IT’S TIME TO SAY GOODBYE!
You are part of the incredible IFES family, and as Executive Director I have been honoured to contribute to IFES reaching the point of success we are at today.
It has given me great pleasure to steward IFES for the past decade. I want to thank all of you who granted me confidence, trust and passion to build the “Global Network” together. During my tenure, the IFES family expanded by 50% to over 300 members. More importantly, our sense of togetherness has become stronger from year to year and our trust in each other is unshakeable.
Our events have also seen consistent growth with this year’s Malaga Summit being the biggest ever. The Global Village at EuroShop has become the place to be for a vast number of industry peers and has yielded great business connections. IFES visibility in the exhibition space is at an all-time high!
Through both tough times and wonderful times, our management office has run constantly and consistently, even throughout the trials of Corona. I am proud to have managed to free the association from its debts and hand over a retained income in a six-digit range at the end of 2024.
In closing, I would like to thank Rainer Winnen (2nd IFES president), Bruno Meissner and Voicu Sferdianu, who stand out in having given me the opportunity to take this business forward and develop the IFES “glue”.
I would like to wish the current Board all the luck in the world in continuing our success story. My successor Gregor and my former Team are committed to continuing my work and supporting you, our valued members, to the best of their abilities. Until we meet again…
Uta Goretzky (Outgoing IFES Executive Director)