Our Team

In a past life Julie worked for “The Stage” newspaper and the Barbican Centre but in 1990 set up Watterston Associates as one of the first research consultancies in the industry specialising in international association research when she was given the opportunity of a long-term contract with INCON  – the international network of Professional Conference Organisers.   This led to expanding the company’s client base and Julie now represents a number of international conference destinations and venues primarily focussing on increasing their market share of Association congresses.   She has built and developed the company’s own comprehensive bespoke database and is currently Secretariat for the ICCA (International Congress and Convention Association) UK and Ireland Chapter. 

Julie has been on the education faculty of ICCA General Assemblies and the ICCA RSMP (Research, Sales & Marketing Programme).  She has a close bond with a large number of international association executives both in the UK and worldwide. This gives the company a huge advantage in securing clients to attend hospitality events as well as appointments at industry trade shows and ensures that associations often contact us first when they are considering their next open date to find out if we represent a destination that could bid to host their congress.

Julie is an avid theatre goer and in her spare time can usually be found watching a show in London’s West End, at various regional theatres or even on Broadway.

Janet is a Senior Account Manager for Watterston Associates working on a number of our destination accounts to generate leads. From taking an active role in helping to organise European Roadshows, dinners and other client promotions for the destinations we represent, Janet has now built excellent relationships with a number of International Association executives. This ensures that we gain the best information from the associations with regards to generating leads and obtaining bidding guidelines. Janet is also our ‘ideas’ person for when we need to think outside the box for our client events.

Carol is our Project Manager and regularly works with us on various international projects. A Dutch national, Carol left her home country in 2008 and moved to the UK permanently in 2010. She has extensive experience working in management, event organisation, sales, facility management and human resources for international travel, conference, hospitality, university, and telecommunications organisations. Julie and Carol first started working together back in the 1990’s when Carol worked at the Maastricht Exhibition & Congress Centre in the Netherlands.

Senior Project Manager – Sarah initially worked with us in 2019/2020 handling lead generation, research and database maintenance as well as assisting with client events.  The COVID pandemic then saw her returning to work managing trauma and risk training within the NHS.  In October 2024, Sarah decided that she would swap the stresses of working with the NHS with the stresses of working in the events industry which she assures us is a much better option!  She is expert at organisation, project management, continuous improvement and attention to detail, after working for 30 years in senior roles for the John Lewis Partnership.  Sarah is also the proud owner of Willow the Hovawart, who is now our office dog, mascot and Crufts winner!

Linda is our venue-finding specialist and works with us on a project basis subject to her other event management commitments for major organisations and venues. She has previously worked for some of the major financial institutions in London and now freelances alongside assisting on local events in her home town.

Marketing Assistant – Molly has been working with Watterston Associates for 2 years assisting with the invitation process for client events, maintaining our in-house client database and assisting with design for client booklets and presentations.  Molly is currently a university student studying Geography with a particular interest in sustainability bringing some of her relevant knowledge into the events industry.