of organisations; corporates, associations, universities and publishers - helping them maximise the return of their event tech investments.

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Ian is an event technology specialist who has spent the last 15 years managing conferences and developing complex technology solutions for hundreds of events globally. At Eventsforce, he advises clients on how they can use technology to maximise the value of their events – from registration and marketing to engagement and event reporting. He also works closely with them on managing complex data integration projects which allow organisations to manage their event data a lot more effectively. 

As a regular speaker on the circuit, Ian is passionate about the potential of technology and its role in changing the way the events industry works.