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Jonathan Dutton to step down as PASA CEO

Jonathan Dutton

Jonathan Dutton will step down as PASA CEO at the end of January after three years in the role.

Jonathan took over as CEO following the sudden loss of the founder of PASA, Nigel Wardropper, who died suddenly in October 2020, just prior to the annual PASA ConfeX that year.

The owner of PASA, Lesley Wardropper, will now take over all aspects of managing the PASA business day-to-day through merging the roles of managing director and CEO. Jonathan will return to his private consulting business as ‘JD Consultancy’ from his base in Melbourne.

Lesley said, “Jonathan has played a major role in leading PASA out of the pandemic. This was a challenging time for any live events business, but doubly so for PASA following the tragic loss of Nigel at such a difficult time. PASA is thriving today, due in large part to Jonathan’s leadership across all aspects of the business and integrating the procurement agenda with all our products and services, so that we can look ahead with confidence as the market leader in our space.”

However, Jonathan will not lose all contact with PASA and will remain involved as the ‘Chief Content Creator’ for PASA on a consulting basis – developing the programmes and themes for most of the PASA Conferences, and the successful PASA Connect programme, throughout 2024 and beyond. He will also MC the key events for PASA.

Lesley added, “We are delighted that Jonathan will stay involved with PASA on a consulting basis and continue to craft such marvellously relevant programmes for our PASA Conferences and our PASA Connect membership programme. Uniquely, he will also MC our key events which thread the themes, the programmes and the speaker contributions into a single narrative, delivering much greater value and stronger takeaways for our audience.”

Jonathan said, “Having worked closely with PASA, on and off for almost 20 years in various different roles, it is pleasing to be able to stay involved still. I’m looking forward to a great series of events in 2024 at PASA, as well as completing my other growing commitments. I would like to thank the team at PASA, all our valued sponsors, the PASA Connect members and everyone who has engaged with PASA in the last few years – especially our fabulous speakers for their ongoing support at all our PASA events in the past and in the future as well.”