2017 Conference Speakers

Q Akashah
Executive Director - OglivyNoor

In her role as executive director of OgilvyNoor, Q works closely with companies; advising and working with International brands to effectively engage with Muslim consumers, as well as supporting efforts by halal businesses to make syariah-compliant products and services accessible and attractive to non-Muslim consumers. Her diverse client portfolio covers multiple industries including economics, banking and finance, and personal care, amongst others.

Atikah Amalina
Educator, Social Activist & Influencer & Solo Traveller - The Tudung Traveller

Passionate about giving voice and agency to women, and living a mindful and purposeful life, Atikah seeks to inspire others to live focusing on purpose, authenticity, and giving back to society. Through her blog www.thetudungtraveller.com and Instagram account, she writes the story of the human spirit, her solo travels, and social advocacy, particularly from her lens as a Malay/Muslim woman. As the Vice-President of The Codette Project, she supports young minority women interested in tech. In addition to that, she teaches English and Literature in a secondary school.

Ike Anand
Vice President, Strategy and Business Development - Expedia group

Ike Anand serves as Vice President of Strategy and Business Development for Expedia group and is responsible for Brand Expedia Group’s global strategy. In this role, Anand creates and implements global strategies for Expedia’s Lodging, Air, Rail, Car and Packages businesses, and is responsible for exploring new business development opportunities for these products. He is also responsible for Analytics to support and optimize the business. His team manages relationships with various technology partners that enable and support the travel business. His experienced team also supports the supply partners, helping them reach and understand the buying patterns of the millions of consumers who shop for travel on Expedia booking sites across the globe.

Anand joined Expedia in 2006 to support its Air product reporting and analysis practices. He subsequently assumed responsibility for Transport Analytics which he led for 4 years. Before Expedia, Anand spent a few years at Sabre Holdings in various positions in Strategy, Pricing and Analytics.

Anand holds a Bachelors Degree in Economics from Delhi University, and an MBA from the Southern Methodist University.

Glenn Andrews
Managing Director, Asia - SiteMinder

Glenn has thrived in the digital industry for 15 years with cross-functional experience in travel, search, display and online distribution solution management. His extensive knowledge and professional background has seen him hold executive positions with international blue chip companies such as iSentia, Doubleclick and Yahoo!7 in Australia, before joining SiteMinder in early 2012 as the Sales and Marketing Director for APAC.

With significant experience introducing start-up business models into new markets, Glenn was subsequently tasked with the exciting opportunity to further expand SiteMinder’s global footprint. Relocating to Thailand, Glenn launched the regional office in Bangkok and since his appointment has been integral in bringing onboard over 2,500 hotels in South-East Asia.

Glenn’s success managing more than 34 staff is a direct result of his passion for providing quality leadership. His ability to mentor and support employees through best practice business principles has helped him to create high-performing teams, execute growth strategies and profit objectives. Glenn’s ethical business practices have cemented his position both within the company and in the view of his clients.

In his downtime, he enjoys playing tennis, golf, surfing, listening to music and – most recently – learning new languages! He is also an avid bonsai grower, having amassed a collection over the past 35 years.

Melissa Augustina
Director – MALA Eco Tours

Melissa Augustina is the Director of MALA Ecotours. Melissa’s extensive experiences in the humanitarian and development sectors and her passion in travelling, make her determined to make tourism as a catalyst to change and develop the underdeveloped communities in eastern parts of Indonesia. Melissa founded MALA Ecotours with her friend Mika Maharani in 2015 to fulfil their hopes in changing the communities and connecting people through ecotourism. She began to develop new destinations, systems and approaches to make ecotourism more adaptable to locals yet affordable for tourists. Her advanced knowledge on the private and government partnership and advocacy also lead to collaborations between MALA Ecotours and the government in various events and programs. She also has inspired many of her friends to step out of their comfort zone and start their own tourism business that has added values and give back to the communities.

Hjalti Baldursson
CEO - Bokun

Hjalti Baldursson is a seasoned executive and public speaker with 2 decades experience leading global businesses. He brings vast knowledge to the travel technology industry, having served on the board of directors of several companies, including C-level management positions in banking, real estate, energy, car rentals, software and investments.

Under Hjalti’s leadership Bokun has twice been elected a Phocuswright Innovator, Nordic Startup of the Year in 2015 at the Nordic Startup Awards, and received a number of other acknowledgements.

Amrita Banta
Managing Director  - Agility Research & Strategy

• Amrita has a 20-year career in growing and developing businesses in Asia and is the Managing Director of Agility Research & Strategy, a luxury research and consulting firm that works with leading global premium brands for insights on Affluent consumers. She is also Executive Director of AFFLUENTIAL, a Global leader on intelligence and data on affluent consumers.

• Amrita started her career in advertising working for companies like Saachi & Saachi and J. Walter Thompson and later worked with Harris Interactive, a NASDAQ listed online research firm where she was a business leader for the Asia Pacific region.

• Having carried out over 350 consulting engagements across various industry verticals, she has a deep understanding of marketing and insights on luxury consumers across Asia with a key focus on China.

• Amrita is frequently invited to speak on the BBC and at International conferences held by Luxury Society, International New York Times, World Retail Congress, International Luxury Travel Market and Robb Report. She was the only Asian speaker speaking on the affluent Asian consumer at the TFWA conference held in Cannes.

• Most recently Amrita was nominated as one of the Luxury woman leaders globally and the only one from Asia to watch out for in 2017- https://www.luxurydaily.com/196063-2/

Nisha Barkathunnisha
Founder & principal consultant - Elevated Consultancy and Training

Nisha is the founder and principal consultant of Elevated Consultancy and Training. She is a management consultant, tourism/hospitality practitioner, corporate trainer and academic with more than 25 years extensive experience. Nisha provides strategic management/ marketing consultation and involved in human capacity building in emerging destinations. Nisha has been a keynote speaker, panellist, presenter and guest lecturer at conferences, exhibitions and in academic institutions. She is currently pursuing her PhD in the area of tourism. 

Chloe Baum
Workplace Manager, APAC- LinkedIn

Although not strictly a travel manager, Chloe is the first point of contact for LinkedIn’s Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan employees when it comes to Global Travel. Chloe also helps to manage the local relationships with vendor partners. When not in Singapore, Chloe travels frequently to Hong Kong and Japan for business and enjoys the flexibility of being able to stay in home away from home as well as a hotel. As Workplace Manager for SG/HK/Japan Chloe deals with a diverse population of staff spanning baby boomers to millennials and is well versed in dealing with their varied needs, wants and wishlists and looks to provide a balance across all services, including food programme, office spaces, events and travel.

Yoram Ben Zvi
COO – eRevMax

Yoram has nearly two decades of entrepreneurial and business development expertise from working with international high-tech companies. He has experience managing multi-million dollar projects as well as leading Internet start-ups in the online travel & leisure sector. 

Nittan Bhalla
General Manager & Head – Facilities Management - Wipro BPS, Wipro Limited

Over 20 years of experience in Information Technology. Hands on experience in setting up technology infrastructure and managing out-sourced, off-shored ITES & IT services centers in India, Europe, Asia and Americas. Have been in a variety of roles, setting up new businesses or leading new initiatives.
• Adept in IT Infrastructure Management, Technology Resource Administration with experience in implementation of business solutions in organizations within preset budgets and deadlines.
• Possess broad competence in strategic management of technical and operations management with the distinction of launching and driving new IT initiatives, re-designing corporate infrastructures and contributing towards the achievement of organizational objectives.
• Insightful knowledge of business process analysis and design, re-engineering, process rationalization, cost control, capacity planning, performance measurement and quality. 
• Lead QBRs with Clients and set expectations for higher level of delivery, Expert in relationship building and management across CxO levels for better growth in account and build strategies around it.

Specialties: Extensive experience in the IT industry covering a wide range of roles and functions in Sales, Marketing and Services with industry leading organisations. 
Strengths in:
• Strategy, execution, people development
• Building and managing customer and partner relationship
• Indepth understanding of technology and solutions
• Handling pre-sales and technical designs. 
• Negotiating SLAs for large and medium’-size business transformation projects

Mathilde Bihan
Lead Buyer, Marketing and Sales - SANOFI

Mathilde BIHAN has been working for SANOFI for almost 3 years. Her first appointment was in Shanghai as Strategic Procurement Support for Asia and then she moved to SANOFI Philippines as Lead Buyer Marketing & Sales. Her role is to improve procurement strategy and accelerate its maturity including intensification of business partnering for different categories: Meeting & Events, Media & Communication, Market Research, Print & Promo. She has been recently appointed as Procurement Manager for having managed cross entities projects such as the implementation of new Travel & Expenses system (CONCUR).

Before SANOFI, Mathilde was part of the Global Procurement Team of TOTAL in Paris working on implementation of purchasing strategy and service station equipment’s call for tenders.

Mathilde holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business from Nantes University, a Master Degree in International Purchasing & Logistic from Gustave Eiffel University and a Master Degree in International Purchasing & Innovation Management from KEDGE Paris.

Thomas Bömkes
Managing Director - Diversity Tourism GmbH

Thomas Bömkes, Managing Director of Diversity Tourism GmbH in Munich, Germany. A consulting and marketing agency, specialized in the development of strategies for destinations and other tourism suppliers in different tourism segments worldwide. Since 2012, the agency is also the LGBT consultant partner for ITB Berlin, ITB Asia and the ITB Academy. The company also operates the online travel portal TomOnTour.com. After graduating at Munich’s University with a Masters degree in economics in 1996, Bömkes worked as a marketing consultant since then in different positions. He has also been a member of the board of directors of the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA) from 1999 – 2009.

Damien Brosnan
Programme Manager - The Code

Damien manages The Code’s global secretariat, based in Bangkok and with members across the globe. He works with local NGOs, UN agencies and the private sector to raise awareness and promote action on child protection in travel and tourism. He has worked with The Code since 2015, following roles with Care/UNICEF working on emergency relief.

Robson Cadore
Blogger

Blogger, photographer and triathlete, Rob fused his passion for travelling and for sports with his 15 years of international business background to create Love and Road, an inspiring travel blog. He has been traveling across the globe for the past 3 years with his wife Natalie Deduck, sharing great information and stunning photos to help people travel more.

His business orientation was the key for Love and Road’s success. His professional approach to the blogging industry secured business contracts, traveling opportunities and projects to work with relevant international brands. Rob is also a board member of the Professional Travel Bloggers Association. In this role he helps businesses and bloggers work together to create outstanding content to promote destinations and bring valuable information to the readers. 

Kristy Castleton
CEO - SmarTag Calyx Asia

Kristy Castleton is the CEO of SmarTag Calyx Asia, founder and MD of brand experience agency Rebel & Soul and MD of Quintessentially Singapore. Kristy’s vision is to drive consumer experience technology to be the new frontier of marketing in Asia. She blends her passion for neuroscience and technology to create immersive and seamless temporary and permanent user experiences for rights holders, venues, brands and agencies.

Kristy developed a soon to be patented process called INVOLVE which she launched on Richard Branson’s Necker Island. The neuroscience based process ensures that each user experience, no matter how small or large, is memorable. The process has been tested and proven in the live event space with clients such as Heineken, HSBC, Chanel and Dentsu. It’s ground-breaking neuroscience based technology application like this that placed Kristy as one of only two founders in the prestigious Campaign Asia Women to Watch list 2016.

Felix Chan
Vice President of Sales Asia - Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings

Felix Chan began his role as the Vice President of Sales Asia for Norwegian Cruise Line when he joined the company in November 2015. Soon thereafter in October 2016, Felix was promoted to Vice President of Sales Asia for Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH)- encompassing Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises. He is responsible for sales and operations of all 3 brands in Asia.

Prior to joining Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Felix was the Travel Trade Sales Director for Hong Kong Disneyland Resort. Before that, he was in the MICE industry and held multiple management positions within the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, including Manager of Sales at Exhibitions, Director of Tokyo and Osaka Branch Offices, as well as Regional Director of Northern China based in Beijing.

Felix graduated from the University of Hong Kong and Peking University in Beijing.

Nam Cheah
Blogger

Nam Cheah is an Msci Geology graduate who turned her love for nature, writing, and wanderlust into a travel blog. Now based in Hong Kong, she updates her blog Laugh, Travel, Eat weekly with photographs and videos to support its content.

She used to split her life between Hong Kong and the UK, and since her move home, she has made her posts more accessible by crafting them in both English and Traditional Chinese. Her writing experience includes City Travel Review, Travel editor in Imperial College London’s award winning Newspaper Felix, and a member of Wattpad Star, a leading online storytelling platform. Her content aims to inspire, inform, and entertain active solo and group female travelers through SEO and social media. She has partnered with PR firms and hotels to produce restaurant reviews, destination guides, and short videos in Hong Kong and abroad.

Brian Cheah
Head of Sales & Marketing, Singapore Division - International SOS

Brian Cheah, Head of Sales & Marketing for International SOS is responsible for developing International SOS’ business across all verticals in both private and public sectors. Brian leads the Singapore Division Sales & Marketing team in focusing on strategic and tactical aspects that includes acquisition of new clients, growing the existing clients, driving marketing and communication strategies as well as spearheading client satisfaction.

Brian has five countries remit under his care, namely, Singapore, Brunei, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives. Prior to his current role, Brian was with the International SOS Asia Regional office, as the Regional Business Development Director. He oversees the business development of medical and travel security related solutions for corporate clients. In that capacity, Brian acts as the functional lead for all the Asia Business Development Managers, in ensuring the International SOS integrated solutions meet the clients’ needs in providing Duty of Care to their employee as well as Return on Investment for their organization.

Sharon Chen
Corporate Director of Revenue Management - Montigo Resorts Pte Ltd

Sharon is a Revenue strategist who partners with company Executives to formulating winning Revenue and Distribution strategies in the most effective and efficient manner. After spending nearly a decade working in Revenue Management with international hotel  chains and boutique life style hotels, Sharon knows what truly drives Revenue Growth, Distribution and channel efficiency. Sharon has landed her first Revenue management career with Intercontinental Hotel Group, subsequently with Ascott Group, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts and now she is Corporate Director of Revenue Management for Montigo Resorts Pte Ltd. Her portfolio includes both Business hotel and luxury resorts in APAC region. Sharon is a Certified Revenue Management Executive by Hotel Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) in the United States, she obtained her Master degree from University of Nevada, Las Vegas with a stunning Scholarship from Singapore Workforce Development Agency.

Robin Chiang
Senior Country Manager, APAC - KAYAK

Robin is the Senior Country Manager, APAC, at KAYAK where he oversees the growth and business strategy across Greater China, Southeast Asia and Australasia regions.

Prior to KAYAK, Robin was senior corporate finance professional, having been appointed as Partner and Managing Director in a number of leading private equity and venture capital funds in Asia. He started his career as a management consultant at Boston Consulting and investment banker at Morgan Stanley.

Robin holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Melbourne. He also holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is a qualified lawyer in Australia.

Nathania Christy 
Insights & Community Lead, APAC - TrendWatching

Nathania Christy is the Insights & Community Lead at TrendWatching APAC. As a published author and experienced speaker, she is regularly invited to deliver presentations in institutions.
Based in Singapore, she oversees partnerships with industry and market experts to gather on-the-ground innovations and analyse trend insights in the region. Prior to joining TrendWatching she gained experience in the startup and accelerator scene. She has also worked with companies such as General Electric, BOSCH, and Inoue Seikoen on consulting projects. She holds an honours degree in Business Administration from the National University of Singapore.

Her interest in consumer trends and innovations started in business school and grew as she immersed herself in the tech startups ecosystem. She is excited to share her insights and help brands stay relevant through trend-driven innovations!

Nathania can be contacted at nathania@trendwatching.com

Nigel Wong Chun Teim
Honourary Secretary General - MATTA

A trained software engineer specializing in business systems development, software development methodologies and network security. Got involved in the travel industry while working in Australia developing one of the most popular and active online adventure travel sites promoting self-drive and outback excursions.

Returned to Kuala Lumpur in 2009 and formed an agency to promote eco-tourism and adventure travel in the digital space. Current projects include producing video content and new marketing solutions for the travel space.

Became a Member of the Executive Council of MATTA (Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents) in 2013 serving initially as the VP for Research & Technology and, in the last two years, as the associations Honorary Secretary General.

Has a passion to see the travel industry especially in the ASEAN region grow especially through the smart adoption of technology, through liberalisation and development of skilled human capital.

