The UFI Board of Directors has today elected Anbu Varathan as President of UFI for the 2020/21 period. The decision was made at the board meeting that marks the start of the annual UFI European Conference in Birmingham (UK).
The UFI presidential trio for the 2019/20 term will therefore comprise of:
· Anbu Varathan (Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association – IMTMA, India) Incoming President
· Mary Larkin (Diversified Communications, Portland, USA) President 2019/20
· Craig Newman (Johannesburg Expo Centre, South Africa) Outgoing President
This decision becomes effective at the conclusion of the 86th UFI Global Congress, which runs from 6-9 November 2019 in Bangkok (Thailand).
Anbu Varathan is Director General & CEO of the Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association (IMTMA), organizer of the IMTEX exbititions, which are among the largest machine tool industry exhibitions in the world. He is also the Chief Executive Officer of the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC).
Anbu Varathan has been active in UFI for many years, supporting the association’s mission and driving developments especially in Asia. He has been serving on the UFI Board of Directors since 2011, and was further appointed onto the UFI Executive Committee in 2017. He will be the first UFI president from India in the history of the association.
Craig Newman, UFI’s current President, welcomed the election of Anbu Varathan, saying: “I am pleased to welcome Anbu Varathan to his new role in the UFI leadership team as the Incoming President. Together with Mary Larkin, I’m looking forward to our close collaboration and I wish him every success in performing all the important duties that are required of this position.”
Anbu Varathan commented: “I am delighted to be part of UFI’s top leadership in the coming years and to continue with the development and support that UFI has provided the industry for so long. As the first President in UFI’s history based in India, I’m even more pleased to have been elected to this position, and it is a great honour for me to fulfil my duties.”
As UFI’s incoming President, Anbu Varathan 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 global mission to connect, support, and promote the exhibition industry around the world.
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 Italy (Corado Perraboni 2017/18), 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).
Attached: Anbu Varathan’s biography and portrait photo, photo of UFI’s presidential trio for 2019/20.
