SHELTON, Conn. — In spring 2026, Clarion Events North America announced a host of executive-level promotions. These include:
Energy:
- Wayne Bishop Jr. joined Clarion as Executive Vice President of its Energy Portfolio
- Paul Daniel joined Clarion as Vice President of Energy Media
- Leigh Mann was promoted to Vice President of Strategy and Commercial Development for the Energy Portfolio
- Erin Moriarty expanded her role as Vice President of Sales to now include the Energy Portfolio (in addition to Fire & Rescue)
Infocast:
- Nicole Peck expanded her role as Executive Vice President of the Digital Innovation Portfolio (which includes ITC Vegas and MAU Vegas) to now also oversee the Infocast Portfolio
- Peggy Franzino was promoted to Vice President, Brand Strategy and Commercial Development, Infocast
Retail & Specialty:
- Jamie Reesby transitioned her role to now oversee two of Clarion’s association events: The NGA Show and Indian Gaming Tradeshow and Convention
Also, John McDermott joined as Chief Financial Officer, Clarion Events North America.
Trade Show Executive sat down with Liz Irving, CEO of Clarion Events North America, to discuss these updates.
ANDREW: What inspired these staffing changes?
LIZ: As customer expectations transform, our business continues to evolve, and our structure must evolve with it. These updates are the result of very intentional choices about how we position Clarion Events North America for long-term growth.
We’ve taken a step back to look holistically at how we scale across portfolios, functions and leadership to identify opportunities to better align teams around expertise, collaboration and clear ownership.
The goal isn’t change for the sake of change. It’s about building a stronger, more connected organization that can move faster, make smarter decisions and serve our customers more effectively.
At the core, these updates reflect how we want to grow: with deeper industry expertise, stronger cross-functional partnership and leadership structures that support both performance today and development for the future.
ANDREW: Why is now the right time for these moves?
LIZ: It feels like we say this increasingly more often, but we’re at a pivotal moment in the exhibitions industry. Customer expectations are evolving rapidly, driven by technology and an accelerating pace of business.
Over the past few years, we’ve built strong momentum across our portfolios. Now is the time to scale that success more intentionally.
That means ensuring we have the right leadership in place, the right team structures and the right level of accountability to support continued growth.
It’s also about being proactive, not reactive. We’re investing ahead of where the business is going, so we can maintain speed to market, drive innovation and continue delivering value at a higher level.
ANDREW: What do you look for when adding a new executive to the Clarion team?
LIZ: We look for leaders who combine experience with curiosity and a genuine passion for what they do. Industry expertise is important, but equally important is the ability to bring fresh perspectives: new ideas, different experiences and a willingness to challenge the status quo.
The best leaders are those who don’t settle. They continuously look for ways to improve, collaborate and unlock new opportunities.
Just as critical is alignment with our culture and global values — passion, care, imagination and trust. We’re intentional about building a leadership team that not only delivers results but elevates those around them and strengthens how we work together as an organization.
ANDREW: What do you look for when promoting someone within Clarion?
LIZ: Our greatest strength is the talent we’ve developed within Clarion, and many of our leaders have grown their careers here.
When we promote from within, we’re recognizing more than performance — we’re recognizing potential, leadership mindset and a commitment to continuous growth. The individuals who stand out take ownership, encourage strong collaboration, lean into opportunities and consistently push beyond what’s expected.
Many of our leaders “caught the tradeshow bug” early in their careers and have grown through hard work, resilience and a willingness to try new things. They’re collaborative, they support their colleagues and they actively contribute to building a stronger organization.
Equally important, they invest in others. One of the programs we’re most proud of is our reverse mentoring initiative.
We just completed our second year of pairing executive leaders with the next generation of leaders — this creates space to bring forward new voices and perspectives across the business.
Last year’s program had meaningful impact — driving a clear focus on improving legacy processes that no longer supported how we work today.
ANDREW: How do these staffing updates set up Clarion for further success in the modern exhibitions landscape?
LIZ: These changes position us to operate in a more connected, agile and scalable way. We’ve aligned portfolio teams to drive deeper collaboration.
We refer to it as the “triangle” between commercial, content and marketing. When those functions work in close partnership, we create stronger outcomes for our customers and more sustainable growth.
At the same time, we continue to strengthen our central leadership to support how we scale — evolving our focus on financial discipline, process and operational clarity. Across both portfolio and central functions, we’re building leadership depth and clear ownership.
That enables faster decision-making, stronger accountability and the ability to scale best practices more effectively. Ultimately, this structure allows us to combine specialization with collaboration, ensuring we’re experts in our industries while operating as one connected organization.
We’re incredibly proud of the leaders who have stepped into new roles, whether through promotion or joining the business. What stands out across the group is a shared mindset of commitment to excellence, openness to new ideas and a strong belief in collaboration. Each of these leaders brings something unique, whether it’s deep industry expertise, a track record of innovation and operational clarity, or the ability to build and inspire high-performing teams.
Rather than highlighting individuals, I would emphasize that this is a collective strength. It’s the combination of diverse experiences, backgrounds and perspectives that will continue to move Clarion forward.
ANDREW: Could you walk through how the transition process is working/will work?
LIZ: We’ve been very deliberate in how we manage these transitions. A key part of the process has been bringing teams together in person, whether onsite during events or through full-team strategy sessions, to create alignment and a shared understanding of priorities.
We also approach this with an open mindset, learning from what’s worked well without being constrained by it. An invaluable part of the process is time spent with customers, enabling new leaders to hear first-hand their perspectives and goals.
This intentional approach creates a strong foundation to refine how we operate, improve processes and set teams up to scale effectively. While at the same time, we ensure everyone stays empowered, aligned and clear on where we’re heading.
ANDREW: Do you anticipate any more staffing updates? If so, in what areas?
LIZ: We will always continue to evolve as the business evolves. Our focus is on building the right capabilities for the future.
That doesn’t necessarily mean large-scale changes, but rather a continuous approach to development: creating opportunities for our people to grow while ensuring we have the right skills and leadership in place as the business scales.
At its core, this is about how we grow — not just as a business, but as a team and as individual.
We are evolving how we lead, how we collaborate and how we support each other. That includes creating opportunities for people to step into new roles, amplify their strengths and bring forward new ideas.
Programs like reverse mentoring are a great example of this: giving more people a voice, encouraging new perspectives and strengthening the organization from within. We’re building an environment where people can do their best work, continue to develop and contribute to something larger.
That’s what ultimately drives our success and why we’re excited about what’s ahead.