James Craven
Managing Director - Hybrid

James is the Managing Director at Hybrid, umbrella company for five digital brands including Travel Wire Asia.
Hybrid is a global influencer, creating rich and relevant content for brands wishing to connect with audiences in a more effective way. Hybrid is a place where traditional and contemporary communications merge and outcomes are measured. Powered by a young collective of journalists, strategists and business minds, Hybrid moves with unparalleled pace across five independent brands in high-growth markets.

In June 2017, traffic to Hybrid’s combined portfolio exceeded 8.5m unique visitors. Hybrid operates out of Bristol (UK), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Sydney (Australia) and from Q1 2018, will open a further office in Boston (USA).

Isabella Crocker
Asia Pacific Senior Manager, Global Early Talent - Expedia

Isabella currently leads Expedia’s Global Early Talent function, across Asia Pacific, and is responsible for building and shaping Expedia Group’s early careers presence in the region.
Isabella is a ‘true-blooded’ graduate recruitment professional with over 16 years of international graduate recruitment experience in Europe, Middle East & Africa and Asia Pacific, working across multiple sectors.

Being part of the world’s largest online travel business has its perks, and Isabella enjoys travelling to new and exciting locations, learning about the many rich and diverse cultures in this region. To remain sane and calm during the busy graduate recruitment cycles, Isabella volunteers as a Conservation Docent at the Singapore Zoo. She also nurtures a healthy obsession for elephants, and looks forward to her next volunteering holiday with these intelligent and gentle giants!

Brendan Daly
General Manager - Yotel Singapore

Brendan joined YOTEL in April 2016 to lead the pre-opening and launch activities for Orchard Road, the first YOTEL to open in Asia. With over 25 years’ experience in the hospitality industry, Brendan has been based in Australia and Asia throughout his career working for several respected hotel companies within the region including Starwood, Accor and Onyx Hospitality in both pre-opening and operating capacities. His most recent hotel launch was the opening of Aloft Bangkok in 2012, the first for the brand in South East Asia.

Sarah Davis
Chief Operating Officer - Taste of Thailand

An Architect by training, a food enthusiast and an avid traveller with an appetite for learning, Sarah has spent a considerable part of her life at the intersection of design, eating and wanderlust.

After many years as a designer and Architect in the United States, Sarah made the move to Thailand and has never looked back.

As Chief Operating Officer, Sarah is responsible for most aspects of the business from marketing and operations to finance and product development. Prior to her current role, Sarah served as Marketing Manager, or more accurately “Getting Stuff Done Manager”. A feverish organizer and lover of processes, as part of Sarah’s efforts, Taste of Thailand Food Tours has tripled in size within two years.

Sarah lives in Thailand with her husband and two children. In her free time, she can be found exploring Bangkok’s culinary scene or enjoying a good turn on the dance floor.

Francesco De Marchis
Chief Technology Officer – JacTravel

Francesco joined JacTravel in 2016 as Chief Technology Officer, assuming overall responsibility for the Technology Division and leading a team of over 50 IT professionals across a number of locations worldwide. Here he is driving an innovative technology roadmap to further enhance JacTravel’s position in the travel and hospitality arena. Francesco is a highly-qualified IT professional and has worked for many years in the travel industry, heading up the technology departments for some of the leading names including Orbitz, Travelport and Low Cost Travel. Francesco has a degree in Electrical Engineers and Computer Science from University of Rome. Francesco lives in North London with his wife and 2 sons.

Tracy Dong
Lead Advisor Asia Pacific - IDeaS Revenue Solutions

Tracy Dong is Lead Advisor of Asia Pacific region at IDeaS Revenue Solutions, a SAS Company, based in Singapore office. She has worked for InterContinental Hotels Group and Far East Hospitality prior to joining IDeaS. Tracy has rich experiences in the field of analytics, pricing and strategies, revenue management standard operating procedures development.

Jackie Douglas
President - HSMAI Asia Pacific

Since 2014, Jackie has been transforming HSMAI Asia Pacific into a sustainable industry association helping the Hospitality industry to learn and grow alongside continuous disruption. Jackie is an experienced non-executive Director and a business strategist with over 15 years’ experience creating and improving digital products and face-to-face sales and service procedures to improve customer experience in the travel and hospitality industries.

Jackie is passionate about creating the best quality customer experience on consumer and mobile sites, in contact centres, and apps. She is highly experienced in leading multi-channel product strategy, website development, online distribution, channel management, customer experience definition and development, mobile strategy development, social media, launching existing online products in new markets, business process automation, system implementation and program/ project management.
In 2016, Jackie created a digital strategy roadmap for Mantra Hotels group and sat on the Executive Team at Mantra advising them through a major restructure and focus on modernising their digital platforms.

Huilian Duan
VP Sales & Marketing - Maritim Hotels APAC

Huilian Duan is the VP Sales & Marketing for Maritim Hotels APAC, the largest ownermanaged hotel group in Germany. Huilian directs all marketing and sales strategies, overseeing consumer and field marketing activities, and advertising & public relations in APAC region. Huilian also oversees critical user experience improvements to the brand booking channels, and strengthens the strategic partnership with all major global distribution players in the region.

Huilian is an active member and leader for ACTE and HSMAI. She served as the Asia Council for ACTE Asia from 2014 to 2017, and also serve HSMAI Greater China region as the President since 2016.  

Scott Duane
Senior Director – APAC - eNett International

Scott has extensive experience in business development, commercial and strategic roles across number of industries. Scott is an internationally experienced sales executive acknowledged for developing new and existing regions with innovative sales strategies.

Having worked in the travel industry for the past 5 years, Scott is now regarded as an industry expert in the travel payment space with broader experience and knowledge of travel industry bodies, industry automation solutions and online sales systems. During his time at eNett he has worked closely with leading travel companies in the region to simply the complexities of their payments with more efficient and streamlined payment solutions.

Enrique Esguerra 
General Manager - Esgala Travel & Tours

• ASEAN MASTER TRAINER/ASSESSOR
• AUTHOR/REVIEWER – TESDA (Technical Education
• and Skills Development Authority) TR-TS/TO/GUIDING
• ACCREDITED PROFESSIONAL TOUR GUIDE – DOT PHILIPPINES Since 1996
• LECTURER / TRAINOR / SPEAKER

Faeez Fadhlillah
CEO and Co-founder, Tripfez

Faeez Fadhlillah is the CEO and Co-founder of Tripfez & Salam Standard, an innovative , state of the art travel portal dedicated to the rise of global Muslim travelers.

Named as one of Forty Individuals Who Shaped Southeast Asian E-Commerce By EcommerceIQ,
Faeez is also an avid speaker at many international travel conferences and seminars and previously chairs the R&D committee of the Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents (MATTA). Faeez was elected as Vice President of MATTA, Malaysia’s largest travel association for the term 2015 -2017 and currently serves as the Deputy Honorary Secretary General for the term 2017-2019 as well as the executive board of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).

Faeez was named 30 under 30 by Forbes magazine in 2016, 40 Under 40 by Prestige, Top 10 Young Entrepeneur Rising by Top 10, People To Watch 2016 by TTG as well as the Most Innovative Young Leaders Award 2016 by UCSI.

Heading the brand of Tripfez and Salam Standard, Faeez advocates the concept of localizing the travel experience through information enabling travellers to make an informed decision. He has been featured in major publication including BBC, CNBC, Forbes, TTG, etc.

Faeez works very closely with various Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) as well as travel stakeholders including hotels to promote the concept of localization of travel an inclusive travel experience. Faeez graduated from the University of Sydney with first class honors from the School of Engineering.

Matthew Festo
Singapore Country Manager - Savioke

Matthew Festo is the Singapore Country Manager for Savioke, a Silicon Valley startup developing and deploying autonomous robots that improve people’s lives. Matthew works with hospitality, logistics, and high-rise property owners and managers to deploy Savioke’s flagship product, the Relay indoor delivery robot that works safely among people in busy environments. Relay works alongside teams to increase productivity, improve safety, and delight everyone. With over 15 years of customer management experience in the technology industry, Matthew focuses on collaborative problem solving with customers for mutual success and growth. He has lived in Singapore for over four years and holds an MBA from National University of Singapore and UCLA, as well as a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from UCLA.

Peter Foster
Director of Business Development - AMILLA & Finolhu Resorts  – Baa Atol

Peter Foster has been involved in luxury resort sales and marketing since 1997, when he commenced as Director of Sales and Marketing, Hayman Island.  Following this he has held varying roles with Oberoi Hotels & Resorts, One&Only Royal Mirage, was part of the opening team of The Address Hotels+Resorts.   After this he worked in Bangkok, Cambodia, Bali, and Dubai.  Following several consultancy roles he now enjoys a fresh approach to working with The Small Maldives Island Company.    

Dean Fowles
Unit Head Travel - Asian Development Bank

An Experienced Global Travel Management professional currently based in Manila. 

My experience includes:

* Working with global travel management companies to build a streamlined program.
* Recommend and implement new travel policies
* Manage over US$500M in global travel category spend 
* Evaluate credit card products and implement multi country solutions.
* Review and tender global private jet charter contracts.
* Execute global airline, car rental (including specialty vehicles) and hotel RFPs.
* Launch global travel management solutions in emerging markets. 
* Deliver monthly dashboard to CFOs and other key stakeholders

Overview of experience: 

* Implemented a major cost cutting program that included revised airline and hotel contracts, expense reimbursement and a new travel policy.
* Expertise in agency and program consolidation as well as automated tools implementation
* Worked with multiple markets throughout Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America.

Gabriel Garcia
Senior Director, Head of Marketing and Channel Strategy APAC – Expedia

As part of the Asia management team, he is responsible for defining Expedia’s marketing channel strategy and identifying growth opportunities for Brand Expedia in the region. Prior to this role, Gabriel was Senior Director of Strategy and Business Development.

Prior to joining Expedia, Gabriel spent six years at Newscorp in Australia holding several roles, including Product and Strategy Director, Director of Strategy and National Sales Director for Newscorp’s joint venture with Monster.com. Prior to this, he was Managing Director of the Latin American subsidiary of Monitoring Systems Technology, a leading European technology provider for the outdoor media industry.

Originally from Mexico City, Gabriel holds an MBA from Macquarie Graduate School of Management, specialising in Business Strategy; a Bachelor in Business Administration from ITAM University in Mexico City and studies at Hogeschool Voor Economische Studies (University of Amsterdam).

Nigel Gaunt
President - ICESAP

Nigel has over 30 years experience as both a business owner and a senior executive of a Fortune 500 company.

Nigel started his first business in 1978; The Forum Organization, an incentive company which grew to become Australia’s largest Incentive, Event Management & Meetings Management company. Forum employed 75 people across 4 offices until it was sold in 1990 to Carlson Marketing Group, the world’s largest incentive company at the time. From 1990 to 1996 Nigel was Executive Vice President with Carlson Marketing during which time he established their presence in Asia.

Nigel joined ITT Sheraton Asia Pacific Corporation based in Hong Kong in 1997 to head up Sales & Marketing in Asia. Sheraton merged with Westin in 1998 to become Starwood Hotels & Resorts where Nigel was appointed Managing Director Sales for Asia Pacific.

In 2001 Nigel once again established his own business; The MINT Organization. MINT offices opened in Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore, Shanghai and Dubai and with over 70 employees grew to be the market leader in each location; Nigel sold the business to BI Worldwide in June 2012.

In 2014 Nigel became the Founding President of ICESAP, the Incentive Conference & Event Society Asia Pacific, a Singapore based membership body recognised as the Peak Body for the Incentive Travel, Conference, Meetings & Business Events Industry in Asia Pacific. ICESAP has approximately 33% Corporate Members, and the other two thirds Intermediary Agency & Supplier members. In 2017 ICESAP is launching an Agency Accreditation Scheme and Distance Learning programs for its members.

Matt Gibson
CEO Upthink - PTBA Outbound President / Blogger

 Matt Gibson is the Outbound President of the Professional Travel Bloggers Association, a nonprofit organization that works to help travel industry and brands meet and work together. He’s also an adventure travel writer and photographer, award winning blogger, and CEO ofUpthink, an agency that helps travel companies develop their blogging and social media marketing strategies and work with travel bloggers. Matt regularly gives seminars and moderates panels about blogging, social media, and inbound marketing for organizations such as ITB Asia, Arabian Travel Mart, HSMAI, and Training Edge Asia. 

Gilad Goren
Co-founder - Raleigh&Drake

Gilad Goren is the cofounder of Raleigh&Drake, A B2B focused platform empowering brands to drive engagement, loyalty and revenue through smart utilization of authentic, meaningful travel content. A social entrepreneur born and raised in the travel industry, through his projects, writing and speaking opportunities Gilad seeks to push the world’s largest industry to meet its potential for positive impact on a global scale. He founded and led global industry0focused nonprofit Travel+SocialGood, build impactful business models and led impact journeys through consultancy Only Six Degrees, and taught Graduate-level Sustainable Tourism at NYU. He has spoken at venues such as the United Nations, SXSW, PURE Experiences, Social Media Week, NY Times Travel show, AirBNB Open, and more. He currently lives in Los Angeles.

Rajeev Goswami
Co Founder & CEO / Member , Industry Advisory Council - WW Stay/ GBTA Foundation

Rajeev is a Cofounder and CEO of WWStay. WWStay is a Corporate Global Accommodation Provider with a focus on Extended Stay and Project Travel. WWstay works with Serviced Apartment  and Hotels in more than 170 countries. 

Earlier in his professional career , Rajeev spent more than 20 years in the corporate world in technology field.  He was CEO of Computer Associates JV in India and General Manager in IBM India. His  own experiences as global corporate traveller led him to start WWstay 5 years ago. 

Rajeev is involved with GBTA in USA for last 4 years. He is very passionate about the emerging segment of Extended Stay and Serviced Apartment/Corporate Housing.  WWStay has been supporting GBTA foundation for the past 3 years  and has sponsored 2 research studies in the area of extended stay. Rajeev is part of Industry Advisory Council of GBTA Foundation and a member of the India Advisory Board of GBTA.

Mark Greedy
CEO & Founder – DestinationElite

Mark Greedy is the CEO and founder of Elite Resorts of Asia Pacific which evolved to DestinationElite by the end 2013. He is responsible for effective and rewarding marketing, sales distribution and administration of over 2,000 luxury hotels, resorts, cruises, high-end  Fashion worldwide together with other travel products such as  F&J Air travel solution AirElite, Adventure Elite and Retreats Elite.

Also, Mark initiated Partnership development and maintenance with many successful global high-end brands such as Diageo, Bang &Olufsen, Tourism Australia and significant New Property Developments such as 35XV, New York and The Chedi, Andermatt, Switzerland to maximise their DestinationElite marketing programs and brands. 

“ I had a vision of a online retail ecosystem of all that was good and great throughout our world from Luxury Hotels, Resorts, Cruises, Villas & Residences,  to Real Estate , Fashion , Experiences , Foods ,Beverages ,  Private Jets, Villas , a Luxury Lifestyle – all and everything showcased and sold in one wonderful Perfect Place.

                                           ‘the finest, together.”

A bit like web craftsman designed & built, elegant and beautiful luxury department store – online.

This unique concept (www.DestinationElite.com) has become a popular hub for those searching for a luxury resort, hotel accommodations and a luxury lifestyle chosen with excellent taste. DestinationElite is transactional, intelligent and creative marketing alliance and has rung a big bell for those who understand and appreciate quality marketing.”

Mark’s 30+ year career has included senior management, Director and CEO responsibilities in both Asia Pacific and Global responsibilities. The most significant travel industry companies include:

• Singapore Airlines – Marketing Manager Australia and Market Development Manager.
• Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts –  Group Vice President Marketing.
• B.B.D.O Advertising, Asia– Director (Commenced as Spencer & Friends and was acquired by BBDO)
• Tour East International – Chief Executive Officer – Acquired and became by Qantas Holidays
• Jetset Travel Asia – Chief Executive Officer – Acquired and became Carlson Wagonlea
• The Leading Hotels of the World – Vice President.

Amongst many notable achievements during his time at Singapore Airlines, Mark was a member of the small team which designed, introduced and developed the Priority Passengers Scheme (PPS) SIAs CRM strategy. Mark, with the team, also developed and implemented the Asian Affair Holidays – SIA’s now global in-house luxury tour operator programme and the highly successful Singapore Stopover Holidays (SSH) product.

