BestCities is a global alliance of 13 convention bureau around the world which share intel on conferences.
Ms Swanson takes over from outgoing Chair, Dr Edward Koh. During his tenure, Dr Ko oversaw several achievements including onboarding Washington DC as a new partner destination.
With more than 25 years in the business events sector, Ms Swanson is committed to solidifying BestCities’ position as the world’s premier alliance of convention bureaux. Her focus will be to empower BestCities’ partner destinations to deliver positive, sustainable impacts within their communities and expand their collective knowledge, while minimizing the meetings industry’s global footprint.
Ms Swanson said she was thrilled to take the reins as Chair of BestCities and she looks forward to continuing the fantastic work of Dr Koh in creating growth and lasting impacts for the business events industry.
“BestCities has been facilitating collaboration and community on a global scale for a quarter of a century, and I am truly privileged to be leading the alliance into our next era of creating positive impacts through business events,” she said.
On departure, Dr Koh said it has been an amazing journey as Chair of the BestCities Global Alliance which has been going from strength to strength, particularly in sharing best practices and knowledge.
“This helped to ensure our clients and partners enjoy top-notch service delivery, especially the many who are rotating their events from one BestCities destination to another,” he said.
“I took over from Kit in 2023, who helped us navigate the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, and now hand the reins to Julia, who we are confident will lead the alliance to a new level of excellence.”