Winners of the prestigious IMEX Academy Awards lined up to receive their honours from Chairman, Ray Bloom and Managing Director, Paul Flackett, at the Annual IMEX Gala Dinner last night. 

Each year the IMEX Academy Awards are presented to four individuals who have served the meetings and incentive travel industry exceptionally well.

Each of the winners has to have achieved consistently high standards within their chosen profession.  In most cases, candidates are recommended by their colleagues because they are something of an ‘unsung hero’ within their the wider industry.

AsiaPacific winner

Jean Christophe Robles Espinosa, Director of Marketing and Promotion for Brunei Tourism, was delighted to be named Academy Award Winner for the Asia Pacific region.

He counts among his career achievements, the Coordination of the first ever BIMP – EAGA Tourism Fair held in 1995 in Kuching, and working as Organising Committee Chairman for the 4th Rainforest World Music Festival held in Sarawak in 2001.

Robles Espinosa is a former Deputy Chairman of the Strategic Planning Committee for Sarawak’s Tourism Board Strategic Plan and is currently Secretary of the Sarawak Tourism Board Marketing and Promotion Committee.

The Americas’ winner

Winner for The Americas region was Gregory Kurdian, founder of Sunbound Bahamas, whose career in incentive travel, corporate meetings and special events spans 40 years. Kurdian is a regular, expert commentator on industry trends and issues at leading forums around the world and in the travel trade press.

He is a 12-year member of the Board of Directors of SITE and was one of the first ever to be awarded the Certified Incentive Travel Executive Awards (CITE).

Summing up the qualities that make him a worthy winner, IMEX Managing Director, Paul Flackett, said, “He’s larger than life, intensely passionate about our industry and always willing to come forward and share his knowledge for the greater good. He always manages to light up a room with his beaming smile and self deprecating humour and the destinations he serves on a daily basis will be forever grateful for his drive and purpose.”

Africa and Middle East winner

Alec Gilbert, CEO of Durban International Convention Centre (ICC), was delighted to accept his Academy Award as winner for Africa and the Middle East. Thanks to his enduring efforts at the ICC, 135 international events have been confirmed with another 54 provisionally booked.

The venue was also voted “Best Conference Centre in Africa” in the World Travel Awards in 2001 to 2005 and has ranked in the top 10 ever since. Gilbert’s sporting interests include canoeing and his unbounded energy is confirmed by his participation in various Iron Man events in the past.

European winner

The final Academy Award (Europe) was presented to Tatjana Radovic, Congress Manager of the Ljubljana Tourist Board of Slovenia.  Radovic was selected in recognition of her obvious passion for the travel industry and her unstinting efforts in developing the convention sector in Ljubljana as well as her commitment to raising the profile of Slovenia’s convention offerings as a whole.

For the last seven years she has been Course Director of the EFCT Summer School and is currently an EFCT Board Member.

JMIC Unity Award

This year’s esteemed JMIC Unity Award was presented to Luca Favetta, Global Event Director of SAP.  In the opinion of the judges, Favetta has made an exceptional and admirable contribution to the industry, not least through his role as co-Chair of MPI’s Global Corporate Circle of Excellence in 2005 and the MPI European Council prior to that.

The award, which was presented by Barbara Maple, President of JMIC, is made for outstanding achievement in the meetings industry.

MPI Youth Foundation Winner

This year’s MPI (Meeting Professionals International) Youth Foundation Winner was named as Lorenz Halm, 26, who is currently Project Assistant in the Pharma Department of the Corporate Meetings branch of MCI.

Halm’s thesis on the relevance of professional trade associations for the development of the Spanish national and international meetings industry was considered incisive, informative and extremely relevant in its detail and analysis.

The award was presented to Halm by David Dubois, Executive Director of the MPI Foundation. Part of his prize includes a sponsored trip to attend MPI’s WEC in Dallas in the summer.