Bangalore, 17 May 2019: The UFI Board of Directors has formally elected Anbu Varathan, Director General & CEO of Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association (IMTMA) and Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) as its President for 2020 – 2021. The decision was made at the board meeting, which marked the start of the annual UFI European Conference in Birmingham (UK). This decision becomes effective at the conclusion of the 86th UFI Global Congress, which runs from 6-9 November 2019 in Bangkok (Thailand).
The UFI presidential trio for the 2019-20 term will comprise of:
• Anbu Varathan (Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association – IMTMA, India) Incoming President
• Mary Larkin (Diversified Communications, Portland, USA) President 2019-20
• Craig Newman (Johannesburg Expo Centre, South Africa) Outgoing President.
Speaking about his appointment Anbu Varathan said, “I am indeed delighted to take up this new role. UFI is the apex international body for exhibitions and I am extremely thankful to the UFI fraternity to have reposed their faith and trust in me. Indian exhibition industry and BIEC will get wider recognition and further enhance their positioning in the global map.”
Anbu Varathan is the Secretary, Director General & CEO of IMTMA. He is also the CEO of BIEC. He has been active in UFI for many years, supporting the association’s mission and driving developments especially in Asia. He has been serving on the UFI Board of Directors since 2011 and was further appointed onto the UFI Executive Committee in 2017. He will be the first UFI president from India in the history of the association.
An engineer from IISc, Bangalore, Anbu has working experience of more than 28 years. Prior to joining IMTMA, he was with Confederation of Indian Industry heading various key areas of Technology / IPR activities.
About UFI
UFI was founded in 1925 as a non-profit, non-partisan international association, and today is the global association for the exhibitions industry, directly representing more than 50,000 exhibition industry professionals in almost 90 countries around the world. UFI operates four regional offices in addition to the headquarters in Paris.
About IMTMA
IMTMA is the apex body and single point of contact for machine tool industry in India. IMTMA plays a crucial role in the growth and development of metalworking industry in the country. IMTMA’s initiatives range from policy advocacy, export promotion, trade fairs, mega events, training, seminars, technology missions, publications, etc. IMTMA formed in 1946 has a membership of over 450 members and represents 90% of the organized machine tool and allied equipment manufacturers in the country.
About BIEC
BIEC is India’s premier exhibition-cum-conference facility. Spread across 57 acres of lush-green area, BIEC infrastructure comprises five exhibition halls, a conference centre, food court, amphitheatre, entrance plaza and a large outdoor area. BIEC is India’s first LEED certified Green Exhibition and Conference Facility. BIEC is a member of UFI, AFECA, IAEE, ICCA and IEIA, globally recognized associations of the exhibition industry. In 12 years, since it was set-up in 2007, over 280 events spread over 1600 days have been successfully conducted at the venue. These include exhibitions from diverse sectors such as construction equipment and technology, woodworking solutions, machineries, exposition of startup ecosystem, digital business, and architecture and building materials, electrical, agriculture, IT, textiles, and so on. Government of India as well as the Government of Karnataka have patronized BIEC for various events organized by them.
