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Langford, Reeve, Bownes: AEG Europe Announces New COO, CFO And VP Of Venue Programming
AEG Europe – Part of AEG’s new leadership in Europe
from left: John Langford, Emma Bownes and Paul Reeve
AEG Europe today announced the appointments of John Langford, currently vice president and general Manager of The O2, London, as COO, Paul Reeve, currently finance director of The O2 and The SSE Arena, Wembley, as CFO, and Emma Bownes, currently programming director at The O2, in the newly created role of vice president of programming across AEG’s European venue portfolio.
Their appointments follow the recent news that Alex Hill will take over as president of AEG Europe from Tom Miserendino on January 1, 2019.
Commenting on the appointments Alex Hill said: “I’m looking forward to working closely with John, Paul and Emma in continuing our vision of excellence across our portfolio of European Venues and other live entertainment and sports properties”.
John Langford joined AEG in November 2016 as vice president and general manager of The O2, continuing its lead as the world’s busiest arena. The O2 celebrated its 10th anniversary last year, and just opened a new shopping centre on site.
Prior to joining The O2, Langford was director of live entertainment for the Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow. His new role will be based at AEG Europe’s King Street headquarters from January 1.
Langford said: “We’ve got amazing venues and superb people across the AEG global family, and I’m really proud that I can continue to play a key part in delivering on our vision to give the world a reason to cheer.”
Paul Reeve, AEG’s Europe’s new chief financial officer, joined the company over five years ago as financial director of The O2 and The SSE Arena, Wembley.
According to the announcement, Reeve “has been responsible for driving the financial and commercial success of the two venues, financing key development projects,” which include the shopping outlet, as well as “UK wide AEG corporate affairs.” Prior to joining AEG Paul held senior European finance roles in media at Dentsu Aegis and WPP plc.
Reeve said, he was “hugely excited by this opportunity to shape the business priorities and commercial growth of AEG Europe alongside Alex and the talented European management team.”
Emma Bownes, currently programming director for The O2, and The SSE Arena, Wembley, assumes the newly created role of vice president of venue programming across all of AEG’s European venues, including The O2; The SSE Arena, Wembley; Hamburg’s Barclaycard Arena; Berlin’s Mercedes Benz Arena and Verti Music Hall; Stockholm Live; and AccorHotels Arena in Paris.
Bownes, who was recently featured in Music Week’s Women in Music Roll of Honour 2018, has been working for AEG Europe for the past eight years, programming, developing and curating content for London’s two largest arenas with a combined capacity of 33,500.
Bownes programmed the run of shows celebrating The O2’s 10th birthday, including performances from Ed Sheeran, Foo Fighters, alt-J, Celine Dion and Jamiroquai. She will remain based at The O2, starting the new role from January 2019
Emma Bownes said: “It’s an honour to be recognised in this way by AEG and I’m looking forward to focussing on programming across all of our venues in Europe. With the way European touring is developing this is a brilliant opportunity for us to be joining forces and making planning simpler for our promoters.”