New BEIA Board Members welcomed at 2025 AGM

Xanthe Smythe

New members have been welcomed to the Business Events Industry Aotearoa (BEIA) board after the 49th Annual General Meeting held on 26 November in Auckland.

Prue Daly, General Manager of New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC) has been re-elected to continue her leadership as Platinum Board Member for a further two-year term.

Ross Steele, General Manager of Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre will join Prue for a one-year term as the other elected Platinum Board Member. He was previously a BEIA Platinum board member from 2022 to 2024 and will take over from Jacques Meyer of Cordis Auckland.

Following elections today, Xanthe Smythe, Sales Manager for the Conference & Business Group at Sudima Hotels - Hind Management is the new Gold level board member. She replaces Vanessa Wallace who stepped down after one year.

James Chatterley, Managing Director of Event Dynamics is the new Silver level member. He replaces Sam Holdich.

BEIA, Board Chair Martin Snedden congratulated the new representatives and thanked all the candidates.

“We extend a warm welcome to Xanthe and James as our new Gold and Silver representatives elected today. Our sincere thanks to Jacques, Vanessa and Sam for their valuable contributions.”

The 2025/26 BEIA Board members are:

• Board Chair, Martin Snedden
• BEIA Management, Lisa Hopkins
• Tourism New Zealand, Bjoern Spreitzer (co-opted)
• Air New Zealand, Iain Walker (co-opted)

Platinum:

• NZICC/SkyCity Entertainment Group, Prue Daly
  
• Te Pae Christchurch, Ross Steele

Gold:

• Sudima Hotels - Hind Management, Xanthe Smythe

Silver:

• Event Dynamics, James Chatterley

Appointed:

• Regional Tourism NZ, David Perks

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