IMEX Team

Paul Flackett (Managing Director) has been involved in the meetings and incentive travel industry for 25 years, first as an organiser of conferences and events and then in the media field. Paul joined EIBTM at its launch and was managing director until it was sold to Reed Travel Exhibitions. In May 1999 he left Reed to set up his own company pf.redseven and, in September 2001, jointly announced with Ray Bloom the launch of IMEX.

Paul has been a SITE member since 1988 serving on the Great Britain and Ireland Chapter, International Board of Directors. He gained the CITE qualification in 1994 and in 1995 became International President. In September 2000 Paul was elected to serve as a Trustee of the Society of Incentive Travel Executives (SITE) Foundation and has been Vice President of the Board since January 2002.

In 1998 Paul was voted Meetings & Incentive Travel magazine personality of the year and in 2004 received the Moises Shuster award from ICCA in recognition of his exceptional contribution to the meetings industry. He has presented dozens of seminars across the world.

Joy Brabyn (Strategic Director) has worked in the meetings and incentive travel industry for the past 15 years. Joy's main focus has been the EIBTM hosted buyer programme, which she developed from around 600 international buyers to in excess of 3000 buyers. When the exhibition was sold to Reed Travel Exhibitions she held the position of Relationship Marketing Director. Joy joined Ray Bloom and Paul Flackett in September 2001 as Marketing & Promotions Director for IMEX, and took up her current position of Strategic Director following IMEX 2003.

Tom Hulton (Director of International Relations) joined the advertising agency Ogilvy and Mather following a short career in the British army. With O&M, he was based in London and Singapore handling a number of hotel accounts. He joined Trusthouse Forte Hotels for a period of eight years as Director of Sales for the Asia Pacific and Middle East. During this time, he was also Director of Sales and Marketing at Grosvenor House Hotel in London. He then joined Supranational Hotels as Managing Director and developed this reservation and marketing hotel consortia into the third largest in the world. Following several years as Secretary General of the International Hotel Association based in Paris, Tom joined the International Congress and Convention Association as Chief Executive Officer based in Amsterdam. In July 2002 and after nearly eight years with ICCA, Tom decided to return to the UK and set up his own consultancy. He currently works with IMEX as Director of International Relations, with special responsibilities for helping to raise the political profile of business tourism within Government circles in Europe by developing the ‘Politicians Forum’ and the IMEX ‘Future Leaders Forum’. In addition to this, Tom is responsible for promoting the 'Professional Development Pavilion'.

Sarah Shepherd (PA to Ray Bloom/Group Travel Coordinator) joined IMEX in November 2002 as a temp and was offered a full time position as Marketing and Promotions Administrator in December 2002, before joining the Hosted Buyer Team in 2003. Sarah took up her current position in June 2008.

Sarah has seven years experience in the hotel and catering industry after gaining a Diploma in Professional Catering. After changing direction Sarah worked as an administrator in both the public and private sector in sales and marketing and customer service.

Jon Bradshaw (Senior Sales Manager) joined IMEX in March 2004. After graduating in media studies in 1993 Jon embarked on a sales career with the BBC, working internationally in the travel and duty free sectors. In 1998 he entered the exhibition industry working on various sports related exhibitions, joining EIBTM in 1999. In early 2001 Jon launched his own personal training business. While looking after a wide portfolio of clients at IMEX Jon specialises in the Middle East and the Caribbean as well as the cruise line sector. Jon was promoted to Senior Sales Manager in July 2006.

Oliver Bailey (Sales and Organising Manager) joined IMEX in January 2004 from Brighton-based Martlet, where he was involved in travel logistics projects within the medical meetings arena. He also worked for Congress World on the 18th International Diabetes Federation Congress in Paris in 2003. Prior to this Oliver worked as marketing manager for a London-based consumer exhibition and for Meeting Planner magazine. Oliver was promoted to Sales and Organising Manager in July 2006.

Faye Bennett (Senior Sales Executive) joined IMEX in October 2005 and has over four years experience in the meetings industry.  She previously worked for a Surrey based venue finding agency, starting as sales support executive in 2001, promoted to business development executive in 2003.  In her previous role she was responsible for sales and account management and worked on a variety of events including the World Tax Conference, company away days and product launches.  Prior to this Faye worked in marketing and administration. Faye was promoted to Senior Sales Executive in June 2008.

Faye is currently studying for a BA degree in Literature with the Open University.

Sam Forcey (Senior Account Manager – Hosted Buyer Programmes) joined IMEX in the summer of 2002 working with Nikki Williams and Joy Brabyn on the hosted buyer programme. Her career in the travel industry started 10 years ago after obtaining a Diploma in Travel and Tourism when she joined Airmiles, part of British Airways. Since then, she moved into other sectors of the industry including Continental Airlines where her responsibilities included all aspects of marketing including aircraft launches, new route launches, advertising, promotions and PR for the UK and Ireland. Sam was promoted to Senior Account Manager, Hosted Buyer Programmes, Europe following IMEX 2004.

