Our Credentials
Gary Grimmer, CEO
Based in Melbourne, Gary has 28 years experience in the convention industry. His current projects include consulting Macau, Malaysia, Daejeon (Korea), Daegu (Korea) and Serbia on the development of their convention and meetings industries, and serving as international consultant to USDM, a US company providing leading edge internet marketing services to the convention industry. He has served as lead consultant in developing new convention bureaus in Macau, Malaysia, Oman and Serbia and on convention centre feasibility studies in Oman and Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
Gary is also the regular moderator of ICCA's annual Association Expert Seminar at IMEX in Frankfurt, Germany and the "Asia for Asia Summit" in Bangkok, Thailand. In addition, Gary recently served on the London International Convention Centre Commission and as Chairman of the Board of Alpine Resorts Tourism in Victoria, Australia. Gary was an original founder of BestCities, the industry's first convention bureau alliance, for which Gary Grimmer & Company now serves as the management company.
Prior to starting Gary Grimmer & Company, Gary served for eight years as the CEO of the convention bureau in Melbourne, Australia. While he is both Australian and American, he is originally from the United States where he was CEO at bureaus 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.) Gary received the Asia Pacific IMEX Academy Award for 2007.
Contact: gary@garygrimmer.com
Mobile: +61 419 561 635
Mike Williams, Senior Consultant
Currently based in Kuala Lumpur, Mike joined Gary Grimmer & Company as Senior Consultant in February, 2007. While serving on the consulting team for all projects, he has also served as a key consultant on a number of convention centre and convention destination development projects in Australia and Asia. Key projects have been with Tourism Queensland, Geelong Otway Tourism, Mt.Buller Alpine Resort Management, Australian National University, Macau Government Tourism Office, Townsville Entertainment and Convention Centre and MyCEB (Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau.)
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 developed the first consumer campaigns for the Australian Tourism Commission in South East Asia as well as travel industry loyalty and educational programs in the UK/Ireland. He played a major role in the development of the world's first global alliance of convention bureaus known as Best Cities and in the development of the Asia Pacific's largest business events trade show - AIME.
Mike has held several industry leadership positions including Chair of the Best Cities Global Alliance, National President of Meetings and Events Australia (MEA), Councilor on the Business Events Council of Australia, Chair of MIAA (Meetings Industry Association of Australia) Victoria, National Conference Chair for the MEA Conferences in 1999 and 2005 and held a position on the Operations Committee for the Association of Australian Convention Bureaux. Mike is also an Associate Fellow of Meetings Events Australia (AFMEA).
Contact: mike@garygrimmer.com
Mobile: +61 413 743 481
Jane Vong Holmes, Senior Associate
Based in Kuala Lumpur, 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. The Alliance is made up of eight leading convention & visitor bureaus from all parts of the world, Cape Town, Copenhagen, Dubai, Edinburgh, Melbourne, San Juan, Singapore and Vancouver.
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 Asia Pacific 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.
She is widely recognized as an industry player who is well connected with Asia and with knowledge of its meetings development.
Prior to her work at ICCA, Jane was involved in marketing communications working for an NGO, TV station, magazine and also spent 13 years at Malaysia's national tourist office, Tourism Malaysia. Jane served as Deputy Director of Tourism Malaysia's Sydney Office for four years.
Contact: jane@garygrimmer.com
Mobile: + 60 12 220 8365
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.
Contact: jane.cunningham@garygrimmer.com
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.
Joyce Joeman, Project Support Consultant
Joyce holds a Brevet De Technicien de Superieur (B.T.S), Higher Diploma in Hotel Management from the prestigious Academie de Grenoble, France. With over twenty three years of Sales & Marketing experience, Joyce is well respected and held in high esteem by her peers and the industry.
Joyce's experiences are mainly in the Sales & Marketing with specialisation in Convention & Congress Sales in her last position with the award winning Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. She was responsible for the Centre's bidding process for local, regional and international conventions, liaising closely with the local associations and strategic partners.
Joyce is a mum to three kids, Elyssa 8 years, Gregory 4 years and Sarah 16 months. She enjoys travelling, learning new cultures and cuisine and an occasional spa.
