Fiera Milano’s Corrado Peraboni elected next UFI president

International trade fair association UFI’s Board of Directors has elected Corrado Peraboni, CEO of Fiera Milano, as the president of UFI for 2018. The decision was taken at a board meeting during UFI’s Open Seminar in Basel, Switzerland, 20 June. The UFI Presidential Trio for the 2016-17 term will thus comprise: Andreas Gruchow, (Deutsche Messe AG), president 2016-2017, Corrado Peraboni (Fiera Milano, Italy), incoming president, and Sergey Alexeev (ExpoForum-International Ltd., Russian Federation), outgoing president. This decision becomes effective at the conclusion of the 83rd UFI Annual Congress, which runs from 9–12 November 2016 in Shanghai. Peraboni has played an active role within UFI for many years. He assumed the position of vice-chair of the European Chapter more than 15 years ago before becoming chair from 2004 to 2008. He has been a member of the UFI Executive Committee since 2004, and is currently the secretary of this committee. Sergey Alexeev, current UFI president, welcomed the election of Peraboni, saying: “I’ve known Corrado for many years. He is a real professional in our exhibition industry. He’s done fantastic work moving Fiera Milano from its old location at Milano Centre to the Rho Pero area. And now he is leading the leading Italian exhibition company, and also a world-class venue, as CEO. During the more than 20 years that I’ve been involved in business with Fiera Milano, I’ve made many friends there, and Corrado is one of them. For many years Corrado has been an active member of various UFI bodies. With his colleagues from FIERA Milano Foundation he has carried out very interesting and significant research, which has been used in UFI strategy development. I fully support Corrado Peraboni’s appointment as incoming UFI vice-president and am very pleased to welcome such a talented and creative person.” “I am honoured by this appointment,” said Peraboni. “UFI is a true global brand of quality in the trade fair sector and I will do everything I can to strengthen it even further. The exhibition sector is seeing continual, rapid change. The current transition stage deserves great attention because our future depends on it, and I think this future holds at least one constant: physical fairs will continue to be an irreplaceable channel for promotion and internationalisation, especially for SMEs, because they guarantee maximum advantages in terms of cost-benefit. Together with my colleagues and the UFI team, we will do our best to launch this message to the business community and public institutions”.