Coventry Building Society Arena appoints new MD

Coventry Building Society Arena has appointed a new managing director.

Paul Michael has been appointed as managing director of the multi-purpose venue, having been commercial director at the venue since 2019, which has included overseeing the commercial strategy for the business since being brought under new ownership last year.

He will be helping the wider team to build upon the 630 events that are held at the venue every year across exhibitions, conferences, meetings, sport and music.

Michael has more than 20 years experience in the leisure and hospitality sector, with 15 years working in management roles for Hilton Hotels.

He started his career as operations manager for Holiday Inn Birmingham Airport, before moving to Hilton Hotels in 2007 to be operations manager of its Warwick hotel.

His first general manager role was at Hilton Basingstoke, before moving to Hilton Nottingham in 2011 where he was also chairman of the Nottingham Hoteliers Association.

His first role at Coventry Building Society Arena was as general manager of the newly opened 121-bedroom on-site Doubletree by Hilton hotel at the Arena in 2016.

Since joining the venue, he has become a key figure in the Coventry and Warwickshire business community, while also advocating for the tourism, leisure and events industry nationally.

Michael is chairman of the oversight board for destination management organisation Destination Coventry, and is also a board director for the Association of Event Venues (AEV).

His appointment as managing director comes as the venue recently announced that in May it attracted around 179,000 people across a packed month of music, sport, conferences, meetings and exhibitions.

The venue, which attracted nearly one million visitors last year and hosted 630 events, was bought by Frasers Group in 2022.