Richard BARNES

Editor-in-Chief - Cleverdis

Richard Barnes, born in Sydney, has been working at a high level in media for more than 30 years. He began working in radio in the late 70’s as a presenter and then news journalist/reporter for such stations as 2CC, 2WS Sydney (trained under Greg Milne), 2UE, 2SM, 2LM and 4BC. For 2LM, he established a news service in 1984, and in the first year of operation won the “Pater Award” for best regional news presentation in Australasia. The next year at 4BC in Brisbane (as breakfast news desk editor), the station won the Pater award for the best news presentation in Australasia. In 1986, Richard Barnes travelled to Europe, working briefly at Capital Radio in London before working on the French Riviera for Riviera Radio. He later presented a weekly English language TV show on Tele Monte Carlo, and anchored for Superchannel. In 1997, Barnes established his own media consultancy, working primarily in print media and TV. He has worked with major agencies and magazines, including reports for CNBC and CNN. In 2000, he began a new challenge with Cleverdis, as editor in chief of all English language publications and particularly Hotel Innovations & Technologies SMARTreports. SMARTreports has become the industry reference in Europe and the Middle East. Barnes hosts and keynotes conferences around the world, including Philips, HTNG, the European Hotel Managers’ Association and Equip’Hotel, as well as roundtables at the famed Lausanne Hotel School.

Ralf BALZER

IT Director, Maybourne Hotel Group

Ralf has over 20 years experience within the hospitality industry, the last 10 being within Information Technology. Combining his understanding of the operational side of the business with a high level of technical experience, he has lead an aggressive rollout of new technology for Maybourne Hotel Group over the past two years. Ralf has been working in all areas of IT, starting from support, through programming and Project Management, to the position of Head of IT within Maybourne, which he has held for the last 3 years. He has been a member of HTNG for the last two years and is a Tutor for the Leadership in Management course offered by the Leadership Trust.

Marketing Director, World Travel & Tourism Council

Geoffrey Breeze is a long-term supporter of the World Travel & Tourism Council, which he joined as Marketing Director earlier this year. The Council consists of the Chairs, Presidents and Chief Executives of the world’s foremost Travel companies, and is the global authority on the economic and social contribution of Travel & Tourism. Geoffrey is a career Marketor, starting with Procter & Gamble straight after university, and spending the next nine years in consumer goods marketing before joining Avis to run worldwide marketing across its 130+ country international division. He then spent fourteen years as Corporate Vice President of marketing for Hilton International, joining as part of the British Ladbroke Group team which acquired the company from UAL Corp, and successfully restored the brand to prominence – finally working on the alliance that re-united the U.S. and international Hilton brands. He has also worked extensively in technology in both the entertainment and travel industries, and was until recently regional Vice President of Strategy and Marketing for the Sabre GDS. He is a graduate of Oxford University.

Chief Information Officer, Dorchester Collection

Mark Campbell is the CIO of Dorchester Collection. In this role he leads the strategic IT direction of bringing a collection of previously individually operated hotels together into a worldwide brand. His role encompasses both guest technology and administrative function. Prior to this, Mark was Group IT Manager for Red Carnation Hotels and Regional IT Manager Millennium & Copthorne EAME.

Laurent CARDOT

Founder, Ariane Systems

Laurent founded Ariane Systems, the leader of self check-in/out solutions for the Hospitality market in 2001. Laurent has been in charge of the Sales, Marketing and R&D division of the company and has made Ariane a premium supplier in Europe for some of the major European chains. Ariane currently has five subsidiaries and addresses 20 countries in EMEA, North America and Asia region through a strong distribution network and joint-ventures. He is a specialist in check-in/out processes and software integration. Prior to Ariane, Laurent was a Managing Director for a private telecom company in Paris for six years, where he developed strong relationships with Alcatel and Microsoft, transforming the company in one of the largest service integrators on the French market. Earlier in his career, he worked as a Marketing Manager for Hewlett-Packard in California, USA. Laurent is also involved in various activities including a position of Managing Director in a Private Investment Fund in new technologies. He also holds a Master's degree in Finance from the University of Paris V and graduated from a business school in Paris. He currently lives in Paris with his wife and three children.

Jérôme DESTORS

Director Hotel IT, Amadeus Group S.A.

Jérôme Destors is Director Hotel IT, Amadeus Hospitality Solutions at Amadeus. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing Hotel IT operations worldwide as well as driving growth as the leading provider of IT services to the global hospitality industry. Prior to this, Jérôme was Commercial Director of Amadeus e-Travel division, and Director of e-Travel's Travel Suppliers, Agencies and Portals group, based in Sophia-Antipolis, France. Before joining Amadeus in 1996, Jérôme built an impressive technical and customer service background, having worked as IT Director of Sema Group's Internet Competency Centre, following a variety of positions in the online services and telecoms environment.

