UFI elects Mary Larkin as future president for the 2019/20 term

02.05.2018

The decision was made at the board meeting during the UFI European Conference in Verona (Italy). It becomes effective at the conclusion of the 85th UFI Global Congress, which runs from 31 October to 3 November 2018 in St. Petersburg.

The UFI presidential trio for the 2018/19 term will therefore comprise of:
Craig Newman (Johannesburg Expo Centre, South Africa), president 2018/19
Mary Larkin (Diversified Communications, Portland, USA), incoming president
Corrado Peraboni (Fiera Milano, Italy), outgoing president.

Corrado Peraboni, UFI’s current president, welcomed the election of Mary Larkin, saying: “I congratulate Mary Larkin for being elected as the new UFI incoming president. It will be a great privilege for me to be part of the presidential trio, together with Craig Newman and Andreas Gruchow in this historical moment - Mary will be the first female president in UFI’s history, and also the first to be based in the USA. I wish her every success in performing all the important duties that are required of this position.”

Mary Larkin commented: "I am delighted to be part of UFI’s leadership in the coming years and to continue with the development and support that UFI has provided the industry for so long. I am particularly looking forward to representing and working with women to help increase the level of female representation in leadership positions within the industry."

As UFI’s incoming president, Mary Larkin will work closely with the incumbent president and outgoing president to make up the presidential trio, managing UFI at the highest level, and helping UFI continue on its path of global development.

UFI was founded in 1925 as a non-profit, non-partisan international association, and today is the global association for the exhibitions industry, directly representing more than 50,000 exhibition industry professionals in almost 90 countries around the world. UFI operates four regional offices in addition to the headquarters in Paris. UFI's recent presidents were from Germany (Andreas Gruchow 2016/17), Russia (Sergey Alexeev 2015/16), Colombia (Andrés López-Valderrama 2014/15), France (Renaud Hamaide, 2013/14), and China (Xianjin Chen, 2012/13).