Andre Baljeu was appointed Senior Director of Field Technology, Asia Pacific for Marriott International, Inc. in 2006.  At present the Company’s sales in this region exceed US 2 billion dollars per annum. In his Senior Director of Field Technology role he oversees the development of new technology’s with the company’s current IT Partners and Service Providers for the region including nine hotel brands, comprising of 120 managed Hotels, 18 franchise hotels and 120+ pipeline Hotels, as well 19 Company offices. Andre works with a team of 28 above property Associates located throughout the region. During Andre’s 15 year tenure in the hotel and technology industry, he has held senior IT and operational positions with leading Hotel chains in Australia and Internationally. Andre has strong industry background and experience in the Asia Pacific region where he has played an integral role in delivering both guest facing and back of house technology that is aligned with the company IT strategy to the opening hotels across the Asia Pacific Region. A native of Australia, Andre is based in Kuala Lumpur.

Floor Bleeker joined the Jumeirah Group in April 2001 and currently holds the position of Vice President of Information Technology, reporting to the Chief Information Officer. In his role he is responsible, for the Company's IT projects portfolio, business systems, software development, data warehousing, digital strategy and global expansion. Floor holds a Master degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, and a Bachelors (BSc) degree in Hospitality Administration from the Hotel School The Hague. He is currently serving on the Board of Hotel Technology Next Generation (HTNG). Prior to joining the Jumeirah Group Floor worked as the Director of IT for the Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management in Dubai and served as an IT Manager for the Radisson SAS Hotels & Resorts in Belgium. Floor, who is Dutch, is married to Anne and has one daughter Lauren.

Dave E. Cunningham is a Manager of Business Development at Corning Cable Systems, part of Corning Incorporated's Telecommunications segment.  Dave has 16 years of IT Experience in designing and building Local and Wide Area Networks, including 5 years as Coring Incorporated's Network Architect. Dave has been in Corning Cable Systems Business Development group for 4 years, and has managed Corning's Enterprise PON strategy for the past 3 years.

For nearly three decades Greg has provided practical and proven technical and engineering expertise in the data, voice, and video communication fields. Zhone, through its acquisition of Paradyne, is a founding member of HTNG, and provider of the hospitality and carrier community for data, voice and video hardware solutions. Since 2003 Mr. Dawes has provided technical guidance in various HTNG In-Room Technology Workgroup sub teams. Building on this extensive technical experience Greg has been a contributing author in multiple hospitality industry white papers on the communications infrastructure. He received his MBA from Nova Southeastern University and BS in Mathematics from University of Oklahoma.

Thomas Dillon is the VP IT-Asia for the Venetian Ltd. He has been in Macau for 7 years and heads up the technology for the Asia region that includes Macau SAR China PRC.   His projects have included managing the Sands Macau, building and managing the Venetian Macau, Four Seasons Macau as well as his current project which is a 6,000 room integrated resort that will encompass the world’s largest casino, 6,000 hotel rooms, F/B, retail as well as a large convention/meeting room facility.  He was also instrumental with the building and opening of the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.  Prior to this assignment, Mr. Dillon has been in the hotel technology industry for over 24 years.

Alan DUFFY
Enterprise Architect, Cisco Advisory Services Asia Pacific

Alan Duffy is a senior IT professional with diverse vertical experience that empowers hospitality organizations, leveraging extensive experiences in Data Centre environments. He has over 30 years of information technology experience in many areas including application tuning, software support, network design, disaster recovery, IP converged infrastructures and cloud computing. Alan joined Cisco in September 1998 working with many financial and telecommunications organizations through Advanced Services engagements, joining the Data Centre team in February 2006 to provide consultation on IT service strategies, service design, implementation and improvements that helps customers integrate IT services with business objectives. He is currently focusing on service delivery on major projects in both Asia Pacific, Hong Kong and Macau. Alan has had many roles in the IT industry, just prior to joining Cisco, was with IBM for many years as the Senior Network Analyst for the Business Recovery Service, and before that with Scitec Communications as a Product Marketing Manager in Asia Pacific.

