Business is definitely looking up for events and experience designers Ignition.
For Bristol-based exhibition, events and experience designers Ignition, Covid-19 could well have been a commercial disaster, with the pandemic signalling the temporary-but-complete cessation of live events and exhibitions. Ignition, which is part of larger creative company Istoria Group, responded to the new situation at speed, pivoting to develop new creative IT skills and expertise so that it could offer clients virtual and hybrid events instead, as well as relying on its own ethos of careful financial planning, including robust, long-term contracts with existing clients, in order to see it through.
Now, however, business is definitely looking up, with the addition of four new senior staff members to the Ignition team for 2023 and a burgeoning order book. ‘Our 2024 forecast is already triple that of 2021’, Ignition CEO Sam Rowe commented, ‘and we expect to be back to pre-pandemic business levels by 2025. We’re delighted to be welcoming four new senior team members to the business to help respond to new opportunities and are also now working with a fellow B Corp recruitment specialist to ensure we reach the very best local creative talent for our future needs.’
The four new team members are:
Katy Evans – Client Partnership Director
Katy Evans joins Ignition as Client Partnership Director, heading up the drive for new business opportunities for the firm across the aerospace and defence, renewable energy and finance sectors amongst others, and making sure Ignition gets properly creative in its pitch responses to get clients excited and help Ignition stand out from its competitors. Katy brings 15 years’ business experience in the South-West region to her role, having previously developed new business pipeline opportunities and boosted turnover for exhibition and communications agency clients, as well as luxury homewares manufacturers. Her aspirations for the role are to ‘be the one who brings the goods, wins the battles and makes the difference!’
Saskia Horne – Office Manager
Saskia Horne has an extensive CV in office and client management, as well as in HR and event co-ordination, across the creative, property, education and recruitment sectors in the Bristol region. Saskia joins Ignition as Office Manager, where she will be responsible for office and facilities management, executive PA duties for Ignition CEO Sam Rowe, plus HR, finance and project support. Her ambition for the role is to bring cohesion back to every aspect of the company’s smooth-running as it emerges from the pandemic period. Saskia particularly loves a challenge and ‘doing anything no one else can work out how to do!’
Sam Morris – Head of Operations
Sam Morris now returns to Ignition, where he worked for 9 years until 2016, to become the company’s new Head of Operations. Sam’s role will include overseeing the company’s design development and warehouse teams in order ‘to get designs off the page and into production’. This means working closely with internal and external stakeholders to ensure all exhibition design stands not only look good but are also re-usable, ensuring the company’s sustainable ethos is always to the forefront. In his new role, he also hopes to streamline processes and help grow the team, improving standards and practices still further in a pro-active response to Ignition’s existing ISO and new B Corp accreditations.
Hannah Preston – Account Director
Hannah Preston is delighted to be returning to the exhibition industry, where her ‘passion really lies’, joining as Account Director for Ignition, having previously worked for over 20 years across events and exhibitions, as well as in data management and sponsorship. Hannah’s dual role at Ignition will cover both exhibition project management and client services, allowing her to hone her client management skills and broaden her exhibition project experience. She says Ignition’s pioneering advocacy of sustainability in the events and exhibitions industry was a major draw for her in coming to the company and she looks forward to Ignition’s positive example helping to shape the industry’s sustainable future still further.
About Ignition
Ignition, founded in 2007, is an independently-owned and Bristol-based UK business and sustainable practice pioneer. Forming part of creative business group Istoria Group, Ignition was established to provide creatively-led design and project management services to the global exhibitions, events and experiences industries. The company - which also has a US-based office in Indianapolis - works across many sectors, from pharmaceutical, healthcare and beauty to aerospace, construction, engineering and manufacturing, as well as technology, education and FMCG businesses.
Ignition holds a number of globally-recognised ISO standards, most notably as one of the first companies in the world to be certified with the ISO 20121 Sustainable Event Management standard – and the first within the exhibitions industry. Ignition is also certified with ISO 14001 – Environmental Management and ISO 9001 – Quality Management. In 2020, Ignition’s pioneering advances within its industry were rewarded by being given The Queen’s Award for Enterprise for Sustainable Development, the only events company ever to achieve this. In 2022, Istoria Group, as well as constituent companies Ignition and Phoenix Wharf, achieved B Corp accreditation.
