Kai Hattendorf
UFI
President 2019/20
Joint Meetings Industry Council
Kai Hattendorf is Managing Director / CEO of UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry. As such, heis responsible for UFI activities and events globally, as well as the operation of its offices and presences in Paris, Brussels, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Dubai, and Bogota.
Currently, Kai also serves as Honorary President of the Joint Meetings Industry Council (JMIC), the global council of international and global associations serving the Business Events Industry.
Prior to his current role, Kai worked in the exhibition industry for numerous years in senior management positions at Messe Frankfurt’s global headquarters, focusing on transformational issues ranging from digitisation to marketing and communications.
His previous career also includes leadership positions in marketing/strategic communications as well as in strategy and product development in the ITC and Media Industry for the Deutsche Telekom Group, the dpa Group (the German Press Agency), and a start-up.
A journalist by education, Kai has internationally reported and worked for the WDR and Radio Bremen broadcasters in Germany, at Euronews in France, the BBC in the UK, and the Voice of America. He holds a Master’s degree from the American University, Washington, DC. He also studied in Dortmund and Edinburgh.
