Austen Hawkins started his career as a broker at Lloyds of London.

Austen then moved to the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) where he headed up the Exhibition Audit Division before being appointed Group Sales and Marketing Director.     

Austen left ABC to become Deputy Director of the Association of Exhibition Organisers (AE0) later becoming CEO and subsequently Chair. In his time at AEO he was instrumental in launching ESSA, AEV and the EIA. In 2004 Austen launched his own company, F2F Events Ltd, which now runs market leading Consumer Exhibitions and Events across Europe.