- Smith succeeds Bill Ingwersen, who has led the US subsidiary since 2017
- Smith brings extensive experience in the international and German exhibitions industry
- The USA has a dual importance for NürnbergMesse Group: One is to be a source market for exhibitors and visitors in Nuremberg, and two as an US based organizer with two events serving the US market
Things are changing at the top of NürnbergMesse Group’s US subsidiary. In April 2025, Dennis Smith (58) is taking over as CEO of NürnbergMesse North America in Atlanta. The Colorado native, whose previous career has included positions at Messe Frankfurt and Hannover Messe, will contribute extensive experience and expertise gained from working in many different facets of the international exhibition and convention business. “By bringing Dennis Smith onboard, the NürnbergMesse Group is gaining an extremely experienced tradeshow veteran who has already demonstrated his know-how in a variety of executive management positions in both Europe and the US. With Dennis as the new CEO, we aim to expand our growth in the US market even further. At the same time, we want to thank Bill Ingwersen for his many achievements over the years”, said Dr Thomas Koch, Chairman of the Board of Directors of NürnbergMesse North America.
Dennis Smith has worked in a variety of management positions in the international exhibition business, including Managing Director of Hannover Messe Istanbul (2006-2009), CEO of Messe Frankfurt Inc. (2012-2019), and 2023 Chairperson of IAEE, the industry’s leading trade association. As the new CEO at NürnbergMesse North America (NMNA), Smith will now assume responsibility for acquiring and supporting exhibitors and visitors from the USA at NürnbergMesse Group events worldwide, and also for developing the company’s own US events – embedded world North America in Anaheim, California, and BIOFACH AMERICA in Atlanta, Georgia. The expectation is that he’ll apply his proven knowledge of the exhibition and convention industry in both the US and Germany to expand NMNA’s own events in particular into successful branches of the NürnbergMesse Group’s international portfolio. The US market is one of the most important sources of NürnbergMesse Group exhibitors and visitors. “I’m honoured to be given this opportunity to once again join a Messe family and expand on the success of NMNA’s activities in the US and lead the team into this new era of growth”, commented Dennis Smith.
Bill Ingwersen first joined NMNA in 2015 as its Trade Show & Marketing Manager. Becoming Managing Director in 2017, he greatly energised NMNA’s sales activity, with a special focus on building up the presence of US Pavilions at the international trade shows in Nuremberg. Following the Covid pandemic, Ingwersen and his team were in charge of launching embedded world North America and BIOFACH AMERICA as NMNA’s own events.
