Both have been with the company for several years. Roland Bleinroth has been Managing Director of Messe Stuttgart since 2006. Following the departure of Ulrich Kromer, who retired after 19 years as Managing Director on January 31, 2020, he will take over his position as Spokesman of the Management Board. Stefan Lohnert also joined the company in 2006 and was most recently Head of Guest Events and ICS International Congress Center Stuttgart.

A strong trade fair year awaits the new management duo. "We are expecting a new sales record of around 185 million euros for 2020 and are therefore very well booked," says Bleinroth, looking ahead optimistically. "That doesn't mean that our trade fair business is a sure-fire success. The daily challenge in the trade fair industry is to reinvent every successful trade fair to a certain extent in order to continue to be successful." His colleague Lohnert adds: "To do this, it is important to keep a close eye on the events and remain in dialog with exhibitors, associations and politicians. The classic trade fair must continue to develop. Our customers want to experience new things and expect us to optimize the communication between suppliers and customers." One megatopic here is digitalization. "We are taking the trade fair into the third dimension with digital planning tools," explains Bleinroth.

Business divisions are reorganized

The new management duo has ambitious plans: The further expansion of internationalization is on the agenda, as is the development of the exhibition grounds with logistics areas for service providers, the creation of new parking spaces on the campus and an additional hall with a congress area. A widening of the L1192 highway as the most important feeder road is also under discussion. Another focus of the management is the topic of sustainability. "We are on our way to becoming the first climate-neutral trade fair venue in Germany," says Lohnert.

Many tasks, which the managing directors have divided up as follows: Roland Bleinroth has been responsible for the company as a whole and individual business areas since the beginning of the month. These include the two trade fair divisions Lifestyle & Leisure and Industry & Technology. He will also continue to be responsible for Messe Stuttgart's international business with the Messe Stuttgart International division. He is also responsible for Corporate Development, Corporate Communications, Marketing Communications, Finance and Messe Stuttgart Digital.

With the Messe Stuttgart International (MSI) division, Bleinroth has already successfully driven forward the internationalization strategy of Messes Stuttgart in the past. 26 percent of the more than 22,000 exhibitors and almost ten percent of the almost 1.2 million visitors who visited Messe Stuttgart in 2019 came from abroad. The entire region benefits from this through so-called "indirect profitability", primarily the hotel, catering and retail industries. Cultural and leisure activities are also popular during business trips.