The Ricoh Arena’s Head of Sales has been shortlisted in the miaList 2018

The Ricoh Arena’s Head of Sales has been shortlisted at a prestigious industry awards for helping the venue to hold a record year of events.

Jenni Ford, who has worked at the Ricoh Arena since 2014, has been shortlisted at the Meeting Industry Association’s (MIA) awards in London on Friday, November 2 - known as the miaList 2018.

The miaList 2018 shines a spotlight on inspirational professionals within the business meetings and events sectors who play a key role in their business’ success.

Over the past 12 months Jenni has led a team that has sold event space for a record 793 different events across exhibitions, conferences, banqueting and weddings – a year-on-year increase of ten per cent.

She also created a new revenue stream for the venue by setting up a short-lead sales desk after noticing that more event organisers were requesting last-minute meeting space, leading to a 20 per cent increase in short lead sales in 2017.

Jenni said: “I’m both honoured and proud to have been nominated by my colleagues and included on the final shortlist.

“The Ricoh Arena is one of the most flexible event venues in the UK and I am passionate about ensuring we have as many high quality events staged here as possible to put both the venue and the city of Coventry on the map.

“I have an incredibly supportive team behind me to ensure we continue to grow the number of events we are hosting year-on-year – I’m hoping I can bring the award home for them and celebrate the venue’s third award of the year.”

Jenni’s nomination comes after the Ricoh Arena earlier this year won Best Venue Under 8,000 square metres at the Exhibition News Awards, and the Best Sporting Venue for Events at the National Venue Awards.  

Nick Eastwood, chief executive of the Ricoh Arena, added: “This industry recognition is fantastic news for the venue, Jenni and her team.

“Jenni’s role in the success of the Ricoh Arena cannot be emphasised enough, and it is her and her team who create the opportunities for us to impress and maintain custom from the various event organisers that we do business with every year.

“Currently 77 per cent of events booked with us are repeat customers and a key part of this is down to Jenni’s initiative, passion and dedication which rubs off on other members of her team.

“Congratulations to Jenni for being shortlisted, and we wish her the best of luck on the day.”