The entrepreneurial spirit which drives Patricia Farias Barlow has opened another door for her — a familiar door. Farias Barlow, Executive VP of Expo Business Development for CIE in Mexico City, announced today that she will launch a new show management firm on June 1 in association with CIE. Farias will retain the majority ownership in the new firm, which she expects to charter as P. Farias & Associates.
“This new opportunity enables me to rekindle my entrepreneurial spirit,” says Farias Barlow. In fact, the first show under her new umbrella will be Fire Expo in partnership with NFPA, the National Fire Protection Association, which will run this November in Mexico City. Farias says she will launch at least three other B2B shows in 2005.
This new arrangement enables CIE to benefit from her extensive experience and contacts in the exhibition industry in both Mexico and the U.S., and incentivizes her to develop new shows and new products for CIE. Farias Barlow will use some of the existing resources of CIE such as operating staff, and will retain the same address and phone number. She will begin with a staff of five dedicated sales people and expects to hire additional sales staff and two group vice presidents.
Farias continues to be a trailblazer in the Mexican exhibition industry. She founded Fapezal Communications in 1983 and launched shows in numerous industries including IT (which at one point was partnered with Comdex), agriculture, medical, education, instrumentation and control, oil, machine tools, and general technology. She was an eager student of the American way of organizing exhibitions, and regularly attended U.S.-based educational events such as IAEM and SISO. She then transplanted many American show ideas to Mexico. She sold Fapezal to Reed Exhibitions in 1993 which later became Reed Exhibition de Mexico — Remex. In 1995, Remex was acquired by CIE, the Spanish speaking world´s largest out-of-home entertainment corporation, which also owns the new state-of-the-art Banamex exhibition center in Mexico City.
She was the first person from outside the United States to become Chairman of IAEM. That was in 2000. Three years later, in December 2003, she was presented with IAEM’s Distinguished Service Award for her many contributions to the association and the trade show industry.She also received IAEM’s Chairman´s Award in 1997.
Farias Barlow told TSE, “I am very excited about this new opportunity in my career in association with such an important and creative corporation.” Reach her at 52 55 5268 2190 or pfarias@amh.com.mx.
