Nov 16, 2016
Urban Expositions completes strategic restructure to fuel growth

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Urban Expositions president & CEO Doug Miller announced today two strategic changes to the company’s management team and structure, fueling the firm’s continued aggressive growth and industry leadership. Craig Dooley has been appointed executive vice president, leading the Urban team and portfolio, the North American business of London-based Clarion Events. Greg Topalian, president and founder of recently acquired experiential events company Leftfield Media, will now also oversee the growing mix of consumer events within Urban.

Urban’s refreshed leadership team includes Senior Vice President Dirk von Gal, leading the LA Market and the WWIN fashion events; Senior Vice President Michael Carlucci, overseeing the specialty and food service group; Vice President Donna Davies managing its art fairs; Vice President Ramon Lo, leading the Airport Revenue News; Vice President Ron Mathews overseeing the food service group and recently promoted Vice Presidents Christina Bell-Davis and Lisa Glosson, each overseeing a set of market-leading Gift & Souvenir industry events. Vice President of Marketing Liz Irving oversees marketing strategy and initiatives across the Urban portfolio, Glenn Celentano overseeing operations as the Vice President of Operations, and CFO Jeff Dixon leads the Finance team. Urban founders Doug Miller and Tim von Gal continue their leadership of the 21-year-old firm as CEO and COO, respectively.

“These critical shifts in our team and business reflect Urban’s commitment to grow and diversify our portfolio of events through organic expansion, new launches and acquisitions” said Doug Miller. “Having top talent leading our business and each of our events is essential, and we believe that the appointments of Craig and Greg complement the current leadership team perfectly and create a powerful force to serve our customers and the industries in which we operate.”

Dooley will serve as the strategic, organizational and commercial lead of Urban Expositions, working across Urban’s offices in Kennesaw, Georgia; Shelton, Connecticut; Boca Raton; and Chicago, with the Clarion executive team in London. His focus is extending Urban’s 20+ year track record of market leadership and growth as part of Clarion and its international portfolio of brands in over 200 events and more than 20 countries.

“There could not be a more exciting time to join Urban” Dooley said. “I am honored to take on this leadership role of an industry icon and contribute to its very bright future, reinforced by the global strength and resources of Clarion. We have an impressive team now structured and positioned to drive tremendous growth and value in the market.”

Topalian leads the Leftfield Media portfolio, which includes Awesome Con, Play Fair and recently announced Anime NY and Five Points Fest and he will now oversee the other consumer shows within Urban, including The Classic Auto Show launching in January in Los Angeles and the Fine Art Fairs, bringing new expertise and market reach to rapidly expand Urban’s position in the passion-based consumer events sector.

“At Leftfield Media we are excited to be taking on the Art and Classic Car portfolio of events. This is a perfect fit for our model of experience focused fan based events” said Topalian.