Peter King, chief executive of Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC), has announced that he will leave his role after 11 years.
King will remain with MCEC as it manages this business transition. This time will allow for the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Trust (MCET) to recruit his replacement.
In 2018, King led the A$205 million (US$289 million) expansion of MCEC, this increased event space by 25 per cent and grew MCEC’s total size to 70,000m2, the largest centre of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.
In recent years, King pushed MCEC to become a global leader in sustainability in business events. In 2018, MCEC became a partner in the Melbourne Renewable Energy Project which means the 20,000m2 expansion space at MCEC, is powered by renewable energy. In 2019, the business recovered more than 68 tonnes of food waste and donated over 74,000 meals to food rescue organisation, OzHarvest.
During his time at MCEC, King was focused on maximising MCEC’s impact for Melbourne and Victoria, and in 2019, the venue contributed a record economic impact to the state, exceeding A$1.1 billion.
When the pandemic hit in 2020 – King embraced the challenges and managed the transformation and diversification of the business. This included supporting the Victorian State Government’s vaccination rollout and adapting the space to attract partners such as The LUME Melbourne, Australia’s first permanent digital art gallery. He also oversaw a comprehensive business transformation to an agile operating model, to better position MCEC to serve customers in the wake of the pandemic. The organisation will see the benefits of this legacy for years to come.