Mark was the CEO of Asia’s then most significant DMC Tour East, managing and supporting the Asian travel, accommodation, touring, etc. of over 250,000 people per annum to 9 Asian countries. During Marks time with Tour East, he and the team were the first DMC to establish Joint Venture operations in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Tour East was recognized and awarded many times for their prowess as Asia’s finest event, incentive and conference planners and organizers. Mark also successfully managed the Tour East merged establishment of Singapore Sightseeing Tour East, asset and company sale to Qantas Holidays, Singapore Government and Jetset Travel International (of which he was also CEO) to Carlson Wagonlea.

At The Leading Hotels of the World, Mark worked on the initiation and development of the Leaders Club CRM strategy. Mark also designed, globally introduced and promoted   a selection of highly successful LHW tactical programmes including Leading Suites, Leading Offers and Leading Golf & Spas which evolved to contribute 35+ % of this company’s business today, i.e.,  Gross Revenue of approx over US$ 700 Million

Amongst others Mark has been Awarded, Nominated for and a Finalist in;

• TTG Awards for DMC, Marketing Strategies, and Initiatives
• CNBC Asia Business Leader Award (ABLA)
• Hotel Management Awards – Asia Pacific Hotelier of the Year.

Mark Greedy on occasion also provides Marketing and Communications consultation providing creative guidance, insight, and execution of strategic worldwide marketing and sales promotions.

Mark has been a resident of Singapore since 1986, is married with two adult children.

He has a broad range of sports and cultural interests and until recently an open grade rugby player.

Graeme Ham
Vice President Talent & Culture – Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore - AccorHotels

Previously, AccorHotels’ Director of Human Resources for the New Zealand, French Polynesia, and Fiji region, a position he held for 15 years.  Graeme’s Regional HR management experience includes 12 years with Southern Pacific Hotel Corporation (now IHG), where he spent 2  years in Australia, 6 years in South East Asia and 4 years in New Zealand.

Transferred back to South East Asia in mid-2014 and in his current role for AccorHotels, Graeme leads Talent & Culture initiatives in 3 countries – Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore where there are currently over 140 hotels, over 18,000 employees and more hotels to open during 2017.

Graeme is passionate about developing Talent for the future of AccorHotels and the hospitality industry “there is nothing more gratifying than seeing that intern years later as an industry leader” 

Erica Hegarty
Regional VP - ICESAP

Erica has over 10 years of experience in hospitality/M&E for event planning, strategy, operation and sales & marketing.

Her career has moved her around the world from Australia, Scotland, Norway and back to Asia where she really established her career in meetings and event industry during her time with Int’l hotel group, financial and luxury firm as well as non-profit organisation.

Her comprehensive working experience from various industry gave her depth of knowledge and understanding of meetings and event industry, she’s also trained for CMP, PCM and PEM.

She is currently head of sales for Asia Pacific at Pacific World Meetings and Events, managing client relationship, sales and marketing strategy and SMM within the region. 

Rom E. Hendler
Founder and Managing Partner, InnoVel

InnoVel is a new breed of innovation center. With unmatched knowhow in the industry, InnoVel connects travel companies with the most cutting-edge startups, leading them through the implementation of solutions that address concrete pains and problems and focus on valuable features. Prior to Innovel Rom held several C-level roles with Las Vegas Sands, the world’s biggest integrate resorts company. Rom joined the Las Vegas Sands in 2000. Through many promotions Rom eventually held the title of Senior Vice President & Chief Administration Officer till March 2016 When he left the company. In that role Rom oversaw the global budgeting process, capital expenditures spent, project management, financial reviews, corporate travel etc. In his role Rom drove process enhancement, efficiencies, labor analysis, streamlines approvals and standardization of operation procedures. Prior to that he was Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer overseeing Global Sales & Marketing efforts worldwide from October 2010 to August 2013. In December 2012, after the departure of Las Vegas Sands CIO, Rom was appointed interim Chief Information Officer until July 2013 when a new CIO was hired, while keeping his CMO position. In October 2009 he was appointed Corporate Vice President of Strategic Marketing, responsible for developing best practices for marketing analytics, distribution strategies, CRM, revenue management, e-commerce, loyalty programs, direct marketing, casino floor optimization and standardization of marketing systems among all properties. In 2007 he was appointed Vice President of Strategic Marketing for the entire complex consisting of the Venetian and Palazzo 7,093 suite properties where he worked to maximize profitability by setting the company’s distribution strategy, pricing the room and slot inventories, forming strategic partnerships, using state-of-the-art database analysis, optimizing the casino floor, and developing CRM and customer loyalty initiatives. Rom is highly seek after speaker in industry events. He speaks 5 languages – English, Hebrew, French, Spanish and Portuguese. Rom enjoys traveling & exploring new cultures with his family. His hobbies include skiing, swimming sailing, biking and spending quality time with friends and family. He is married and has three children.

Paul Hewett
Client Service Director – In Marketing We Trust

As an experience digital and data strategist, Paul has been earning a pay cheque from data-driven digital marketing since 2004, working with leading global travel brands, delivering business growth, winning awards, and leading expert industry groups.

As a strategist, Paul combines insights from research and analysis with creativity and technology to optimise business performance. Typically, this process involves working with leaders across a business to explore, define and deploy digital solutions which will underpin business success, and ultimately, lead to an increase in bottom-line performance.

Paul’s commercial experience began at age 28 with the MBO of a data and research business employing more than 120 people in the UK. His experience as an executive and non-executive company director has provided a strong set of business leadership skills which have been leveraged in his role at In Marketing We Trust, resulting in a YoY growth of >160%.

Paul has worked with clients including Airbus, Expedia, Ebookers, ClubMed, Visit Wales, Gumtree, Coca-Cola, l’oreal, BBC, Macmillan Cancer, Save the Children, Britishland Company, Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, Confused.com, Money.co.uk and many more.

Andrew Hinshelwood
Vice President, Client Solutions APAC & EMEA  - Lonely Planet

Andrew Hinshelwood is Vice President, Client Solutions for APAC & EMEA at Lonely Planet – one of the world’s leading and most influential multi-media travel companies. He leads Lonely Planet’s Client Solutions team across the Asia-Pacific, Europe & Middle Eastern markets.

Lonely Planet’s Client Solutions team works with partners on a range of unique sponsorship opportunities, helping them reach passionate travellers by integrating them within the Lonely Planet experience across a portfolio of digital, video, print and social channels.

Previously Andrew has worked in media sales roles in Australia, Japan & the United Kingdom, including at Sky Media and Microsoft. 

Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world’s number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we’ve printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You’ll also find our content on lonelyplanet.com, mobile, video and in 14 languages, 12 international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more. Visit us at lonelyplanet.com and follow us on Facebook (facebook.com/lonelyplanet), Twitter (@lonelyplanet), Instagram (Instagram.com/lonelyplanet) and Snapchat (@lonelyplanet).

Kevin Hoong
Business Development Lead, APAC - Airbnb

Kevin joined Airbnb in 2013 as Market Lead for Malaysia. In the last three years, he was responsible for business development, partnership and brand marketing for Southeast Asia. He currently manages enterprise sales in Business Travel for the Asia region. Before Airbnb, Kevin co-founded a start-up in the social dining space and graduated with an Economics degree from University College London.

 Mamoun Hmedan
Managing Director - Wego

Mamoun Hmedan joined Wego in 2013 as Manager, Media Sales for MENA, playing a pivotal role in establishing Wego’s media business, while launching Wego’s Private Advertising Marketplace. Promoted to General Manager, Wego MENA in April 2014, Hmedan continued to scale the media business while developing key commercial partnerships. In 2015, Hmedan’s assumed the position of Managing Director, Wego MENA and India, and leads a growing commercial team from Wego’s Dubai headquarters, now the largest travel marketplace in the region.

Jacob Holder
Chief Executive Officer – Taste of Thailand

Jacob is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Taste of Thailand Food Tours. Jacob has resided in Thailand for nearly five years, exploring as much Thai food as possible as well as increasing his spice tolerance.

With a mission to provide guests an intimate window to Thai history, culture and people through some of the amazing culinary gems throughout the country, the delicious journeys offered in Bangkok, Ayutthaya and Chiang Mai, are based in Jacob’s love for culture and food.

Jacob is responsible for company direction and growth across the company’s core management team. Under Jacobs’ direction, Taste of Thailand has received a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence every year of operation and earned top-tier press coverage, such as Cosmopolitan Magazine, Marie Claire, Dagbladet, Magasinet Reiselyst and American Culinary Federation Quarterly.

Jacob lives with two pugs and is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. When not directing Taste of Thailand Food Tours, he serves as a senior corporate communications advisor for global brands operating across Asia.

Per Holte
Market Director Tourism Asia and New Developing Markets - Innovation Norway

Per Holte Chairman of the Board of STB since 2003, Market Director Tourism Asia and New Developing Markets, Innovation Norway/Visit Norway. Former Commercial Consul , Royal Norwegian Consulate General in Shanghai. 

Sean Howell
Founder & Chairman – Hornet Gay Social Network

Sean Howell is the Founder and Chairman of Hornet, one of the largest gay social networking apps in the world with more than 24 million members worldwide—known for its ongoing Know Your Status HIV campaign.  Sean has been a fellow of the World Affairs Council, a trustee on their board, and served as the President of the Young Professionals International Network.  He graduated from Pacific Lutheran University with a degree in economics and later worked in East Africa and China.   Howell has been an international speaker on mobile technology, the future of advertising, LGBT issues and his opinions on technology and LGBT issues have appeared in print in places like the NYT.  Sean is an active member of Startout, the leading LGBT technology non profit, is a mentor to other LGBT startup founders, and served on various non profit boards and committees like PFLAG, UNAIDS, E-CDC,   Https://hornetapp.com

Michal Hubschmann
CEO and Founder  - Vdroom

Michal Hubschmann is an Israeli entrepreneur who was an professional athlete all her life. Her biggest achievement was winning an European championship in long jump. After her sport career and serving the Israeli army, she studied hotel management and worked in several significant hotels in Tel-aviv and London. She founded her first company, Easytobook.com – an online booking reservation system, in 2004 in the Netherland. Michal sold this first company in 2011 to one of the largest travel companies in the world- BCD Travel. At that time, the company had 80 employees and a turnover of EUR 100 mil.

After 2 years full of challenges and research and development, she set up her second company in August 2014, called RelevancyData.com, based in the Netherland, where she was selected for a startup accelerator program – Starupbootcamp.org. Her experience within the entrepreneurial world encouraged her to strive to inspire more women to actively take part in the startup environment.
In 2015, Michal successfully presented RelevancyData in several pitching contests such as MIP-TV in France, TechCrunch – Disrupt in USA, Polar Bear pitching in Finland and Festival of Media Global in Italy.

Michal Is one of the International Circle of Influencers at Start up Delta. Start Up Delta is a governmental initiative to support the Dutch government to improve the start up ecosystem .
Mission Statement Special Envoy Neelie Kroes for StartupDelta: Europe’s best connected and largest ecosystem

Fran Hughes
Director - International Tourism Partnership

Fran Hughes is Director of the International Tourism Partnership (ITP). ITP is a global industry organisation, bringing together the most powerful hotel companies in an alliance focused on a single ambition: to lead the industry through example with clear and quantifiable commitments to improved sustainability. ITP believes that the hotel industry can be a force for good and make a positive contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and to the COP21 climate agreements and that bigger impacts can be achieved faster through the industry working together at scale. ITP’s collaborative work focuses around four critical goals on carbon, water, youth employment and human rights.

ITP works with its members to drive continual improvement through promoting and sharing best practice through its online magazine www.greenhotelier.org, offering a range of practical products and programmes, such as the Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative (HCMI) – developed in partnership with the World Travel & Tourism Council; and setting the agenda on sustainability through collaborative working groups and issues management. ITP’s award-winning youth employability programme, the Youth Career Initiative has helped over 4,000 disadvantaged young people start careers in the hotel industry. Fran has over 25 years’ experience in the tourism industry and holds a Master’s in Environmental Strategy.

Matthew Hulen
Industry Manager – Travel - Facebook

Matt leads the travel vertical at Facebook Singapore, and is responsible for helping travel partners across South East Asia meet their business objectives through product offerings and integrations with the Facebook platform. Matt has over a decade of sales and business development experience focused on digital media.  He began his career in the lively Seattle area start-up ecosystem before moving to Expedia Inc.  At Expedia he worked closely with strategic supply partners to extend their reach in Expedia’s family of brands through media placements.  Matt relocated to Singapore in 2012 to oversee Expedia Media Solutions APAC sales team.  In 2014, he moved to Facebook to help grow the travel category across South East Asia and Asia Pacific.

Stewart Hunter
Director of Audience Strategy and Development - Sojern

Stewart Hunter oversees Sojern’s data strategy, acquisition, and partnerships across Asia Pacific as Director of Audience Strategy and Development. Prior to joining Sojern, Stewart was helping brands take advantage of another rapidly growing area of digital – mobile. As Regional VP at Somo he led the Asian business for one of the world’s fastest-growing mobile marketing solutions companies, helping travel brands such as Expedia take advantage of the opportunity.

Shiho Ikeuchi 
Director Overseas Marketing  - Hotel Granvia Kyoto 

Ms. Shiho Ikeuchi, Director of Overseas Marketing at the Hotel Granvia Kyoto, Japan, has over 20 years of professional experience in the hospitality industry, with an extensive and diverse management background in hotel and restaurant operations, sales, and marketing. Over the past few years, Ms. Ikeuchi has been aggressively involved in the development of LGBT tourism in Japan, and steadfastly works to increase the number of national IGLTA (International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association) members. 

In coordination with her team at the Hotel Granvia Kyoto, Ms. Ikeuchi was instrumental in creating the ‘Same-Sex Wedding Package’ in March 2014. At present, same-sex marriage is not legally recognized in Japan, and the number of wedding venues that accept ceremonial same-sex couples is very limited. As the direct result of Ms. Ikeuchi’s keen insight and continuous efforts, Hotel Granvia Kyoto was the very first hotel in Japan to officially announce the acceptance of same-sex weddings – a true feather in the cap of the hotel that has been highlighted by numerous international and domestic media outlets. This exclusive three-night package offers LGBT couples from around the world a rare opportunity to experience an authentic traditional Japanese wedding, and it  attracts not only international travelers but also domestic couples in Japan. 

In her role as the Director of Overseas Marketing, Ms. Ikeuchi’s unwavering focus towards attracting and satisfying the special needs of LGBT travelers, as well as her tireless efforts towards organizing the involvement of local communities and governments – are talents that are truly deserving of exceptional applause. 

Muhammed Iqbal bin Rahman
Student- National University of Singapore

Rika Jean-Francois 
Commissioner ITB Corporate Social Responsibility Competence Centre Travel & Logistics - Messe Berlin GmBH

Rika Jean-Francois holds a premium Master Degree in Social Anthropology and Iranian Studies with an expertise on ethnic identities, sustainable development and diversity issues from the Free University of Berlin.

While conducting cultural studies at the University of Crete/Greece she started working in tourism as a historic tour guide, and continued as an incoming agent in Athens. 
In Germany she became counselor at the University’s International Academic Exchange Office and travelled as a researcher to Iran, Malawi and Haiti.

Ms Jean-François obtained an additional qualification in Quality Management, working on the evaluation of development aid workers’ education for the German Development Service. 
Since 2004 she has been with Messe Berlin and vitally helped developing ITB’s Corporate Social Responsibility. As ITB’s Commissioner of CSR she is a passionate speaker at sustainable tourism events internationally. She has also spearheaded ITB’s implementation of the LGBT travel segment and became board member of the IGLTA (International Gay&Lesbian Travel Association) as well as of the IGLTA Foundation. She is a jury member of international responsible tourism contests and works in several international committees dedicated to sustainable tourism and human rights. She is a member of the PATA Board of Directors as well as of The Code International (Child Protection Code). At ITB, she is also heading relationships with India, and is chief coordinator of ITB’s Partner Country program. 

She speaks five languages including English, French, Farsi and Greek and is a mother of three.

Hunter Johnson
Director – Sabre Global Consulting Asia-Pacific

Hunter Johnson is the Director of Sabre Global Consulting Asia-Pacific, the professional services offering of choice for leading travel companies looking to take their business performance to the next level.

