Andrew Morris has been a leading figure in the exhibition and events industry for over twenty five years, with unique experience in managing stakeholder relationships in family, private equity and local government business ownership. He launched the innovative Business Design Centre in Islington in 1986 which became the most stylish and successful boutique venue in the UK, founding the London Art Fair, Country Living Fair and New Designers. In 1999, Andrew partnered with Candover Investments and led the management buy-in of Earls Court & Olympia, acquired from P&O. Using the strategic tools of capital investment, customer service and the event organising arm, Clarion Events, the business prospered and was successfully sold to Nomura and St James’s Capital in 2004. Later that year, Andrew became CEO of the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham where he transformed the culture from ‘council’ to ‘commercial’ through, amongst other things, a transformative leadership development programme. Another strategic move was to create a destination experience focusing on entertainment, a long term project that includes a recently opened new casino and leisure complex. Today, Andrew has a small portfolio of business interests having recently stepped down as Chief Executive of the Academy for Chief Executives, focusing on growth through a blend of leadership, strategy and investment, based upon his book ‘Business to Go’ published by Troubador in April 2012. Andrew describes himself as a creative businessman, who enjoys learning from meeting people from all facets of life. His mantra is ‘take your job seriously, but not yourself.’ He has been married to Jennifer since 1976 and has three beautiful and talented children, Amy, Sophie and Ben. As well as spending time with his family he also has a keen interest in contemporary art, enjoys consuming great food and working it off playing tennis.
