IBEX appoints editorial director

The International BoatBuilders’ Exhibition and Conference (IBEX) has hired Aaron Porter as editorial director.

The IBEX trade event kicks off later today (1 October 2024), running for three days as planned in Florida’s Tampa Convention Center, despite the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene this week.

Porter is a Maine-based maritime journalist and sailor who has been the editor of Professional BoatBuilder magazine for the last 14 years. He has a background in reporting on fisheries and the boatbuilding industry in Maine and Maritime Canada, and has sailed professionally from the Caribbean to Newfoundland and Europe.

He has written for newspapers and fishery publications in coastal Nova Scotia and Maine, as well as WoodenBoat magazine and Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors, and he has organised and hosted technical training seminars at both IBEX and METSTRADE.

As editorial director, in a new position at IBEX, Porter will be tasked with designing and implementing an editorial mission for IBEX, expanding the online digital platform IBEX 365, and enhancing the event’s educational opportunities, online and in-person.

“I look forward to helping IBEX expand the company’s role as a leading source of reliable, independently sourced technical information for boat designers, builders and service yards,” Porter says. “Our ambition is to take the quality information that defines the three days of technical seminars at IBEX every year and to deliver the same breadth and depth of practical editorial content to attendees and readers all year.”

Anne Dunbar, IBEX executive director, adds: “We are so fortunate to be able to add Aaron to the IBEX team. Aaron’s industry experience and technical background brings a new dimension to IBEX, and we look forward to his continued leadership and editorial direction.”