Hugh Jones to Lead UFI as President in 2024-25

The UFI Board of Directors has elected Hugh Jones, CEO RX, as the UFI President for the 2024-25 period.

The UFI Presidential Trio for the November 2023 – November 2024 term will, therefore, be:

• Geoff Dickinson (CEO, dmg events), President
• Hugh Jones (CEO, RX), Incoming President
• Michael Duck (EVP – Commercial Development, Informa Markets), Outgoing President

This decision will come into effect at the conclusion of the 90th UFI Global Congress, taking place this 1-4 November 2023, in Las Vegas, USA. Hugh Jones will become UFI President at the 91st UFI Global Congress in Cologne, Germany, in November 2024.
 
Hugh Jones joined RELX, RX’s mother company, in 2011, following the purchase of Accuity where he was Chief Executive Officer. In addition to leading Accuity, he has also led Fircosoft, NRS, I.C.I.S, Estates Gazette (EG) and Cirium; and before joining RX he was Global Managing Director within the Risk and Business Analytics Division. Hugh’s experience has seen him lead large-scale acquisitions and subsequent integrations of many companies that now reside and prosper within the RELX portfolio. Hugh joined RX as CEO at the start of 2020. 
 
Michael Duck, UFI’s current President, says: “Hugh Jones brings with him a wonderful perspective on our business on a global scale. He has excellent feel as to market sentiment and I am 100% sure he will bring many new ideas especially in digital in the years to come. RX is one of the world’s most important exhibition companies. Having Hugh in the UFI presidential trio and as President of UFI as from November 2024 will bring added experience to UFI’s work and guidance.”
 
Hugh Jones adds: “I am delighted and honored to be joining the UFI presidential trio team this November.  It’s a really exciting time for the exhibitions industry, with so much innovation in all corners of the world and UFI has a front row seat to it all.  I can’t wait to get started and to support the team as we make the magic happen.”
 
As UFI’s Incoming President, Jones will work closely with the President and Outgoing President as part of the Presidential Trio, managing UFI at the highest level and furthering UFI’s mission to connect, support and promote the exhibition industry around the world.
 
UFI was founded in 1925 as a non-profit, non-partisan and international association. Today, it is the global association for the exhibition industry, directly representing more than 50,000 exhibition industry professionals in almost 90 countries around the world. UFI is headquartered in Paris, France, and operates three regional offices in Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa.
 
True to the association’s global presence, UFI’s recent Presidents have been from Hong Kong (Monica Lee-Müller, 2021-22), India (Anbu Varathan, 2020-21), the USA (Mary Larkin, 2019-20), South Africa (Craig Newman, 2018-19), and Italy (Corrado Peraboni, 2017-18).