Opti // Change in leadership

Kabashi takes over the management of opti

GHM Gesellschaft für Handwerksmessen mbH has announced that Cathleen Kabashi will take over the management of opti with immediate effect and until further notice. Kabashi is thus responsible for the future and development of the international trade show for optics and design. The previous head, Bettina Reiter, is moving within GHM to the FAF trade fair.

With Cathleen Kabashi, an experienced trade fair expert is taking over the management of opti. As trade fair advisor and later director of iba, the world’s leading trade fair for the baking and confectionery industry, Kabashi has made a significant contribution to the further development and internationalisation of this leading trade fair since 2007, which has consistently shown itself to be an economic driver for the baking industry. In 2021, Kabashi took over the position of division manager of B2B trade fairs at GHM, which she will continue to hold in parallel. Kabashi has networked and exchanged intensively with the ophthalmic industry, especially in the last year, and is consequently building on the good results and partnerships of opti 2023 with the proven team:

  • I look forward to leading opti into a successful future in trusting cooperation with the associations and organisations of the optics industry and, of course, with the trade fair exhibitors. My special thanks go to Bettina Reiter, who successfully led opti for years and now has a desire for a change, which we are pleased to accept. I am particularly delighted that she is leaving opti in a strong starting position. The upheaval of the last three years has brought about a lot of change – which we will continue to shape in a positive way and with full commitment. The goal by 2024 is to further raise opti's profile as the go-to event for start-ups and established industry giants.

In order to implement this plan, the opti trade fair team is to be further expanded in the future. Kabashi plans to hand over the baton to a new leadership in the medium term, following the strategy of a strong opti in a strong market.

  • Bettina Reiter has achieved great things in her eight years with opti. She not only established it as a leading industry platform, but together with her team, she also maneuvered opti through the challenging pandemic period to its successful first event after the COVID restrictions in January 2023. We are happy to comply with her wish for change, because I am convinced that FAF – Farbe, Ausbau und Fassade, which takes place every three years, will benefit from Ms Reiter's concentrated expertise from now on. I would like to expressly thank Bettina Reiter for her consistently excellent achievements for the optics industry!

About Opti Munich 2023

opti 2023 is to be held at the Fairground Munich from 13 to 15 January. All exhibitors can be found on the opti website together with trade visitor tickets. Media representatives can obtain their accreditation online here. Those interested in a trade press display on-site at the fair should contact sunkel@ghm.de. The opti FORUM XT webinar series will fill the time until the live opti trade show. The next webinar will be held at 7.30pm on 08 December 2022 and is called “Positionierung: Zeige, wofür Du stehst, und der Umsatz stimmt” (positioning: show what you stand for, and the sales will add up).

Read more about this show on TEF Magazine or register for free at their website.


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Author: maarten weidemaAfter being a freelance eyewear designer since 1999, TEF founder Maarten Weidema now solely writes about his fellow designers in the optical industry. His passionate mission is to promote independent eyewear to the international optical arena, backed up by a large group of bloggers and journalists from all over the world. He has recently been awarded "International Optical Personality of the Year", "Leading Innovator in Optical Social Media Marketing", "Social Media Marketing Company of the Year" and received several awards for "best eyewear blog" for his efforts to promote independent eyewear to a community of 517.000 eyecare professionals.

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