James Paterson

James joined MI Associates in June 2017 as a Principal. He has more than 22 years major events strategy consulting experience with an emphasis on the critical issues of; event feasibility; pre-bid due diligence; economic impact analysis; host city brand maximisation, event contracts, post-event evaluation and maximising ROI.

Prior to this, James was Director of Nielsen’s (formerly Repucom) Government, Tourism and Events (“GTE”) division for 5 years, which specialises in holistic major event evaluation and valuation. Nielsen’s GTE division focused on providing specialised consulting services particularly in the areas of measuring the economic, global media and community impact of major events around the globe. Here James consulted to most of the region’s major events companies and tourism bodies, as well as numerous rights holders across Australia and New Zealand.

Prior to this role, James was Head of Strategy, Insights and Legal at Destination NSW for 5 years. Here he was instrumental in establishing the first NSW Master Events Calendar, helping to create legacy events like Vivid Sydney and securing a multitude of major events for NSW. James was responsible for creating and delivering best practice event due diligence, assessment and post event-evaluation; the strategy planning function as well as legal affairs.

James also has extensive experience in the sponsorship and sports industries. He has worked with organisations such as Australian Sports Commission, Major League Baseball and NSW Rugby before managing the Australian and New Zealand office of global sponsorship research consultancy, SiS, for 7 years.