Associates

John Vimpany

John Vimpany's consultancy expertise is founded on a long career within heritage and museum management and also the MICE sector. Commencing his career in the world of international exhibitions with the world-wide Montgomery exhibition organising, management and consultancy group, he turned also to the management of museum and heritage projects in the 1990s as CEO of the Mary Rose Trust, 'Firepower' (The Royal Artillery Museum) and the Stonehenge Project (English Heritage). More recently as a consultant, he was the UK government's Export Promoter for Tourism Expertise.

MICE - Exhibitions and Business Tourism

John has extensive experience of working within the MICE industry. Much of his work has been for overseas assignments and recent projects include leading a feasibility study for the modernisation of the Cyprus State Fair, researching a successful new international trade fair in the unique Libyan market, and advising on a new convention centre for a major Arab nation.

As Managing Director of Exhibition Consultants Ltd (ECL), the consultancy arm of the Montgomery group of international exhibition companies, John has led feasibility studies for new trade fair venues in Hong Kong, Thailand and Indonesia. He has also managed consultancy programmes to set up the Lagos and Khartoum International Trade Fairs and led exhibition research and training projects funded by UN and European agencies for developing countries. Many of his assignments have been in the Middle East.

Through ECL, John was Project Director for the operation and marketing of the Liverpool International Garden Festival which was, in 1984, the largest public event to have been held in the UK since the 1951 Festival of Britain and an event recognised by the World Expo body, the Bureau of International Exhibitions (BIE). In six months it attracted 3.4 million visits, was a milestone in the modernisation of the UK's visitor attraction business and marked Liverpool's reinvention as a tourist destination. Subsequently he took part in studies for the UK Department of the Environment to appraise and select other regeneration sites for Garden Festival status.

Currently he is part of an advisory team for the development of a major exhibition centre in Saudi Arabia.

Heritage and Museums

John's experience in the heritage management sector is wide-ranging: From 2000-2003 he was director of the £67 million visitor centre project at Stonehenge, England's most important World Heritage Site. He led a successful National Heritage Lottery Fund bid for a grant of £24 million and the scheme gained planning permission.

He recently completed an assignment as Project Sponsor for the modernisation of a new gallery at Hampton Court Palace for England's Historic Royal Palaces organisation and has advised on the new Museum of English Rural Life.

Previously, he was Chief Executive of the Mary Rose Trust, one of Britain's most prestigious independent museum and conservation projects. He has also been Project Director, subsequently CEO, at the Royal Artillery Museum, working to relocate the world's most important collection of artillery in a new museum in the newly conserved listed buildings in the historic Royal Arsenal at Woolwich, an urban regeneration area.

In 2003 John became the UK government's Export Promoter for Tourism Expertise and in 2007 led two official trade missions, one to Estonia (urban regeneration) and another to Libya (tourism development).

John is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and a Fellow of the Tourism Society and of the Royal Society of Arts. He holds an honours degree in economics from the University of London and has participated in the Executive Programme at the European School of Business Administration (INSEAD) at Fontainebleau, Paris.

Key areas of expertise

Management consultancy, master planning, business and marketing advice for heritage, cultural and exhibition (MICE) projects for tourism destinations throughout the world.