Grass Roots Meetings and Events US has appointed a new managing director, Howard Givner.

Givner was founder and executive director of the Event Leadership Institute and also founded events agency Paint the Town Red. He also created mobile app Super Planner and was co-creator of the Event Innovation Forum, a TED-style conference for industry leaders.

Givner said: "I had the pleasure of facilitating a two-day management offsite for the Grass Roots team and instantly clicked. I felt there was tremendous potential for this business here, to build on the great work they’ve already done with their amazing clients. When the opportunity to lead the team came up, it was a natural fit. One of the things I’m most excited about is to bring a Big Data approach to the trove of analytics generated by the company, and leverage that on behalf of our clients. This will allow us to uncover trends to provide detailed, but easy to digest, analysis that can be used to drive efficiencies, cost savings, and improvements in ROI. We’re at a very interesting point in the industry. The pace of change is only getting faster, and this offers an opportunity for industry professionals to truly prove value in properly identifying these developments, and advising their clients and stakeholders accordingly."

David Taylor, managing director of Grass Roots Meetings & Events, said: "Howard brings a deep knowledge of the industry and I look forward to seeing the impact his ideas and experience will have in both the short and long term. This is an exciting time for Grass Roots’ M&E team. There will be changes ahead that will allow us to use our market leading position to invigorate the M&E category as a whole."