Helmut Winkler retires
Michael Degen to take over as Project Director
After the forthcoming editions of BEAUTY, TOP HAIR and the make-up artist design show have drawn to a close Helmut Winkler will retire in April 2017. Over his in total 28 years at Messe Düsseldorf he was in charge of 90 events including REHA CARE, CARAVAN SALON and TourNatur. In addition to this he served as a board member at Messe Brno for a long time.
Since 1991 Helmut Winkler has been responsible for BEAUTY DÜSSELDORF and over this period he has established TOP HAIR (2005) and the make-up artist design show (2010) as independent projects with lots of commitment and a feel for the market, developing all three projects into the leading events in their respective industry. In combination with the recent project Medical SkinCare Congress these are the four pillars that have contributed to also making Düsseldorf the capital of beauty in terms of trade fairs. “I am looking forward to the time ahead of me that I will fill with my hobbies and as a consultant in the trade fair and event business,” says Helmut Winkler commenting on his “retired but not tired” future.
Michael Degen, Executive Director and member of the board of management at Messe Düsseldorf, will (in personal union) take over project management for this trade fair trio in addition to his previous tasks. Hailing from the German city of Kiel, Degen has served Messe Düsseldorf as a Division Director and held power of attorney for domestic trade fairs for ten years now. The area of responsibility of the 53-year old includes a number of international trade fairs such as glasstec, drupa, ProWein, A+A, Euroshop but also the popular consumer fairs boot and CARAVAN SALON.
As Michael Degen has also been in charge of BEAUTY, TOP HAIR and mads as Executive Director already since 2007, he is well-known in the beauty and hairdressing sectors and associated with continuity: “There will not be any essential changes in strategy for the trio of trade fairs because the existing concept is our success formula, after all,” stresses Michael Degen. Before joining Messe Düsseldorf Degen held various executive positions at Messe Berlin GmbH and acted as a board member at Hamburg Messe and Congress GmbH.
“With his commitment, his creativity and his “nose” for market developments as well as his ability to lead and motivate his teams Helmut Winkler has achieved great things. All trade fair projects led by him have developed into the No. 1 event for the respective sector. We thank him wholeheartedly for his unfaltering commitment,” says Joachim Schäfer, Managing Director at Messe Düsseldorf.