Global Director of Development, Swisscom Hospitality Services

Dr. Thomas Di Giacomo is a 12-year experienced technology industry professional and Swisscom Hospitality Services’ global Director of Development. In charge of all software, hardware and network development and engineering for the company’s services and products, Thomas is leading various teams of experts located in different regions of the world as well as coordinating joint developments with key technology vendors and hotel partners. He has successfully rolled out innovative in-room entertainment systems based on hospitality-focused design of new devices and software platforms, advanced content delivery systems, advanced and tailored kiosk and internet solutions as well as hosted VoIP and hosted PMS solutions. He has also managed the interfacing of Swisscom systems with dozens of industry-standard systems. Prior to Swisscom, Thomas was a Senior R&D Network and Multimedia Researcher, highly involved in various workgroups of key standardization organizations (e.g. ISO/IEC MPEG-4/7/21) through academic international research and joint projects with major telecom & IT companies such as France Telecom, Siemens, Deutsche Telekom, T-Systems, Telecom Italia, Samsung IT, Sony, Microsoft, etc.

Tom DUKE

CTO, iBAHN

Tom Duke serves as iBAHN's Chief Technology Officer, responsible for worldwide product development including IPTV, HSIA, Conference & Lobby PC offerings. Additionally, Tom has responsibility for the company's R&D function. Prior to iBAHN, Duke served as chief technology officer for four+ years at Memex Technology, where he was instrumental in developing and delivering real time data management tools. Additional experience includes serving as director of engineering at Sopheon (formerly Orbital), and several years in consultative roles at Andersen Consulting. Based at iBAHN's Centre of Excellence in Stirling, Scotland, Tom is focused on bringing technical innovation to iBAHN's products for the hospitality industry.

Micah FRIEDMAN

Director - Hospitality Industry, Oracle Travel, Transportation & Hospitality Industry Business Unit

Mr. Friedman has a career in Hospitality Technology spanning 27 years. In his current role as Director – Hospitality Industry for Oracle Corporation, he is responsible for oversight of Oracle's strategies and offerings to: Lodging, Gaming, Cruise, Car Rental and Travel Distribution. In prior roles, Mr. Friedman has served as an Enterprise Architect working across the Blackstone Group's Real Estate Portfolio (Hilton Worldwide, LXR Luxury Resorts), as well as Management roles at Starwood Hotels & Resorts (Financial Systems Manager, PMS/CRS Property Systems Development - Project Manager) and Ocean Reef Club (Executive Director).

Consultancy Manger, S21Sec

Vanesa has a Degree in Law and a Master in Information Technology Law. She has more than 9 years of experience in the information security consultancy field, and has obtained the main security certifications. Amongst others, PCI DSS Qualified Security Assessor (QSA), Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT), Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC), BS7799-2 Lead Auditor and Certified Data Privacy Professional (CDPP). During her career in S21Sec she has managed and performed many projects related to information security management, like the implementation of Information Security Management Systems, development of Security Strategic Plans, PCI DSS assessments and on site audits, necessary to validate compliance with PCI DSS, development of Business Continuity Plans, consultancy for the compliance of data protection law and development of security policies and procedures. She is the Primary Contact of S21Sec for the PCI Security Standards Council and responsible for the PCI DSS Compliance Services in S21Sec. Currently, she is leading several projects in different Spanish financial entities, merchants and service providers that store, process or transmit cardholder data to help them achieve PCI DSS compliance.

Bryan HAMMER

Director of IT, Europe, Africa and Middle East, Starwood Hotels and Resorts

Co-Chair, HTNG Infrastructure and Device Forum, EMEA

Bryan Hammer is Director of IT, Europe, Africa and Middle East for Starwood Hotels and Resorts, a leading global hospitality management company with over 1000 hotels and 9 brands. Based in Brussels, Bryan fills a dual role requiring the balance and time management of EAME divisional and corporate projects for 250 hotels, as well as regional technology deployment and compliance specifically for Africa and Indian Ocean's 40 hotels. Launching his career with Starwood in 2000, Bryan handled area IT responsibilities for the Caribbean until 2006 when he joined the Starwood EAME technology team in Brussels under the guidance of Carson Booth, VP IT EAME. In his current role, Bryan manages the vendor relationships for several of Starwood EAME's technology partners in such areas as In Room Entertainment, PBX, PMS, HSIA, networking, and connectivity panels. Bryan is also a member of HFTP (Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals) and a CHTP (Certified Hospitality Technology Professional).

Jean Pascal (JP) Hebert is the Vice-President of Business Development at Elfiq Networks. Mr. Hebert leads the sales organization, the marketing group, strategic alliances and the channel program. He is a sales and partner management veteran with over 15 years of experience, having held senior sales positions within Symantec and McAfee, and was the first employee at Sybari Software in Canada and led the team until the acquisition by Microsoft.

