Dear colleagues, dear members, 

In my decade at UFI, I struggle to remember another month that has been as packed with UFI activities around the world as this past September. Within a few weeks, we had the regular late summer leadership meeting in Paris. We ran a successful pilot for a new education programme for colleagues who are new in our industry, the “UFI Exhibition Essentials”, in Riyadh, working with Tahaluf. We connected our members and industry colleagues from the Americas and beyond at our first-ever UFI Americas Conference in Monterrey, Mexico. Just last week, as part of the collaboration with AEO, SACEOS, and SISO, this year’s Asia CEO Summit took place in Singapore, where we organised the Asia Associations & Advocacy Day with representatives from eight countries from across the region. And just last week as well, UFI supported the 2nd edition of the “Sustainable Events Summit” in New York City.

One major activity for and in each of UFI’s five regions within a month – that speaks to the skills and commitment of the UFI team around the world to work for our global membership and the industry. And it shows how we have managed to grow professionally and in skills as an organisation, constantly listening to your needs as members and adapting and evolving to match and serve these. This is the best UFI team I have had the honour to lead in all these years, and it won’t stop improving.

With only a few weeks to go now until our annual Global Congress in Cologne, the whole team’s focus is now shifting towards this highlight of the year. You can always check the latest version of the agenda on www.uficongress.org – and I am thrilled to see a programme coming together that will, in my view, rank among the very best, all centred around our theme “Changes 2 Chances” – how do we prepare for the challenges ahead that we face as an industry, and which opportunities will they provide for us? Please make sure to be with us!

As you know, change is ahead at UFI as well, with me leaving the organisation in January 2025. I am excited to have Chris Skeith coming in as UFI’s next CEO, starting 1st of January 2025 – welcome to the UFI team, Chris! We met ten years ago, both quite new in our respective roles then at AEO and UFI, and I can honestly say that he is both a great colleague and a truly professional industry leader.

Best regards,

Kai Hattendorf, UFI CEO