Douglas L. Ducate

Douglas L. Ducate is President and CEO of the Center for Exhibition Industry Research.

He joined CEIR in April 1998 after serving for three years as President of PGI Exhibitions and Senior Vice President of PGI, a global business communications, meetings and exhibitions, and multimedia production company headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.

Prior to his tenure at PGI, Mr. Ducate served with distinction for 26 years as the Associate Executive Director of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE). At SPE, an international association with 53,000 members in 126 countries, he was responsible for all the income producing activities including all meetings and exhibitions. SPE produces some 30 conferences and 15 exhibitions a year in most of the oil producing provinces in the world. It was under his direction that the first U.S.-based private exhibition was held in Beijing, China in March of 1982.

SPE is particularly well known for their production of the annual Offshore Technology Conference held in Houston, Texas. Mr. Ducate served as General Manager of the event for its first 26 years. Under his leadership, OTC became the largest annual conference and exhibition in the United States. At its zenith, OTC attracted some 120,000 registrants from 96 countries. OTC required more than 100 hotels to accommodate the visitors. Guests were quartered as far away as Galveston, Texas to the south and Conroe, Texas to the north. The exhibition included some 2500 companies and spanned 1.5 million square feet of exhibit space at the Astrodomain complex, now Reliant Park.

Mr. Ducate is a partner and President of The Augusta Group (TAG), a consulting firm that specializes in advising on convention center development, destination marketing, meeting and exhibition planning, and other matters related to the meetings and exhibition industry. TAG has provided services to numerous cities in the United States, Canada, and abroad.

A recognized leader and innovator within the meetings and exhibitions industry, Mr. Ducate has achieved both the Certified Meeting Professionals (CMP) and Certified Exposition Manager (CEM) designations. His memberships in industry associations and organizations have put him on the forefront of industry innovation and have been recognized with senior positions.

Mr. Ducate served as Chairman of the Convention Liaison Council in 1992, was President of the Trade Show Bureau (now CEIR) from 1981 through 1982, and was President of the International Association for Exhibition Management in 1986. Mr. Ducate has been a frequent author and presenter for the American Society of Association Executives and the Professional Convention Management Association where he served on their Board of Directors for three years. He also served as a Trustee for three years on the PCMA Foundation Board of Trustees.

Mr. Ducate received the International Association for Exhibition Management Distinguished Service award in 1988 and their highest honor, the William Hunt Eisenman Award in 1993. He was inducted into the Convention Liaison Council Hall of Leaders in 1995. Most recently he received the Distinguished Service Award from the Trade Show Exhibitors Association in 2003.

In 1982, Mr. Ducate became a member of the Union Des Fiores Internationales (UFI) a Paris based non-political association that studies problems concerning the organization and efficient methods for developing international trade fairs and exhibitions. He served on the Committee de Direction from 1989 to 1991.