RFID Journal announced today the appointment of Deborah Hughes as its editorial director for events. Hughes has 10 years’ experience in programming technology events.
“We are extremely excited to have someone of Debbie’s caliber and experience joining the RFID Journal team,” says Mark Roberti, founder and CEO of RFID Journal, as well as editor of its publications. “Debbie did programming at Gartner, which has some of the most content-rich events in the world, so she will fit right in at RFID Journal, which is equally devoted to recruiting great speakers and delivering a great educational experience to our attendees.”
Hughes programmed events for Gartner from 1998 to 2003, during which time she was responsible for conference product management, from initial concepts through each event’s life cycle. At Gartner, she worked closely with analysts to create an agenda that aligned with target audiences, validated assumptions through the creation and implementation of pre-event surveys and collaborated internally to ensure events covered the breadth of Gartner’s subject knowledge.
In 2003, Hughes left Gartner to join a startup company, Centric Events, which was purchased by CrossTech Media in January 2007. At CrossTech, Hughes has since been responsible for the company’s ITEC series of information technology tradeshows and conferences. She created, managed and executed the brand strategy and marketing plan for all ITEC conferences, and also developed agendas and recruited speakers.
“I’m excited about joining RFID Journal, a media and events company that has a well-deserved reputation for delivering high-quality educational content, online, in print and at its events,” Hughes says. “The RFID market is just starting to emerge, so this kind of education is very import to end users that want to take advantage of the technology’s capabilities.”
Hughes will assume her duties, reporting to Mark Roberti, on April 16.