Chris Edwards has joined the IFSEC International team as its Group Director, a new role created to oversee the family of co-located events including FIREX International, Safety & Health Expo and Facilities Show, the latter two of which he has managed for several years.
While the shows will retain independent event directors to maintain the focus on individual market strategies, Chris’ new role will facilitate a unified approach across all the brands, helping create a single, comprehensive event experience built on substantial crossover content, in turn allowing the events to harness even more opportunities to grow and expand.
Chris comes to this role with formidable experience, having successfully led Safety & Health Expo and Facilities Show for several years. He has managed an impressive, high-performing team and established the two brands as the leading events for the health and safety and facilities management industries respectively. He has also managed health and safety documentation library Barbour EHS, overseeing its recent rebrand.
His keen understanding of complex industries, substantial experience running large and important industry hubs and his proven ability to manage diverse teams of people mean he is ideally placed to take charge of this growing portfolio at an enormously exciting time for the respective brands.
Speaking about his new role, Chris said:
“Having worked in the events industry for several years, including running Safety and Health Expo and Facilities Show, I’m well aware of the heritage of IFSEC International and FIREX International and therefore how much of a privilege it is to be part of this team.
“During my time on Facilities Show we’ve launched Intelligent Building Europe in London which has given me some exposure to smart buildings and converged security but my first aim in this role is to meet as many thought leaders, customers and security/fire professionals as possible. I’ve always found that the most successful events are those most in tune with the audience they serve and I’m sure this industry is no different.
“I’m fortunate to be surrounded by a team that includes individuals with long associations with this industry and am excited by the plans for the 2020 event, especially our co-location with Counter Terror Expo, which will bring a wide range of highly relevant visitors and exhibitors to the event, and our keynote speaker programme, which will give our audience the opportunity to learn from some of the security industry’s most important thought-leaders.”
Chris will oversee an exciting period for IFSEC International and its co-located events. Intelligent Building Europe and Workplace Wellbeing Show will also be launching as independent brands dedicated to smart buildings and workplace wellbeing — two fast-growing sectors. They will be joined by several existing brands: Counter-Terror Expo, Ambition, and Forensics Europe Expo. Alongside IFSEC International, these shows will create one of the world’s most diverse and comprehensive hubs for the security industry.
