Strategic moves: Messe Düsseldorf restructures with new appointments

Messe Düsseldorf has made a number of local and international appointments to reflect a more “streamlined” management team.

Among the changes is Messe Reps and Travel, the New Zealand representative for trade fairs organised by Messe Düsseldorf and Koelnmesse, expanding into Sydney with a Messe Reps Pty Ltd office set to open in January 2020 ahead of drupa in June.

Robert Laing, who runs Messe Reps and Travel with his wife Roslyn, said some changes in drupa’s representation in Australia meant he would now be the local contact point for the show for both New Zealand and Australia.

Laing has vast experience and knowledge of trade fairs and travel planning with drupa 1990 being his first ever drupa. Messe Reps and Travel also has extensive local contacts in Düsseldorf and Germany which is particularly valuable when dealing with super events like drupa.

Messe Reps can assist anyone in Australia and New Zealand who is seeking to attend drupa as either an exhibitor or a visitor and can provide comprehensive information about the show as well as help with travel plans.

In addition they can offer accommodation options for Australians looking to make the trip.

“Accommodation in Düsseldorf or the surrounds is often the hardest part of the whole trip to organise. With around 300,000 exhibitors and visitors at drupa, it can often be tough to find somewhere to sleep,” Laing told Sprinter.

A website specific for Australians has also just been launched: www.messereps.com.au

For more information, please contact robert@messereps.com.au or call 0427 353 536.

In changes at the senior level Wolfram N. Diener was also named as the new president and chief executive officer at Messe Düsseldorf GmbH.

Wolfram N. Diener announced as new president and CEO at Messe Düsseldorf GmbH

At a shareholders’ meeting on December 4 presided over by its chairman, Lord Mayor Thomas Geisel, Diener was given his title. He succeeds Werner M. Dornscheidt, who will retire at the end of June 2020 after almost 17 years at the helm of the Düsseldorf trade fair company.

Diener will take up his post on 1 July 2020.

A graduate of business administration, Diener was previously responsible for the Asian trade fair operations of Messe Frankfurt (H.K.) Ltd. from the end of the 1990s as managing director. In 2001, he joined the management at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre Ltd. After various management positions with Asian trade fair and congress companies, he successfully worked as a member of the management board at UBM Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong until 2018.

In the role of president and CEO, Diener will continue to be responsible for the operational projects he has managed since joining the company in 2018: the Global Portfolio Health and Medical Technologies with the trade fairs MEDICA, COMPAMED and REHACARE International, the Global Portfolio Metals and Flow Technologies with the trade fairs GIFA, THERMPROCESS, NEWCAST, Valve World Expo, METEC, wire and Tube, the Portfolio Beauty with the leading trade fairs BEAUTY DÜSSELDORF and TOP HAIR – DIE MESSE, the Portfolio Glass Technologies with the trade fairs glasstec and tasc, the Portfolio Occupational Safety & Health with A+A – Safety, Security and Health at Work, as well as the Portfolio Caravanning & Outdoor with CARAVAN SALON DÜSSELDORF and TourNatur.

He will also be responsible for the Global Portfolio Plastics & Rubber with the world leading trade fair K and also for the departments International Business, Corporate Communications, Protocol and Events, Human Resources, Legal and Insurance, Internal Auditing as well as Affiliates and Subsidiaries.

In addition to Diener’s appointment, Erhard Wienkamp has been appointed as the new managing director operative trade fair business.

Wienkamp will succeed Hans Werner Reinhard, who left the company on 30 September 2019, and will take on the role effective on 1 January 2020.

Lord Mayor Thomas Geisel welcomed this restructuring and said, “Messe Düsseldorf will have a streamlined, powerful and above all expert management team that will give the company the necessary agility to face the future in these times of digitalisation, global challenges and growing responsibility.”

 

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