Chairman Don Neville, Managing Director of RichardsApex Europe Ltd, has been appointed chairman of the International Wire and Machinery Association (IWMA). The new chairman understands the challenges for both his chairmanship and the organisation during his three-year term. American-born Don Neville (67) has been involved in the wire and cable industry since 1990 and takes over as IWMA chairman from his predecessor Martin van der Zwan. Van der Zwan saw the association through its 50th anniversary and renaming, “unfortunately without the celebration we had planned for the ultimately cancelled Wire Düsseldorf in 2020,” Neville explains.
COVID has already resulted in changes such as leaner working practices, new working methods, and online meetings, Neville adds. “We all now prefer to communicate online from anywhere in the world rather than sit on a plane for days to discuss something that might be relatively short.”
Exhibitions are another matter, Neville points out. “There really is no online substitute for Messe Düsseldorf’s international exhibitions.”
