Until the end of 2016 as Event Director at UBM, Chris was responsible for MEDTEC Europe (Germany) and the Care and Dementia Show (UK), both large scale trade shows. He is now adding Safety and Health Expo to his portfolio as he steps into his new role as Brand Director across Facilities Show, Care & Dementia Show, Service Management Expo, Safety and Health Expo, the Professional Clothing Show and Black Hat Europe.
Chris will be taking over from Heather Beach, who is now Director at The Healthy Work Company. Heather is a well-known face at Safety and Health Expo, after spending 25 years in health and safety, and running the show for four years, in which time she launched the Rising Stars Awards, Women in Health and Safety, and the Keynote Theatre. Heather says Chris is the ideal replacement and she looks forward to the next developments. “Our aim for Safety and Health Expo has been to make it into a celebration of the industry and I think we have really made progress with that.” she said.
“Chris Edwards is a seasoned events organiser who has thoroughly transformed the Care and Dementia show and I can’t wait to see what he will do in terms of continuing to evolve the show. Healthy Work will be there – wouldn’t miss it for the world – we are sponsoring the café.”
Working at UBM for 14 years, Chris’s previous role was with Virgin Mobile. Of his appointment Chris said: “I’ve been at UBM since 2003 and having worked alongside Heather and the SHE team for many years I am hugely excited to be joining the portfolio as Brand Director. I was lucky enough to be onsite for the event in 2016 and got a chance to experience the buzz throughout the show and can’t wait to get to ExCeL this June to be part of it again.
“At the moment I’m going through a period of listening and learning about the industry, who the main stakeholders are, what’s exciting and new in the sector and how Safety and Health Expo fits in to everything. Anyone who wants to drop me a line to give feedback on how we’re doing or just to provide their insights on the market can drop me an email.”
Heather’s new company The Healthy Work Company offers training with a difference. Healthy Work is focused on training health and safety professionals in leadership and influencing skills as well as supporting them with their responsibilities in wellbeing and mental health through Mental Health First Aid and the latest thinking in helping teams to thrive.
Heather intends to work with the profession to develop her training courses, and is also pleased to announce two partnerships. The first with Acre Frameworks – who now have a valuable bank of data on training needs from their psychometric testing and the second with Professor Tim Marsh, with whom she is launching a one day conference – Mental Health for Health and Safety Professionals on May 11 at the BMA in London.
Heather will continue to work with UBM on the Barbour webinar series and on Women in Health and Safety.
