Interexpo's strength is the people behind the operations of the company. The present staff strength numbers 10 in total. From the Chairman of the company to the Director, Chief Executive Officer, Managers and support staff, Interexpo is a company of experienced professionals.

The senior management team alone has more than 60 years of cumulative experience in this business. They have organised more than 50 different exhibitions and conferences, for diversified group of industry. The target audience for these exhibitions ranged from mass public to very niche selected groups of trade visitors. Of these exhibitions and conferences organised, 90% are international in nature. The management team of Interexpo started their career from very junior positions where they learned and did the basic nutty-gritty of events management, and worked their way up to where they are today.

Her journalistic career includes being named as the international correspondent for Vogue Paris (1989) in which she also coordinated a 16-page supplement on Malaysia. She was the Editorial Consultant to Newsweek International's 40-page supplement on Malaysia (January, 1993), and Editor-in-Chief of Sojourn magazine (March, 1993). Her other areas of work includes having worked on a worldwide public relations program for Tourism Malaysia; handled promotional, press and public relations for PATA '86 Conference; Project Consultant to International Herald Tribune's 'Malaysia: Powerhouse of the 90s Conference' (November, 1993) and the 'Malaysia Summit Conference' (November, 1994). She has also done a variety of important books and photography exhibitions which includes: 'Malaysia: Heart of Southeast Asia', 'EYES on ASEAN: A Photographic Journey through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations', 'Crafts of Malaysia', 'A Passage to Vietnam', 'The Encyclopedia of Malaysia', 'The Philippines: A Voyage through the Archipelago', 'Visions: a Multicultural Exploration of Malaysia and Australia' photography exhibition, and the book, 'Visions'. Her book, 'In Liberal Doses', a collection of her columns in The Star, was published in 1997.

^Top

She has also been actively involved in the field of HIV/AIDS. She is the Chair on the Board of Trustees for the Malaysian AIDS Foundation, and is the President of the Malaysian AIDS Council, and until December 1999, was the Asia-Pacific NGO representative to the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). She is also Vice-President of the AIDS Society of Asia and the Pacific (ASAP) and in 1999, she chaired the 5th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) in Kuala Lumpur.

Datin Paduka Marina has been awarded the Avon-Tan Sri Fatimah Women of Distinction Award for Social Work, Rotary International's highest award for community service, the Dato Paduka Mahkota Selangor Award by HRH The Sultan of Selangor, Honorary Masters of Arts by Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Fifth ASEAN Achievement Award for Community Service by the ASEAN Business Forum, and the Tokoh Mas Award by the Tunku Kurshiah College Old Girls' Association. She is married to Tara Sosrowardoyo and is the mother of two girls. She was schooled in Malaysia and England, graduating with BA (Hons) in International Relations from the University of Sussex, Brighton.

His vast experience and contacts were evident when he helped establish Miller Freeman's Malaysian office in 1996 and within a year, Miller Freeman Sdn Bhd became the leading exhibition and conference organiser in Malaysia. Miller Freeman worldwide by then, is the largest trade show and conference group in the world after its acquisition of Bleinheim plc.

Mak's credentials read a chronicle of some of the most memorable exhibitions and conferences in Malaysia such as MALBEX, Multimedia Asia, Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange show and Franchise Asia. He is also one of the founding members of the Malaysian Association of Conference and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (MACEOS) and a past president.

In his rare free time, Mak can be found on the golf course. He is married with three beautiful children.

^Top

Michel was the Asia-Pacific leader behind some of the largest exhibitions and conference organisers in the world. Michel was concurrently the President of Asia-Pacific and President of International Sales Forces Worldwide of Reed Exhibition Companies. He left Reed to be the Senior Vice President, Asia-Pacific of Miller Freeman. Michel was the initial pillar behind the success of shows such as Asian Aerospace, the 2nd largest air show in the world and the bi-annual Turkey Defence Show.

Michel is well grounded in the area of marketing and research, having been the Regional Director of Frank Small & Associates, Malaysia for 8 years, and the Paris-based Director of Development and later on as Far-East Representative based in Tokyo for the Bureau De Recherche Et d'etude Francais (BREF). He also founded GEREP, the first market research consultancy in northern France.

Dr Akavi was educated in Turkey and France, graduating with a University Doctorate in International Economy Paris I, Pantheon Sorbonne, France. He is a French citizen married to an American. Together they have three children.

^Top