Hunter believes independent assessments performed by subject matter experts with knowledge of industry benchmarks and best practices are an invaluable management resource. These assessments drive strategic recommendations that improve financial performance through operational cost savings and incremental revenue opportunities. His breadth of experience includes advising senior leaders from over 25 different countries.

Hunter holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas and began his career as a consultant at Deloitte Consulting and IBM Global Business Services.

Stephanie Jones
Director & Head of Client Management ASEAN – American Express Global Business Travel (GBT)

For over 25 years Stephanie Jones has managed to use her passion for people and travel to carve a successful career across the travel, tourism and hospitality industries.  Based in Asia for the past 11 years she has led teams across countries, cultures and languages; developing talent all whilst driving improvements in process and customer service. 

Currently the Director & Head of Client Management ASEAN for American Express Global Business Travel (GBT), Stephanie is ultimately responsible for ensuring clients understand and receive value and results.

Prior to this role she led the American Express Travel & Lifestyle Services business and was responsible for enhancing the premium experience, achieved through the implementation of a Centurion Relationship Manager model; whilst leading a 24/7 operation and team of over 60 travel and lifestyle professionals.

From her days studying at The Hotel School Sydney to developing and running events, to starting and selling a successful destination management company, to her current position at GBT, Stephanie has always focused on the importance of delivering value and the very best customer experience.

In line with her passion for travel, Stephanie likes to get off the beaten track with her husband whether it be scaling Mt Kilimanjaro; trekking with the gorillas in Rwanda; visiting the hill tribes of Lao; or scuba diving in Raja Ampat, off the coast of Papua.

Charithya Kandage
Head of Account Management - eMarketingEye

Charithya is the Head of Account Management at eMarketingEye. She carries over five years’ experience in online marketing, project management and strategic account management. Charithya specializes in formulating digital marketing strategies and managing SEO and PPC campaigns for individual hotels, small and medium size hotel chains and travel companies. She has successfully managed award winning online marketing campaigns for top travel and hospitality brands in Asia Pacific.

Chetan Kapoor
Research Analyst – Asia Pacific - Phocuswright

Lead analyst for PhoCusWright research in the Asia Pacific region, with an in-depth understanding of global travel trends, technology and innovation.

Author of several reports including PhoCusWright’s Asia Pacific Online Travel Overview Fourth and Fifth Edition (2011 and 2012, respectively), Online Travel Traffic reports on Australia and Japan (2011), Indian Online Travel Overview Third Edition (2010) and quarterly updates of publicly-listed OTAs.

Will Kataria
Director, Sales APAC - Cvent

As Director of Sales, Will Kataria oversees Cvent’s APAC sales of the flagship event management solutions division and the mobile app solutions division. To this end, Will travels across the globe and is often called upon to speak at conferences regarding technology trends in the meetings industry. Will works closely with the global leadership team and helps shape the strategy and direction for APAC market in terms of product roadmap, marketing initiatives, operational efficiencies and global expansion.

Will started with Cvent in 2006 and worked through the ranks. He was one of the top producing sales reps and helped in dramatically expanding Cvent’s footprint in Middle East, Africa, UK, Europe and south each ASIA region. With over 11 years of Industry experience, Will has successfully onboarded 100s of customers and helped implement Event platform solutions.

Will holds a Bachelors Degree in Commerce from Delhi University and an Executive MBA from IIM Kozhikode. 

Abhineet Kaul
Director,Public Sector & Government Asia-Pacific - Frost & Sullivan

Abhineet Kaul is a Director with the Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific Public Sector & Government Practice. He covers a broad range of areas, leveraging domain knowledge and relationships with senior executives.

Since joining Frost & Sullivan, Abhineet has completed several consulting projects on with government agencies across Asia Pacific His areas of expertise are Industry Trend identification, impact assessment, Infrastructure development support, Tourism policy development, and sector productivity improvement.

He has also worked on several studies related to Tourism sector in the region, working on engagements dealing with regulatory environment, future technology roadmaps, infrastructure development, and capability development.

Abhineet has been a speaker in Industry forums on topics related to mega trends, trade development and manpower development issues. Some of his talks include:

•Speaker at the Singapore MICE Forum
•Speaker at SPRING Standards Council Strategic Planning Session
•Speaker at ICCA Bidding Seminar in Thailand, organized by TCEB
•Speaker at Intermodal Asia focusing on trends in logistics
•Speaker at session on mega trends for a session organized by SHA
•Facilitation of the session on Mega Trends and the impact on Tourism

Teo Keng Chong
Senior Account Director, Global Accounts - Sabre Asia Pacific

In his role, KC leads Sabre Travel Network’s relationship with BCD across APAC and also represent our joint priorities into the global account team.   Most recently, KC served as Director of Sales, Sabre Traveller Experience APAC based in Singapore. In that role he worked with Corporate Travel Managers to optimize their use of GetThere in the region. He brings over 30 years’ experience in the travel industry including product development, airline solutions and supplier relationships from the GDS and TMC perspectives.

Tsuyoshi Kikune
MICE Sales Manager - Fukuoka Convention & Visitors Bureau

Tsuyoshi Kikune is responsible for leading and planning international MICE promotion activities at the Fukuoka Convention & Visitors Bureau – Japan. He has been engaged in MICE and toursim industries for the last 3 years.  

Prior to this position, he worked a as business development manager at the Fraunhofer research institute and the Investment Promotion Centre in Osaka, facilitating business development for foreign enterprises in the Japanese market. He is also experienced and well educated in sales, marketing, international business coordination and public services throughout his careers.   

Aliza Kim
TV & Social Media Personality

Aliza Kim is a Thai-American whose warm and bubbly personality has gained her attention in multiple countries worldwide.  A small town girl with very humble beginnings is now making waves online and also offline.

Aliza holds a Double Bachelors Degree from Boston College, USA, in Economics and Sociology, and a Masters in Business Administration from Denver University, USA, in International Business Marketing.  In addition to this she holds a Diploma in Islamic Studies from AREES University and is a Certified TEFL and Business English Instructor from the Worldwide Language Institute.

After a few years in the corporate world, Aliza was catapulted into the media where she was an international model, actress and TV host.  In 2013 she became a Muslim revert, retired from modeling and acting, and started on a new career path as an Inspirational Islamic Speaker.  She maintains her media presence as well accepted Public Figure, and TV & Social Media Personality.

While she does speak at live events and still makes TV appearances, Aliza’s main dawah activities focus on video and image based content delivered through social media.  Aliza offers entertaining yet highly informative content to her viewers while sharing her life with her community.  She strives to create an online community of friends who learn together and live together in a safe space where there is tolerance, acceptance and respect. 

Saki Kobayashi
Co-Founder and COO - LCO-Creation

Saki Kobayashi is the Co-Founder & COO of LCO-Creation, a Singapore-based travel tech startup and the creator of “TravelDoor” – one of the leading travel apps that contains offline city guides for over 50 cities around the world. Utilising this technology, the company provides a white label “TravelDoor for Business” product to B2B clients including tourism boards, airlines, publishers, and financial service institutions. In June 2016, LCO was selected as one of the top 4 startups at Web In Travel North Asia & Japan, a global travel conference.

Having lived in multiple countries, Saki is passionate about traveling and making a global impact through entrepreneurship. Prior to co-founding LCO, she helped with overseas expansion at NTT Communications. Before joining NTT, she was in charge of global partnership development at Granma Inc., a BOP startup, and founded a water and sanitation organisation for villages in Cambodia.

Saki holds a bachelor’s degree in International Liberal Studies from Waseda University.

Joshua Koh
Managing Director, Mid Markets Sales Asia Pacific - Criteo

Joshua Koh was appointed as Managing Director for Mid Markets Sales Asia Pacific in January 2017.

Based in Singapore, his mission is to lead the Criteo Asia Pacific Mid Markets Sales business to even greater heights by nurturing the most trusted account executives and strategists that Asian marketers can count on for the best performance marketing solutions in the industry. Joshua is also responsible for ensuring the best of Criteo products, analytics, scalable platform and tools can empower his team to deliver the best of performance marketing and advertiser experiences to customers in Asia Pacific.

Joshua was an award-winning marketing technology entrepreneur and he founded SeekSense Technologies in 2000 and had gone on to achieve commercial success and awards from World Economic Forum in year 2003 and Royal Dutch Shell in 2001. After a successful exit in 2005, he has gone on to manage high tech business units for SAS, FICO and Oracle. During his 7 years’ stint with Oracle, he successfully launched 3 business units: Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud in South Asia, Oracle Big Data Analytics for Asia Pacific and lastly Oracle Marketing Cloud in South Asia. He has given back to the technology ecosystem by coaching and mentoring many digital startups which include; “Innobe” for social brainstorming, “FindNest” for online property auction, “ShopHapplly” for credit card deals discovery and “Qualiffy” for university review app.

Joshua graduated from University of Queensland Australia and received the Dean’s Commendation List in 1998 and subsequently awarded the International Alumnus of the Year 2002. He also received a Specialist Diploma in Internet Application Development from Temasek Polytechnic and a Diploma in Business Administration from Singapore Polytechnic.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshkoh

Rajeev Kohli
CIS/ Joint Managing Director – Creative Travel, President 2016 – 2017 - SITE

A 2nd generation entrepreneur with over 20 years of industry experience, Rajeev manages Creative with his brother and he focuses on marketing and strategy initiatives for the agency.  He has a passion for travel and showing India to the world.

Cherisa Kwong
Founder - TribeXplorers

An intrepid explorer with an insatiable passion for Africa, Cherisa is on a mission to inspire people to put Africa on their travel radar. In 2016, she embarked on a solo trip to explore the continent that has long been misunderstood, overlooked and constantly perceived negatively. Over 8 months, Cherisa covered 5 African countries (Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania). During her journey, Cherisa had numerous amazing encounters with nature and wildlife. She met many people – locals, travellers, expats who became friends. She was inspired and touched by local community interactions. Contrary to misconceptions, Africa is safe and relatively easy to travel; it is a unique continent unlike any other.

Fuelled by her passion for Africa, Cherisa returned to Singapore and founded TribeXplorers to organise and customise travel for people to Africa. Aiming to share her experiences with as many people as possible, she wants to dispel misconceptions and help people explore this beautifully diverse continent. When not in Asia, Cherisa can be found on new adventures in Africa, meeting new people and discovering new experiences. Sharing stories and inspiring people to put Africa on their travel radar makes her happy.

Ally Lai
Business Development Manager, Asia - Scenic Cruises

From a journalist to a globetrotter, Ally has over 10 years experiences doing bespoke tailormade luxury travel. Now overlooking the Asia market for SCENIC Luxury Cruises and Tours.

Garrick Lee
Marketing Manager - HeBS Digital

Garrick Lee is Marketing Manager at HEBS Digital, a US-based digital marketing, and technology company with the mission of helping hoteliers drastically improve their bottom line by increasing direct bookings.

Prior to HEBS Digital Garrick worked at Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, a luxury hotel group based out of India, where he worked as Regional Corporate Marketing Manager in the New York U.S. Regional office managing social media and digital marketing projects for the U.S. Properties. Having a background in corporate-level hotel marketing and working previously with a variety of HEBS Digital clients as an Account Manager on their B2C digital strategies, Garrick uses his intimate knowledge of hoteliers’ business needs to create content that helps them improve their book direct strategy and overall digital presence.

Sylvia Lee
Head of Marketing - The Pavilions Hotels and Resorts 

Sylvia joined the newly formed hospitality brand The Pavilions Hotels & Resorts in 2016 as Head of Global Sales and Marketing. In her role at this dynamic newly formed hospitality brand, she is responsible for building a nimble brand in the growing area of experiential focused luxury travel.

Step into one of The Pavilions and experience luxury and immersive locales like no other. Each Pavilions Hotel is a sophisticated, private haven to relax or play. Sylvia’s global team focuses on managing digital focused customer journeys and building upon best practices to grow their portfolio.

Prior to working at The Pavilions, she led digital marketing and ecommerce for Sands China Limited/Venetian Macao, Galaxy Macau, held various senior product marketing positions at SF Bay Area start-ups including Travelocity and Netscape/AOL (yes, pre-Google days), and is a graduate of Thunderbird School of Global Management and the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana.

Klaus Lengefeld
Sector Leader Tourism & Employment,  Tunisia - GIZ German International Cooperation Agency

Klaus Lengefeld is Sector Leader Tourism&Employment for the Open Regional Fund for employment creation of GIZ in Tunisia. GIZ is a government-owned limited company for sustainable development, implementing projects with 17,000 staff in more than 130 countries. Klaus has both a very practical background – he is a truck mechanic – and an academic background in education and sustainable development from the universities of Frankfurt and Berlin. In 1982 Klaus started his career in promoting sustainable development and appropriate technologies for German and international development agencies. After training in tourism development at prestigious Universities such as St. Gallen/Switzerland, he began his tourism career in 1997 as advisor for sustainable tourism for GIZ in Central America, helping to create the regional brand and re-position this former crisis region.

After his return to GIZ Head Office, Klaus started unique initiatives to bridge the gap between development cooperation and mainstream tourism with focus on the hospitality industry. He was the first to take a closer look into the socio-economic interaction of hotels, All-Inclusive and luxury resorts with local economies in destinations from the Caribbean to South-East Asia. His current priority is to help positioning Travel&Tourism as a major driver of employment creation and a climate-friendly and Inclusive Green Economy. Amongst his partners are global tourism players from the hotel and tour operator sector and development banks such as the International Finance Corporation IFC and DEG.

Klaus is representing GIZ in the Pacific Asia Travel Association PATA Board of Directors and has served as Chair of PATA’s Sustainability Committee. He has been a keynote speaker or presenter at numerous tourism and hospitality events around the world, and served as jury member for prestigious sustainable tourism awards, such as the HICAP Sustainable Hotels Award. On the academic side, Klaus is visiting professor teaching sustainable tourism at Heilbronn University, Germany. He is guest lecturer and advisor for the International Sustainable Tourism Initiative of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Benjamin Lephilibert
Founder
LightBlue Environmental Consulting

Benjamin is the founder of LightBlue Environmental Consulting, a regional auditing, capacity building and consulting firm supporting organisations willing to improve profitability and minimize their social and environmental footprint. He worked across Asia with various prestigious partners from the private sector (Hilton, Accor, ClubMed), governmental agencies (TCEB) as well as from International Organizations (UNILO, EU, WWF).

Benjamin has been a pioneer on the topic of Food Waste Prevention. With his team he has developed The PLEDGE on Food Waste, one of the most comprehensive standard to date, integrating implementation of a food waste monitoring system, online data tracking, behavioral change and revision of SOPs at critical food waste generation points.

Benjamin is as well an international guest speaker, guest lecturer, a judge for International Sustainability Awards and an active member of several sustainable tourism working groups (GSTC).

Full profile can be viewed here.

Bond Leung
Business Travel Lead – Australia and New Zealand - Airbnb 

Bond is the Business Travel Lead for Airbnb across Australia and New Zealand. With over 3 million listings in 191 countries and 65,000 cities, it is one of the world’s fastest growing companies. Airbnb for Business is one of the fastest growing division within Airbnb and now has more than 250,000 active corporate customers on its platform, which includes companies such as Salesforce, Morgan Stanley, Google, PwC and KMPG. 

Bond started his career at Deloitte where he consulted for a number of large automotive brands which included Volkswagen, Toyota and Mitsubishi. He previously held a category management role in Microsoft where he helped launched Windows 8 and a marketing & new products lead role at a robotics company called MAR. In 2013, he took a trip to Austin Texas for SXSW and met one of the Airbnb founders which helped spiked his interest in the sharing economy and entrepreneurship. He credits this experience as the turning point in his professional trajectory.

Originally from Sydney, Bond has hobbies in photography, bushwalking and basketball.

Victor Lim
Regional Meetings & Travel Manager - IKEA

I am responsible for driving the meeting and travel strategy and policy, manage demand, sourcing directions, key stakeholder relations and matrix manage a network of meeting & travel resources in the Asia Pacific region. I am also globally responsible for performance and reporting of the meeting and travel program, and oversee the demand and operational aspects of the global hotel category.

Raymond Lim
Area Director, Indonesia - Singapore Tourism Board

Raymond Lim is the Area Director of Singapore Tourism Board’s Regional Office in Indonesia, based in Jakarta. He oversees the Board’s destination promotion and marketing efforts to ensure that Singapore remains the top of mind leisure and business destination among Indonesians.  He has been with the Board for 20 years and pioneered the establishment of STB offices in Indonesia in 2003.  Prior to his 2^nd and current posting stint in Indonesia, he headed STB’s Regional Office in Moscow from 2012 to 2015. 

