Thursday 31 October 2013

New Chairman and a New Direction for Business Events Tasmania

Malcolm Wells
The Business Events Tasmania (BET) Annual General Meeting 2013 marked a new direction for the organisation that will engage the wider Tasmanian community and industry going beyond tourism to deliver broader strategic objectives for Tasmania.

BET welcomed a new Chairman to the Board, Malcolm Wells, Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Business at the University of Tasmania, along with a new Director, Richard Matson of Matson Catering in Launceston. The membership also approved a new constitution that increases the size of the Board of Directors from 7 to 9, allowing the organisation to recruit new board members from broader industry and academic institutions outside of Tourism and hospitality.

BET CEO Stuart Nettlefold said that the changes align perfectly with the new strategic objectives of the organisation as laid out in the recently launched Three Year Strategic Plan.

"Our strategic plan focusses on increasing the total value of business events to Tasmania and our stakeholders - not just the direct economic value. This includes the social advantages of hosting events and the implications for trade and investment in Tasmania's key industries.

"While Business Events Tasmania will continue to drive the core business of securing business events for Tasmania, which saw 84 bid wins with a value of over $47 million in 2012/13, we will be strongly pursuing the additional social benefits of the sector into the future. In particular, engaging the Tasmanian community broadly to ensure the benefits are better understood more widely.

"We are also focussed, as always, on marketing and developing the business events sector in Launceston and regional areas such as Cradle Mountain, the East Coast and the North and West Coasts. In these areas links with industry is often the key to success, so engaging these sectors is crucial.

"Malcolm's academic, business and tourism credentials made him the ideal candidate to lead the Board of Directors through the next stage of Business Events Tasmania's growth," said Mr Nettlefold.

"In addition to being Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Business at the University of Tasmania, Malcolm is Deputy Chair at Destination Southern Tasmania, Chair of the National Parks Advisory Committee and principal of his own project management consultancy.

"Malcolm also has thirteen years' experience in the Tourism sector with Tourism Tasmania, including nine as Deputy Chief Executive. He was an architect of the Brand Tasmania initiative and a key player in the development of Targa Tasmania, the Three Peaks Race, Ten Days on the Island and the 1990 World

Rowing Championships. Malcolm is also a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. We are thrilled to have him join the team.

"The appointment of Richard Matson as a new Director will also set the board in good stead with the marketing and development of Launceston's business events sector. Richard is an enthusiastic and entrepreneurial businessman, with great local connections.

A presentation by Leo Jago, the Chief Economist for Tourism and General Manager of Tourism Research Australia, spoke to the AGM on "The True Value of Business Events".

"Leo's presentation was the perfect conclusion to the developments of the day, highlighting that the direct economic impact of business events, largely attributed to the tourism sector, is just the tip of the iceberg, it is the broader social benefits provided by the business events sector where the true value lies." said Mr Nettlefold.

"Now we have the exciting task of recruiting two new board members from the academic and business sectors in Tasmania."

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