Jim Bracken

Jim Bracken has been involved in the tradeshow industry since 1984. He was the president and owner of Capital Convention & Exhibit Company, a tradeshow management company in the Washington, DC area. His company produced the annual modern day Marine Military Exposition. His company was acquired by bill communications in 1993. Bill communications was in turn acquired by VNU. VNU changed its corporate name to Nielsen in the late 2000s. He served first as president of the exposition division from 1993-2001 and then as chairman until 2004. He subsequently reduced his time commitment to the company and became the group show director of their three Marine Military expositions: Marine West, Marine South and Modern Day Marine. He retired from Nielsen in March, 2013. Bracken has been active in tradeshow industry affairs throughout his career and served a term as chairman of the Society of Independent Show Organizers (SISO). Bracken served 26 years as a US Marine, retiring in late 1983. Since his retirement he has been active in Marine Corps matters, having served on the boards of the Marine Corps heritage foundation (6 years) and the Marine Corps scholarship foundation (6 years). Bracken earned an ab degree from Saint Michael's college in Vermont, an MBA from Pepperdine University and he completed the Harvard Business School Advance Management program. He and his wife Judy reside in Alexandria, Virginia.