Sheryl Lim
Founder - Travel Wander

Sheryl Lim, a travel specialist having 19 years of working experience in the tourism industry. A travel enthusiast, Sheryl is extremely adaptable and is equally comfortable exploring the outdoors or discovering the city. No treks are too difficult for her to scale as long as she puts her mind to it.

She admits to loving her work in the travel industry passionately, and hopes to extend her expertise to inspire more people to this dynamic, demanding yet hyper fun industry. Sheryl also believes in lifelong learning and is a certified ACTA trainer in the tourism industry, always willing to share her knowledge and experience with interested learners.

She founded Travel Wander in 2016 to fulfill an aspiration. She hopes to inspire more people to step out of their comfort zone and kick start their own “adventure” vacation, go on specially selected, curated itineraries and activities to suit their preferences and lifestyles. She has desire to provide authentic local experiences yet at the same time minimising the negative social and environmental impacts that travel brings about. She hopes to bring economic benefits to the host communities, and preserve the cultural and natural resources of the destinations visited.

Sheryl also believes that as long as we live, we are learning something new every single day. In Sheryl’s words: “There is no such thing as the right time; and never say never because you never know. The outdoors can be as fashionable and as chic, believe in us and you will be transformed!”

Troy Liu
Founder & CEO - Mileslife

Troy is a renowned loyalty program expert and he has served as a consultant and performed training for multiple international hotel chains and airlines. On top of that, in the past 16 years, he has traveled to more than 100 countries through earning and using miles and points.

Troy wanted to share the power of miles and points with the greater public, and he founded the innovative mileage earning mobile app, Mileslife, in China in 2015. Troy describes the app as the miles earning machine in your pocket – providing users with a seamless way to combine people’s favourite loyalty programs with lifestyle spending and travel scenario.

Philip Liu
General Manager, China - Sabre Hospitality Solutions

Philip has over 24 years experiences of hotel electronic distribution, marketing, sales, account management and e-commerce. Currently, he is responsible for China market business development, helping China hotel chains/brands to be successful. Prior to current role, he served as Director of Strategic Account Management Asia Pacific region for Sabre Hospitality Solutions and is tasked to provide strategic account management service to all key customers to help them identify new business opportunity to drive highly profitable partnership. Additionally, he also manages Sabre global hotel customers in Asia Pacific region.  

Before joining Sabre Hospitality Solutions, Philip was Manager Hotel and Car business for Asia Pacific leading GDS – Abacus at its Singapore corporate head office, responsible for all aspects of Abacus GDS hotel and Car business: from marketing, sales to training and product development.  He was also the pioneer manager in China to set up Utell/Pegasus operations, with P&L responsibility, call center operation, managing two offices, sales and marketing to grow the hotel portfolio in China market and build the company as a household name in China travel industry. 

Philip is highly result driven and customer focused, specialized in growing the startup company into profitability and building profitable partnerships. He started his hotel career as hotel management trainee and also worked in international brand hotel chains like Shangri-La and Peninsula in key management position of operations and sales marketing department.

Aileen London
Senior Manager, Global Meeting Services – JAPAC - Oracle

Aileen London has held the role of Senior Manager Global, Meeting Services JAPAC for Oracle Corporation for the past 7 years. Originally from a hospitality and major event background, Aileen is subject matter expert across 16 countries. London is extremely active on a voluntary basis within the meeting and event community and has been involved with various industry associations at a board level, including ACTE, Luxperience and most recently ICEAP. As a strategic buyer across the region, London’s objectives are to drive compliance, cost savings and efficiencies in her category, while implementing Oracle’s strategic procurement plan. London has also held ranking positions within the industry, including Starwood Hotels and Hilton Worldwide. A seasoned travel industry veteran, she is a recognized authority on sourcing, meetings and events, negotiation, supplier management and risk mitigation.

Jitka Markova
Co-founder - CamConscious Tourism

Jitka Markova is the co-founder and director of CamConscious Tourism. Jitka is an experienced director and change maker with over 20 years of experience in capacity building and community empowerment; both in the Global South, and an EU environment. She has worked both as a service provider of innovative programmes for marginalised and under-represented communities facing multi-faceted social-economic discrimination, and also as a lobbyist for structural changes in sectors addressing poverty and discrimination. Her work focuses on building the capacity of organisations, social enterprises, as well as individuals. She is a 2012 Clore Social Leadership Fellow with several research papers to her name.

Kathleen McGuire Urquhart
Head of Talent, APAC - Skyscanner

Kathleen is Skyscanner’s Head of Talent for APAC.  In her role, she is responsible for managing and spearheading all aspects of human resources, training and leadership development across Asia Pacific, with offices in Singapore, Beijing, Shenzhen and Japan. Kathleen is based in the regional headquarters in Singapore, and has been with Skyscanner since January 2015.

In addition to being the Head of Talent, APAC for Skyscanner, Kathleen is a professionally trained executive coach. She has more than 20 years of senior management and operational experience in Hospitality and Retail, including running a multi-million dollar business with a team of more than 400. Prior to her role at Skyscanner, she was the General Manager at The American Club Singapore and the Director at Kathleen Urquhart & Partners, where she worked with individuals from diverse backgrounds including multinationals, regional SMEs, government and non-profit sectors as well as entrepreneurs.

Kathleen holds a Bachelors of Business Administration from the Eisenburg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is also a graduate of the Newfield Network coach-training program, is an accredited member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and is certified to facilitate MBTI.

Sanjay Mehta 
Trainer/Consultant - Enible Pte Ltd

Sanjay Mehta is a trainer, facilitator and coach with almost 20 years of career experience mostly in the IT industry, leading businesses and teams locally, regionally in Asia and in USA. His years in the IT field saw him work for Microsoft where he remained from 2000 to 2009 and was involved in various senior technical, business and managerial roles. Areas of expertise include Business Management and Operations, Readiness Management including Training Development and Delivery, Program and Project Management, Change Management, Customer and Call Centre Support, Account Management, Consulting, Technical Sales and Systems Management.

He has a wide profile of training and coaching experience in areas such as Leadership, Management, Innovation, Change, Projects, Process and Technology. He is fascinated with the world of Neuroscience and Positive Psychology and its applications to optimizing brain performance and enhancing learning to increase human performance and be more responsive and resilient to change. He was awarded the Top 10 Trainers 2016 at the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM). He also was selected to join SPRING Singapore’s SkillsFuture Mentor Program this year.

Sanjay is a Certified Associate of Emergenetics and conducts coaching and workshops using Emergenetics, focussing on Change, Innovation, Leadership, Communications and Teambuilding among others. He is also an Accredited Administrator of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and The Workplace Big 5 Profile and conducts assessments and workshops in this area. He similarly incorporates these into his coaching and training sessions as well.

He is also a Certified Coach with a Certificate of Coaching Skills from Results Coaching Systems now known as the Neuroleadership Institute (NLI). His coaching focus is on executives, entrepreneurs and people making changes or transitions in work or life. He completed a Certificate Program in Neuroleadership this year with distinction focussing on the Neuroscience of Change.

He has worked with various partners to deliver quality programs and solutions to companies and institutions from various sectors like Public Sector, Telco, Banking, Insurance, Engineering, Healthcare, Logistics, IT, Education and others. Examples include Microsoft, HP, SAP, StarHub, Singtel, DHL, IDA, Ceva Logistics, Visa, UOB, Citibank, AIA, Prudential, SMU, NCS, Singhealth, Evonik, AIC, NUHS, Changi General, SGH, MCYS, SPF, MOH, Wincor Nixdorf, T-Systems, Advantest, ASML, Daimler, Sennheiser, Sony, URA among others. His partners include Singapore Institute of Management, ODE Consulting, Kaplan Professional, McGhee Productivity Solutions, Minaya Solutions, EMG International, Emergenetics Asia, 5hue, The Learning Paradigm, Qua Aliter Associates, Trost Learning and KOSH Consulting. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree with a Double Major in Computer Science and Economics and a Minor in Mathematics from Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA. His primary focus was on Information Systems Management and International Economics. He completed his secondary school education in Raffles Institution and Raffles Junior College and was involved in various leadership roles in the Students Council, Social Services Group and Red Cross Society.

Tony Menezes
Vice President, Industrial and Distribution Sectors - IBM Asia Pacific

Tony is Vice President, Industrial and Distribution Sectors, IBM Asia Pacific, responsible for establishing and growing relationships in all our client segments across IBM’s entire portfolio of industry solutions, software, services and platforms.

Prior to this, Tony was Vice President, Cognitive Solutions, Asia Pacific, responsible for business development and sales of Cognitive Industry solutions, based on IBM Watson, engaging clients across all industries – publically announced clients include ABOF (India), Deaken University (Australia), DBS (Singapore), Hong Leong Bank (Malaysia), Lotte Group (Korea), National Australia Bank (Australia), and Woodside Energy (Australia).

At every turn of Tony’s career, he has been responsible for delivering client value and leveraging IBM’s globally integrated enterprise model to drive client centric outcomes. His experience crosses the globe – he has been the Managing Director on CEMEX – a global cement industry client, headquartered in Monterrey, Mexico, and operations in over 50 countries; and held senior leadership positions across IBM Services units for IT infrastructure, Application Management and Business Process services, working in USA, Japan, China, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa.

He has a Master of Science and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering degrees from New Jersey Institute of Technology (USA). Tony and his wife are from the USA, but have lived and worked in Shanghai, China; Tokyo Japan; Monterrey, Mexico; Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and are now based in Singapore.

Sharon Meng
Singapore Country Manager- Mobike

Sharon Meng is the Singapore Country Manager of Mobike. She spearheads Mobike’s business growth and expansion plans in Singapore, the first international city outside of China. 

About Mobike: Mobike is the world’s first and largest smart bike-sharing company that recently launched the service in Singapore.  Using specially designed bikes equipped with GPS and proprietary smart-lock technology, Mobike enables users to find a bike near them and unlock it easily. The company officially launched its service in Shanghai in April 2016 and has since expanded to 130 cities globally. 

Kenji Mirassou
Director Global Sales, APAC - Egencia

Kenji is in charge of the APAC Business Development Team at Egencia, the corporate travel arm of Expedia. In his current role, Kenji oversees Egencia’s APAC sales to multinational accounts. Kenji is a savvy globetrotter with a strong passion for all things digital who enjoys working at the intersection of travel and technology.

Kenji combines 19 years of business development experience in Asia built through diverse roles in the travel, digital and mobile industries. Prior to joining Egencia, Kenji worked for Razorfish, an interactive agency of the Publicis Groupe and for Alcatel-Lucent. 

Kenji holds a Master’s degree in Business Management from I.S.G Paris. He currently resides in Singapore with his wife, his 5-year old son and his 2-year old twins.

Caitrin Moh
Senior MICE Manager - Korea Tourism Organisation

As a Senior MICE Manager, my roles are in two folds:

Regional Responsibilities:

To identify opportunities for Korea MICE’s product and market development within existing and new channels, both local and regional MICE Planners, Professional Conference or Exhibition Organizers, corporate clients and trader suppliers. 

Local Responsibilities:

Be responsible for a wide spectrum of brand management for Korea MICE Bureau, that including PR, advertising and marketing functions, in developing Korea as an ideal MICE destination. 

Recent successes:

KTO Singapore won a few groups that include AIA Hong Kong Dragon Meeting 2014, Prudential Assurance Singapore Quality Club Elite Group 2016 and Herbalife Extravagenza 2016.

Previous experiences:

Spent 10 years in travel industry, 8 years in FMCG and Media industry, involved in business developments, channel growth and 360 media events.

Mohd Hizzat Mohd Shah
Vice President Research & Technology - MATTA

Mr Mohd Hizzat Bin Mohd Shah is presently the Managing Director of Al Furqan Travel and Tours Sdn. Bhd. He holds his Degree of Syariah and Law from Al Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt. He holds Malaysia Skills Certificate for translator and tourist guide. Mr Mohd Hizzat has 10years’ experience in the tourism industry. He worked before in Malaysia Embassy, Egypt in year of 2004-2005. In year 2006-2011 he worked in Uni Travel and Tours – Alm Group Of Company and in 2011-2013 he worked with Omega Travel and Tours Sdn Bhd. He is an Exco Bumitra Malaysia in year 2014-2016 with a post of Head of IT and IT Bureau Communication.

Mike has been involved in the travel space since starting in Tokyo and San Francisco during the first “Dot Com” era way back in the 1990’s. After a stint managing for Sundance Travel, a large independent regional on the West Coast, he headed overseas to manage the global travel programs for Citibank and Credit Suisse in Hong Kong, London and Singapore where he has now spent a total of 13 years.

For the past 4 years, Mike has managed one of the largest and most complex global travel programs in the world at the mining and materials company, Rio Tinto. The program  encompasses over 2 million transactions per year spanning 40 countries across commercial air, accommodation, charter aircraft, helicopters, car rentals and corporate and purchasing cards. This is done with a cracker-jack crew of 6 focused on innovation and seamlessness.  

When he isn’t travelling for work, Mike can often be spotted travelling with his family. He’s covered about 60 countries and territories around the globe so far. Otherwise, you’ll find him on the back of a bike or swimming laps in the pool preparing for his annual triathlon.

Andrew Morrison
Strategic Partnerships - GLP Films

Andrew hunts for compelling stories in travel that must be told. His life-long global experiences coupled with his passion for research and trend forecasting allow him to establish the framework for GLP Films’ successful content marketing campaigns. If Andrew isn’t at a trade show talking to clients about storytelling and marketing strategies perhaps you’ll find him scuba diving in a remote atoll or singing karaoke at your local pub.

José Murta
Global Head of Hospitality – trivago

José Murta is the Global Head of Hospitality at trivago, a leading global hotel metasearch that serves millions of visitors every month.

José is leading the team of industry experts who are strengthening the connections between trivago and the travel industry. His goal is to establish trivago as the number one marketing channel for hoteliers, to empower them to boost their ranking on trivago and drive bookings directly to their hotel websites.

Before taking on his current role, José was a Country Manager at trivago and a key contributor to the company´s rapid growth. He was responsible for managing and developing platforms within the European, Middle Eastern, and African markets. Additionally, he developed the market launch strategies for four new platforms, managed key sales, and handled negotiations with partners.

Enabling hoteliers to expand their opportunities online is a challenge that pivots on José’s keen interest in the start-up scene, his passion for travel, and his experience in business development. 

Rajat Nagpal
Vice President, Global Supply & Data Aggregation Strategy & APAC Sales - Mystifly

As the Vice President, APAC Sales & Global Supply and Data Strategy for Mystifly, Rajat is responsible for managing the Sales for Mystifly Suite of Products, Commercial Conversations with Partners & Customers, Supply Relationships and Data Strategy for global growth. Rajat is a dynamic and data-oriented leader and brings more than 20 years of travel industry experience. He joined Mystifly from Expedia where he led APAC Commercial Sales & Strategy Operations. During his 8 years at Expedia, he launched the brand in 14 countries, participated in a couple of M&A within the region and managed entire Air operations. Prior to Expedia, Rajat has worked with MakeMyTrip for 6 years and was the head of Global Corporate Sales, managing the complete P&L of the Business Travel. Rajat got his start in travel with JustFares and a boutique inbound tour operator based in New Delhi, India.

Rajat graduated from Delhi University with a bachelor’s degree in Economics & Business Management and has completed his Post Graduation in Sales from National Institute of Sales. Rajat has also done various Management Development Programs from ISB, IIM-B, and SMU among others. When not working, Rajat enjoys spending time with family, shopping, traveling and mentoring startups. Rajat also runs his social venture “Thread Shelter”, a global community to help households donate their used goods, clothes, shoes etc. to the people in need in developing and underdeveloped economies.

Michael Nagy
Director - Rio Convention & Visitors Bureau

Graduated from Westminster College in London, Michael Nagy has extensive experience acting in different sectors of the tourism industry – travel agency, events organization and hospitality.  Before becoming the commercial diretor of Rio CVB, Michael was in charge of the company´s institutional relations, developing projects, partnerships and business opportunities directed to its members.  Prior to joining Rio CVB team, the executive has worked at Pestana Hotels & Resorts and Othon Hotels.  When in São Paulo, he was named the Sales & Marketing Director at the Gran Meliá WTC Hotel.