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Sylvia Taylor (Account Manager - Hosted Buyer Programmes) has 14 years experience in the travel industry, starting her career with Sportsworld Travel working on the corporate programme for the Barcelona and Atlanta Olympics.  Sylvia then moved to Martlet as a conference organiser for incentives and medical meetings. She joined IMEX from PPSI where she was a senior project manager, responsible for organising international meetings within the pharmaceutical industry including symposia and exhibitions.

Sylvia is currently on maternity leave.

Sarah Arnold (Account Manager – Hosted Buyer Programmes) began her career as a customer services representative at Air 2000 after completing an honours degree in Hospitality Management. In 1998 she joined the Paramount Hotel Group as Events Manager, based at their Brighton hotel. In 2000 Sarah moved to Paraxel MMS Europe as Project Manager organising international meetings within the pharmaceutical industry including symposia and exhibitions. Sarah joined the hosted buyer team in September 2005.

Lucy Dancer (Account Executive - Hosted Buyer Programmes) began her career as a public relations consultant.  She then worked for a Japanese government sponsored programme based in Japan, acting as an ambassador of British culture setting up educational and cultural events within the Kumamoto region. Lucy joined IMEX in October 2007.

Lucy holds a degree in English Literature, and a Diploma in Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations. 

Sally Bates (Account Administrator - Hosted Buyer Programmes) joined IMEX in May 2008 after taking a career break to raise her family.  Sally has 15 years experience as a customer services manager working in the Card and Financial Services Divisions of American Express, and holds a Diploma in Business Studies.

Sophie holds a degree in European Business Studies, an Advanced Diploma in Communication Studies and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Christopher Perrins (Marketing Technology Manager) has been involved in event management for most of his working life, encompassing a whole range of activities from rock concerts in the middle of a muddy field, right up to the present day with IMEX. Christopher has worldwide experience, having lived and worked in Australia, Hong Kong, North America, and several European countries. The integration of new technologies, particularly the Internet, as a marketing and communications tool, has been Christopher’s brief for much of his career. Christopher joined IMEX in January 2003, after five years with Reed Exhibitions.

Dale Hudson (Project Manager) began her career working for EIBTM as a marketing co-ordinator before going on to complete a BA Honours degree in Management and Travel. After graduating she worked as a marketing manager within education and then for two of the country's leading incentive houses. During the two and a half years with them, she held the position of Senior Project Manager, responsible for incentive marketing – devising pharmaceutical incentive plans and as Project Manager, organising incentive trips for various commercial companies.

Natalie Beale (Marketing Executive) has worked in the meetings and incentive travel industry for eight years. She began her career at EIBTM as PA to the managing director, progressing to Sales Executive.  She then worked with STS, a Brighton-based school tour operator, as tour co-ordinator for French travel. Having joined IMEX as Sales Executive in September 2001, Natalie is now part of the marketing team.

Maddie Bonner (Marketing Executive) has five years experience working in marketing and events management.  She began her career at Olympus UK as PA to the head of marketing communications and secretarial support to the marketing communications team, progressing to Press and Marketing Executive.  She then worked as Marketing Coordinator at Apex Auctions before becoming Event Fundraising Manager for the charity CLIC Sargent.  Maddie joined IMEX as Marketing Executive in January 2008.

Maddie holds a degree in Business Studies and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Debbie Woodbridge has worked in the meetings and incentive travel industry for 12 years. After working for EIBTM on the hosted buyer programme for six years Debbie left to work as Sales Manager for Martlet, the conference and incentive division of Sportsworld, one of the UK’s leading corporate hospitality organisers. Debbie spent three years at Martlet successfully assisting the company in developing their conference & incentive division to become one of the leading event organisers in the UK, designing and organising highly creative events all over the world for a variety of corporate clients. Debbie joined the marketing team in June 2008 from the hosted buyer team where she was Account Manager.

Christiane Niemeyer (Organising Manager joined IMEX in January 2004. Previously she worked in Germany and Canada where she held various positions including flight attendant for Lufthansa and teaching German. Christiane holds a degree from Carleton University in Canada and masters degree in Contemporary History at Sussex University. Since graduating in 2000 she has worked in the events sector. Her experience includes co-ordinating WOMAD’s World Music Festival at Expo 2000 and more recently organising meetings and conferences in Europe and Asia for a large medical communications agency. Christiane was promoted to Organising Manager in July 2006.

Hilary Burtenshaw (Finance Manager) joined IMEX in November 2002. Prior to this she worked in accounting roles within the travel, exhibition (Incentive World), retail, utilities and finance industries.