Paul Wootton is managing director of Food & Beverage Media, a division of leading B2B media company Intermedia.

He looks after the largest portfolio of liquor and hospitality mastheads in Australia and New Zealand, including National Liquor News, The Shout, Hospitality, Australian Hotelier, Bars and Clubs, Beer & Brewer, Spice, A LIST Guide, Hospitality Business and The Shout NZ.

These titles serve the largest audience of liquor, hospitality and events professionals in Australasia.

Paul joined Intermedia in 2013 to launch and manage Melbourne’s drinks festival Top Shelf, which evolved into the Australian Drinks Festival. Since then he has launched two annual conferences, the Pub Leaders Summit and the Hospitality Leaders Summit, as well as the Eating out Report, Consumer Drinking Habits Report and the Drinks Innovation Summit. Other events in the Food & Beverage Media portfolio include Events Uncovered and ALIA.

Paul has extensive knowledge of the drinks and hospitality sector, having written for, edited and managed publications in the restaurant, drinks retail, pub and bar sectors for over 20 years.

From 2007 to 2010, he was editor of the UK’s Restaurant magazine, home of the internationally renowned World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards. During that time, he chaired the World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards’ judging academy.

In 2010, Restaurant was named the best business magazine in the UK.

Before that, from 2001 to 2007, he headed up the influential drinks magazine CLASS, which is read by top bartenders worldwide.

Paul helped launch the UK’s Bar Awards and the National Restaurant Awards, has hosted the International Spirits Challenge Awards and created the R200, a club of leading pub and restaurant operators.

He has written for various consumer and trade titles including the Sunday Times in the UK, the Sunday Times in Singapore, the CS Monitor in Boston, Drinks International and Drinks Business magazine.

From 2011 to 2012, he helped launch Pub and Bar magazine in the UK and was its founding editor until he could bear the UK’s weather no longer and headed off to Australia to find the sun.