Emerald Holding Inc., the parent of Outdoor Retailer, Surf Expo and other trade shows, announced that OPV GEM Aggregator LP, the majority holder of the outstanding shares of Series A Convertible Participating Preferred Stock of Emerald Holding, Inc., elected Lynda Clarizio and David Levin as Preferred Stock Directors to the company’s Board of Directors, effective immediately.
Brian Field, Emerald’s interim president and chief executive officer, said, “We are excited and very fortunate to have Lynda and David join our board of directors. Each of them brings a wealth of unique, valuable experiences, and deep industry knowledge spanning across complementary industries. Their involvement and perspectives will be particularly valuable as we continue to transform Emerald’s operations and technology and fully realize the vast potential that exists within the company.”
Lynda Clarizio, shown right, said, “I am a strong believer in the value and importance that face-to-face interactions provide and believe the events industry and Emerald provide a valuable service to the market. Given my background and interest in data and technology, I am particularly excited to provide guidance and support to Emerald as it continues to accelerate its initiatives in these areas and introduces new technologies to drive event growth.”
David Levin commented, shown below right, “During my time as CEO of UBM, I came to know many of Emerald’s shows and am impressed with their industry-leading positions. I am looking forward to working with Brian and the board as we leverage the power of our leading brands, deepen our customer insights, and play a leading role in the transformation of the live-events industry.”
Clarizio has over 20 years of experience in the media industry growing and scaling businesses with a focus on data and technology. She currently is a Strategic Advisor to VidMob, Inc., a marketing creative platform and serves as a member of the Board of Directors of CDW Corporation, Adjust GmbH, OpenSlate, Resonate Networks, Inc. and Human Rights First. She is also a member of the Leadership Council of Princeton University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science. Ms. Clarizio served as President of U.S. Media at Nielsen Holdings plc, a global measurement and data analytics company, where she worked from 2013 to 2018. Her prior roles include CEO and other leadership positions at AppNexus, Inc., INVISION, Inc., AOL Inc. and Advertising.com.
Levin brings to Emerald’s Board extensive experience in both the events and broader media and technology industries. He is currently the Chairman of SparkBeyond Ltd., a privately-held AI and machine-ideation company and is also the University Entrepreneur in Residence at Arizona State University. Levin served as CEO of McGraw-Hill Education, Inc., a learning science company, from March 2014 to October 2017, and was CEO of UBM plc, a global events and exhibitions business, from April 2005 to February 2014 where he led the company’s pivot away from print, building the exhibitions business through launches, geo-cloning and completing almost 100 acquisitions of events and data-centric companies.
Photos courtesy Emerald Holding, Lynda Clarizio, David Levin
