White Plains, NY—GLM Holdings’ senior vice president Dorothy Belshaw today announced she has resigned from GLM effective March 21 to become president of the Gift division for International Market Centers of Las Vegas and High Point, NC. Belshaw, who joined GLM in 1992, directed the New York International Gift Fair, which concluded its Winter show in January. She also was responsible for the sales, customer service and corporate communications departments.
The news makes Belshaw the fourth executive to leave GLM in the past six months. Last Fall, GLM president Alan E. Steel, Jeff Little and senior vice president Jack Withiam announced they were leaving the firm. Last month, Steel was named president and CEO of the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York.
GLM Holdings was created by Providence Equity Partners as part of its acquisition of George Little Management last year. In addition to the New York International Gift Fair, GLM produces the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, the National Stationery Show and 13 other events. The New York event last year ranked No. 21 among Trade Show Executive’s Gold 100 shows, ranked by net square feet of exhibit space.
In an email, Belshaw called her time at GLM “rewarding and fulfilling.” In a phone interview, she told Trade Show Executive that the position with International Market Centers is a “special opportunity and I’m very much looking forward to being part of the IMC team—especially given the new ownership and the compelling positioning they’ve created.”
International Market Centers, a network of premium home furnishings, gift, and home décor showroom and exhibition space, was launched last Spring. It is majority-owned by funds managed by Bain Capital Partners and a subsidiary of investment funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management L.P. Its portfolio includes 18 buildings in High Point, NC totaling more than 11 million gross square feet of showroom space.
Belshaw will commute most weeks between her Greenwich, CT home and Las Vegas. It will be a sort of homecoming. Between 2001 and 2007, she supervised GLM’s Los Angeles office, from which the company’s West Coast Gift Shows were managed. At IMC, Belshaw will report to CEO Robert Maricich and will oversee the five-person trade show sales team as well as managing the World Market Center’s permanent gift leasing team.
“I look forward to working with this dynamic team as we establish Gift+Home as the premiere gift show west of the Mississippi,” Belshaw said. The Gift+Home at Las Vegas Market is a growing market for the gift and home décor industry in the Western U.S., posting a 130% increase in gift buyer attendance in the last three years.
Reach Dorothy Belshaw after March 21 at (203) 979-9597 or dmbelshaw@me.com
