Emerald Expositions Events Inc. appointed Sally Shankland to the position of president and chief executive officer of Emerald. Phil Evans, Emerald’s interim president and chief executive officer, will continue to serve as the company’s chief financial officer.
Shankland will assume her new role on June 1, 2019 and will remain a member of the company’s Board of Directors.
”Sally’s experience, skills and approach are a perfect match with the Board’s requirements for the Emerald CEO position; and, after conducting a thorough search over the last seven months, I am thrilled to have her accept the position,” said Kosty Gilis, Chairman of Emerald Expositions. “Sally has achieved remarkable success in her career by bringing inspirational leadership, purposeful strategies and strong execution skills to businesses with unmet potential. The Board and I have been particularly impressed by her success in driving growth and capturing new opportunities by harnessing data, technology, and a strong and persistent focus on customer satisfaction.”
Ms. Shankland brings over thirty five years of experience including a tenure of more than twenty years with UBM, now part of Informa plc, a UK-based multinational events, academic publishing and business intelligence business. Her most recent position at UBM was CEO of the Americas, delivering events and marketing services in the technology, fashion, licensing, advanced manufacturing, construction, healthcare, and pharmaceutical industries. Ms. Shankland is currently a Principal and Founder of Astra Terra, a strategic advisory and consulting firm. In 2018, she served as Interim Executive at Healthline.com, the fastest growing health information site globally. Previously, Ms. Shankland served two years as President of McGraw-Hill Higher Education, helping it to transition from a print-based model towards adaptive learning software.
”I recently joined the Emerald Board as a non-executive director and quickly realized that I could apply my leadership principles, experience and skills to improve the Company’s financial performance and growth prospects,” said Ms. Shankland. “Emerald owns some great assets that are extremely relevant in their markets and, I believe, have significant opportunity available to them. I’m very excited about the opportunity to lead the business.”
“On behalf of the entire Board, I would like to thank Phil for assuming the role of Interim President and CEO for the last seven months in addition to his role as Emerald’s Chief Financial Officer. Phil’s experience and deep knowledge of the Company allowed the Board to be thoughtful and take the necessary time to find the right leader who we believe can unlock the vast potential that we see in Emerald,” added Mr. Gilis.
Emerald is a leading operator of business-to-business trade shows in the United States.
