Aloysius Arlando takes presidency at SACEOS

Aloysius Arlando has succeeded Janet Tan-Collis as president of The Singapore Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (SACEOS), effectively immediately.

Since 2010, Mr Arlando has been the CEO of SingEx Holdings with business interests in the management of the Singapore EXPO Convention and Exhibition Centre, host to events such as the Singapore Fintech Festival and Industrial Transformation Asia-Pacific. He concurrently serves as president of the International Association of Convention Centres (AIPC).

His vision for the association is to “harness the power of communities” and establish new levels of collaboration for the industry’s growth. “SACEOS will need to forge purpose-driven partnerships near and far to make our MICE industry future-ready and strengthen Singapore’s leading position,” he said.

Arlando’s vision for communities was clear when he led the creation of the Asia Pacific Community Building Manifesto in 2018 at the Singapore MICE Forum last year. As part of the manifesto, just under 60 industry professionals from global corporations, regional institutions, and global meetings and events associations rallied to create a mandate, outlining seven key pillars including people, technology, and business models.

“With the evolution of rising cities, smart future and connected communities, there is no better time than now for SACEOS to harness the collective wisdom of relevant stakeholders to create new business models and promote sustainable business progress in the Asia-Pacific region,” he said.

Janet Tan-Collis

Tan-Collis steps down after being at the association for 15 years, and serving as president for five. She told CEI that she is especially proud to be leaving behind the legacy of the Singapore MICE Challenge, a SACEOS initiative to engage tertiary students majoring in fields related to events. “At the very heart of it, engaging the young people is something we are passionate about,” she said.

The nationwide challenge engages competing teams on their knowledge and understanding of the business events industry to produce a realistic event proposal to be presented and evaluated by current international industry practitioners. Participating teams are able to receive industry mentorship during their journey of conceptualising their event and stand a chance to win a sponsored trip to attend the annual PCMA Convening Leaders usually held in the US every January.

Tan-Collis is also a champion of diversity of talent and sustainability. She remains the CEO of East West Planners, a Singapore-based experiential travel agency.