I consider myself to be an exhibitions and event professional with over 30 years experience of organising events, notably globally recognised boat shows in the London and Southampton Boat Shows. In addition I have provided event consultancy to inagural boat shows in India and the UAE. I was also a member of the Association of Exhibition Organisers (AEO) Committee and the International Federation of Boat Show Organisers’ (IFBSO) Executive Committee. I am a golf enthusiast and live in Hamsphire with my youngest son.

Having started my career as a trainee Chartered Accountant, it quickly took a change of direction into the event industry by way of an appointment with Artman Exhibitions, the founders of the Southampton Boat Show. This employment provided a solid general grounding in organising events through carrying out the Show Manager’s responsibilities for the above Show together with other events.

The previous acquisition of the Southampton Boat Show by British Marine subsequently resulted in 1986 with British Marine taking overall control of the Southampton Boat Show resulting in my appointment as Operations Manager for British Marine’s subsidiary National Boat Shows. This role required assisting in the

Promotion in 1997 to the Director of Operations provided the opportunity to lead the Operations team to achieve the strategy and objectives of the London and Southampton Boat Shows including the preparation and management of the annual expenditure budgets (circa £6m) together with reporting to the Board of Directors on all operational issues for the events.

In 2004 I was responsible for the successful implementation of the project to move London Boat Show from Earls Court to ExCeL.

Further promotion in 2011 to Managing Director for National Boat Shows Ltd (subsequently re-titled Chief Officer of Boat Shows for British Marine) resulted in the overall responsibility for the delivery of British Marine’s annual boat shows (circa £10m turnover). In addition, the role required the preparation of the annual business plan and budget together with the reporting to the Board of Directors on all NBS events.

In 2017, I was instrumental in securing a contract to provide consulting event services to the Abu Dhabi International Boat Show, which took place in October 2018.