Peter GAMBLE
VP Business Development Asia-Pacific, Square International

A native of Queenstown, NZ's most popular tourist resort, Peter has been involved in the tourism & hospitality industry his whole life, with the past 18 years focused on the Asia market, holding regional positions at Micros-Fidelio, Trust, Open World & IDeaS. Peter is currently leading Apple's expansion into the hospitality industry in Asia Pac as VP Business Development at Square [i] International. Square [i] is Apple's global partner for the Hospitality sector, having developed IPTV, digital signage, digital concierge, and app solutions utilising Apple products.

Bernard GOLSTEIN
VP Business Development, Buildings Business - Asia-Pacific, Schneider Electric

Bernard has spent most of his 18-year career with Schneider Electric. He has held a variety of positions ranging from industrial operations and international project management to marketing, strategy and acquisitions. In his current position Bernard is in charge of defining strategy and developing alliances across Asia-Pacific for Schneider Electric’s Buildings Business Unit.He also heads the Asia-Pacific Hotel team, supporting key hotel chains in their quest to achieve better business performance through smart energy management, security, and convergence.Bernard’s assignments have taken him around the globe from his initial base in France. Enriching stays in a variety of countries include 3 years in Turkey and 5 years in India, with a current location in Singapore. He has worked as well in a US management consultancy and in a French start-up. Bernard holds an MBA from INSEAD and is a graduate of Ecole Nationale des Mines de Paris, a leading French engineering college.

Fraser HICKOX
General Manager, The Conceptual Group

Until recently the General Manager of the Peninsula Group's research Lab in Hong Kong, Fraser in retirement remains a consultant to Peninsula and other companies around Asia and in the Middle East as well continues to develop specialized electronics for different companies. A keen advocate of HTNG and the participation of hoteliers within this organization for a common good. Fraser was inducted into the HFTP Hall of Fame in 2008 and is the recipient in December 1993 of the Personnalite de Lannee Distinction International Hotellerie. He holds a number of degrees in Engineering and Sciences and has had a diverse career spanning broadcasting, civil aviation, banking and manufacturing.

Ted HORNER
Managing Director, E. Horner & Associates Pty. Ltd.

After graduating with formal qualifications in Catering & Hotel Management from Victoria University in 1976, Ted was involved in the establishment of several companies specializing in supplying technology for the hospitality industry. In 1989, he launched a Consulting Practice specializing in Technology Consulting to the Hospitality Industry which is now recognized as the leader in the Australian market. In 2005 he was awarded his first consulting assignment in Dubai with Jumeirah. In 1995, he launched the first newsletter dedicated to technology in the Hospitality Industry, HTR this was then replaced in 2002 with the launch of Australia's first hospitality technology portal site. In August 1996, he launched the first dedicated Australian Hospitality Technology Conference and Exhibition held in Sydney. In 2004 he was the first non US person to be elected to the HITEC Technology Hall of Fame for his contribution to the advancement of technology in the hospitality industry. In 2002 he was one of the founders of HTNG and is now an executive adviser.

Mark KENDALL
Practice Lead – Hospitality & Connected Real Estate, Advisory Services - APAC, Cisco Systems

Mark Kendall is a senior IT professional with extensive experiences in the Hospitality Industry. He has 20+ years of hotel experience with 15 focused on information technology. Prior to joining Cisco, Mark was with Hyatt International Hotels & Resorts for 18 years, 11 years in Asia and 5 years in regional roles. His prime focus is on Hospitality Corporate Standards and Strategy, Business Process & Automation, New Technologies / Innovations, and Hotel & Casino Operations. Mark joined Cisco Advisory Services in August 2008 to provide consultation on IT service strategies and architecture, service design, implementation and improvements that help customers integrate IT services with business objectives and achieving corporate goals. He is currently focusing on service delivery on major projects in Australia, Hong Kong, Macau & Vietnam, applying niche industry experience with Cisco’s Connected Real Estate best practices, optimizing diverse IP Converged solutions by leveraging the network as the platform.

Matt MUTA
Director, Worldwide Industry & Global Accounts, Microsoft Corp.

Matt joined Microsoft in 2002.  As the World Wide Managing Director of Hospitality, Matt was responsible for developing Microsoft’s comprehensive solutions framework that enables the next generation of Hospitality innovation.  Matt worked closely with customers, partners, industry groups and Microsoft product groups to shape Microsoft’s Hospitality solutions offerings by leveraging best practices gained from leaders in the industry.  Building on his experience in the field as a strategic customer advisor and technical evangelist, Matt moved to the R&D side of the company and joined Microsoft’s Envisioning team to drive their technical strategy efforts.  The Envisioning was responsible to create a vision a north star of what computer interaction would be like in 5-10 years.  In that role he was the liaison with multiple business owners, product teams, and customers to help ensure the teams efforts shared a unified vision, as well as drive a process for how the Envisioning team could integrate the results and learning to affect long-term direction.  Matt is currently working with clients and partners on Digital Marketing for Microsoft’s World Wide Industry and Global Accounts team.

