Rockview Management Group acquires NY NOW

Industry leaders Dorothy Belshaw, William Lacey and Karen Olson will take over planning for future NY NOW events.

Rockview Management Group (RMG), a newly formed group led by industry veterans, has acquired NY NOW, a wholesale marketplace serving the gift, home, lifestyle and accessories industry, from Emerald Holding Inc.

With the new ownership, NY NOW will be guided by several industry veterans, including Dorothy Belshaw, William Lacey and Karen Olson. Belshaw has 33 years of industry experience, including overseeing NY NOW for eight years. Lacey has 30 years of financial and mergers & acquisitions experience, and Olson has 28 years of brand transformation and growth strategy experience in the gift, home and trade show industry.

“I am excited to announce that I have partnered with two outstanding colleagues, Bill Lacey and Karen Olson, to acquire the NY NOW trade show,” Belshaw shared on her LinkedIn page. “We assume ownership effective today, April 13, along with full responsibility for the upcoming August show. This marks a full circle moment for me, having served as the director of the New York International Gift Fair over 14 years ago.

She added, “Together, Karen, Bill and I bring deep industry experience, highly complementary skill sets and a shared commitment to setting a compelling vision and executing on it. Our new company, Rockview Management Group Inc. (RMG), is built on this foundation: experienced, focused, entrepreneurial and strategically agile. As a small business, we intend to operate with urgency and accountability to effect change and drive growth.”

For more than 100 years, NY NOW has brought together brands and buyers to New York City, and RMG plans to continue the legacy of this longtime trade show. RMG says it wants the event to focus on providing buyers with an enhanced mix of established and in-demand brands that retailers are actively seeking.

Attendees can expect to see a reimagined layout and experience at future NY NOW events. Show organizers are preparing for their upcoming show, Aug. 2-4 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York.