M&S Bank Arena operator ACC Liverpool has appointed the chief executive of UKHospitality as its new chair. Tony McDonough reports

ACC Liverpool Group says the the chief executive of UKHospitality, Kate Nicholls, has been appointed as the chair of its board.

Owned by Liverpool City Council, ACC Liverpool is the owner and operator of the M&S Bank Arena, Exhibition Centre Liverpool and the Pullman Hotel on Liverpool waterfront. Ms Nicholls will replace previous chair Max Steinberg who has reached the end of his three-year fixed term contract.

UKHospitality represents more than 740 companies operating around 100,000 venues across hospitality in England, Scotland, and Wales. The organisation was established in 2018 and has been vocal in supporting the industry throughout the pandemic.

Ms Nicholls worked in the government relations department at Whitbread, then for the Westminster Licensees Association and the Council of Property Search Organisations.  She was appointed strategic affairs directors at the Association of Licenced Multiple Retailers (ALMR) in 2011 and appointed chief executive in 2014.

She was recently confirmed as a member of the relaunched Events Industry Board (EIB),  a working group which supports delivery of the Government’s Tourism Recovery Plan to attract more business events to the UK.

And she continues to represent the industry and recently publicly called upon the Government to introduce a new hospitality business tax rate to aid the sector’s recovery. Ms Nicholls said: “I am passionate about driving the events and hospitality sectors forward and my ambitions are very much aligned to those of the organisation and city-wide. 

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“Through my networks and industry insight, I am ready to provide the team with the best possible support and guidance as the business moves forward through recovery and on to the next phase of its development.”

Faye Dyer, managing director of ACC Liverpool, added: “We are very grateful to Max for his support over the past three years, particularly during what has been a tough period for the events industry.  We are incredibly pleased to welcome Kate to our organisation as our new chair of the board.

“Kate is very well-respected in the hospitality industry and her wealth of experience will contribute significantly, not only to The ACC Liverpool Group but to the city as a whole, as we emerge from the pandemic’s detrimental effects on the visitor economy.”