Company & Role: Manchester Central, Chief Executive

Shaun leads the team at Manchester Central in its purpose to connect people, ideas and business through sustainable and meaningful event experiences.

Shaun is passionate about the contribution that Manchester Central makes to the city’s economy and works to ensure the venue sits at the heart of the local business community whilst maintaining its standing as a leading international convention centre.

Prior to joining Manchester Central, Shaun led international operations at BridgeStreet Global Hospitality and has more than 25 years’ experience working across hospitality, property and business service sectors.

Company & Role: West Midlands Growth Company, Strategic Lead Major Sporting Events

Joel has over 30 years’ experience working in sport at city, regional and national level, specialising in strategy, policy and partnerships. Joel is a former British Taekwondo champion and GB team member and a passionate advocate for the value of sport and its positive impact on people and places.

He is currently Strategic Lead for Major Sporting Events for the West Midlands Growth Company, responsible for raising the profile and bringing Major International Sporting Events to the region as part of the ground-breaking Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games £24m Business and Tourism Programme (BATP). The overall aim is to boost trade, tourism and investment across the region and UK, working in partnership with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Department for International Trade and VisitBritain.

Company & Role: Toucan Agency, Production & Operations Director

Mark has over 20 years of experience in the events industry. Working both venue and agency side has given him well rounded experience with roles that include ExCeL London, Imagination, George P Johnson and, most recently, Identity.  

Mark’s agency experience includes 7 years at Imagination as Senior Production Manager followed by 9 years as Head of Technical Production for George P Johnson London where key roles included Project Director of Cisco Live 2019 leading the delivery team taking full responsibility for the client management and managing and reconciling a budget in excess of €20 million. Mark and his team delivered a flawless 5-day event in Barcelona attended by over 14,000 delegates.

In 2022, Mark led the highly successful Production and Operational delivery of COP26 in Glasgow.  Mark is also a part of the faculty at Westminster University where he regularly lectures under and post graduate students in the Events and Tourism school.

Company & Role: event:decision, Founder

Matt Grey founded event:decision to help event planners in making better decisions.

track, from event:decision, offers planners an accessible, simple and quick carbon emission measurement service for a wide range of events, for both professional and occasional planners.

event:decision is currently supporting planners at brands such as AZ, BP, Google, Samsung & Vodafone, plus more than 30 agencies, venue groups and platforms in making more sustainable event decisions.

Company & Role: You. Smart. Thing., Chief Executive Officer

Chris leads the vision and strategy for the travel demand management platform, ‘You. Smart. Thing.’ (“YST”). After 7-years in telecoms, Chris weaved in his Commercial Music BA and founded Digital Animal, a direct-to-consumer retail platform for major-label recording artists that powered loyalty campaigns for brands including NatWest and Nintendo. DA won 4 UKTI Creative Industries Awards in 3 consecutive years and Chris was shortlisted for the O2 Arena Entrepreneur of The Year award. He’s held responsibility D2C strategy for PIAS, Europe’s largest independent entertainment distributor, and prior to establishing YST helped engineer CRM campaigns for JLR, Halfords, ATOS, Google and Vodafone.

Company & Role: Worlds Better, Events & Experiential Sustainability Consultant

With over 18 years’ experience in events and experiential, Chrissie has delivered sustainable event projects for global brands such as Shell, Virgin Atlantic and Nissan and has recently set up her own sustainability consultancy for the events industry, Worlds Better.

Chrissie has a wealth of specialist experience from working supplier, agency and client side as well as vast practical experience – including carbon measurement for projects large and small. Chrissie is qualified in Sustainability Essentials for Business from University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability and is also Sustainability Lecturer at The Event Academy.

Company & Role: emc3, Account Director & Head of Sustainability

With over ten years experience in global event management, Saskya is a well-respected and highly sought-after voice within the event sustainability movement. Saskya is Head of Sustainability at emc3, Founder of From Now and an isla advisory board member, and outside of the industry dedicates her time into finding and sharing solutions to live a little greener, in fashion, travel and the home.

Company & Role: Chorus, Director of Events & Operations

Cassidy is the Director of Operations and Events at London based creative agency Chorus where she leads projects for global clients including EY and Diageo.

Cassidy’s event experience covers all sectors including conferences, conventions, product launches, awards shows, public events, live broadcast, performance, and brand activations. 

Cassidy has led delivery teams on a number of successful high profile projects throughout her career and her effective leadership and expertise in the creative and production process ensure clients objectives are always delivered on a world class scale.

Company & Role: 73 Media, Managing Director

73 Media owner, Ed Tranter, has held a series of senior management roles across Miller Freeman, Centaur and Informa before joining Findlay Media in 2008.

As a founding director of Findlay Media, Ed worked across the portfolio of print and online products, launching its award-winning exhibition business from its stable of publications in 2012.

After the acquisition of Findlay by Mark Allen Group (MAG) in 2013, Ed became a member of the group board and executive director of MA Business. MAG was a strong publisher, but with little or no exhibitions business, Ed was tasked with the launch of MA Exhibitions. In less than four years, and built largely on launches and organic growth, MA Exhibitions became a multi-award-winning organiser, delivering 36% of the group’s turnover, with events on five continents.

In December 2018, Ed launched 73 Media, an award-winning events agency and organiser. The team at 73 deliver physical and virtual events, including The Rugby Show, The One Earth Show, AccountingWEB Live, and Manufacturing & Engineering Week, and work with clients across, sports, charity, associations, media, and corporates.

Ed frequently consults for event organisers, publishers, and associations. He is a conference speaker, regular industry awards judge, a member of the AEO board, guest lecturer at the University of East London’s event school and was included within the 2020 Eventex Most Influential People in the Event Industry.