In his role as Senior Partner and Director Client Services with h2c, Daniel is instru-mental in managing diverse client projects in the field of Hotel E-Marketing and Distribution. For many years his passion is to share knowledge as a trainer and speaker during national and international events and conferences and helps to foster the understanding of Travel Technology and Travel Management. During his years of working for international hotel chains he acquired the operational skills to advise customers today combined with profound experience in developing successful strategies. Daniel’s education includes a hotel management degree from the WIHOGA in Dortmund and an MBA in Global Business Leadership from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, USA.

Dayna KULLY
Senior Director Vertical Business Development - Corning MobileAccess

Dayna has 30 years of experience in sales, channel development, marketing and senior level management, specializing in telecommunications technology for the hospitality and healthcare markets. As Sr. Director Vertical Business Development at Corning MobileAccess, a leading distributed antenna system provider, Dayna is directly responsible for development of the hospitality vertical. Prior to MobileAccess, Dayna was the Vice President, Sales and Marketing for IP3, a broadband gateway supplier specializing in the hospitality market.  Early in her career, Dayna held sales management positions at Pacific Bell and AT&T. She also successfully managed sales, technical and operations teams at GE/RCA and Williams Communications, later joining Nortel Networks’ emerging optical and access group. Dayna later went on to become Vice President of Hospitality Divisions at both Everest Broadband and Mitel Networks. Prior to leading successful broadband divisions at Everest Broadband and Mitel Networks, Dayna co-founded Brautovich/Kully, a product marketing firm offering immediate, expert assistance in the strategic marketing of telecommunications products to companies such as US WEST, Hitachi, Northern Telecom and Fujitsu. Dayna holds a Bachelor’s degree with honors in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley.

Alex LEE
Director of IT - International, Hyatt Hotels Corporation

Alex Lee is the Director of IT - International, Hyatt Hotels Corporation. During Alex’s 25 years of hospitality technology experience, he has been involved with various integration projects involving both central and hotel based systems. Alex is past chair of the HTNG Property Distribution Workgroup and has overseen the deployment of technology solutions in the over 40 countries in which Hyatt currently operates.

Edwin NIEUWENHUYSE
European Business Head Retail, Hospitality & Education at Sony Professional Solutions Europe

Edwin has a degree in Electrical Engineering and is a seasoned professional who works for more than 16 years in the IT and AV/IT industry. During his years as ICT consultant and project manager, he gained experience in the fields of smartcard technology, multimedia, websites & e-learning productions. For several years he successfully managed a team of consultants at Logica.

He joined Sony Professional in 2003 and became an expert in the application of AV/IT technologies in Retail, Sports and Entertainment, Hospitality and Education markets. For several years he was responsible for the Professional Services team which designed and delivered Digital Signage, large LED, and IPTV solutions across EMEA. In his current role of European Business Head, Edwin is responsible for developing the Sony Professional offering and leads the marketing of Solutions for Retail, Hospitality and Education customers.

Christian Palomino manages an international team responsible for the provision of Voice and Data Networks Services to the Group, Guest Internet Access Services to hotels, as well as managing the corporate networks infrastructure.  He is also responsible for the Information Security Management Team.  Christian started his career at Meliá in 1999 as an IT System Analysts and in 2002 he started the development of the Information Security function in the Group, later he took responsibility over voice and data networks infrastructures in 2007 with the mission to align its delivery to the Shared Services strategy of the group.  Christian is also co-chair of the HTNG Secure Payments Framework Workgroup and also participates at ISACA as Chair of the CISM certification Test Enhancement Subcommittee, contributes to the development of COBIT 5 Security and the revision of the CGEIT certification contents.

Mark Rupert READ

Group IT Manager, Firmdale Hotels PLC

Mark Rupert Read is currently the Group IT Manager at Firmdale Hotels PLC, a position he has held since 2000. Firmdale Hotels designs, builds, owns and operates six hotels in central London with two other central London hotels under construction, including one trading hotel and about to start construction of a second hotel in New York. Based in London, Mark manages all aspects of the IT infrastructure in the UK and US, which also includes telecommunications. Mark considers himself to be an hotelier first, and then an IT Manager, with over 27 years of experience in hotels, of which the last 20 have been running hotels' IT departments. A seasoned and measured risk taker, Mark takes great pride in regularly being the first 'Hotelier' to have implemented new technologies into Firmdale Hotels, but also adopted/endorsed new technologies for the hospitality industry in general. Mark also sits on the IT Committee for HOSPA, formerly known as BAHA.

