The Edinburgh International Conference Centre’s long-standing CEO, Marshall Dallas, is to step down from his role during the first half of next year.
Dallas took up the CEO role at one of the world’s top conference centres in October 2014, with the EICC reporting its strongest year of revenue and profits in 2023.
Dallas said: “Leading the EICC for the last decade has been the highlight of my career. The venue was loss-making when I took over the reins, we were able to rapidly turn that around with an absolute dedication to being one of the best and most sustainable conference centres on the planet, which translated to holding some of the world’s leading events while creating year-on-year increases to economic impact for Edinburgh.”
Over the last ten years, the EICC has hosted marquee conferences like TEDGlobal, along with hundreds of other UK and international association conferences, hosted President Obama and Michelle Obama, Hollywood stars like Leo DiCaprio, George Clooney, and Brad Pitt, and the Edinburgh Festival every August. During the pandemic in 2021, the EICC partnered with NHS Lothian to run Edinburgh’s largest vaccination centre.
Councillor Lezley Marion Cameron, EICC board chair, said: “The EICC has faced and successfully overcome many challenges under Dallas’ decade long tenure as our chief executive.”
Dallas said: “Our overall vision, to create an environment which inspires ideas that change the world, helped to guide us through the good and the tough times. My hope now is that the future stewardship of the EICC will continue to have the best interests of the venue, our people, and the city at its heart. The value of business tourism to Edinburgh and Scotland is too important, so we must continue to invest in it.”
In February, the EICC reported record revenue of £12.8m and record profit of £2.6m for 2023.