Girish Nair
Founder, Executive Director  - TravelSpends

Girish Nair has over 20 years of professional experience in the sectors spanning Media, Information Technology and Aviation with a focus on business development, brand management, and strategy. He is a business leader with relentless drive for innovation, carried out through a highly collaborative mind-set. His strengths emerge from his ability to focus on long-term strategic ideas and industry predictions. The last fifteen years of this overall experience was spent in the Aviation Industry specializing in airline and airport business; driving dynamic growth, aligning business turnarounds, launching new global ventures and building focused sales & marketing organization.

His last professional assignment was with Go Airlines as their Chief Commercial Officer. He also held the position of Assistant Vice President, Head of Airline Marketing and Aviation Contracts, with Bangalore International Airport Limited and Sr. General Manager – International Projects with Jet Airways India Limited where he worked for long 10 years managing different roles in the commercial team. His last assignment was heading Africa operations based out of South Africa, Johannesburg. His core responsibility was aviation business development and formulating aero marketing strategy.

In his career Girish has worked very closely with the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the state departments in various core groups led by the Govt. for the growth of aviation industry in India. He was a core member of the group which worked on the “Hub Development Policy” for Indian airports and also contributed from the policy development perspective in the areas of air cargo / MRO and Ground Handling business.
Currently he is working on a start-up idea as the founder of “TravelSpends” in the domain of corporate travel management and aviation technology. The company specializes in Analytics, Audit, Technology and Consulting for enterprise business with core focus on corporate travel & entertainment fucntion.

Arjun Nohwar
Head – Uber for Business, India+APACx - Uber

Arjun Nohwar heads the enterprise vertical for Uber (Uber for Business) in Asia Pacific. Prior to joining Uber, he worked for nine years with the Tata group (as a TAS officer), the last three years of which were spent working with the Group Chairman on international business development and sovereign coverage. He has worked across the automotive, telecom, real estate and financial services industries and also spent a year at the Planning Commission of India devising the country’s manufacturing strategy. Arjun is also on the Board of Advisors of AMBA, an organization that leverages Information Technology to provide sustainable livelihood to adults with moderate and severe intellectual disability. A keen Golfer and avid reader, he is    currently based out of Mumbai.

Hilda Ogada
Assistant Regional Marketing Manager - Kenya Tourism Board

Hilda is an Assistant Regional Marketing Manager at the Kenya Tourism Board currently marketing Kenya in the Emerging Markets (China, India, Japan, Korea and Australia). She holds a Bachelor of Tourism Degree (Hons) from Moi University (Eldoret) a Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK) and is an Associate member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK) She has vast experience in the airline, travel and tourism industry having previously worked for Kenya Airways, East Africa Safari Air and now the Kenya Tourism Board. Hilda has a wealth of experience in Tourism International marketing and has been instrumental in growing the Magical Kenya Brand in Kenya’s key source markets through engagement with Trade, Media and Consumers.

Claire Ollivier
Senior Director, APAC - Advito

As senior director, Claire leads Advito’s development in the Asia Pacific region. As she grows the APAC business, she continues to focus on minimizing clients’ travel spend and maximizing their travel program value, pushing beyond the boundaries of traditional sourcing and program management.

In her previous role as a senior managing consultant, Claire co-lead the development of Advito’s hotel practice, with a focus on innovation, product development and excellence in delivery. Claire also developed hotel programs for global clients by overseeing project teams, managing the full procurement and sophisticated RFP processes, and providing ongoing program reporting. She first joined Advito as a senior consultant.

Prior to Advito, Claire served as an advisory services consultant for American Express Business Travel where she led regional and global hotel programs for CAC 40 corporations. Claire has also served as a key account manager for InterContinental Paris Le Grandad and she began her career in sales with Starwood Hotels in Paris.

Susan Maria Ong
MICE Director, Asia Pacific - Japan National Tourism Organisation

Susan has over 30 years of cross-sector industry experience in hospitality, airline and travel agencies, working around the world including Singapore, Japan and the UAE.

She joined JNTO Singapore when it was established in 2006 and currently serves as the Regional Director for MICE in Asia Pacific.

Prior to her current stint, she had led the planning and promotion of the Japan leisure market lending her expertise to the tourism recovery and crisis management during the 2011 major earthquake in Northern Japan.

Lorena Paglia
Director, Advisory Services - Ernst & Young Advisory Pte. Ltd.

Lorena Paglia is a Director of Advisory Risk Transformation at EY. Lorena advises client leadership teams on transformational growth and risk in response to dynamic and changing market conditions. She has over 16 years’ experience, as well as leading transformational projects based in United Kingdom (EMEIA), Australia and now Singapore (Asia-Pacific). Prior to joining EY, Lorena led her own boutique consultancy focused on strategy and risk transformation. She is an international award winner, keynote speaker and author for sustainable strategy methods and end-to-end business model approaches. Her focus is to enable clients to understand the landscape of their evolving risks and how they impact their strategy, business models and supply chains in increasingly evolving markets. Allowing for balanced decision-making focused on commercial reality that drive responsive strategies and performance.

Arif Patel
Vice President, Sales, Marketing, Distribution & Loyalty (India Region) - AccorHotels 

Arif Patel leads all Sales, Marketing and Distribution for AccorHotels in India and provides marketing leadership for its ten brands operating across a fast growing network in the country. His areas of responsibility include Sales & Marketing oversight for all current and upcoming hotels (pre-openings) given AccorHotels’ growing development pipeline, revenue & distribution management, owner relationships and loyalty management with LeClub AccorHotels, the industry’s leading and award winning guest loyalty programme.

Arif brings to AccorHotels, close to two and a half decades of rich hospitality experience with leading brands that include Oberoi Hotels & Resorts, with significant pre-opening experience and across various operational roles. Before AccorHotels, Arif was the Regional Director of Sales & Marketing, South Asia for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. As a proven industry leader, Arif brings strong experience in sales, revenue, digital & social media and in branding & strategic partnerships.

A frequent speaker at hospitality and sales & marketing conferences, Arif is passionate about mentoring future industry leaders, learning & development for the industry at large, developing best practices and working to promote the industry at a policy and regulatory level.

James Pelham
Founder and Chief Taster - Singabites Food Tour 

James is the founder and chief taster of Singabites food tours. In 2013 James resigned from his job in the financial markets and took some time off travelling around South America. During this time James found himself trying food tours, cooking classes and market visits every week and so decided to set up a food tour business on his return to Singapore. James believes that the best way to discover any destination is through its stomach.

Frank Poon
Chief Marketing Officer - Kaligo Solutions

Frank Poon is CMO at Kaligo Solutions, a loyalty technology company dedicated to helping loyalty programs engage their customers. In this role, Frank overseas global marketing & partnerships leading teams that build innovative travel and e-commerce products for over 70 of the world’s leading loyalty brands.

Prior to that, Frank led product management for the Digital Team at Loblaw, Canada’s largest retailer, launching digital commerce for their heritage brick & mortar brands.  Before Loblaw, Frank was CEO, Co-Founder at Famhaus, a marketing intelligence startup that analyzed online behaviour to predict consumer trends.

Frank has a degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo and holds an MBA from INSEAD.

Arie Prasetyo,
President Director - Lake Toba Tourism Authority

Arie Prasetyuo, Maud, IAI graduated from Faculty of Architecture, Institute Technology of Bandung (ITB) in 2003 and spent 8 years in Singapore and Hong Kong. He lead the position as Senior Urban Designer in HOK Planning Group: an American world class multi-disciplinary Urban Design and Master planning firm who covers feature development projects in south-east asia and around the world.

In 2010 at age of 30, he have been promoted as Associate-Senior Urban Designer: a very remarkable achievement who generally be awarded to HOK’s staffs after the age of 40.

Between 2008-2008, he took his Master of Arts in Urban Design (MAUD) degree from National University of Singapore (NUS)

In 2010, he decided to return to Indonesia and work for one national-leading Property Developer. His position as Chief Planner makes sure all planning concepts including facilities, infrastructures, and the economics are planned in line with the strategic vision of the project. He also assisting some organizations such as Green Building Council Indonesia (GBCI), and also several corporates on their development master plan.

Mid 2016, he joined PT. Indonesia Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) as a Division Head for Planning and Information Management. He help to accelerate the development of Mandalika Projects.

December 2016, he joined Executing Board of Lake Toba Tourism Authority as President Director.

Pranjal Prashar
Co-Founder, CEO - RepUp

Pranjal is the co-founder and CEO of RepUp. Repup is a hospitality tech company focused on Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning to improve customer experience with its presence in Europe, UK, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Middle East. As the REPUP CEO he is responsible for the overall development of the company but his expertise lies in business development, strategic tie -ups and product development.

A qualified engineer and an MBA he has a dual degree in IT and Management from IIIT Gwalior. Prior to his entrepreneurial venture, Pranjal gathered experience in the information security domain with AUJAS, a niche consulting firm.  On the odd day when he is not busy solving problems you would find him listening to Sufi music while on a long drive off to exploring some new place.

Amri Priyadi
Project Coordinator - International Trade Centre (ITC)

Amri Priyadi is the Project Coordinator for the Economic Empowerment of Women in the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Countries project in Indonesia. Under the SheTrades initiative, his works include facilitating women-owned/-led micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in capacity-building activities and international business-to-business events, in order to open access to international markets for women entrepreneurs. In his role, he also works closely with government institutions and trade support organizations, developing activities to support women empowerment and trade.

Amri has an extensive experience working in international organizations, in the sector of social development and public information. He holds an MA in Development Studies from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, and a BSc in International Relations from University of Indonesia.

Jenna Qian
Head of Destination Marketing - Ctrip

Jenna Qian is the Head of Destination Marketing for Ctrip, helping promote travel destinations around the globe to increase their awareness and number of visitors. Before her current role, she was CEO of Qunar’s Travel Guides Business, and Head of Communications and Investor Relations for Qunar from 2011 to 2015.

Prior to joining Qunar, Jenna had worked for a number of leading global communications consultancies such as Hill & Knowlton, Fleishman Hillard in both New York and Beijing. Earlier in her career, Jenna worked as an investment banking analyst in JP Morgan and management consultant in Booz Allen Hamilton.

Jenna holds a master’s degree in Library and Information Science from Rutgers University and a Certificate in Public Relations from New York University. 

Vivian Qin
Co-Founder & COO - Hunan Mengtu Travel Technology

Vivian Qin is COO of Hunan Mengtu Travel TechnologyCo., Ltd who is responsible for our operation. Vivian was once the most active TV producer in one of China’s most famous TV station, Hunan Star TV. She worked there for around 10 years and then started her 8-year life in Canada. During that time, she also worked as a part-time photographer for National Geographic and traveled all around the world seeking for the beauty of nature.

Eric Ricaurte
CEO & Founder - Greenview

Eric is the founder of Greenview, an international consultancy helping travel and tourism catalyze innovation and best practice through strategy, programs, data management, and reporting. Greenview advises several hotel companies and lodging REITs, in addition to citywide event organizers, cruise lines, DMOs, and industry organizations including the WTTC and UNWTO. With 20 years of hands-on experience, Eric is a frequent speaker, convener, and researcher on the topic of sustainability. Eric earned a B.S. from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration and a M.S. in Tourism & Travel Management from New York University. Eric’s notable industry work includes serving as technical consultant for the Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative, and launching the Cornell Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking index, Green Venue Report, Green Lodging Trends Report, and Hotel Owners for Tomorrow. Eric is a member of the UFI Committee on Sustainable Development and the International Standards Working Group of the GSTC. He has held a research fellowship at the Cornell University Center for Hospitality Research been an adjunct instructor at the New York University Tisch Center for Hospitality and Tourism.

Jaime Roseburgh
Market Leader Singapore and ASEAN - American Express Meetings and Events

Jaime currently holds the position of Market Leader Singapore and ASEAN with American Express Meetings and Events, part of Global Business Travel. With over 20 years experience in organizing Events globally she has been based in HK, London and presently Singapore. She has held positions with Informa, Deutsche Asset Management and more recently as Vice President, Corporate Meetings and Events at J.P. Morgan. Her experience includes a wide ranging portfolio from boutique hospitality focused events and incentive trips through to large-scale conference and exhibition production.

Zulkifly Said
Director General - Islamic Tourism Centre, the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Malaysia

Zulkifly Md Said is the Director General of Islamic Tourism Centre under the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Malaysia. He leads the Centre’s role as an advisory body in matters pertaining to Islamic tourism, as well as complementing and supplementing the functions of the Ministry. He has served at the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board’s Northern Region office in Penang, Malaysia and at the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board’s overseas offices in Hong Kong, Bangkok and Istanbul.

Frederic Saunier
Head of Corporate IT APAC - Amadeus IT Group

Philip Schaetz
Vice President, Sales & Marketing - Wharf Hotels

Prior to joining Wharf Hotels in 2016, formerly known as Marco Polo Hotels, Philip held the position of Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing for Dorsett Hospitality International subsequent to 16 years with Hyatt Hotels across Europe, Asia Pacific and its head office in Chicago.

Philip achieved the role of Vice President of Revenue Management for Hyatt’s International portfolio and Vice President of Revenue Management and Distribution for the Minor Hotel Group Limited in Thailand.

Philip is well-versed in sales, revenue management and distribution, electronic distribution and marketing, public relations, brand development and sales training and is charged with building sales and marketing strategies for Wharf Hotels and its portfolio of Niccolo and Marco Polo Hotels.

Philip graduated from the University of Las Vegas, Nevada (UNLV) with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Hotel Administration.

Andrea Schuppien
Regional Manager - Travel Wire Asia

Andrea is the Regional Manager for Travel Wire Asia, part of Hybrid.

Travel Wire Asia is a website that covers news, trends and guides for the informed ‘smart’ traveler. In-depth features and analyses from experienced writers across Asia make up a trustworthy platform for both leisure and business travelers. We understand the way travellers research and engage today; using multiple content formats across social and digital platforms.

Razy Shah
Co-Founder - 2Stallions Digital

Razy Shah is a Director at 2Stallions – a digital marketing agency with offices in Singapore and Indonesia. The agency works with start ups and globally recognized brands for their digital marketing needs. He has over 10 years experience as a digital marketer and strongly believes in walking the talk. He also runs LittleIndiaDirectory.com – a lifestyle portal for the Indian expat community with editions in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Chinmai Sharma
Chief Revenue Officer - Taj Hotels Palaces Resorts Safaris

Chinmai currently heads Taj Hotels Palaces Resorts Safaris as their Chief Revenue Officer. Chinmai is responsible for building and strengthening the entire Taj group portfolio globally and his responsibilities include Marketing, Digital Platforms, Loyalty programs, Public Relations, Customer Analytics, Global Sales and Revenue Management. He is also a knowledge partner across the Tata/ Taj Group.
Chinmai is a seasoned industry professional with nearly two decades of progressive hospitality experience in the fields of Strategic Marketing, Revenue Management and Electronic Distribution. In 2015, he was named as one of the ‘Top 20 Extraordinary minds within Sales, Marketing and Technology’ by HSMAI Europe.

Before joining Taj, Chinmai was with Starwood Capital Group, based in Paris as the Global head of Revenue, Distribution and eCommerce for Louvre Hotels Group’s entire portfolio of six hotel brands with 1,100 plus hotels spread across 45 countries. He has also held leadership roles with companies like Wyndham Hotel Group in New Jersey, Joie de Vivre Hotels in San Francisco and with Expedia.com in Seattle.
Chinmai is a Hotel Management graduate and holds a joint MBA from IMHI/ESSEC Business School, Paris and Cornell Hotel School (M.M.H), New York.

Lim Shoo Ling
Director, Brand Marketing Group - Singapore Tourism Board

Ms Lim Shoo Ling was appointed Director, Brand in January 2016. In this capacity, she manages the Singapore tourism destination brand and the brand campaign across markets. Prior to this, she was Director, Strategic Marketing & Brand, and oversaw the Singapore Tourism Board’s (STB) marketing budgets and global agency contracts, and cultivation of multi-faceted strategic partnerships that extend across regions, industries and functions. Under her leadership, notable projects include partnerships with Changi Airport Group and Singapore Airlines, Trip Advisor, Mastercard, and the Golden Jubilee campaign to celebrate Singapore’s 50th anniversary.

