”Sally’s experience, skills and approach are a perfect match with the Board’s requirements for the Emerald CEO position; and, after conducting a thorough search over the last seven months, I am thrilled to have her accept the position,” said Kosty Gilis, chairman of Emerald Expositions.

He added, “Sally has achieved remarkable success in her career by bringing inspirational leadership, purposeful strategies and strong execution skills to businesses with unmet potential. The Board and I have been particularly impressed by her success in driving growth and capturing new opportunities by harnessing data, technology, and a strong and persistent focus on customer satisfaction.”

Shankland brings more than 35 years of experience, including a tenure of 20+ years with UBM, now part of Informa plc, a U.K.-based multinational events, academic publishing and business intelligence business.

Shankland’s most recent position at UBM was CEO of the Americas, delivering events and marketing services in the technology, fashion, licensing, advanced manufacturing, construction, healthcare, and pharmaceutical industries.

Shankland currently is a principal and founder of Astra Terra, a strategic advisory and consulting firm.

In 2018, she served as Interim Executive at Healthline.com, the fastest-growing health information site globally.

Previously, Shankland served two years as president of McGraw-Hill Higher Education, helping it to transition from a print-based model towards adaptive learning software.

“I recently joined the Emerald Board as a non-executive director and quickly realized that I could apply my leadership principles, experience and skills to improve the Company’s financial performance and growth prospects,” Shankland said.

She added, "Emerald owns some great assets that are extremely relevant in their markets and, I believe, have significant opportunity available to them. I'm very excited about the opportunity to lead the business.”

Gillis said, “On behalf of the entire Board, I would like to thank Phil for assuming the role of Interim president and CEO for the last seven months in addition to his role as Emerald’s CFO. Phil’s experience and deep knowledge of the Company allowed the Board to be thoughtful and take the necessary time to find the right leader who we believe can unlock the vast potential that we see in Emerald.”