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Reed Exhibitions’ Mike Rusbridge to retire

Rusbridge joined Reed Exhibitions as its CEO Europe in 1988, becoming president of Europe and Asia in 1994, before being appointed chairman and CEO in 1996.
During Rusbridge’s time as CEO & chairman, Reed Exhibitions (RX) has grown from a US$ 400 m to $ 1.5 bn company and today organises 500 events in 43 countries, across 43 industry sectors with over seven million participants.
He has spearheaded 150 acquisitions over the years, including the 1990 acquisition of MIDEM in France, the biggest acquisition in the industry at that date and the acquisition of Miller Freeman in 2000.
The business is primarily based in the US and UK and has transformed from a confederation of small local businesses, often entrepreneur-led, into an integrated global operation with governmental and commercial relationships has been significant, a statement from the company said.
Erik Engstrom, RELX Group CEO said Mike’s achievement at Reed Exhibitions has been outstanding.
“Over the two decades he has led the company and built the world’s largest exhibitions business, delivering consistent growth over 20 years. I wish him well for the future,” Engstrom added.
In the firm’s statement, Rusbridge said: “I find the events industry as exciting and stimulating today as I first found it 36 years ago.
“Reed Exhibitions’ achievements have been driven by a great management team and a very talented group of people. I am very proud of what we have created and leave the company in the extremely capable hands of the CEO, Chet Burchett, who has worked for RX for the past 11 years in the Americas.
“There is strong continuity of management and we are now realising significant advantage from behaving as one company worldwide. RX has a very exciting future as we develop a digitally enabled data driven business, creating powerful business relationships for our customers.”
Rusbridge will continue as chairman until December 2015.

Mike’s achievement at Reed Exhibitions has been outstanding. Over the two decades he has led the company and built the world’s largest exhibitions business, delivering consistent growth over 20 years. I wish him well for the future.
Erik Engstrom
RELX Group CEO