Nick Price is CEO of NetSys Technology a software development and technology consulting company focussing on the hospitality and travel sectors. Prior to starting NetSys in mid-2011, Nick worked for twelve years as Chief Information and Technology Officer at Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group where he was instrumental in moving the hotel industry’s technology focus from the front desk to the guest room. Nick is an inductee in the HFTP (Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals) Hall of Fame, a co-founder and past-president of HTNG (Hotel Technology Next Generation) and a board member of Swisscom Hospitality Services. Nick, a UK national, is a global traveller and has lived in Hong Kong since 1995.

Anand RAO
CIO, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts

Anand Rao has been the Chief Information Officer at Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts since 1989, except for a few years as Chief Executive Officer of Kerry Technology Limited, the Kuok Group’s IT investment arm. He has also been involved in major IT initiatives at other companies in the Kuok Group. Before joining Shangri-La, Anand Rao was a partner of a firm of chartered accountants in Bombay responsible for the management consultancy and software services practices of the firm. He is an engineering graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Terence RONSON
Managing Director, Pertlink Limited, Hong Kong

Terence Ronson launched his diversified hospitality career as a Chef, from where he held various general management positions with prominent hotels in the UK and Asia. In the mid 80's he developed his penchant for technology, and in 2000 started Pertlink, from where he became the Technology Editor for HOTELS Asia Pacific and authored numerous industry related articles. CNN's eBizasia program featured him in 2001 for his innovative work at Rosedale Hong Kong, and helped Langham Place Hong Kong win many accolades for its technology deployment. Terence has spoken at several key industry events and currently sits on the Advisory Boards for HOFEX and HITEC 2010, as well as holding a Visiting Lecturer position at HKPOLY U. Terence moderates an online discussion group for in-room technology at: www.wiwih.com and also runs a Hotel Technology Blog. Terence is currently involved in several exciting China based projects to include TANGULA the luxury train that will run from Beijing to Lhasa, Thistle/Guoman Hotels projects located in Malaysia and China, and Zendai Himalayas Hotels (Shanghai) scheduled to open in 2010.

Douglas Rice is a founder of Hotel Technology Next Generation (HTNG), and became its first permanent Executive Director in September 2004, and assumed his current position in January 2007.  He reports to HTNG's board of directors.  His prior experience includes ten years as President of Stratus Management Group, Inc., a leading consulting firm focusing on hotel technology, marketing, and operational issues; eight years as managing consultant and Vice President at The Graycon Group, Inc. (predecessor company to TravelCLICK); four years in various market management positions at United Airlines; and six years as senior economist and consultant at Data Resources, Inc., and Wharton Econometrics (both now part of GlobalInsight).  Douglas earned his Bachelors degree with highest distinction in Economics and distinction in Mathematics at Dartmouth College.  He earned his Masters in Business Administration at Harvard Business School, where he was awarded top honors as a George F. Baker Scholar.

Morris Sim is Co-Founder and CEO of Circos Brand Karma, the leading full-service business solution that protects the value and cultivates the potential of brands.  Hoteliers around the world use Brand Karma to increase conversion and distribution, as well as to operationally improve guest satisfaction and loyalty.  Founded in 2006, Circos has offices in the United States, Japan, Taiwan, China, and Singapore. Passionate about technology and marketing, Morris has been identifying and applying innovative trends to improve business performance for the last 20 years.  As a Senior Director of Marketing at Microsoft, Morris developed communities and social networks from 2002-2005 to improve Microsoft’s brand perceptions and market share worldwide.  Prior to that, he served as the Chief Technology Officer of PoloRalphLauren.com, the first ecommerce site from a major design/retail shop, now a thriving and profitable business with more than 1M customers per year.  His career began at Microsoft, where he was responsible for designing end-user features and launching Microsoft Access 1.0, the first mass market Windows database program. Morris is a graduate of Stanford University.