Shoo Ling has amassed some eighteen years of experience with the STB. She also served as Assistant Director, Brand Development since April 2011 where she oversaw the management of the destination brand and led the development of leisure marketing strategies for international markets. Over the years, her responsibilities have spanned tourism development, strategic partnerships, planning and resource management for international markets and marketing, brand management, and destination marketing and tactical initiatives to drive visitors’ arrivals and expenditure.  

During her tenure with the Board, key projects she worked on include the development of the Southern Islands master plan and eco-initiatives; the Singapore Roars! campaign which played a significant role in boosting visitor arrivals and restoring visitors’ confidence in Singapore during the post-SARS period; development and rollout of the Uniquely Singapore destination brand; multi-agency marketing efforts working with media owners and businesses to engender a vibrant nightlife landscape; marketing of Grand Prix Season Singapore as a unique campaign supporting the F1 Race; and the conceptualisation of the New Discoveries in YourSingapore campaign for the China visitor market. 

Shoo Ling holds a Masters and Bachelor of Science (Real Estate) from the National University of Singapore.

Yiping Shu 
CMO  - Meituan Platform

Mr. Yiping Shu is CMO of Meituan Platform. He used to work in Mars China since 2006, leading whole marketing for all the billion brands in China and becoming the youngest marketing head of Mars China. Mr. Yiping Shu joined Meituan in 2015 and was responsible for marketing of Meituan Take-out Delivery Business, helping Meituan to achieve average 10 million bookings per day and become the top player in the market. Yiping is appointed as CMO of MeituanDianping since early 2017, taking charge of marketing for core business such as Meituan, Meituan Travel and Meituan Take-out Delivery .

Christina Siaw
CEO - Singapore Cruises Centre Pte Ltd

Christina Siaw is a travel and tourism veteran with more than 30 years of experience having established an impressive track record with growing some of Asia’s top brands like Cathay Pacific, Zuji Enterprises and macau.com. Since taking the reins as CEO of Singapore Cruise Centre  in early 2011, Ms Siaw has led her team to implement several new initiatives to promote Singapore as a cruise  hub.  These  initiatives include setting up Cruise 360, a collaboration with best-in-class service providers to cruise ships, the leadership and official launch of  ACTA  (Asia Cruise Terminal Association), a regional alliance to develop the region as a world-class cruise playground and a partnership with a leading educational institution to develop Singapore’s first academic programme to train manpower to meet the industry needs.

Mark Simmons
Vice President Sales & Marketing - Karma Resorts Group

Responsible for developing and driving Sales, Marketing, Communications/Public Relations and Distribution strategies and functions for the group and properties to ensure maximum market share, revenue and occupancy growth to all business units across the Asia Pacific and Indian Ocean regions.

Develop pre-opening property Sales, Marketing, Distribution and Communications strategies and plans in the region.

Develop new property acquisition strategies.

Responsible for Global Sales & Marketing/Distribution and PR offices in Asia Pacific and Europe:

- Australia/New Zealand
– Thailand/SE Asia

- Singapore
– China
– Korea
– Japan
– UK/Nordic
– French Speaking markets
– German Speaking markets
– Russia/CIS
- Middle East

Outrigger Hotels and Resorts have 40 properties that operate in:

- Hawaii
– Guam
– Fiji
– Thailand
– Mauritius
– Maldives
– China (2018)
– Vietnam (2018)

Guldeep Singh Sahni
President - OTOAI

Guldeep Singh Sahni is the President of Outbound Tour Operators Association of India(OTOAI) and Managing Director of Weldon Tours & Travels Pvt. Ltd., an outbound IATA accredited travel agency in New Delhi.
Graduating in BSc from Hindu College, Delhi University, he began his career with his family business (Weldon Inks) till 1988. Later on, he started his own travel firm Weldon Tours & Travels Pvt. Ltd. Guldeep has been in the travel industry for over 24 years. He held various positions of the Trade Association from 1984 till 1990.

Passionate about the outbound travel industry always, Guldeep took the initiative, along with a group of like-minded and concerned individuals, to form the Outbound Tour Operators Association – OTOAI, in December 2011; the focus being towards having the only platform in India for purely outbound operators and getting industry status for them, besides promoting integrity, professionalism and trust between the members.

Guldeep has worked tirelessly for this throughout as President of OTOAI. They say the journey is more important than the destination and for Guldeep and OTOAI it has been one challenging ride! In the short span of five years, OTOAI has strenuously worked on the above blueprint and today, thanks to the immense efforts of President Guldeep Singh Sahni is a force to be reckoned with. While there is no licensing or permissions required to set up and Outbound Tour company in India, OTOAI has a strict criteria one has to meet to become an active member.

Guldeep has regularly won industry recognition and awards and is a frequent speaker at industry forums like ETOA, OTM, IITT, SATTE, Vkonect, PLG Travel Show, Sizchuan Tourism, Yunnan Tourism, Rwanda Tourism, Thai Tourism, Visit Britain, Visit Scotland, Hilton Hotels, Starwood Hotels, and is highly looked up to for his experience and upstanding reputation in the Indian travel industry.

Rudolf Sommer
Vice President - UNICEO

University studies of economics and business administration at the Bundeswehr University in Munich and several projects in market research for the automotive and health care sector affected the decision to focus on so called 3D-brand communication.

Representing EnBW he was until 2017 responsible to establish sales platforms and connecting medium sized companies and NGO´s as a main supporting pillar of the German economic system.

International renowned awards like the if-Design Award, dp3d, die goldene Flamme, EVA in silver or a nomination for the German Design Award are a confirmation for his successful new way for 3D-brand communication in a no-interest market-segment for electricity and energy services.

Lectureship as honorary professor at different universities and private academies (DHBW, Ravensburg, Con Energy, Essen, IST, Duesseldorf) or appearances as speaker or contributor as expert around topics such as brand development and brand experiences for commodity markets are supplements around his core- business.

Since 2017, Rudolf Sommer is Vice President Germany of the Corporate Live-Com Network UNICEO (United Networks of International Corporate Event Organizers) www.uniceo.org . Worldwide over 1500 Brands and Companies are united in this NGO to define an absolutely unique network of knowledge sharing and transfer platforms for live-com specialists and decision leaders.

His latest publications are focused on the impact of trends and worldwide social-economic conversion and movements on the live-communication markets and occurring opportunities and changes for the market actors.

Jessie States, CMM
Manager of professional development - Meeting Professionals International

Jessie States, CMM, is the manager of professional development for Meeting Professionals International, where she delivers education in support of MPI’s global live event portfolio. She designs the interactive 1:1 and one-on-few experiences at MPI’s live events, showcasing unique learning experiences and personalized education, and she facilitates and designs sessions that help people engage. She works with MPI partners and sponsors to create industry-leading case studies and educational courses, sharing best practices from companies across the globe. She also works with the professional development team to create certificate programs for meeting professionals, specifically in the areas of determining business value, designing engaging experiences and creating a sense of place at meetings and events. Jessie has been a part of the meeting and event community since 2006, when she joined MPI as a storyteller for The Meeting Professional magazine. She has written hundreds of articles and blogs on meetings and events; penned the International Association of Venue Managers’ Business Barometer and the Cruise Line Industry Association’s Travel Agent Cruise Industry Outlook Report; and served as primary editor for MPI’s research initiatives on strategic meetings management, meeting design, corporate social responsibility, business value of meetings and virtual and hybrid events. Jessie earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of North Texas in 2001, and she has won several honors for her writing from the Texas Press Association, the Society of Business Publication Editors and APEX.

Jane Sun
CEO - Ctrip.com International, Ltd

Jane Jie Sun serves as the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of Ctrip.com International, Ltd. (NASDAQ: CTRP) from November 2016. Prior to that, she was the Chief Operating Officer since May 2012 and Co-President since March 2015, and Chief Financial Officer from 2005 to 2012. Ms. Sun is well respected for her extensive experiences in operating and managing online travel businesses, mergers and acquisitions, and financial reporting and operations. She was named as one of the most influential and outstanding business women by Forbes China. During her tenure as the Chief Financial Officer of Ctrip, she won the Best CFO Award by Institutional Investor and Best CFO Award by CFO World. Prior to joining Ctrip, Ms. Sun worked as the head of the SEC and External Reporting Division of Applied Materials, Inc. since 1997. Prior to that, she worked with KPMG LLP as an audit manager in Silicon Valley, California for five years. She is a member of American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and State of California Certified Public Accountant. Ms. Sun received her bachelor’s degree from the business school of the University of Florida with high honors. She also attended Beijing University Law School and obtained her LLM degree.

Kettasone Sundara 
Director of Tourism Marketing Division  - Tourism Marketing Department, Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism

1993-1994 an Administrative and Financial Officer at Lao National Tourism Authority.

1995-2000 an Instructor of Hotel and Tourism Management, Lao National Tourism Administration.

2001-2002 Master Studies of Tourism Management at University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Australia.

2001-2002 Co-founder and President of an Alumni of Australian Scholarship Students at UTS.

2003-2004 Deputy Director of the Hotel and Tourism Training Division, Lao National Tourism Administration.

2004-2011 Director of Tourism Marketing Division, Lao National Tourism Administration.

2011 till present as Director of Tourism Marketing Activities Division, Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism.

Andy Tan
Vice President, Sales, Asia Pacific – Hotelbeds 

Andy Tan is the Vice President, Sales for Hotelbeds Asia Pacific. He is responsible for the revenue generation through strategic customer acquisition and partnerships and also supporting Hotelbeds ambitious growth targets in this region.

Andy has an impressive and progressive track record in the hospitality industry having held several  senior leadership roles at a regional and global level, most notably as Vice President of Sales for Pan Pacific Hotels Group and Regional Director, Global Sales & Lead Prospecting Centre for Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

Andy is currently pursing his MBA in International Hospitality & Service Industries Management with Glion, Institute of Higher Education. He is multi-lingual and speaks English, Mandarin, Thai and several Chinese dialects.

Anthony Tan
APAC Lead, Retail Adhoc – GfK

• Anthony Tan has been involved in various aspects of market research in Asia Pacific over the last 13 years, amassing an abundance experience within industries covering medical devices, optics, lightings, fashion, travel and automotive.
• At GfK, he has undertaken many key responsibilities, including heading the project team for leading companies like Goodyear Asia-pacific and Johnson & Johnson APAC. His expertise has also lent him the credibility to be frequently invited to speak at major international industry events and most recently at ITB Asia 2015, Vietnam Tourism Exposition 2015 and Dutch Chamber of Commerce – “Breakfast Talk”
• Anthony is an attentive listener and observer with the keen ability to identify business issues and propose constructive recommendations. He holds a degree in Business from Iowa, USA and a master in international economy and trade from Flinders University, South Australia.r of International Economy from Flinders, Australia.

He takes a keen interest in traveling and exciting developments in the travel industry. Whenever time permits, he enjoys island hopping within the Asia Pacific region together with his family

Tan Chia Hui
Area General Manager, Rendezvous Hotel & Amoy- Far East Hospitality

Chia Hui currently holds the position of Area General Manager for both Rendezvous Hotel and AMOY. She has been with Far East Hospitality since 2012 where she joined as Head of Sales and Marketing for the serviced residences portfolio. She was later promoted to Area General Manager, Serviced Residences before transferring to the hotel cluster in 2016.

Prior to this, Chia Hui was Director – Key Accounts with Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts at their Regional Marketing Office. She was responsible for the SEA outbound market and assisted to launch and manage their agent rewards program. Previously, Chia Hui was working at The Ascott Group where she spent 2 years in China holding positions in sales and corporate planning during Ascott’s rapid expansion in the region. She started her career at Raffles International as a management trainee before progressing to sales positions within the group.  

Chia Hui was awarded the Economic Development Board – Singapore Inc scholarship to pursue hospitality studies. She graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science in Hotel Administration. 

Gino Tan
Area General Manager – Singapore
General Manager - Pan Pacific Singapore

Gino has close to 25 years of experience managing luxury hotels in Singapore, the United Kingdom and China. He has been the General Manager of the iconic Pan Pacific Singapore since 2015, and assumed the role of Area General Manager for Singapore— Pan Pacific Hotels Group’s largest operating market— in 2016, where he now oversees five hotels.
 
Prior to joining Pan Pacific Hotels Group, Gino was the General Manager of Millennium Hotel London Mayfair in the United Kingdom and General Manager of Grand Millennium Beijing and New World Hotel in Dalian, China. He has a strong foundation in Sales & Marketing, having spent 15 years in senior roles with Omni Marco Polo Hotel and Raffles Hotels & Resorts in Singapore and Beijing.

Joewin Tan
CEO - Huone Singapore

Joewin Tan graduated from the Australian National University with Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) with High Distinction in 2009. Since graduation, Joewin has worked in the banking and management consulting sectors before founding Linear Dots Production, an award-winning boutique event agency. Joewin most recently partnered Söderlund International to bring HUONE, a unique event and meeting space concept, to Singapore. Under the leadership of Joewin, Huone Singapore achieved $1 million turnover in a span of 5 months. At the age of 30, Joewin’s strong business acumen has won her multiple entrepreneurial awards where she was subsequently invited to judge at business plan competitions and speak on the topics of entrepreneurship and leadership.

Winnie Tan
Founder & CEO - TripZilla

Winnie is the Founder and CEO of TripZilla, Southeast Asia’s leading digital travel media portal which reaches out to more than 20 million travellers every month. The mumpreneur founded TripZilla with the vision of inspiring the world to travel and empowering them with the knowledge to make travel happen.

A “doer” by nature, Winnie is passionate about pulling limited resources together to create something of greater value. She enjoys making things happen and constantly moving her business forward. She believes that travelling is a force for good that will transform people positively and connect the world.

At TripZilla, she heads the company’s day-to-day operations, sales and marketing. Experienced in several business functions including product, business development, finance, human resources and business innovation, Winnie’s holistic skill set and digital entrepreneurship experience have equipped her with the business acumen to transform TripZilla into one of the most-visited travel media portals in Southeast Asia.

Jan Tanner
Director - Earth Wanderer

An avid traveller from a very young age, my career took me from the world of luxury watch making industry to manage the business travel account of one of Switzerland major watch manufacturing group. After a long time spent in the UK, working for a major British airline, allowing me to spend more and more time in Africa. A work experience in New Zealand was the decisive experience that made me pack my bags and finally settled in Uganda. After the management of a eco conscious luxury lodge near Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and my personal involvement in many community based projects, I decided to bring my knowledge to the tour operating industry and started Earth Wanderer. From our headquarters in lovely Kampala, we take care of visitors to Uganda and Rwanda and offers East Africans the opportunity to visit the world in a different way.

Farriek Tawfik
Director, Southeast Asia - Princess Cruises

Farriek Tawfik is the Director of Southeast Asia for the Princess Cruises brand. In his role, he leads the brand’s commercial operations, and sales and marketing activities across the region.

Tawfik is based at the new Carnival Asia office in Singapore which is established by Carnival Corporation & plc, the world’s largest cruise operator. He also oversees regional sales and marketing for the Cunard Line brand.

Most recently, Tawfik headed the cruise business unit of Pacific Arena Pte Ltd where he has overseen the sales and marketing activities for Princess Cruises and Cunard Lines in Singapore and Malaysia since 1994. Prior to that, he served as general manager for Suci Travel & Tours in Kuala Lumpur, and also held managerial roles for Paradise Travel and Tours, and Burswood Travel and Tours.

Maria Taylor
Regional Vice President - TravelClick

Maria. Taylor has been continuously recognized as a leader in her field and for her contribution to the industry over the years. Besides speaking at numerous industry events, she also earned several prestigious citations that include “Sales Person of the Year 2011” by Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) Singapore, Accor’s “Excellence in Financial Performance” in 2005 and “Hospitality IT Person of the Year 2000” by International Hotel Technologies Australia.

Prior to joining TravelClick, Ms. Taylor held the position of Regional Vice President, Sales and Distribution, for 3 years with Meritus Hotels and Resorts from 2012, as well as various senior management roles across multiple disciplines – from Hotel General Manager to IT to Sales and Distribution – with Accor Hotels and Resorts Asia Pacific for 19 years. Over this period, the company grew from 20 to 450 hotels across 16 countries within the region.
As Vice President for Direct Sales and Loyalty at Accor, Ms. Taylor was responsible for all Accors Online & Loyalty Marketing activities in Asia Pacific, as well as Revenue Management across all segments, traveling extensively to provide leadership in driving valuable business to Accor hotels in Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, among others.

