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| Bernd A. Diederichs – with strategy and charm Bernd A. Diederichs was head of NürnbergMesse for almost 15 years. With his fine feeling for strategy and tactics, he established the exhibition company in the ranks of the Top Ten in Europe. The NürnbergMesse boss goes into retirement at the end of July 2011 on reaching the age of 65. As managing director since 1997, he can look back on a period marked by a high growth rate for NürnbergMesse: the portfolio increased by more than 30 exhibitions in Germany and all over the world. Subsidiaries were set up in China, North America, Brazil and Italy. At the same time, Diederichs persistently supported the expansion of the exhibition grounds, the construction of new modern congress centres and the establishment of additional services at the Nürnberg exhibition centre. Diederichs' untiring efforts are reflected in the turnover figures: the tenth largest European exhibition company raised its turnover from 41.5 to over 200 million euros from 1997 to 2010. Diederichs backed concepts with a clear profile right from the start. He always pursued the aim of offering experts special-interest international trade fairs as a platform for knowledge transfer. He was the coach who inspired the "team on the field" to achieve peak performance. Under his leadership, the NürnbergMesse professionals developed many new exhibition concepts to market maturity – at the Nürnberg location and all over the world. Diederichs was also the force behind the purchase of 18exhibitions. Many event concepts, such as BioFach, the World Organic Trade Fair, were not only acquired during his time as managing director, but also consistently further developed. For example, BioFach now takes place annually as a duo with Vivaness, theTrade Fair for Natural Personal Care and Wellness. In addition, NürnbergMesse is represented internationally in key growth regions with five BioFach offshoots. Development of new business fields At the beginning of the millennium, Diederichs' team developed the new Exhibition Services business field, which culminated in the holding in exhibition services provider Holtmann in 2010. With the support of the Langenhagen exhibition construction specialist, NürnbergMesse can offer its customers integrated services – from initial advice, exhibiting and press and marketing services to walk-on stands. Today, the Exhibition Services team produces almost a quarter of the total turnover of the NürnbergMesse Group with 47 million euros in 2010. Diederichs pushed the international strategy of NürnbergMesse with great dynamic. To improve development of the markets locally, he founded subsidiaries in Brazil, China, Italy and North America. In terms of internationalization, his team relied on exhibition concepts that were successful at the Nürnberg location, but adapted these to the special regional features. In the meantime, not only BioFach has counterparts abroad. For example, the European Coatings Show corresponds to the American Coatings Show, Chillventa to Chillventa Rossija and fensterbau/frontale to fensterbau/frontale india. Diederichs stands for the new face of NürnbergMesse Visually, Diederichs influenced the face of NürnbergMesse with more than just a new logo. By expanding the site from 106,000 to 160,000 m², he created the possibility of also organizing larger events concurrently. The opening of the CongressCenter Nürnberg (CCN) catapulted Nürnberg into the league of European congress metropolises. The redesigned Mitte (central) congress and entrance area was taken into operation in mid 2010. NürnbergMesse invested altogether 560 million euros in the expansion and modernization of the site from 1997 to 2010. Investments that have paid off for the company and the region. For example, the macro-economic importance of the exhibitions and congresses at the Nürnberg exhibition venue amounted to some 800 million euros in 2010. A total of just under 20,000 jobs in the Nürnberg Metropolitan Region depend on the exhibition company's events. A working life devoted to exhibitions Diederichs' achievements are impressive: NürnbergMesse showed new runs of success every year under his leadership. The exhibition company even emerged virtually unscathed from the crisis years. It holds a permanent place in the Gemeinschaft Deutscher Großmessen (GDG – Association of Major German Exhibition Centres) and is one of the Top 20 in the world. In 2010, his last full year as managing director, the graduate economist turned in the best result in the history of NürnbergMesse with turnover exceeding 204 million euros. Diederichs worked in the German exhibition industry for 35 years. He began his career with national and international exhibition organizers in Hanover and Düsseldorf. Before being appointed managing director of NürnbergMesse, he worked for Deutsche Messe AG and subsequently for Messe Frankfurt. Successors start on 1 August 2011 Dr. Roland Fleck and Peter Ottmann succeed Diederichs as managing directors on 1 August 2011. With Ottmann, a Member of the Management Board since 2005, NürnbergMesse has the support of an experienced home-grown exhibition strategist. Fleck is also closely linked with NürnbergMesse. He has been a member of the supervisory board of NürnbergMesse and involved with the company's strategic development since the start of his period of office as Deputy Mayor for Economic Affairs in Nürnberg. write your comments about the article :: © 2011 Exhibition News :: home page |