Clownfish Events has announced the appointment of its new managing director, Jonny Coekin, after previous managing director and founder Matt Turner made the decision to step down after 16 years.
Coekin began at Clownfish nine years ago, part time on his gap year, coiling cables and cleaning dance floor.
After his degree he returned full time in 2020, he launched Clownfish’s media department, went on to lead the marketing team and in 2024 became sales director.
During his time as sales director, his team smashed every sales record in the companies history.
Turner said: “Over the past few months, we interviewed external candidates for the MD role. But in the end, the decision was unanimous: shareholders, managers, the board and the wider team all backed our guy, Jonny. That in itself says a lot about him. But for me, it also says a lot about our culture – we grow our own and always first look to promote from within.”
He added: “I’ve realised when a business reaches a certain size, the founder isn’t necessarily the best person to manage all the things day-to-day and at our size, there’s a lot of things. I also realised, to *effectively* replace me, I’d need to get out the way of the new MD and allow them to put their stamp on the business (without me lurking about)! And so yes, I’ve made myself redundant.”
Coekin took up his position as managing director yesterday (1 September), sharing a post on LinkedIn where he said: “An immensley proud moment for me and one that I look forward to reflecting on properly soon. For now; I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as managing director at Clownfish Events.”