Harbans has been involved in the hospitality business since 1985 during his days as a field engineer in NCR. He subsequently moved into hospitality software installation and support and then sales. In 1988, he set up the regional operations for Computerized Lodging Systems (CLS), Inc. USA in Asia, this being the first commercially successful hotel management system which ran on the Unix platform. During this time, he also managed to grow CLS into a leading supplier of hospitality technology in Asia with over 300 installations. Since 1988, Harbans has seen CLS evolve into many forms, including a management buyout of the operations in 1995 by him and his partners and the setting up of Hospitality Solutions International (HSI). In 2002, he merged his company with Hotel Information Systems (HIS), Inc. USA and became President of HIS Asia. In 2006, this operations was acquired by Sofbrands, Inc. USA and he continued as President Asia Pacific, Middle East, until his departure in December 2008. At the time of leaving, HIS/Softbrands had over 800 customers in Asia Pacific. Over the years, Harbans has been very actively involved in industry developments and also is a constant speaker in hospitality conferences across Asia-Pacific and Middle East. His main passion is centered on the use of technology to improve guest services and he constantly advocated the dawn of a new era of hospitality solutions.

Mr. Sophinos has served as President and as CEO of a variety of public and private companies ranging in size from $1.2B  (Primestar) to early phase start-ups (SuiteLinq, Inc) . He has focused on media businesses his entire career and earned his B.A. degree in Cable Television. His MBA followed. His knowledge of the cable and satellite industry was rooted in ten years of experience with General Instrument in a variety of roles in Sales and Service. He continued creating industry contacts and experience as President of Midwest CATV, a business he grew from two small locations to a national network with revenues over $50M annually. Following that role he was Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Primestar by TCI a direct satellite to home business. That entity grew to over $660M in revenue under his direction as President.  Mr. Sophinos also served as President and CEO for On Command Corporation, a $240M revenue subsidiary of Liberty Media Company which delivered multi-channel video services, internet TV services, and advertising solutions for the Hospitality Industry. In this capacity, Mr. Sophinos held the role of Chairman for the many subsidiaries of On Command including their International Businesses, The Hotel Networks, and Instant Media Network. His broad experience leading management teams has solved business challenges from growing revenue models in declining markets to downsizing troubled businesses to starting new product launches. He has also experience the ownership of a small retail boat dealership. He is currently the Chief Executive Officer of NXTV Quadriga located in Los Angeles and responsible for the North American market for parent company Quadriga.  Quadriga serves more than 360,000 interactive customers in over 53 countries.

Richard has been involved in the provision of network services and the assurance of security and quality for most of his career, initially for CSC and British Aerospace. From 2000 to 2003, he was senior consultant at an innovative penetration testing company in London. During 2003 he worked for British Airports Authority at Heathrow, managing a team of technical auditors and business impact analysts on a complete security review and assurance project for all six of BAA’s UK airports. The first half of 2004 found Richard at the British Internet bank, Egg, where he conducted review and revision of the company’s security policy in the light of the Basel II agreement, and in preparation for a major outsourcing project. Richard came to Hong Kong to create Handshake Networking Ltd in mid-2004. Since then, the company has matured into a busy information security consultancy and PCI-approved scanning vendor (ASV) with a reputation for quality. As well as managing the business, Richard provides occasional comment about information security issues for the Hong Kong and Asia Pacific press, including the South China Morning Post, the Hong Kong Economic Times, and Enterprise Networks Asia magazine. He also writes a regular column for Hong Kong Computer World Magazine. He speaks regularly at regional events, and acts as a facilitator to both the Hong Kong Knowledge Management Society, and to IT advisory and steering groups operated by large Hong Kong businesses.

Grant has been a part of the DOCOMO interTouch management team since 2005. For 15 years, he held positions within IT, Rooms Division, Finance and Regional Procurement for hotel chains. Following the Y2K, Grant moved to capitalize on the Dot Com era. He was instrumental in introducing on-line technologies to the Australian Hospitality Market working with the hotel associations, hotel chains and buying groups. Grant then ventured into IT Enterprise Sales, spending 5 years selling on-line software services to Government and Corporate sectors. Grant held the role of State Manager for Queensland, Northern Territory and Fiji for 5 years before taking on his current role; heading up the Global Product Team for In-Room Entertainment for DOCOMO interTouch.