Our board members and mentors

Soraya Gadelrab is a knowledgeable leader in the exhibition & events industry who specialises in navigating the retail, food, drink & hospitality industries. With 18 years experience of running varied events for Hyve Group, Montgomery and Climate Action to specialist projects for The Drinks Trust, Brand Events and MECC Maastricht. Soraya's experience is incredibly comprehensive. She is familiar with running large mature events such as Spring Fair, IFE and HRC as well as specialist niche events such as Speciality & Fine Food Fair which she also geo-cloned to launch a sister show in Singapore. She has launched events including Speciality Chocolate Fair and The Climate Action Innovation Zone at COP 27, curated and hosted the monthly Food & Drink Innovation Network conferences and consulted on a USAID funded programme to launch Belgrade Food Show in Serbia. She is known for networking with ease, identifying opportunities and being an incredibly effective project manager. She also enjoys hosting and presenting at live events and in the digital world. Soraya is passionate about driving forward the exhibitions and events sector and is incredibly well networked. She thrives on developing the next generation of leaders in the industry and encouraging others to join this incredible sector through talks at universities. She has sat on the AEO Development Board and AEO Technology Group, was Founding President of Women in Exhibitions Network UK and regularly mentors more junior members of the industry. She has also spoken at and hosted panel discussions about the future of our industry at the AEO Conference and at International Confex.