Richard Waddington – Chair EMA (Event Marketing Association) the UK industry association for in-house eventprofs. www.ema-uk.com
Formally Founder and CEO of First Protocol now FIRST Richard has been involved in the events and hospitality industry all his life.
Having exited FIRST at the end of 2012 through a MBO he has stayed extremely active in the industry, investing in numerous startups, advisory / Non Exec rolls, industry voice etc
Richard set up EMA in 2013 as a not for profit in response to a number of corporate contacts wanting their own industry network where they could meet and discuss in a peer to peer environment. With now over 1000 members across the UK EMA is the home and voice for the in-house event professional. A couple of investments are – Micebook.com is a new innovative platform for the mice industry, to search for suppliers and inspiration, and also to capture, store and share you knowledge across your team. Silkfred.com – online female fashion portal for over 800 independent designers, and numerous others.
