Claire Steinbrück Assumes Role as New Executive Director for Global Corporate Development and Strategy at Messe Düsseldorf

Messe Düsseldorf is anchoring internationalization in its management board

   On July 1, 2025, Claire Steinbrück started her position as a new Executive Director at Messe Düsseldorf. Joining the managing board she will be in charge of the newly created division “Global Corporate Development and Strategy”. With this both personnel and structural decision, Messe Düsseldorf is strengthening its focus on international growth. Steinbrück has  many years of international trade show experience and is tasked with expanding Messe Düsseldorf’s global network and portfolio.

   Since Wolfram N. Diener took over as President & CEO in 2020, Messe Düsseldorf’s global new business development has gained considerable momentum. Since then, its global trade show portfolio has grown by 30 new events and its international network has added a new subsidiary in Türkiye and a representation in Dubai. Six new international events are to follow in 2026 – with a focus on the Middle East.

   In order to further accelerate its international growth initiative, Messe Düsseldorf has reorganized its structure and leadership – by creating the new “Global Corporate Development and Strategy” division and extending its managing board. As new Executive Director, Claire Steinbrück will lay the strategic and structural groundwork for consistently continuing the global expansion. 

 
   “Strategic foresight, centralized coordination and effective structures are needed to continue playing in the premier league of the global trade show business in future,” said Wolfram N. Diener. “With Claire Steinbrück, we have filled our top-management position with an excellent candidate to further strengthen our company’s global pole position. Her strategic expertise and international experience will play a pivotal role in this.”

   Claire Steinbrück’s division will combine strategic key areas, including new product development, market research, partner and guest events, international business, and the newly created Corporate Development unit. This pooled structure will enable more effective management of international expansion while strengthening Düsseldorf’s role as a globally connected trade show destination. In 2024, 76.5% of the companies exhibiting in Düsseldorf came from abroad, and 39% of visitors were international. 

   “I look forward to contributing my expertise to an environment that already embraces internationality – and is now anchoring this even more firmly in its structure,” stated Claire Steinbrück. “With its strong portfolio and global networks Messe Düsseldorf boasts excellent prerequisites for developing new markets and providing strategic impetus for the future.”

   Claire Steinbrück has extensive experience in the international trade show business. She previously held positions at Messe Frankfurt – both in Germany and abroad, including Mexico, Argentina, and Italy – before joining Koelnmesse in 2016, where she most recently served as Divisional Director of the global food technology portfolio. Her next career step now brings her to the capital of the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia – and from here to Messe Düsseldorf’s global network that she will now strengthen.

The Messe Düsseldorf Group

Messe Düsseldorf is among the most successful trade show organizers worldwide. It hosts around 40 trade shows, including 20 leading international ones, at its 613,000 square meter exhibition center in Düsseldorf, Germany. In 18 halls, international market leaders and top decision-makers from various sectors get together every year in order to present and discover innovations, to exchange ideas and to network. Messe Düsseldorf’s sectors of expertise include: “Machinery, Plants and Equipment,” including metallurgy and foundry technology (amongst others drupa, K, interpack, glasstec, wire and Tube); “Retail, Trades and Services” (EuroShop, EuroCIS, ProWein); “Health and Medical Technology” (MEDICA, COMPAMED, REHACARE, A+A); “Lifestyle and Beauty” (BEAUTY, TOP HAIR); “Leisure” (boot, CARAVAN SALON); and “Mobility” (XPONENTIAL Europe, Flotte!). Completing this lineup are numerous conventions, corporate events, conferences and meetings by subsidiary Düsseldorf Congress. Abroad, Messe Düsseldorf organizes more than 80 events. The corporate group’s global network encompasses 78 foreign representations for 142 countries as well as nine international subsidiaries.