Stamford, CT – dmg :: events announced today that industry veteran Galen Poss has been appointed to the newly created position of chief operating officer (COO) reporting to chairman and CEO Suresh Kavan. Poss will take the helm of dmg’s five recently restructured business units, which include Energy, Retail, Middle East, Leadership Conferences and Digital Marketing, and will work with leadership of the five units to further strengthen their market positions and drive growth.
Poss told Trade Show Executive that he is excited about getting back into the exposition industry. “dmg is a world-class organization with exciting prospects,” he said. “I look forward to working with the leaders of each unit and their teams, and to be part of the next chapter of the dmg :: growth story. ”
He noted, “Due to the restructuring of dmg in the last 18 months, the company is in a very strong position. Much of the heavy lifting has already been done.” He praised the decentralized business model and said, “The way each division is structured allows entrepreneurialism to shine.” Poss said his first order of business is to work with the current five leaders of each business unit to find opportunities to cross-pollinate ideas and create more portfolio products to expand the business.
Among the tasks at hand will be oversight of three of dmg’s largest shows, the two semi-annual New York International Gift Fairs and Surf Expo, which ranked No. 22, No. 29 and No. 79, respectively, on the Trade Show Executive Gold 100 ranking of the largest trade shows in the U.S.
Poss is on staff now but will fully saddle up in January. He will be based in Dallas, and since each of the five dmg units operates in a different corner of the world, Poss said he will spend a great deal of time on the road.
“We are enormously excited to have someone of Galen’s exceptional pedigree join us to help steward our businesses to even greater heights,” said Kavan. “He is renowned in the industry as being a growth-focused, entrepreneurial leader with a terrific track record.”
Poss’s 33 years in the trade show industry has included positions as president of Hanley-Wood Exhibitions from January 2000 to June 2009, and group president of Miller Freeman. He has been chairman of the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) and the Society of Independent Show Organizers (SISO), and served on the boards of the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE) and the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau. His service to the industry earned him the coveted William Hunt Eisenman Award from IAEE in 1999.
Reach Suresh Kavan at (203) 973-2940; Galen Poss at (817) 832-3210 or gposs@verizon.net
