The first CEO of ABEA will be Melissa Brown, who will join the organisation in September bringing with her a diversity of professional experience across industries including travel, telecommunications, recruitment and cybersecurity.
Brown has management and marketing experience in major corporates, including Telstra, as well as at the Australian Chamber of Commerce in London and in current role as head of marketing and communications at Sapien Cyber, a cybersecurity startup.
Currently based in Perth, Brown is also an ambassador for the University of Technology Sydney.
The ABEA board believe Brown’s passion for building teams and her stakeholder management experience will be key to her role at the helm of the new association.
“Melissa brings a combination of energy, confidence, innovation, and broad global commercial experience that we are excited to embrace in this early phase of ABEA’s development,” said chair of the ABEA board, Peter King.
“We know that in appointing Melissa, we will be on a good path towards achieving our goal for the business events industry to be recognised as the valued and powerful driver of the Australian economy that it is.”
Brown said she was “delighted” with the opportunity to represent an industry “as sizeable and important as business events”.
I will work closely with members and stakeholders on research, policy, skills, training, events, and advocacy with the government to provide impactful member services.
“A huge effort has gone into creating the Australian Business Events Association and I am thrilled to take on the role of inaugural CEO,” she said.
