UBM Plc's UBM Live has tapped the company’s current international customer management and air traffic control business group director Mark Snell [pictured] to lead UBM Canon Events, which serves the medical and advanced manufacturing sectors.

Snell will succeed former senior vice president and executive director Kevin O’Keefe, who joined UBM as part of the company’s $287 million acquisition of Canon Communications in September 2010. The reason for O’Keefe’s departure from the role was “entirely by mutual agreement,” according to a UBM spokesperson.

“This is a continuation of the development of the UBM Canon business and the internationalization of the Canon events, and Mark’s experience speaks to that,” says the spokesperson. Snell will relocate from London to the U.S. for the position.

“UBM staff now regularly relocate to and from the U.S., Europe and Asia to take up new roles within UBM,” states UBM Live CEO Simon Foster.

Canon has historically had a strong footing in the U.S. medical market in the U.S., while UBM has held a stronger share of the market abroad. At the time of the deal, UBM said its plan was to leverage Canon’s existing global tradeshow infrastructure to create similar events in emerging markets such as China, India and Brazil.