Reed Travel Exhibition’s Paul Kennedy takes silver behind Lord Coe’s gold

Paul Kennedy, MBE, Reed Travel Exhibition’s Group Exhibition Director, Meetings and Incentives Events has been awarded second place in the prestigious C&IT Power 50 Awards with London’s Olympic bid leader, Lord Coe taking first place.

“I am truly delighted to have been recognised so highly by C&IT,” said Paul Kennedy. “I recognise that all such acknowledgements have to be subjective, however I am very flattered to both be placed in the top 50 and second to a double Olympic winner.”

The Power 50 is Conference & Incentive Travel (C&IT) magazine’s annual ranking of the great and the good in the multi billion pound C&I sector. As well as Paul Kennedy, it includes representatives from across the C&I sector, including client marketers, agencies, hotels, airlines, academia, exhibitions, national tourist organisations and suppliers.

The 2006 list was produced following consultation with the industry. Judges sought to identify the individuals who had made the greatest contribution to conferences and incentives.

“Paul has long been recognised as a champion of and a thoughtful commentator on the C&I sector. His current role at EIBTM cements his central position in the C&I industry and helps explain the high regard he is held in,” said Stuart Derrick, Associate editor, Conference & Incentive Travel.

Paul joined Reed Travel Exhibitions in November 2004 and is responsible for RTE’s global portfolio of meetings and incentive events including EIBTM, AIME, LACIME, the ICCA Exhibition and CBITM. Since his time at RTE Paul has continued to introduce a series of new initiatives for EIBTM including the CEO Summit and CEO Club, Corporate Planners Forum, Agency Programme and post event fam trips for Hosted Buyers.

Paul, who was awarded his MBE in the 2001 New Years Honours list, is Past President of MPI UK and former Chairman of the Meetings Industry Association, the UK’s largest meetings industry trade body. He currently serves on the International Board of MPI and on July 1st 2006 will become only the second European ever to serve on MPI’s Executive Committee. Paul has been a presenter and facilitator at numerous industry events and is committed to raising industry standards through professional education.