Heike Mahmoud has been Chief Operating Officer (COO) and authorized signatory at Estrel Berlin, Europe’s largest hotel, congress and entertainment complex with over 1,000 hotel rooms and 30,000 sqm of event space, since August 2024. She is responsible for the operational business of Estrel Berlin and the marketing of the new Estrel Tower, the first skyscraper in Berlin. With a unique, innovative, open-space-concept. Business and leisure areas combine and span over 44 floors of the Towers impressive 176 meters of height. Opening is planned for summer 2026.
Heike Mahmoud has two degrees in business administration and marketing and has been active in the national and global meetings and events industry for over 30 years. She has held the title “Certified Meeting Professional” (CMP) since 2006. In 2015, the American trade magazine “Meetings & Conventions” named her one of the 25 most influential women in the industry worldwide. In May 2019, Heike Mahmoud was presented with the internationally renowned Paul Flackett IMEX Academy Award. Just a few months later, in November 2019, she received the prestigious JMIC Profile and Power Award. The award was presented to her in recognition of her outstanding role as a dedicated industry advocate and inspirational role model for women in positions of influence who can inspire young talent to join the meetings industry.
Heike Mahmoud began her career in the global meetings industry in 1993 with a Professional Congress Organizer (PCO) before moving to Estrel Berlin in 1998 as Sales and Marketing Manager. In 2001, she joined visitBerlin as Director Conventions and authorized signatory, where she built up the Berlin Convention Office (BCO) and managed it very successfully for 18 years. Under her leadership between 2001 and 2018, Berlin developed into one of the most successful meeting and convention destinations in the world and the German capital was ranked number one in the global ICCA (International Congress & Convention Association) rankings.
She moved to Hamburg in 2018. As Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the CCH – Congress Center Hamburg, Heike Mahmoud was responsible in particular for the realignment and reopening of the new CCH. The CCH was officially reopened in April 2022 after 5 years of construction. As COO and authorized signatory, she was also a member of the management board of Hamburg Messe und Congress. She positioned the new CCH very successfully on the international market and was able to acquire numerous major congresses and events with her team right from the start.
Heike Mahmoud is involved on a voluntary basis in numerous associations, institutions and organizations in the global business events industry and is a member of MPI, PCMA, Site, Rotary, EIC – Events Industry Council – member of the Sustainability and Social Impact Committee, advisory board member of the ROTONDA Business Club and advisory board member of the tourism/transportation faculty at Worms University of Applied Sciences. Furthermore, Heike Mahmoud is Ambassador of THE ICEBERG – Legacies of business events of the JMIC – Joint Meetings Industry Council. And she is a founding member of “She Means Community e.V.”, a networking platform that connects people and gives women more visibility.
