Hyve Acquires Premium Community of C-Suite Marketing Profs

Welcome to the latest edition of Snöcap.

The spotlight this week is on Hyve, which has acquired Virtuosi League, a leadership and community platform for senior marketing executives, extending its footprint in the marketing sector.

Closer to home, Snöball has been named a finalist for the 2026 UFI Digital Innovation Award, competing alongside Hangzhou Expo Group, itemdrop, and RX Global. Scroll down for the full stories.

Here are the full headlines from this week’s roundup:

Hyve Acquires Premium Community of C-Suite Marketing Profs
Snöball Among Finalists for 2026 Digital Innovation Award
Paul Miller to Become CEO of Combined Questex and Emerald business
IELA Announces Bas Wiendels as New Chairperson
ECA Opposes Trump Administration Proposal to Restrict Federal Grant Recipients’ Event Participation
Who is hiring?

Get the full stories below:

Hyve Acquires Premium Community of C-Suite Marketing Profs

B2B event organizer Hyve has acquired Virtuosi League, an executive community and leadership platform serving senior marketing professionals, the company announced.

Founded by Nadine Dietz, Virtuosi League runs invitation-only forums, leadership development programs, and peer-to-peer gatherings for CMOs and C-suite executives. Its community spans more than 500 senior marketing leaders and 5,000 marketing professionals, with members from organizations including Amazon, Google, PepsiCo, Mastercard, and the NFL.

The deal extends Hyve’s presence in the marketing sector, building on its B2B event POSSIBLE, where Virtuosi League delivered a CMO Lab program earlier this year.

Hyve CEO Mark Shashoua said the acquisition was driven by the strength of what Dietz had built. “What Nadine and the team have built is truly distinctive — the strength of the products, the calibre of its members, and especially the trust, candour, and genuine connections that define the Virtuosi League community,” he said.

Dietz, who will continue leading the organization, said finding the right partner was central to the decision. “What makes this community special is not its size, but the trust, candor, and generosity of the people within it. Hyve shares our belief that meaningful connection, leadership development, and peer learning create lasting value.”

Jane Wakely, EVP and Chief Consumer and Marketing Officer at PepsiCo’s International Foods division, said the platform had delivered results within her organization. “The impact on our leaders’ sense of purpose, self-awareness and leadership effectiveness has been meaningful across our teams.”

No financial terms were disclosed.

📖 Read the full announcement

Snöball Among Finalists for 2026 Digital Innovation Award

Snöball, a peer-to-peer event marketing platform, has been named a finalist for the 2026 UFI Digital Innovation Award, the global trade show association announced.

The other finalists are Hangzhou Expo Group, itemdrop, and RX Global. This year’s award theme is Creating Better Event Experiences through Digital Innovation. Finalist presentations are the remaining step before a winner is named.

The UFI Digital Innovation Award recognizes strategies that demonstrate how technology can affect trade show performance and benefit the broader industry.

Snöball releases 2026 Cost Per Registration Guide for Event Marketers

In other updates, Snöball has published a free guide examining the cost per registration across major marketing channels for event marketers in 2026.

The guide breaks down what a single registration costs across channels, placing figures side by side to help event professionals identify where budgets are producing results and where there is room to reduce spend.

The resource is aimed at marketing teams navigating multi-channel campaigns, where attribution and cost visibility have become harder to track.

📖 Read the guide

Paul Miller to become CEO of Combined Questex and Emerald business

Paul Miller, current CEO of Questex, will lead the merged Questex and Emerald entity once Apollo-managed funds complete their acquisition of both companies, the holding company announced.

Miller has led Questex since 2018 and brings more than three decades of experience across events, information services, and media. Emerald’s President and CEO Hervé Sedky will move into a senior advisor role after closing.

Shahid Bosan, Managing Director at Apollo, backed the appointment. “Paul is an experienced operator who shares our vision for building a scaled, customer-centric platform at the forefront of the B2B events industry,” Bosan said. “We are confident in his ability to unite these two organizations to create a distinct platform that is well-positioned for sustained growth and long-term value creation.”

Miller said his priority will be integration. “I am honored to have the opportunity to lead the combined company and work alongside such a talented group of employees across both Emerald and Questex,” he said. “My focus will be on bringing together the strengths of both organizations to create a scaled, highly complementary platform that is uniquely positioned to capture the growing demand for trusted, in-person gatherings.”

Hervé said the deal sets a stronger foundation. “Leading Emerald and building a portfolio of market-leading brands alongside an extraordinary team has been one of the defining privileges of my career,” he said. “This combination creates a stronger platform — one defined by greater scale, deep expertise, expanded capabilities, and a shared commitment to delivering meaningful value for our customers, exhibitors, and partners.”

No closing date for the transaction was disclosed.

📖 Read more about the announcement

IELA Announces Bas Wiendels as New Chairperson

The International Exhibition Logistics Association has named Bas Wiendels as its new Chairperson, marking a leadership transition for the trade body.

Wiendels brings experience from multiple terms on IELA’s Board of Management, along with contributions to its Education & Training working group.

He represents Valverde BV, a Netherlands-based freight forwarder focused on event and exhibition logistics.

📖 Read the press release

ECA Opposes Trump Administration Proposal to Restrict Federal Grant Recipients’ Event Participation

The Exhibitions and Conferences Alliance has formally opposed a Trump Administration proposal that would limit federal grant recipients’ ability to participate in events and impose new conditions on event services, according to a letter the organization sent to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

ECA said the proposal would affect decisions involving facility access, security, crowd management, insurance, and fees tied to events and meetings. OMB, which describes the 400-page document as an effort to create equal grant distribution opportunities while addressing what it called “unlawful discrimination,” had received more than 28,000 comments as of June 17.

ECA President and CEO Tommy Goodwin said the regulations would carry significant financial consequences. “The proposal would kneecap the federal government’s ROI for its $1 trillion annual spending on grants,” he said, adding that it would undermine the federal government’s ability to convene meetings and events to address current challenges.

ECA’s letter to OMB Director Russell Vought noted that the events industry employs 2.6 million Americans and is expected to drive more than $400 billion in domestic spending this year. Medical and scientific gatherings, which rely on grant-backed attendees and presenters, would be among those most affected, the organization said.

Trevor Mitchell, President and CEO of the International Association of Venue Managers and an ECA member, said venues operate without taking sides. “Public assembly venues exist to bring people together for a wide variety of events, viewpoints, and experiences,” Mitchell told TSNN. “Broad regulatory mandates may limit the ability of venues to make informed operational decisions that prioritize public safety.”

Goodwin said such decisions should not be made in Washington. “ECA strongly believes that issues around event safety, security, and risk management are best handled by trained professionals on the ground, not by unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.,” he said.

📖 Read the full update on TSNN