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Science Museum Group creates new role for cross-site Northern venues team

Record-breaking year for business tourism leads to team expansion

The Science Museum Group (SMG) announces four new appointments within its commercial events team working across Northern-based venues, the National Railway Museum (NRM) in York, National Media Museum (NMeM) in Bradford and Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in Manchester.

SMG, which includes the Science Museum in London, recently welcomed Alan Cass into the newly-created role of Event Sales Manager North. Cass brings more than 15 years events industry expertise having worked for hotel chains Principal Hayley, IHG and Radisson as well as international luxury lifestyle store, Harvey Nichols. While managing the in-house sales team, his role will also focus on the pro-active growth of business across the Northern sites.

Cass is joined by Chris Hanley, formerly of Prego Events, who has taken on the role of Events Manager North during maternity cover and will be heading up the operational side of the business across the venues. Hanley’s numerous years of event management experience range from small meetings to major global music festivals. Coralie Benton has joined as Sales Executive, having graduated from Leeds Metropolitan University with a BA (Hons) in Events Management earlier this year. Charlotte Scott will complete the new appointments, starting in early December as Operations Executive and coming directly from 2.5 years employment with CGC Event Caterers Ltd. The new team members join towards the end of an exciting year of development and success at the Museums. During 2013 the NRM won ‘Conference Venue of the Year’ at Visit York’s Tourism Awards, was ‘Highly Commended’ for Business Tourism at Welcome to Yorkshire’s White Rose Awards, completed a £1.4 million transformation of its iconic Station Hall and refurbishment of its conference centre. The NRM has achieved a massive 45% increase in profit for commercial events year-to-date, while SMG as a whole is currently up 12% in profit against budgets.

Sam Owen, head of commercial events for the Science Museum Group, said: “We have seen massive investment this year and the increased business indicates the success of this. We are very proud to be recognised for our commitment to excellence in the business tourism sector, as the revenue we generate has never been more valuable for the development and preservation of our world-renowned Museums. There couldn’t be a better time to welcome my new team, who I know will contribute hugely to this continued growth and success.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by National Railway Museum Events .