Greg Topalian Joins Opus Origin as Chairman of North America

NEW YORK CITY — Industry veteran Greg Topalian has been tapped as Opus Origin's Chairman of North America, signaling the investment group's goals to grow and scale new B2B events, media, data and information businesses in the market. Opus Origin is led by CEO Sam Jennings and Global Chairman Simon Kimble. With lead investor Stephen Brooks, who built Mack Brooks Exhibitions, the group looks to acquire and grow businesses with $1 million to $15 million EBITDA. Topalian joins after four years of working alongside Opus Origin on a variety of its investments, including Yotta, RETCON and CloudFest Americas. The expanded role will see Topalian work with the existing leadership team to identify investment opportunities in the North American market, as well as support management teams and help grow the company's presence in the region. 'What stood out to me from the beginning was that Opus thinks like a builder. They're not looking at a business and asking, 'How do we make this leaner?' They're asking, 'What could this become if we put the right capital, people and operating expertise behind it?'' Topalian said. 'That mindset is very aligned with how I've approached my career,' he added. 'I've always been drawn to entrepreneurs and teams who see an opportunity early and are willing to build into it. Opus has the patience and the capital to do that properly, but just as importantly, the team has actually operated businesses themselves. They understand what it takes to turn a good idea into a category leader. After working alongside Simon, Sam and the broader team for several years, taking on a bigger role felt like a very natural next step.' 'Greg is a builder in every sense of the word,' Jennings stated. 'He has launched businesses from scratch, scaled organizations through extraordinary periods of growth, led major acquisitions and integrations, and backed entrepreneurs building the future. Very few people in our industry have that combination of operating experience and entrepreneurial instinct. His expanded role reflects the scale of our ambition in North America.' Capitalizing on Momentum The Opus Origin model provides not just capital to emerging events and media businesses, but also expertise from real builders in the industry who can help accelerate growth, and proprietary intelligence. The model reflects where Topalian believes event platforms are heading in the coming years. 'I think we're entering a period where the lines between events, media, data, technology and intelligence are disappearing. The strongest B2B businesses of the next decade won't necessarily fit neatly into one of those categories, they'll bring several of them together around a deeply engaged community,' Topalian said. 'That's what makes Opus particularly interesting to me. We're not just looking to build bigger events. We're looking to build businesses that become essential to the industries they serve — businesses that can create community through live experiences, deepen that relationship through media and content, and ultimately generate proprietary data and intelligence. I think that convergence is where a tremendous amount of value is going to be created.' Opus Origin has already shown its capability in identifying platforms that will define categories and scaling them for success. Yotta was part of the InfraXmedia platform, which Opus Origin backed. Recently, Opus Origin completed a majority stake sale of the platform to Bowmark Capital. The sale came on the heels of a period which saw InfraXmedia grow revenues by more than 40% annually. Related. Second Edition of Yotta Sees Big Gains as Digital Infrastructure Industry Surges in the U.S. 'InfraXmedia is a great example of the Opus model in action. The opportunity wasn't simply to own a collection of strong brands; it was to build an integrated platform around one of the fastest-growing sectors in the world,' Topalian said. 'Opus invested behind the businesses, supported the management teams and helped expand the platform across events, media, intelligence and learning. That meant thinking beyond individual products and asking how the pieces could reinforce one another and create something much more valuable together. 'The Bowmark transaction is an important proof point because it shows what can happen when you combine a strong market, great teams and meaningful investment with a genuine builder mentality.' Builders Supporting Builders Topalian's appointment to Chairman of North America is fitting for the veteran events business builder. His 30-year career has seen him launch and acquire new events at RX (then Reed Exhibitions), and co-found LeftField Media which then sold to Clarion Events in 2016. He went on to serve as CEO and then Chairman of Clarion Events North America as the business expanded in the region through organic growth and M&A. He has continued to support other founders through OnDeck Ventures and the Events Venture Group (EVG) and is excited to get back to his entrepreneurial roots with the expanded role at Opus Origin. 'The work is very complementary, and I'll continue to build and invest through both OnDeck Ventures and EVG,' Topalian said. 'Those platforms keep me close to founders, emerging early-stage businesses and new ideas across the industry, and that entrepreneurial work remains an important part of what I do. 'What Opus adds is another dimension — the ability to work with substantial capital, operating infrastructure and a long-term investment horizon to help businesses scale through much bigger stages of growth. In many ways, it expands the same work I've been doing: finding talented people, spotting markets with momentum and helping turn promising businesses into great ones. Collectively, I see it as broadening the ways I can support entrepreneurs and build businesses across the industry.' To get more events industry news, subscribe to TSE's free e-newsletter on LinkedIn or through your email.