The Middle East’s Leading Architects Forum

SEPTEMBER 13th - 16th, 2013, QATAR

Oliver Needs - President & Founding Director

A manager at Blenheim Group Plc (the world's largest trade-show organizer), he left in 1994 to found McLean Publishing. As MD at McLean, he launched the first ever business 'forum' type of event in Asia; ASPEC (Penang, 1997) representing the petroleum industry.

In 1999, he brought Jonathan Needs and James Burke together, to create Pelican Events Ltd which presented HOTEC Asia & Middle East. James and Jonathan now have Atticus Events and two highly successful HiDesign events for which Oliver still assists with the meetings matching system that he invented in 1998.

In 2002, as Managing Director, Oliver founded Cornhill Events, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Sterling Publishing Group PLC (now SPG Media PLC). There he conceived and launched many successful forum events including; LEAF, Global Semiconductor Forum and The European Banking Forum EMBF.

In 2004, eager to return to private enterprise, Oliver teamed up with Mike Murray and formed BOND Events to concentrate on Architecture and Design forums. BOND now has four annual events worldwide: Arc-LatinAmerica (Launched 2004) Arc-interiors (2006) Arc-Middle East (2010) and Arc-Asia Pacific (First launched as fala in 2005, relaunched 2010).

Stephen Garwood - Event Director Arc-Middle East, Regional Manager EMEA

Stephen has worked for many years in UK Television Drama both as a Director and Producer. In 2005 he won a Scottish BAFTA for best drama series. A bilingual English/French speaker, Stephen set up an internet directory business based in the Cognac area of South Western France in 2006. He is now working full time for BOND Events running the Arc-Middle East Forum.

Christopher J. Pond - Vice President

Chris began his career in advertising and then transitioned into the conference and exhibition world. Chris has ten years of event management and corporate sponsorship experience in the architectural and design industry.

He has worked closely and has consulted thousands of organizations and manufacturers over the years to gain tremendous exposure and market share within the architectural community.

Rob Norton - Chief Executive Officer

Rob is a 25 year veteran of the media and marketing communications industry.

He started his career in advertising at Saatchi & Saatchi and J Walter Thompson, working on clients such as BP and Kellogg, later reaching senior board-level positions at Datamonitor and SPG Media where at the latter, he ran a £25m product portfolio of publications, business summits, conferences and websites.

His achievements include the launch of 20 websites attracting over 25 million unique visitors and channeling 40,000 enquiries per year through to advertisers; the planning and launch of an events division at SPG (with Oliver Needs), which achieved a turnover of £4m in two years, and numerous situations where he has driven the growth of business units or returned underperforming divisions to profitability.

He is a co-founder of Snowfire, a successful events services agency, and has acted as a consultant to a number of SME media companies.

Laurentino Vizan - Vice President, Latin America

Laurentino a Spanish national who has lived and worked in the UK for over 30 years began his career in the airline industry with major US carriers. He started his own business travel company incorporating the organisation of media packages and corporate events for the World Cup in the USA and the Rugby world cup in South Africa.

He has worked closely with Oliver since 2002 in a senior management role, first of all with Cornhill Events, Sterling Events where they launched 12 forum events. Laurentino continues to break new ground with the addition of the new forum event in Latin America, Arc-Latin America, for which he is responsible on a day to day basis as Show Director.

Santiago Gamarra - Regional Sales Manager - South & Central America

Santiago has enjoyed a successful career in sales and business development over the last 10 years. Based in Argentina, he is responsible at BOND Events for business development in Spanish-speaking Latin America.

He was a member of the UPS start-up team in Argentina, where as Sales Supervisor his remit included customer service and telesales, with a staff of 21 across the country.

His introduction to the architecture sector began a number of years ago, at Summa+, one of Latin America’s leading architecture & design magazines, where he was responsible for advertising, marketing and distribution. During this period, he also successfully launched BARZON, a leading design magazine in the region.

Latterly, he has acted as the Argentina Representative of Revestir, the largest ceramics and coverings trade show in the region.

José Vicente Fernández – Regional Manager

Jose has extensive experience in the world of marketing and business management. Backed by his years as International Brand Manager responsible for product management, purchasing and sales of several product lines related to textiles. He was later part of a management team of a department store as product manager. Being responsible for maximizing sales results across the different business areas. Now in BOND Events he is responsible for markets in Portugal and Spain, and is centered on promoting and developing the business of our events in these markets.

Laura Vizan - Operations Manager

Laura Vizan has recently become a member of the BOND Events team, responsible for the operations of the events at all locations in the United States, Middle East and Latin America. Laura is focused and dedicated to looking after all delegate requirements and ensuring that each event runs smoothly for all attendees. A graduate of Exeter University, Laura's degree is BA Honours in Spanish. Being fluent in Spanish, Laura worked in her third year of University abroad in advertising and marketing for Bassat Ogilvy in Madrid. Laura is from St. Andrews in Scotland.

Daniela Sajitz – Regional Manager

Daniela Sajitz has joined BOND in 2011 and is responsible for all German speaking customers in Germany, Austria & Switzerland. The former Digital Media Designer has a varied experience in Media, Marketing, the Hotel Business and Private Health Care Sector. Originally from the south of Germany she now lives permanently in the UK.

Grania Chesterton - Event Manager Arc-US & Arc-Interiors

Grania has recently joined our team at BOND Events, and will be managing both Arc-Us and Arc-Interiors, liaising with attendees to ensure that they can achieve the maximum benefit from the forums. After a childhood spent in Andalusia, Spain, where her British parents run a small boutique hotel, Grania grew up bilingual in Spanish and English. She graduated from Exeter with a BA Hons in Italian and International Relations, and speaks fluent Italian. She has previously worked in the production department of Giorgio Armani in Modena, Italy, and as a host for BP’s VIP guests at the London Olympics. She is currently based in London.

Edward Orange - Event Director BONDMulti

Edward has, for sixteen years, been responsible for bringing vital business intelligence to millions of executives worldwide. While at SPG Media plc., he lead the Technology Media Telecoms division, where he spearheaded the launch of ground-breaking events, publications and websites across semiconductor, Telco and broadcast industries. Then, at UKIP Media and Events he introduced new exhibitions for the exciting electric vehicles market. Most recently he founded Catalyst, an events company focusing on forums in the solar energy sector. Edward joins BOND Events with the specific role of directing all activities concerning BONDMulti.

Tara Wingrave-Newell - Administration Manager

Tara comes from a strong business to business sales development background. Tara’s proven track record spans across telemarketing outsourcing, recruitment, and IT where she has played a key role in attaining and retaining new business.

Tara recently joined Bond Events to further develop her career working for our North and South American sector, she is responsible for attracting delegates and suppliers for future events. Tara is results focused with a high customer service ethic and is already becoming an integral part of our team.

Rick Andrews - Accounts

With a wealth of experience in business-to-business promotion management Rick's career spans 100 trade shows in the real estate, retail convenience and petroleum markets. As Eastern Regional Advertising Manager for Hunter Publishing and MBA Communications from 1990 to 2004, responsible for approximately one-third of the United States, he earned an outstanding reputation in the petroleum equipment sector.

In the mid-eighties he served as president of the Housing Guides of America and co-chaired the first housing industry trade show for the Home Builders Association of Charlotte, NC.

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