- Özgür Töre
The Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre announced a series of promotions and new appointments in its leadership team.
John Burke takes over the helm at the world-class venue as General Manager, succeeding Alan Pryor in this position.
Having joined the Centre in 2017 as Deputy General Manager, John helped push the venue’s digital transformation forward and oversaw the upgrade of the venue’s security infrastructure. He also managed the development of hybrid and virtual event spaces and platforms as well as paved ways for new revenue streams for the venue including the expansion of the Centre’s product offerings, during Covid-19 times. Since joining, John has also driven multiple sustainability projects, initiatives and investments that better positions the Centre as a sustainable venue.
John succeeds Alan Pryor who retires after 40 years being in the business events industry. Alan spent the last decade of his career advancing Malaysia’s business events industry. He worked very closely with Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) in developing Malaysia as a preferred business events destination in the region and catering to the professional development of Malaysian event professionals. He also formed the Business Events Council Malaysia, a united voice representing the industry supply chain in the advocacy of value and impact of business events to the country.
In his time at the Centre, Alan also drove the creation of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre Business Events Alliance, a destination collective offering a single-point-of-contact for international meetings and events planners and organisers. His most recent undertaking is positioning the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) Precinct (where the venue is located) as a sustainable meetings destination, bringing together key stakeholders to collaborate on this initiative.
Prior to joining the Centre, Burke was Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre’s (OCEC) Director of Operations, where he was responsible for event operations, AV and event production, IT, building services and asset management. Before his time at OCEC, he was the Director of IT at Qatar National Convention Centre for four years.
The Centre also welcomes Robert Hatton-Jones, an experienced hospitality and events professional, to the world-class team and venue as Deputy General Manager. Robert brings with him nearly two decades of experience in food and beverage (F&B) operations, business development, venue and asset management, event planning and marketing.
Prior to joining the Centre, Robert was the General Manager of Commercial & Business Development at Cape Town International Convention Centre since 2017, where he also oversaw F&B and operations for a year, before that.
Robert has a Diploma in Hospitality Management from the International Hotel School and has completed a range of professional certifications including MBA Essentials from the University of Stellenbosch Business School.
The Centre also promoted Layzree bin Bongsu to the position of Director of Finance and Administration. A chartered accountant with 20 years’ experience in the hospitality industry, Layzree will oversee day-to-day finance and procurement as well as information technology operations at the Centre.
Prior to joining the Centre as Finance Manager in 2021, Layzree was part of two pre-opening teams as Director of Finance, the Hard-Rock Hotel, Desaru in 2018 and the Hyatt Regency, Kota Kinabalu in 2015. Layzree holds Bachelor of Arts in Accounting with Honours from the Universiti Utara Malaysia and is a certified CPA Associate Member.
