Our Credentials
Gary Grimmer, CEO
Gary's current activities include consulting projects in Vancouver, Houston, South Africa, Macau, Malaysia, Serbia, and Daejeon, Korea. Recent projects include his consulting on convention centre developments in Malaysia, Oman and Australia as well as his service on the London International Convention Centre Commission. Gary also currently serves on the advisory council for the Dongcheng District in Beijing.
Gary is Moderator of the International Congress & Convention Association's (ICCA) annual Association Expert Seminar at IMEX in Frankfurt, Germany and Moderator of the annual Asia for Asia Summit in Bangkok. Prior to starting his own company, Gary was CEO of the convention bureau in Melbourne, Australia. Being both an Australian and American citizen, he is originally from the United States where he was CEO at bureaux in Portland, Oregon and Albuquerque, New Mexico and Vice President of the Boston, Massachusetts bureau. Gary is a former Chairman of the Board of the International Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus (now DMAI) and received the Asia Pacific IMEX Academy Award for 2007.
Email: gary@garygrimmer.com
Mike Williams, Senior Consultant
Prior to joining Gary Grimmer & Company, Mike served as General Manager Sales for the Melbourne Convention + Visitors Bureau in Melbourne, Australia where he led the community's bid teams to secure major international and national business events for the city. He also oversaw strategic planning and marketing programs within the Bureau. Mike has been involved in international sales and marketing in both the leisure and business events industry for over 28 years, including over 12 years with the Australian Tourism Commission (now Tourism Australia) working in the UK/Ireland and South East Asia leisure markets.
Mike has held several industry leadership positions and is an Associate Fellow of Meetings Events Australia (AFMEA). While serving on the consulting team for all projects, he has also served as lead consultant on five convention centre studies in Australia, on development of a new convention strategy for Tourism Queensland and on market studies for Geelong and Mt. Buller, both in Victoria.
Email: mike@garygrimmer.com
Jane Vong Holmes, Senior Associate (Asia)
Jane joined Gary Grimmer & Company as Senior Associate in June 2009. In addition to her other projects, she has taken on the role of Managing Director for the BestCities Global Alliance (www.bestcities.net) which is managed by Gary Grimmer & Company.
Before joining Gary Grimmer & Company, Jane served for 8 years as Regional Director Asia Pacific for the International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA) beginning in late 2001. Based in Malaysia, the Asia Pacific regional office is an extension of the marketing, support services, recruitment and research arm of ICCA which is headquartered in the Netherlands. ICCA is one of the world's leading convention industry associations. In this role, Jane played an active role in the meetings industry, facilitating and presenting at industry forums and keeping the industry attuned to global and regional trends and developments. Jane's leadership helped to make ICCA's Asian chapter one of the most diverse, active committed and engaged. During Jane's tenure, the office established a research unit dedicated to studying association meetings trends and supplementing the market intelligence efforts of ICCA's Head Office.
Email: jane@garygrimmer.com
Bruce Redor, Senior Associate (Europe, Middle East & Africa)
Based in Paris, Bruce Redor is an Anglo-American who has seen his international career develop over a 25-year period in a variety of sectors within the hospitality and services industries.
Bruce began his management career working for a group of hospitals in the San Francisco Bay Area, after having received his Master's degree from U.C. Berkeley. He came to France to take on a position of Director of Marketing at the American Hospital of Paris.
He then joined the CEGOS Consulting Group in Paris, leading projects in strategic planning, marketing and organizational development for multi-national corporations.
Bruce was a member of the management team that built and operated EuroDisney in Paris, where he set up and ran the successful business unit for meetings and incentives: Disneyland Paris Business Solutions.
From there, he was recruited away by the city of Lyon, France to take on the job of Chief Executive at the Convention and Visitors Bureau, where he was instrumental in turning the city into one of Europe's leading business-travel and leisure destinations.
Over the last few years, Bruce has developed an independent consulting and executive search practice and has worked with some key players in the travel industry including Expedia, Inc. and Lufthansa Airplus, GmbH.
Email: bruce@garygrimmer.com
Jane Cunningham, Business Development Consultant
Based in London, Jane joined Gary Grimmer & Company in December 2009. Previously she served as the Sales Director for Congrex UK, an international professional conference organisation with over 25 years experience in the association market. Prior to working with Congrex Jane worked at VisitLondon as the Convention Services Manager.
She was responsible for helping and encouraging potential ambassadors and associations to bring their conferences to London. In 2000 Jane moved back to the UK, after spending three years in Dubai where she worked for Le Meridien Hotel and Kuoni Travel, and started work at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) in association sales where she spend five years. Jane studied French, Italian and Tourism and after college she spent a number of years overseas working in the hospitality and tourism industry. She was an active member of ICCA and was on the ICCA UK & Ireland committee.
Faye Langley, Business Development Consultant
Based in Sydney, Faye joined Gary Grimmer & Company in March 2010. Her current projects include business development consulting for both Daegu (Korea) and Serbia. Previously she served as the Business Development Executive, in the international sales team at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre. She was responsible for helping and encouraging national and international associations to bring their conferences to Sydney. Prior to working with the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, Faye worked in the sales team at the Melbourne Convention + Visitors Bureau.
She was an active member of the YMEA sub-committee of Meetings & Events Australia (MEA) and in 2005 was awarded the NSW Young Professional Award from MEA.
Faye holds a Bachelor of Business (Tourism) from LaTrobe University. When she isn't busy working or being a Mum, she enjoys cooking and walking her dog.
Email: faye@garygrimmer.com
Joyce Joeman, Project Consultant (Malaysia)
Joyce joins Gary Grimmer & Co as a Project Consultant in January 2010. She holds a Brevet De Technicien de Superieur (B.T.S), Higher Diploma in Hotel Management from the prestigious Academie de Grenoble, France. Joyce brings with her over twenty years of experience in business events and hospitality industry.
Well-respected by industry peers, Joyce has an established background in convention and congress sales. Previously Senior Sales Manager with the award-winning Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Joyce was responsible for securing regional and international conventions for the venue and joint collaborations with industry partners.
Email: joyce@garygrimmer.com
Santha Florence, Management Assistant
Santha joined Gary Grimmer & Co in April 2011. She graduated with a LLB(Honours) degree from the University of Wolverhampton, UK. After obtaining her degree, Santha went on to pursue a career in the education field and held several significant positions. She then ventured into the service industry after developing valuable business acumen from her seven years as a restauranteur. Today, Santha specialises in organising events for friends and business contacts.
Prior to this, she worked as a copy editor for five years in a media company and accumulated significant editorial and media knowledge in this field. Santha resides in Malaysia.
Email: santha@garygrimmer.com
