The Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau naming a president and CEO , UBM signing on a new COO in Brazil, Nimlok hiring a digital marketing manager and Urban Expositions restructuring and making several employee shifts are just a few of the recent people news items in the trade show industry.

The Commission of the Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau appointed veteran hospitality industry executive Karen Williams as the head of the city’s tourism agency. 

She assumes the title of president and CEO, after serving as interim following the departure of Jim Wood in January of this year.

Williams will represent the Louisville Bureau at industry tradeshows and conferences and provide strategic leadership and oversight of the Bureau in all aspects of its fiscal and daily operation.

UBM Brazil has appointed Jean-François Quentin as UBM Brazil’s first COO. As COO, Quentin will be responsible for many of the day to day operations of UBM Brazil, as well as supporting Joris van Wijk in the business’s strategic growth and development in the region. Quentin will take up his role in May 2014, reporting to van Wijk, who is president of UBM Brazil.

Nimlok, the custom and custom modular division of Orbus Exhibit & Display Group, added Timothy Carter as their new digital marketing manager.

In his role as digital marketing manager, Carter will lead and guide digital content creation and distribution efforts in support of the brand’s online and SEO strategies.

In what it calls its “next phase in its long-term growth strategy”, Georgia-based show management company Urban Expositions announced new roles and responsibilities for a number of its executive and management gift show team members. 

"As we continue to grow, expand and diversify our trade show portfolio, we want to ensure that we continue to uphold the customer service levels and attention to detail that both exhibitors and attendees have come to expect from being part of our events," said Doug Miller, president, Urban Expositions. 

He added, "By expanding the roles and responsibilities of our talented, experienced team members, we have no doubt we will meet and exceed this goal."

Here are the new positions:

Donna Guess has been appointed to the newly created position of vice president of operations.  In this new position, Guess will oversee event operations for all of Urban Expositions trade shows.

Dirk von Gal has been promoted to the new position of industry vice president of gift. In this new role, von Gal will work closely with the respective gift show directors, sales and marketing teams  to further strengthen these exhibitions from a sales management and strategic planning perspective.  

Leanna John has been promoted to the new position of group show director of Urban Expositions California-based trade events. Events under John's direction will include the semi-annual editions of the California Gift Show and San Francisco International Gift Fair.

Matt Miller will take on the position of sales manager for the Las Vegas Souvenir & Resort Gift Show, the national souvenir show for the souvenir and resort gift industry in Las Vegas, NV.

Evan Shoda has been appointed to the West Coast sales team as sales manager for the semi-annual editions of the California Gift Show and San Francisco International Gift Fair.

Meet Minneapolis, Convention and Visitors Association, hired on Joe Santarius as new sales account executive in the Destination Sales department at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

He brings more than two years of experience in sales, marketing and communications to this position. Santarius most recently worked as a senior environmental and engineering recruiter for Bloomington, Minn.-based Aerotek.