Mr. Steele has served as General Manager of the AEG Ogden managed Cairns Convention Centre for the past 12 years and brings an impressive industry record to his new role.

Mr. Steele joined the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre in 1998. Two years later, he moved to Cairns and served as Business Manager and Operations Director before being promoted to General Manager in 2007.

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Ross Steele, Manager of Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre

Under his watch, the Centre was ranked number one in the world by the Association of International Congress Centres in 2014 and is in Queensland Tourism’s Hall of Fame for winning the Business Events category three years running. He also oversaw a recent $14 million refurbishment of the venue.

AEG Ogden’s Director of Convention Centres, Geoff Donaghy congratulated Mr. Steele and said he had the experience and skills to lead an executive team through pre-opening and securing important conventions and content for the new venue.

“His track-record in Cairns stands him in good stead to take on the challenge of managing this new venue and is ready to hit the ground running,” he said.

Mr. Steele said he looked forward to utilising AEG’s world-class reputation and global connections and working with the venue owner, Ōtākaro to achieve great outcomes for both Te Pae and Christchurch.

“Our priority will be to attract international conventions which will both benefit the economy and showcase Christchurch and New Zealand to the world,” he said.

Te Pae will have capacity to host up to 2,000 delegates for a variety of national and international events. It will feature world-class purpose-built facilities including a 1,400 seat auditorium, 3,600 square metres of exhibition space and 24 meeting rooms.

Click here to view the Convention Centre website.

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