Power 50 Publication - Flipbook - Page 11
Page 11
Jo Greenstock
Managing Director,
AOK Events
After graduating from Royal Holloway with a Geography
degree, Jo joined Keith Prowse, helping arrange the
hospitality programme for Euro 1996, before moving
onto Expertease International, where she was
responsible for arranging corporate hospitality, parties
and incentives. “I was recruited by Alex Hewitt and when
he said he was going to set up his own agency back in
2000, we co-founded AOK Events.”
Most Memorable Moment:
Last year AOK Events achieved the highest accreditation possible for being “A Great Place to Work”. We have
invested a huge amount of time and energy, trying to
make AOK Events the most enjoyable, supportive and
empathetic environment and for our employees, so to
have this recognised was huge. Two thirds of our
employees are women and to know that they have an
equal opportunity to progress, are paid the same as
men and have total flexibility around their employment
after becoming mums, makes me incredibly proud.
Marianne Hadley
Biggest Challenge:
Most memorable moment:
Covid-19! March – August 2020 was the most miserable
period in my working life. We had to make a huge
number of redundancies and at one stage we had lost
nearly every penny that we had saved up over 20 years.
But we completely changed our product offering,
pivoted from live to virtual, and I am hugely proud that
we turned a massive threat into a huge opportunity.
2021 ended up being one of the most successful years
we have had on record but also one of the most
enjoyable and it jointly ranks top as one of my most
memorable moments as a leader.
Inspiring the next generation:
I think that if you find the right employer, the sky's the
limit for female employees. At AOK Events we are
currently running a Future Leaders Programme and I
am delighted that three of the five employees on the
course are women.
Founder & Managing
Director, Image Events
After various hotel management roles, Marianne joined Conference Line in
1989 and set up their events department in 1993. She moved into a director
role at Moving Venue in 1997 and then took the leap and set up her own
company in 2002.
Within the first six months of setting up, I won a piece of business that proved
to be one of the most complex programmes and high-end spend groups I
have had to date. Giving birth to my daughter halfway through the planning
stages just threw one of those life-curveballs into the mix. But I feel very
pleased that we delivered the group to exceptional reviews, and we still retain
the client today 19 years on!
Proudest Professional Achievement:
Taking a call from someone in Geneva that wanted a venue in London for a
green conference on climate change. Against the advice from my boss who
felt that it was a time waster, I met with her to show her around London. Quick
as a flash it turned into a week-long series of meetings setting the agenda for
the Earth Summit Rio conference with various high-ranking politicians, HRH
Prince Charles doing the keynote speech, and a guest list including Sir David
Attenborough and Sir Bob Geldof. It’s probably the one and only time I have
had to re-negotiate a management fee halfway through an event as it was
ballooning faster than we could write the budget!
Person who most inspired me:
My Father. He ran his own business for many years – maybe that's where I got
the entrepreneurial spirit from. Also, his cautious approach to business has
put me in good stead.
