Karen Hutchings, former EY global head of travel, meetings & events, has been appointed board director at HeadBox to support its continued strong growth and help the business expand into new geographical markets.

The company, which provides two software products, HeadBox Business and Lead Feed, has driven £50M of meetings and events bookings to host venues in the UK, U.S. and EMEA in 2023.

In her role at EY and as the former chair of the Board of Directors of the Institute of Travel Management, Hutchings led the award-winning EY global travel, meetings and events team for over 11 years, by embracing technology, championing change through continuous innovation and unparalleled support for start-ups.

She was also instrumental in the adoption of HeadBox Business as part of EY’s UK meetings and events programme and sat on HeadBox’s sustainability innovation panel, helping the company to launch HeadBox Zero, its sustainability tools for meetings and events.

Hutching’s extensive industry knowledge, experience and relationships will help HeadBox Business to win more major clients in 2024 and beyond, while her proven global strategic leadership will help the business prepare its entry into the US market.

“Having experienced the HeadBox Business software and value proposition first-hand, I can see how HeadBox is expertly positioned to transform the meetings and events industry. I’m excited to work with Andrew and his passionate, talented team and join a company that has AI-powered software and technology at the heart of its offering – an essential ingredient to solving some of the key problems facing our rapidly changing sector,” she said.

“I’m keen to help them bring their innovative meetings and events solutions to more corporate clients as well as help them to expand into more geographical markets, as I am convinced HeadBox has the opportunity to make a huge, positive difference.”

Andrew Needham, HeadBox’s CEO and founder added: “Having had another strong year in 2023, where we grew the company by another 50% and reached profitability, I am thrilled to have such a recognised industry icon and leader, in Karen, joining HeadBox at such an exciting time in our development.”