Having studied Accounting and Law at University, Ian’s career has been more about the numbers and the commercial side of businesses. Through working at different sized businesses, from SME up to multi-billion dollar US owned corporations, he’s acquired a wealth of experience across many sectors, manufacturing, engineering, service sector and financial services. For Ian however, the key takeaway was the realisation that all business is about people. One business had a slogan on presentations; “Numbers people. People Numbers”. That stuck with me. He’s also worked within the Virgin group and seen first-hand the power of empowering people to do their jobs to deliver exceptional service to the customer.
Having joined the CDI World group in 2020 as Financial and Commercial Executive, Ian took on the Managing Director role in 2022 with a vision to cement the CDI World capabilities within Europe through the development of a powerful network of partners and drive efficiencies following a couple of difficult years for the Exhibition Industry. For Ian though the most important element of the role is to be surrounded by a very capable group of individuals who all pull together as a team to deliver outstanding projects for our customers.
Dan oversees our production workforce and develops policies and procedures for our UK production facilities. He ensures that all projects leaving our facilities are completed to an incredibly high standard and the productivity of CDI is fully optimized to reduce downtime and ensure projects are completed to deadlines. With a passion for sustainable manufacturing, Dan is a great communicator and advocate for reuse, recycle and refurb.
Dan is a qualified carpenter and joiner and following 7 years in military service, spent 10 years in joinery and bespoke manufacturing management combined with 3 years in facility management. IOSH Qualified, he has 7 years Health & Safety implementation and management experience and over 17 years leading teams of up to 60 staff. Dan has been responsible for the production management of every job that has left our facilities since September 2022.
I have over 25 years experience in the UK exhibition and event industry, 17 years as an organiser and 8 years on the supply and delivery side. I originally launched my career with Reed Elsevier on one of their Bluechip B2B exhibitions and have subsequently held senior sales positions with some of the UK’s leading event companies, I now work with CDI World delivering high value creative build solutions for clients who require 3D exhibition and event experiences, interior and museum fit-outs. Over the last 4 years, I have become passionate about reducing the impact that our industry has on the environment and as part of ESSA, I am working at calculating and monitoring our current footprint and working with CDI globally to reduce that.
In my current role, I am responsible for the negotiation of short and long term commercial contracts and the steering of strategy around our European growth. On top of this, I manage our client accounts to deliver broad event requirement calendars. I also act as a spokesperson for CDI World, driving our sustainability activity and working with customers to understand how to reduce wastage during events.
Chris has 35 years’ experience in high end joinery manufacture and installation in the retail, leisure, healthcare and events industry sectors. He a vast knowledge of other skills and trades linked within this industry including acrylic fabrication, metal fabrication and signage. Chris is a confident motivated person who enjoys a challenge and enjoys passing his experience on to others. During his career Chris has worked his way up from joinery apprentice into production management, operations management and then furthered into estimating and project management.
Chris oversees our contracts department and leads a large team of Project Managers, receiving all enquiries from the sales team and existing customers and with the project management team, see’s all projects through from estimation to completion. Working with our clients to ensure projects are brought in on budget and a timely manner.
John has responsibility for ensuring that our extensive capabilities and experience within the global exhibition and event sector is understood within the market, and for the account management of our blue chip agency clients. He is also responsible for understanding European legislation and breaking down international border complexities when our teams deliver projects across Europe. John’s global experience is the differentiator between CDI World and other exhibition houses.
Having studied carpentry and joinery within the shopfitting industry, he then worked within the shopfitting and exhibition sector for the next 40 years. Through working at different sized businesses, from SME up to million-dollar US owned corporations, he’s acquired a wealth of experience across many sectors, manufacturing, exhibition and event service sectors, shopfitting services, and museum fitout sectors.
Within the industry he has worked at all levels, gaining valued experience as the Managing Director of one of the UK’s biggest exhibition stand builders and now sits as the Executive Director at CDI World.
Talk to us today to find out how we can support you with your exhibit or event, ensuring a memorable and impactful brand experience.
Contact Us
