Chicago, IL – Philip Ullo, who rose to president & COO of Reed Exhibitions, died in Florida on December 30. He was 74. Memorial services are set for January 16 at Annunciation Catholic Church in Altamonte Springs, Ullo’s son, Daniel, told Trade Show Executive.
Ullo was born and raised in Chicago and spent 31 years in the trade show industry. He began his career in the exhibitions industry in 1968 when he joined The Kiver Organization. He increased Kiver’s portfolio from a single show to 33 shows worldwide in 12 years.
Ullo remained with the company when it was acquired by Cahners Exposition Group, which was later acquired by Reed Exhibitions. Reed had more than 300 events when Ullo retired. He took early retirement from Reed in 1995 and formed his own company, Ullo International, in a partnership with private equity and Thomas Caridi, who had been executive vice president and CFO at Reed.
Ullo International acquired Full Circle Media Corp. and its 41 events in 1995 from David Cheifetz. Later that year, Ullo International purchased the Florida International Gift Show. Ullo eventually retired for good around 2000, and the company faded from the industry as its equity partner sold off the assets to other companies, including 1105 Media.
Reach Dan Ullo at dan.ullo@verizon.net; Tom Caridi at (617)-219-8300 or tcaridi@questex.com
