Koelnmesse committees
confirm appointment of Gerald Böse

During meetings that took place on 7th February 2008, the Supervisory Board and Shareholders' Meeting of Koelnmesse named Gerald Böse, 46, CEO of the Koelnmesse Executive Board. With this decision, the committees confirmed the recommendation made by the Finance Committee of the Supervisory Board in December. Böse is currently the Executive Director at Karlsruher Messe- und Kongress-GmbH.

“Given the many different challenges that today’s global competition poses for Cologne as a trade fair location, we are delighted that this decision will now be quickly implemented,” said Cologne Mayor Fritz Schramma, chairman of the committees. “We are pleased to welcome Gerald Böse and wish him every success.”

Schramma also went out of his way to thank Herbert Marner, who has led the company since April 2007, and to his management colleagues and the entire Koelnmesse team: “Thanks to all your efforts, Koelnmesse has not only remained on a steady course for success — you have also initiated the developments needed to ensure this trade fair company’s competitiveness over the long term.” As a member of the Koelnmesse GmbH Executive Board, Marner will once again concentrate on looking after the company's financial activities.

After gaining his degree in business administration, Gerald Böse worked at Messe München for four years before moving to the IGEDO fashion fairs in Düsseldorf in 1992. In his role as a managing director, he assumed responsibility for the company’s internationalisation and sales activities as well as corporate planning in 1995. Beginning in 1999 he built up the New Media department at IGEDO, which opened up new business areas for the company with the founding of the media trade fair OMD in 2000. In early 2006 he was named Executive Director of Karlsruher Messe- und Kongress-GmbH and of the Neue Messe Karlsruhe. During the last two years, as part of the strategic development of the still young trade fair location, Böse not only introduced a new, market-oriented organisational structure at the company, but also presided over the creation of new company events and guest events.