John Burke
Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) Convention Centre (the Centre) has appointed John Burke as its new deputy GM. Burke is a senior venue operations professional with over 25 years of experience.
“I am excited to join the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre’s award-winning team,” said Burke. “I'm looking forward to sharing my experience from working across all areas of venue and event management and applying my operational knowledge to help enhance the Centre’s reputation as Malaysia’s premier facility and Asia’s only AIPC (International Association of Congress Centres) Gold Standard venue.”
“Maintaining a venue’s position as a marketplace leader and having an adaptable and flexible mindset will assist us to maintain a competitive advantage as the regional and global competitor landscape continues to evolve,” said Burke. “As such, I am excited at the prospect of applying the collective knowledge I have gained from opening new venues and many years of business events and industry experience in different destinations to the Centre, in order to drive standards of operational excellence and deliver affordable and personalized solutions to enhance the client journey.”
Prior to joining the Centre, Burke was director of operations, Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre (OCEC), Muscat. During the construction and preopening period of OCEC, he also assumed the responsibilities of technical services manager, where he provided operator input on design and modifications. Before his time at OCEC, he was the director of IT at Qatar National Convention Centre, Doha, for four years. Burke kicked off his career with the NEC Group, where he gained over 15 years of comprehensive IT, technical and operational knowledge. During this time, he was involved in the infrastructure and technical design of Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre, U.K., the Convention Centre Dublin (Ireland), and LG Arena, Birmingham, U.K.