Tarsus chairman Neville Buch honored at AEO awards

Neville Buch, chairman of Tarsus Group, has received the Outstanding Contribution to the Industry award at the Association of Event Organisers (AEO) Awards. Held at the Artillery Gardens at the HAC on 6 July, the presentation was made by former AEO chairman and Tarsus’ group managing director Doug Emslie before an audience of 1,000 industry professionals.

Buch started his career in the exhibition industry in 1982 with Lawrie Lewis at Dresswell, which later went on to become Blenheim, a leading international exhibition, publishing and conference company. In 1986 Blenheim was floated on the stock market for GBP £6m with 25 shows and was the first public UK company to be focused solely on exhibitions. Blenheim was eventually acquired by UBM in 1996 for £600million – a hundred times its value 10 years earlier.

Keen to replicate Blenheim’s success, Buch launched Tarsus in 1998. Starting with the Labelexpo brand, the Tarsus event and publishing portfolio has grown to cover the American, Latin American, European and Asian continents. Focusing on growth from emerging markets such as Dubai, Turkey and China, Tarsus now has over 300 employees and operations all over the world.

Receiving the award, Neville Buch commented: ‘Thank you. I am deeply honored to receive this special accolade. It is amazing to look back over the last 30 years to where it all began and think that I knew nothing about exhibitions and had never even been to one. And now look! Here we are – over 1000 of us celebrating fantastic success!

‘There are very few industries in which the UK leads on a global basis, but exhibitions are a business at which we excel. The Reeds, UBMs, Informas, DMGs, ITEs, Montgomerys and Tarsus, of which I am chairman, span the globe running great shows in hundreds of sectors. I really hope that you all have as much fun as I have had over the last 30 years in this wonderful industry of ours! Thank you again for this great and special honor.’

Doug Emslie, Tarsus group managing director, said: ‘It is with great pleasure that I present this award on behalf of the AEO to Neville Buch. He is an industry icon and through his unique personality he has put exhibitions on the map all over the world. He had the vision to recognize that exhibitions were brands that could be bought and sold around the globe and he is the only person to successfully build not one, but two public companies in our sector over a 30 year period. His charisma, warmth and business aptitude make him an exceptional individual and personality in the event industry.’

Footage of Neville Buch receiving the award can be seen here.

Pictured: Tarsus chairman Neville Buch, right, receives the AEO Outstanding Contribution to the Industry award

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