Oliver P. Kuhrt came to Cologne in 2000 and initially was responsible for successfully building up Koelnmesse's subsidiary Koelnmesse Service GmbH.

In 2003 he was appointed to the position of Executive Vice President within the parent company Koelnmesse GmbH. Here he managed more than 20 international trade fairs, including photokina, INTERMOT, spoga+gafa, ORGATEC and IDS. Most recently he played a key role in the successful acquisition of the events gamescom and USETEC. Oliver P. Kuhrt commented, "I look back with pleasure at my ten years of highly interesting and multifaceted work at Koelnmesse, for which I am profoundly grateful. I wish the Group, its management and all of its employees continued professional success and all the best for the future."

Mayor Jürgen Roters thanked Mr. Kuhrt "on behalf of the entire Supervisory Board of Koelnmesse for his successful and dedicated work for the Group and the city of Cologne."

Koelnmesse CEO Gerald Böse added, "In recent years Mr. Kuhrt generated strong momentum for our trade fair portfolio and continuously refined the leading global trade fairs for which he was responsible. I would like to thank him for his extraordinary dedication, and I wish him every success as he addresses new challenges."