When LIGHTFAIR® International (LFI) opens in Philadelphia in May, it will be with a new face on the executive team. International Market Centers (IMC) has hired trade show industry veteran Dan Darby as Senior Vice President for the world’s largest annual architectural and commercial lighting trade show and conference. LIGHTFAIR is staged in partnership by the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD), the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), and IMC, which joined most recently as Managing Partner.
Darby’s role is to lead exhibitor and sponsorship sales, show development and design, event production, and Conference programming in collaboration with IMC marketing, digital, technology and operations teams. He brings to IMC and LFI more than 30 years of experience in the trade show industry, most recently at Informa North America, where he was VP/Marketing, overseeing the centralized marketing services for its Infrastructure, Construction, and Real Estate portfolio.
“Dan comes to LFI with extraordinary experience and expertise gained through an admirable career in high-profile trade shows and events. His work with AIA, Greenbuild, World of Concrete, and other shows is well aligned with LIGHTFAIR’s expanding business base and growth trajectory,” notes Jo Ann Miller Marshall, IMC Executive Vice President and President/Trade Show Leasing.
“I’ve long admired LIGHTFAIR’s position as a global force in the lighting, design and technology sector,” Darby states. “It is both an honor and a challenge to help advance the growth of a business that brings together top brands and thought leaders in an annual event of international reach and resonance.”
Darby is a graduate of the University of Georgia and is an active member of the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE), serving as a member of the Southeast Chapter Board of Directors (2011-2018), chairman of the Southeast Chapter (2017), an IAEE CEM Faculty Member (2013-2017), and an IAEE National Education Committee Member (2018-2019). He is also a 2018 IAEE Chapter Merit Award recipient.
