Executives Resign at Hanley Wood Exhibitions

Galen Poss, president of the exhibitions group at Hanley Wood, resigned this week. Exhibitions executive vice president Michael Green also left the company.

Rick McConnell, another VP within the group, will serve as acting president as the company searches for a replacement, Hanley Wood CEO Frank Anton told FOLIO:. The resignations mark a change in reporting structure within the group, as Poss’ replacement is expected to now report to business media group president Peter Goldstone, not Anton.

“This reporting structure will make it easier for our business media group and exhibitions to develop targeted packages—a change we think will better serve customers and drive revenue,” Anton said. “We’ve encouraged this type of teamwork for several years with some success but think it is essential to future success.”

Hanley Wood’s business media group houses the company’s magazine publishing and e-media operations. Poss and Green landed at Hanley Wood in 2000 after selling their own event-management company to Miller Freeman, and working for that company for roughly six years.

Hanley Wood’s trade shows, which Anton said had largely been immune to the effects of the housing/construction slowdown, have been feeling the pinch since the fourth quarter of 2008 as exhibit sales and attendance have declined. The group experienced a “record” year in 2008, Anton said, generating more than $60 million in revenues and EBITDA of more than $40 million.

This year, however, earnings and revenue are down by more than 10 percent, he said.

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