Pictured: Stephen Richards
The National Exhibition Centre (NEC) appoints well known and
widely respected exhibition man, Stephen Richards, as its new Venue
Sales Director.
Stephen, an independent organiser of 15 years, is currently
working as a Consultant Event Director at UBM and will join the NEC
team after completing a new launch for the organiser.
As a past co-owner of Waypoint Exhibitions Ltd, Consultant Event
Director at Reed Exhibitions and Director at Blenheim Exhibitions,
Stephen is no stranger to the industry, boasting a career in the
industry that spans 25 years.
"We're delighted to announce the appointment of Stephen
Richards", said Kathryn James, Managing Director of the NEC, "With
his skills, breadth and depth of industry knowledge, alongside
already well established relationships with many of our clients,
means he's in a great position to continue driving NEC sales
forward and putting the customer at the heart of what we do."
Throughout his career, Stephen has launched a whole host of
shows, including some at the NEC - The Furniture Show (now known as
the Interiors Show) and The National Venue Show - and having been
present on site almost every year in one guise or another, he is
already very familiar with the venue.
"The NEC is the heartbeat of the UK's events industry," said
Stephen, "after making the decision to change from the organiser to
the venue side, the only place I wanted to work was the NEC - I'm
absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to be part of a
fantastic team that is really going places.
"From an organiser's point of view the NEC is a very encouraging
venue - it's fully aware of the industry being much broader than
just exhibitions and is totally embracing the variety of events out
there.
"I completely share the company's vision to become the venue of
choice and I'm really looking forward to the change and to taking
on new challenges while leading the sales team, and at the same
time constructively continue the fantastic work they're already
doing."
Prior to entering the exhibition industry Stephen held a number
of sales management positions in retail, FMCG and publishing. It
was Exclusively Exhibitions that kick started his career in the
events industry and here he made his mark launching niche
business-to-business exhibitions and helped create a small
portfolio of niche events in the retail sector.
In 1989 Exclusively Exhibitions was acquired by the Blenheim
Group Plc and in 1990 Stephen became the MD of Blenheim
Exclusively, expanding the portfolio to include Property Business
Shows, Facilities Management and the Harrogate Gift Fair. By 1992,
Stephen was appointed Group Director for all Blenheim UK events,
except the IT and clothing franchises, where he managed a portfolio
of 18 events including Confex, IFSEC and Franchise as well as a
team of 50 colleagues.
After leaving Blenheim to go down the independent route Stephen
created Waypoint Exhibitions Ltd which he co-directed and carried
out various consultancies, most notable a period with P&O
Events (Clarion) where he consulted on the gift fairs.
Kathryn continued: "Stephen has a fantastic understanding of our
industry and, with his experience in exhibitions as well as team
management, he will undoubtedly be a real asset to the team. We now
all look forward to welcoming him in December."
Commenting on his move, Jonny Sullens, Portfolio Director at
UBM, said: "Stephen has been great to work with, I am sure he will
do an fantastic job for the NEC. We all wish him the best of luck
in his new role."