THE commercial trading arm of the Suffolk Agricultural Association (SAA) has appointed Christine Bond as its new commercial manager.Ms Bond, who will work for Trinity Park Events Ltd, is charged with building the hospital and events side of the business for the award-winning conference and events centre at Ipswich.

THE commercial trading arm of the Suffolk Agricultural Association (SAA) has appointed Christine Bond as its new commercial manager.

Ms Bond, who will work for Trinity Park Events Ltd, is charged with building the hospital and events side of the business for the award-winning conference and events centre at Ipswich.

Ms Bond graduated in hotel and catering management and worked for leading brands including Hilton and Thistle before spending 15 years as commercial director for the Royal Society.

Her role included strategic management of the commercial activities as well as facilities management of the charity's Grade I listed building.

She was involved in the charity's strategic development, including programme development, marketing, fundraising and fellowship services, and successfully built a profitable commercial hospitality business from scratch.

From 2005 to 2008 she was commercial director of Churchill Conferences Ltd, based at Cambridge,

SAA chief executive Chris Bushby said: “Christine brings to the organisation considerable strategic and operational skills and already has identified ways of developing our product offering and audience reach against the backdrop of an increasingly difficult market.”

Ms Bond, who lives in Bruisyard, near Framlingham, is married with one daughter and enjoys outdoor sports.