Maunik Thacker
Senior Vice President – Marketing -Marina Bay Sands Pte. Ltd.

Maunik joined the pre‐opening team at Marina Bay Sands Pte Ltd, Las Vegas Sands’ premier Integrated Resort development in Singapore, in December 2009 as the Vice President for Revenue Optimization. In this role, he was responsible for the property’s Revenue Management as well as Gaming Optimization needs, leading a team of 20 highly motivated and analytically driven team members. His primary responsibilities included the development of the systems, practices, analytical capabilities and processes to drive total revenue and profitability for the property, which today is the single most profitable casino resort development in the world. Since 2013, he leads the marketing organization at Marina Bay Sands. His key focus has been on developing a strong brand positioning and alignment of the service culture for Marina Bay Sands, and through the development of technology and use of analytics, to provide a personalized, relevant, seamless and consistent customer experience across the destination. A lot of his time is also spent refining the resort wide loyalty program value proposition to ensure high engagement levels and incremental spends across the property. Prior to working at Marina Bay Sands Pte. Ltd., Maunik worked with Las Vegas Sands’ properties in Macao, The Venetian Macao and Sands Macao, for three years, starting with the pre‐opening team, overseeing the Revenue Management function for the company in Macao. He started his career in Revenue Management and Distribution in 1999, with Taj Hotels in India, before moving to the Middle East in 2001, to work for Le Meridien Hotels (part of Starwood Hotels & Resorts) in Dubai and Bahrain for over 5 years. Maunik holds an MBA in International Hospitality Management from IMHI in Paris, a program jointly administered by Cornell University, USA and ESSEC, France. His personal interests lie in travel and he has always had a desire to live and work in different parts of the world, learning about different cultures. He also serves on the HSMAI Asia Pacific Marketing Advisory Board and has been involved with the organization for several years.

Thorleifur Thor Jonsson
Senior Manager Trade Delegations - Promote Iceland

Mr. Jonsson has been active in the Icelandic Tourism industry for over 30 year holding several managerial positions. He is currently the principal coordinator and primary contact for the Asian market at Promote Iceland. He holds a M.Sc degree in Tourism from University of Surrey. 

Jens Thraenhart 
Executive Director - Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office (MTCO)

Jens Thraenhart was appointed by the tourism ministries of Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and China (Yunnan and Guanxi) to head the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office (MTCO) as its Executive Director. The Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office (MTCO) is an inter-governmental body to promote the Mekong region as a single tourism destination, and foster responsible tourism development in the Greater Mekong Subregion. In his tenure, he digitised the organization, introduced new programs and initiatives to drive engagement with industry stakeholders, and was recognised with three prestigious awards for innovation and design for the new website MekongTourism.org. In 2009, he co-founded China Travel Trends, as well as award-winning China digital marketing and social media agency Dragon Trail, and has led marketing and Internet strategy teams with the Canadian Tourism Commission and Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. He has consulted for many global companies, including European Travel Commission, Tourism Vancouver, Tourism Whistler, Banff Lake Louise Tourism, Travel Alberta, Tourism Malaysia, Atout France, Australia Tourism Warehouse, Small Luxury Hotels of the World, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Fiesta Americana Hotels & Resorts Mexico, Prestige Cruise Holdings (now Norwegian Cruise Lines), Swire Hotels, Dusit International, Shinta Mani Hotel Cambodia, Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), and the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO). Educated at Cornell University with a Masters of Management in Hospitality, Mr. Thraenhart was recognized as one of the travel industry’s top 100 rising stars by Travel Agent Magazine in 2003, was listed as one of HSMAI’s 25 Most Extraordinary Sales and Marketing Minds in Hospitality and Travel in 2004 and 2005, and named as one of the Top 20 Extraordinary Minds in European Travel and Hospitality in 2014. A UNWTO Affiliate Member, and past Chair of PATA China, he founded the Annual China Responsible Tourism Forum & Awards in 2011. 

A dual citizen of Germany and Canada, Jens now lives in Bangkok/Thailand.

Eugene Tong 
Manager of Sustainability – Marina Bay Sands

Eugene Tong has been a Manager for the Sustainability Department in Marina Bay Sands since 2011.  His portfolio includes 3R Management, Staff Sustainability Engagement, and implementing the property’s Environmental Management System. Eugene holds a Bachelor of Engineering (1st Class Honours) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

Rob Torres
Managing Director of Advertising and Marketing – Google

With over 20 years of travel industry experience, Rob Torres serves as Google’s Managing Director of advertising and marketing for the travel sector. In this role, Rob oversees the strategy development and profitable growth of integrated marketing campaigns. His group serves some of the largest travel brands in the US.

Prior to joining Google, Rob was Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at Expedia.com. During his seven year career at Expedia, Rob managed a team that had Global responsibility for 30 strategic accounts, generating gross bookings in excess of $2 billion.

Rob is active in the hospitality industry and community affairs. He currently serves as the vice chairman of the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association (HSMAI) and is on the board of directors for the Association of Travel Marketing Executives (ATME), the US Travel Association, Fareportal, Regatta Solutions, the Adventure Travel & Tour Association (ATTA), Sustainable Travel International (STI) and the Washington Leadership Council for the American Lung Association. Twice Rob has been listed among HSMAI’s Top 25 Extraordinary Minds in Sales and Marketing.

Rob holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Administration from the University of Southern California and a Masters of Business Administration from Georgetown University.

Sean Treacy
Managing Director, Asia Pacific - Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd

Sean Treacy is Managing Director for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.’s operations in Asia Pacific. He oversees all commercial and operational activities for the company’s brands, Royal Caribbean International and Azamara Club Cruises in the region.

Having been with the organisation since 2006, Treacy has held a variety of roles within the company, with a focus on Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises in the areas of revenue management and global deployment. His last position is Regional Commercial Director Asia Pacific, overseeing revenue, deployment, sales, marketing and PR across Australia and New Zealand. Prior to his time at Royal Caribbean, Treacy has worked for United Airlines where he held numerous roles in Sales and Revenue Management. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame with a B.A. in Finance and Spanish Literature.

Fenady Uriarte
Business Development Manager-South East Asia - STR

Fenady Uriarte is  the Business Development Manager – Southeast Asia for STR and is based in the regional office in Singapore. She has over 12 years of experience in hospitality and real estate with global brands such as  Mandarin Oriental Group, Las Vegas Sands Corporation, Raffles Hotel Singapore and Century Properties Group Inc.  She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Organizational Communication in De La Salle University and has a Certifications in Revenue Management from Cornell University and  Hotel Industry Analytics from American Hotel and Lodging Association.  Fenady frequently presents the latest trends and updates at industry events in Southeast Asia.

Leon Vaidman
Co-Founder - HotelsBI

• An experience of 10 years in software development and 5 years in business development.
• In 2016 founded HotelsBI – a business intelligence platform for hoteliers.
• For the last 3 years have active role as a board member in
  • Platform161 – Advertising technology
  • Habidatum – BigData analysis platform.
  • Rewire – Payments technology
  • Comiten – Telecom provicer
• Up to 2010 worked as a software engineer at Microsoft.
• In 2006 Graduated Technion (Israeli institute of technology), B.Sc. in software engineering.

Nadine Vienne
Head of Events – Nissan Europe Development Director  - UNICEO

With 30 years of experience in marketing communication for different industries, Nadine Vienne developed a strong knowledge in all the mechanism engaging people behind brands. During the last years she introduced and developed the usage of Digital in events, including training, for better experience and effectiveness.

Nick Vivion
Editorial Director - Tnooz

Nick is the Editorial Director for Tnooz. Prior to this role, Nick has multi-hyphenated his way through a variety of passions: restaurateur, photographer, filmmaker, corporate communicator, Lyft driver, Airbnb host, journalist, and event organizer.

Hamish Wang
Travel and Meetings Manager, Greater China, Apple- Chair, GBTA China Advisory Board

Hamish is in charge of corporate business travel and meetings sourcing and management for Apple in Greater China region. Before he took on this role, he spent over four years with GE China as Indirect Sourcing Leader of Travel and Living/ MICE/ EHS in Greater China and Mongolia. His responsibilities included corporate travel management including airline, hotel, car rental and MICE as well as marketing and communications, environment, health and security solutions in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Mongolia. Hamish has 10 years of experience in the airline and civil aviation industries as well as sales and marketing background. He holds an MBA (Aviation Management) from RMIT University, Australia. 

He has taken the role of Chair of Advisory Board of GBTA China since 2015.

By 2016, he has been voted the Most Influential Travel Manager of China in CTW & ITCM China at Shanghai. And the Stickiest Corporate Travel Manager at CWT Asia Pacific in Bangkok Thailand. 

Joseph Wang
Chief Commercial Officer - TravelDaily

Mr. Joseph Wang joined TravelDaily.cn as the Chief Commercial Officer in Sep. 2014. Prior to that, he was the Senior Director of Hotel Business Unit Qunar.com from 2009, focusing on Hotel Direct Sales. He used to work for China Mobile 12580 as the Director of Hotel Business, focusing on hotel supplier partnership management and customer service. From 1999 to 2007, Mr. Joseph Wang worked at eLong.com, in charge of hotel market management. Mr. Joseph Wang was invited by several universities as visiting professor and tutor, also invited by Chinese Tourism Hotel Association, China Meetings Industry Alliance and several other industry organizations as VIP speaker.

Michael Weiss
Co-founder - bitemojo

Michael Weiss is a veteran Israeli entrepreneur in the filed of tourism & travel. In 2008 Michael founded GoJerusalem.com, Jerusalem’s leading travel portal that serves more than 1.5 million visitors annually. In 2011 Michael co-founded Yalla Basta, Israel’s leading culinary tourism company, which operates all over the country and offer different kind of culinary experiences for the international, domestic and corporate markets. In 2016 Michael co-founded bitemojo, the first app in the world that offers food tours with nothing but a smartphone. bitemojo already operates in 5 cities and aiming to become the #1 culinary experience in the world. Michael holds a B.A in Psychology and M.A in media &communication from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Operation system: Entrecôte, 500gr.

Jonathan Weizman
CEO - RoomChecking

Jonathan has been CTO for 2 leading companies, in the GPS field and the memory technology field in France, Israel and USA. He won a CES innovation award in 2010 in Las Vegas and the macworld best of show award in San Francisco in 2011 for 2 leading products, myDitto and the zPen. After these experiences he founded Roomchecking, to create the PMS for hotel operations. Coping with the diffulty of getting data from the PMS, he developped many technologies to enable true data exchanges between hotels apps.

Paul Whiteway
APAC Lead - Skyscanner

Paul Whiteway is APAC Lead at Skyscanner. Based in the regional headquarters in Singapore, he oversees the travel search company’s accelerated growth in the region. 

He has been working with Internet companies since the industry’s formation and is experienced at scaling businesses in both start-up and corporate environments. He has previously been General Manager of the Internet Advertising Division for Yellow Pages Australia, VP for a telecommunications start-up in New York City and Business Manager for MSN in London. He has been working in Asia since 2007 where, amongst other roles, he held senior roles at Yahoo!, leading product, editorial and engineering teams across the region and was Chief Operating Officer for the ASX listed company, iProperty, based in Malaysia.

Paul is also an Entrepreneur in Residence at INSEAD Singapore where he provides coaching and advice to students interested in entrepreneurship. In his spare time he cooks meat he directly imports from Australia and tries to do Yoga regularly.

Jameson Wong
Director, Business Development for Asia Pacific - Forward Keys

Jameson graduated from the Murdoch University with a double major in Hospitality & Tourism Management and Marketing Management. In his latest role as the Director, Business Development for Asia Pacific at ForwardKeys, Jameson is responsible for hospitality sales and product development as well as building new vertical sales. Today, ForwardKeys is trusted by companies across the Hospitality, DMO, Airport, Travel Retail and Finance industry.

ForwardKeys is a travel research firm that helps companies better anticipate demand by crunching and analyzing millions of air booking transactions daily. With the world’s most complete air reservations database, ForwardKeys’ clients are equipped with the freshest insights possible in todays’ dynamic market.

Clement Wong
Founder and CEO - BeMyGuest

Clement Wong is the Founder and CEO of BeMyGuest, a travel technology provider to Activities, tours and attraction operators, connecting them to the various travel verticals such as airlines, accommodation providers, online and offline travel agencies. In a space of five years, he has brought BeMyGuest to be the global leader for Asian activities, tours and attractions content. BeMyGuest’s technology is now being used by 4,000+ operators globally, and the top airlines, hotels and online travel agencies are working with BeMyGuest as partners.

Sammi Wu
Regional Director of Business Development - HeBS Digital

Sammi Wu is the Director of Business Development, Asia-Pacific at HEBS Digital. HEBS Digital is part of Hotel360 Technologies, the hospitality industry’s first fully integrated guest acquisition, engagement and digital marketing platform. She is the pioneer opening up HEBS Digital’s Asia Pacific operation with the launch of Singapore office in January 2018.

Prior to joining HEBS Digital, Sammi was the Head of Partnership and Marketing at HRS, a German-based global hotel solutions provider, which helps the clients to optimize their corporate travel program by reducing travel costs while keeping the employees happy. 

Sammi holds a Bachelor Degree from Singapore Management University, with a double-major in Marketing and Management. 

Alvan Yong 
Business Travel Lead , APAC - Airbnb

Alvan is the Business Travel Lead, APAC at Airbnb and leads the Sales and Account Management team for Airbnb Business Travel in the region. Based in Singapore, Alvan has responsibility for acquiring and growing the corporate client adoption onto the Airbnb Business Travel platform.

Alvan joined Airbnb in July 2017 having spent the last 5 years working at Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) in multiple roles across Sales, Program Management, Product Marketing and Operations. In his last role, he was Vice President Global Sales and Program Management responsible for responsibility for managing CWT’s extensive client base in the Asia Pacific region and for delivering solutions that add value to the travel programs of global corporations.

Prior to joining CWT, Alvan was Head of Ocean Freight in DHL Global Forwarding, first in Shanghai, then Singapore, managing delivery of complex off-shoring projects, operational improvement initiatives, as well as management of supplier and vendor relations.

With 14 years of experience across operations, quality, and sales functions, Alvan is a leader with strong customer focus and a track record of successful project deliveries.

Shinya Yokoyama
Co Founder - Halal Media Japan Co Ltd

HMJ is Japan’s Halal leading portal site. He has been working helping SMEs to develop overseas business since 1992. He holds MBA degree from Kenichi Ohmae Graduate School of Business and awarded encouragement award for his work titled “Management Strategy for Japanese SMEs in Halal Industry”. He was also awarded Entrepreneur Honouree 2016 from Singapore Malay Chamber of Commerce & Industry. In ITB 2017, Yoko-san as he likes to be called will give you an insight on Japan Halal market. 

Frank Yan
VP of Sales - SkySea Cruise Line

Frank started with SkySea in June 2017, report directly to CEO Ken Muskat.

Frank joins SkySea from Airline industry where he served as Commercial Director for China.  He was responsible for designing and executing the overall Sales, Marketing and Revenue strategy working with traditional travel agencies, OTA’s and Corporate clients while successfully leading a sales team with his strong coaching, development and training capabilities.  Prior to Mahan Airlines, Frank had tremendous experience in sales holding a variety of positions including Sales Director for ADP China, Director of Sales and Marketing for Carlson Wagonlit, China Head of Sales for Expedia and Senior Business Development Manager for American Express, China Southern Region.

Raudha Zaini
Marketing Manager - HalalTrip

Raudha Zaini is the Marketing Manager of HalalTrip – a leading global community platform for Muslim travelers. She leads and manages projects with partners and International Tourism Boards in destination marketing and campaigns. Her aim is to translate her passion for travel as a millennial into innovative products that offer useful and unique experiences to all Muslim travelers.

Leila Tekkaya
Director of Public Relations, Communication and Hospitality - Tunisian National Tourist Office (ONTT) 

Stefano Zeni
Head of Destination Services & Commercial Management, GTA

I have gained solid experience in the Travel Industry holding different management positions over the past 14 years.

Currently, as Head of Commercial Management & Destination Services, I am in charge of developing FIT Destination Services at Global level, coordinating and managing a Contracting Team of 30 Market Manager based in 13 offices worldwide.

I am also responsible for coordinating the Commercial Team activities whose mission is to deliver a remarkable and competitive FIT product while facilitating an effective communication and strong partnership between Sales, Sourcing and Revenue Management.