Andrew Hiebl CAE

Chief Executive Officer, AACB Inc & Secretary, BECA

Andrew Hiebl has been a leading advocate of the business events industry for more than 20 years. He has led the Association of Australian Convention Bureaux as Chief Executive Officer for ten years including positions on the board of the industry peak, Business Events Council of Australia, during this time. Andrew holds the international credential of Certified Association Executive and is recognised by AuSAE as an Association Influencer.

Andrew also represents the business events industry on the long-standing Tourism Visa Advisory Group, convened by the Department of Home Affairs, the recently mobilised National Tourism Incident Communication Plan group convened by Austrade, and has served 4 years on the board of Australian Regional Tourism Ltd.

After graduating from La Trobe University with a Bachelor of Business in Tourism & Hospitality in 1999, Andrew entered the business events arena managing events and operations at the Albury Convention & Performing Arts Centre (now Albury Entertainment Centre).

With five years of venue-based event management skills under his belt, the world of destination marketing called through “convention bureaux” and Andrew took on the challenge of heading up the Albury Wodonga Convention Bureau for Destination Albury Wodonga in 2005.

In 2008, Andrew was lured to the calls of the Great Ocean Road where he established the Convention Bureau, Business Events Geelong, for the regional tourism organisation Geelong Otway Tourism (now Tourism Greater Geelong & The Bellarine), where he secured “Hall of Fame” status at the National Meetings & Events Industry Awards in 2012.

With a vision of improving Regional Victoria’s reach into the business events market, he was appointed Chair of the Regional Victoria Conference Group the following year, were he led the rebrand to Business Events Victoria and the successful campaign calling on the Victorian Government to invest in the Regional Victoria Business Events Program.