The UFI Board of Directors has elected Diversified Business Communications’ Mary Larkin as president of UFI for 2020.

This decision was made at the board meeting during the UFI European Conference in Verona, Italy, and becomes effective at the conclusion of the 85th UFI Global Congress, which runs from Oct. 31- Nov. 3 in St. Petersburg.

Corrado Peraboni, UFI’s current president, welcomed the election of Larkin, saying: “I congratulate Mary Larkin for being elected as the new UFI incoming President. It will be a great privilege for me to be part of the presidential trio, together with Craig Newman and Andreas Gruchow in this historical moment - Mary will be the first female president in UFI’s history and also the first to be based in the U.S. I wish her every success in performing all the important duties that are required of this position.”

The UFI presidential trio for the 2018/19 term will comprise of: Craig Newman (Johannesburg Expo Centre, South Africa) President 2018/19; Mary Larkin (Diversified Communications, Portland, Me.) Incoming President; Corrado Peraboni (Fiera Milano, Italy) Outgoing President.

"I am delighted to be part of UFI’s leadership in the coming years and to continue with the development and support that UFI has provided the industry for so long,” Larkin said.

She added, “I am particularly looking forward to representing and working with women to help increase the level of female representation in leadership positions within the industry."

As UFI’s incoming president, Mary Larkin will work closely with the incumbent President and outgoing President to make up the presidential trio, managing UFI at the highest level, and helping UFI continue on its path of global development.

As executive vice president, Larkin oversees Diversified Communication’s US operations, as well as the international portfolio of seafood tradeshows, conferences and online reporting, including Seafood Expo Global (Brussels) and Seafood Expo North America (Boston), the industry’s leading events globally. She also oversees events in Asia (Hong Kong) and Diversified’s Integrative Healthcare and Wine portfolio.

Larkin began her tradeshow and conference career in Europe before moving to the U.S. in 1995 to join Diversified, where she held roles in sales and as show director. She was appointed Group Vice President in 2004 and Executive Vice President in 2014.

She serves on many industry Boards including the Society of Independent Show Organizers (SISO), Executive Board of UFI (Global Exhibitions Association and Seafood Industry Research Fund (SIRF). She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Center for Grieving Children in Portland, Me.

UFI was founded in 1925 as a non-profit, non-partisan international association, and today is the global association for the exhibitions industry, directly representing more than 50,000 exhibition industry professionals in almost 90 countries around the world. UFI operates four regional offices in addition to the headquarters in Paris.

UFI's recent presidents were from Germany (Andreas Gruchow 2016/17), Russia (Sergey Alexeev 2015/16), Colombia (Andrés López-Valderrama 2014/15), France (Renaud Hamaide, 2013/14), and China (Xianjin Chen, 2012/13).