Geoff Dickinson to Lead UFI as President in 2023-24

The UFI Board of Directors has today elected Geoff Dickinson as UFI President for the 2023-24 period.

The UFI Presidential Trio (cover photo) for the 2022-23 term will, therefore, be:

• Michael Duck (EVP – Commercial Development, Informa Markets, and EVP – Commercial Development, Group at Informa Group), President
• Geoff Dickinson (CEO dmg events) Incoming President
• Monica Lee-Müller (Managing Director of Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (Management) Limited (HML), Hong Kong), Outgoing President

This decision will come into effect at the conclusion of the 89th UFI Global Congress, which runs 14-17 November 2022, in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman.

Geoff Dickinson, a graduate of the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, began his career in publishing with emap in London. He worked for a variety of events businesses holding numerous senior roles and he spent over a decade as an entrepreneur in Dubai launching two successful exhibitions businesses. In 2010 he returned to the corporate world by becoming the CEO of dmg events, a leading organiser of more than 80 events in 25 countries and a publisher of trade magazines. Dickinson has supported the association’s mission for many years, taking part in several UFI events as a speaker and being a sponsor of various UFI activities.

Monica Lee-Müller, UFI’s current President, says: “I am pleased to welcome Geoff to the UFI leadership team, alongside Michael Duck. I look forward to working with him, as he takes on the role of Incoming President. I wish him every success in performing all the important duties that are required of this position. I know he will be a wonderful leader for our global industry.”

Geoff Dickinson says: “I just want to say a big thank you to the board of UFI for supporting me to be the president in 2024. I can’t begin to say how flattered and honoured. I’ve loved working with UFI over the last couple of years. I’d be delighted to take on this role in 2024, and delighted to be supporting the executive team in the coming years. I would like to thank everybody very much for all of your support”.

As UFI’s Incoming President, Geoff Dickinson 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, international association, and today 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 operates from four regional offices, in addition to its headquarters in Paris.

True to the association’s global presence, UFI’s recent presidents have been from India (Anbu Varathan, 2020-21), the USA (Mary Larkin, 2019-20), South Africa (Craig Newman, 2018-19), Italy (Corrado Peraboni, 2017-18), Germany (Andreas Gruchow, 2016-17), Russia (Sergey Alexeev, 2015-16), Colombia (Andrés López-Valderrama, 2014-15) and France (Renaud Hamaide, 2013-14).