Adelaide Venue Management announces the appointment of Sarah Goldfinch as General Manager – Adelaide Convention Centre. An accomplished and innovative leader, driven by creating outstanding guest experiences, Sarah joins the Centre following an illustrious career leading luxury and lifestyle hotels. This has included senior leadership roles within IHG Hotels & Resorts along with Accor Hotels. Most recently, Sarah operated her own business consultancy, Goldfinch Hospitality, offering executive level strategic and operational direction to clients in the tourism and hospitality sectors.
Martin Radcliffe, Chief Executive Officer at Adelaide Venue Management – operators of Adelaide Convention Centre – says that Sarah’s wealth of experience coupled with her commercial acumen, customer-centric focus and strong passion for South Australia, makes her uniquely qualified to lead the Centre’s team and drive its global ambition.
“We’re delighted to officially welcome Sarah to the team. Her extensive experience and networks will further grow our Centre and destination’s standing in the highly competitive global events marketplace,” comments Martin.
“Sarah will be an impactful ambassador for the Centre as we work to bring more national and international conventions and events to Adelaide and continue to elevate our delegate experience.”
Before moving into consulting, Sarah led the opening of the new Crowne Plaza Adelaide hotel, which went on to be awarded ‘Best Business Hotel’ in Australia 2021 by respected publication HM Magazine.
Sarah consulted for the luxury Oval Hotel at Adelaide Oval, guiding the pre-opening team on everything from operations through to sales and marketing strategy. She also enjoyed a seven-year tenure as General Manager at Novotel Barossa Valley Resort, with a focus on events business. Sarah has served on numerous boards supporting regional development, events and tourism, including Business Events Adelaide and as Chair of Artisans of Barossa.
Sarah comments on her new role: “I’m thrilled to be joining the Adelaide Convention Centre team at such an exciting time for events in South Australia, and look forward to helping further build upon the Centre’s reputation for innovation and excellence, as well as advance the great work it has been doing in the sustainability space.” Sarah’s appointment follows a record 2022/23 for Adelaide Convention Centre, with the venue on track to achieve another outstanding result this year. During 2023/24, Adelaide Convention Centre will host some 82 major national and international business events, injecting more than $190 million in economic benefit into the South Australian economy. Sarah will officially commence in the role in February 2024.
