Events for Principals of the World's Largest Architecture & Interior Design Firms

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).

Mike Murray - Founding Director

An advertising industry background at Benton & Bowles and Boase Massimi Pollitt propelled Mike into the trade show sector back in the late eighties. Mike has over 20 years business event experience and was also a senior manager of Blenheim Group PLC in the 1990's.

In 1996, Mike created his own company, Engine House Events, which was his vehicle for the creation of ORGANEX - the UK's largest and most successful trade show for the organic food industry. Mike and Oliver (as an investor in the company) later oversaw the acquisition of ORGANEX by Tarsus Group PLC.

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.

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.

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.

Tara Wingrave-Newell - Architect 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.

Christopher M. Hurst - Business Development Manager

Chris started his career in the pharmaceutical conference and exhibition industry in1997. In the past 14 years he has worked in the medical conference arena serving operations, business development and sales roles. Chris recently joined Bond Events to manage content development, recruit speakers and attract delegates to the Arc-LatinAmerica conference..

Justin Wall - Operations Manager

Probably the most experienced forum organizer in the world, Justin has headed the operations of over 60 business to business forums over the past 11 years. At McLean Events, Justin headed all operations and logistical requirements for events spanning 25 countries, including HOTEC and SIBEC and ensured the individual requirements of some 2,500 delegates per year.

Debbie Wilson - Event Manager

Debbie Wilson has a decade of experience in international event management, having produced many successful events across the USA, UK, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific. For the past four years, Debbie has had an integral role at BOND Events, running the organisation of each event and looking after all delegates requirements. As the main point of contact for all registered delegates, Debbie ensures that participation runs smoothly for all attendees.

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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