Company & Role: 15Hatfields, Deputy General Manager

Since joining 15Hatfields in 2012, Joe Harris has been a key part of the Southbank venue’s continued success story. Recently promoted to deputy general manager, Joe’s passion to help set a blueprint for others in the events sector to follow, means he has his finger on the pulse of any new sustainable initiatives or products as he and the team continually seek new ways to further improve 15Hatfields’ own sustainability credentials.

Like all staff at the venue, Joe has achieved Level 2 in the CIEH course for Environmental Principles and Best Practice. He also represents 15Hatfields in Greengage’s Platinum Inner Circle, a group of the UK’s leading sustainable venues, all of which have been accredited with ECOsmart platinum.

Company & Role: Reset Connect London, Chief Executive Office & Co-Founder

With over 20 years of experience running large-scale events & media products, Duncan has led award-winning exhibition, conference & publishing teams in the US, UK and across the world. Previous awards include Best Trade show and Best Conference at the UK's AEO & EN awards, and Trade Show Executive Fastest 50 in the US. He is past-Chairman of the UK's AEO Development Board.

Following 10 years at Clarion Events, latterly as EVP of their large global energy portfolio, Duncan left to Co-Found Reset Connect, an integrated events and year-round community platform driving net-zero solutions and their financing.

DRPG, Chief Executive Officer

Dale Parmenter has been in the events and communications industry for over 42 years. He left school with one goal to run his own business, after just 3 years the opportunity arose, and Dale took it, operating at first from a small outbuilding at his parents home.

Today DRPG is recognised as one of the leading creative communication groups in the UK. The DRPG team comprises of over 420 specialists across locations in the UK, Germany and North America. The company works globally offering a range of communication solutions, from creative development, video, live events, digital, design, exhibition and print.

He is actively involved with key corporate clients, he works at a senior level assisting in the development of communication strategies and creating presentation vehicles. Clients find his wealth of experience and knowledge invaluable in creating solutions that are bespoke to an organisation and are effective.   

Dale is passionate about nurturing new talent and putting his people first. DRPG appears in the Sunday Times Best 100 Companies to Work For list at number 16 and has been awarded the Investors in People Gold standard for the past decade, achieving Platinum accreditation in 2020. In recent years, Dale received the Pioneer Award at the CN Agency Awards and recognised by Eventex in its 100 Most Influential People in the Event Industry annual list. Dale is also a board member of leading events association EVCOM.

Company & Role: OrangeDoor, Head of Growth

Ed Low is Head of Growth at OrangeDoor, a UK-based global creative events agency. OrangeDoor has undergone a significant transformation in the last two years and a big part of that has been helped by their pursuit of B Corp accreditation and the framework that it has provided. OrangeDoor is purpose-led and introduced a ‘Triple Bottom Line’ where they balance People and the Planet alongside Profit in their targets and KPIs.

Ed is part of the senior leadership team and one of the drivers of the B Corp accreditation. He also steers business and growth strategies for OrangeDoor and B2B marketing strategies for clients. OrangeDoor won ‘Agency of the Year’ and the ‘Grand Prix’ at the recent Micebook V-Awards for the way OrangeDoor has evolved.

Company & Role: Cvent Europe, Senior Marketing Manager

Felicia is the Senior Marketing Manager for Event Marketing and Management solutions at Cvent Europe. She has over 16 years’ sales and marketing experience in fast-moving technology organisations and is an experienced CIM qualified marketing professional. She has run events both personally and professionally throughout her career and is instrumental in delivering Cvent’s flagship annual European event Cvent CONNECT Europe among other events.

Felicia has a background in content and marketing management and is currently responsible for the strategic direction of the Cvent’s marketing team in Europe including expansion planning, brand management, digital experiences, campaign planning and execution, demand generation, lead management and event management. She regularly speaks on topics including marketing, events, technology, self-belief and DE&I at conferences, exhibitions, roundtables, awards and other business events.

She is one of the co-founders of M&IT Award winning organisation the Diverse Speaker Bureau, is one of the FastForward15 Diversity Ambassadors and sits on the Diversity and Inclusion Council within Cvent. Felicia is passionate about marketers pushing the boundaries of technology to enhance creativity, increase flexibility and reduce waste (of time, money, effort, and materials) whilst personalising experiences for customers, prospects and brand advocates through both digital and offline channels.

Company & Role: ICE, Strategy Director

Anita is the co-founder of ICE which is a global community for corporate event planners.  Having run and successfully sold her event agency One Events in 2006 followed by an Event Registration company in 2016 she is an accomplished and experienced Strategy Director with an excellent background in creating and successfully running SME businesses

Company & Role: Consciasm, Founder

Phil Clarke is founder of Consciam, a purpose-led sustainability consultancy and B Corp, inspiring businesses to drive positive environmental and social change. A B Lab trained “B Leader”, Phil has helped numerous companies on their journey to B Corp Certification, and is a Co-Chair of B Local Cornwall+ (the south west B Corp community).

Other project services include carbon footprint/impact measurement (scope 1, 2 & 3) and setting impact reduction strategies (Net Zero, Net Positive, Science-Based Targets). Clients include global business, SMEs, microbusiness, and not for profits.  Phil was formerly Head of Environmental Sustainability for Capgemini UK Ltd.

Company & Role: The Iceberg, Producer

Co-create a legacy from your event in alignment with the mission and purpose of your organisation using the Copenhagen Legacy Lab – a tool which has already facilitated spectacular outcomes in the future treatment of cancer patients in Spain. You are invited to join CN`s legacy partner, The Iceberg, in a session encouraging sustainable development outcomes in partnership with your host destination.