Mark REGENSBERG

Director of Information Technology, extrabold Hotel Management

Mark Regensberg is Director of Information Technology for extrabold hotel management in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mark is responsible for all aspects of technology strategy and deployment across the company's management portfolio, which includes several of the largest international and local hotel brands. Prior to extrabold, Mark was the technical director of South Africa's largest Incentive, travel & loyalty company. Having started his career in the early days of the South African ISP industry, Mark's professional experience includes telcommunications, professional services and hospitality.

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.

Bryan is the founder and Managing Director of Jireh-Tek Limited, an IT consultancy with a strong focus on the hospitality sector. He has 19 years of international IT and business experience gained in a number of sectors: FMCG, Speciality Chemicals, Internet and Hospitality.  Bryan joined the HTNG Board in the organisation’s formative years and continues to support HTNG as an Executive Advisor and through active participation in the Integration and Device Forum. He has chaired a number of workgroups specifying standard industry solutions focused on technology and service delivery to guests. Bryan is a Council member and Chairman of the IT Committee of HOSPA, the Hospitality Professionals Association and was a founding member of the Micros Fidelio Opera User Group, which he chaired from 2002 to 2006. Bryan was the Director of IT and a member of the Senior Management Team from 2002 to 2006 at Thistle Hotels where he had responsibility for all Information and Communication Technology. Before joining Thistle Hotels, Bryan was the European IT Director of CMGI Inc. which incubated a number of .com companies including Alta Vista. Prior to that, he held a number of senior IT and engineering management roles, including international assignments, within Unilever plc.

Roger Taylor joined Quadriga in 2008 as adviser to the group's board of directors, was formally appointed to the board as a non-executive director in 2010, and appointed CEO in 2011. Roger brings with him over 15 years of growth-focused experience. Prior to his appointment as CEO, Roger has held a number of senior positions at Pension Corporation and Close Brothers plc, has worked both in the UK and US and qualified as an accountant with Arthur Andersen. At Close Brothers he was a director in the M&A and Restructuring group where he helped build the consumer products team. At Pension Corporation he was a Partner with responsibilities including corporate and business development, as well as the management of a number of operating asset investments which included the technology business of telent UK and telent Gmbh, as well as Quadriga. Roger has an MA in Land Economy from Cambridge University and is a qualified Chartered Accountant.

Riko VAN SANTEN
Vice President -Distribution, Louvre Hotels Group
Vice President, Board of Directors - Hotel Technology Next Generation

Riko graduated with an honours degree in Hospitality Management from Middlesex University, London, and also holds a degree in Japanese business studies and various software administration qualifications. Following experience in various rooms division functions, Riko van Santen joined Pegasus Solutions in 2000 as Golden Tulip Group Revenue Manager. In 2003 he was appointed Director of Electronic Distribution and by 2007 V.P. of Electronic Distribution & ICT for the Golden Tulip Hospitality Group. Currently based at the group's headquarters in Lausanne, van Santen architects the group's distribution and technology initiatives. Golden Tulip's award winning website was the first hotel brand website to use RSS technology, Mobile-Device distribution, and multi lingual Online Distribution Database usage worldwide. Riko gives guest lectures at various hotel schools and industry events on Electronic Distribution and Revenue Management, and holds seats on: HTNG Board of Directors, HFTP EHTEC Advisory Council, Pegasus Solutions Customer Advisory Board, and Easynet (BSKYB) Customer Advisory Board. A Dutch national, Riko was born in Tokyo and having lived over 20 years abroad, Riko now resides in Paris, France with wife Christel and their two sons.

Yvette Vincent has over 20 years in the IT industry with the past 12 at Delaware North Companies Inc., a privately held international hospitality management company.  She served as Director of Applications with responsibility for the IT management of corporate systems and data architectures for Finance, HR, Payroll, Benefits Administration, CRES, PMS, Catering, POS, and other hotel systems.  In her current role, Yvette is responsible for the business IT strategy for the sports and entertainment division, and is working on several integration opportunities that span DNC wide technologies to meet business needs related to guest service, revenue enhancement, and productivity.  She previously co-chaired the HTNG property web services work-group and is actively involved in the data integration ODX team.  Prior to joining DNC, Yvette was responsible for custom systems at National Fuel Gas and a privately owned medical company.  She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Canisius College in Buffalo, NY with a marketing focused MBA.  Yvette lives in Western New York with her husband and two children, and still ballroom dances and cycles when time permits.

VP of IT & Senior Consultant, Kilian & Partner Sarl

As a senior executive, with 27 years of both operational and management experience in international Hotel Information Technology, Wibecke is a recognized expert and speaker in her field. After a solid hotel management education in the Netherlands and M.Sc. from FIU, Wibecke worked 10 years putting IT on the map of Hilton International. She then worked throughout Europe and in South East Asia, directing CRS and IT solutions in mid-sized companies. Early 2006 Wibecke was appointed to the board of directors of the global trade association Hotel Technology Next Generation but had to resign in June 2008 as part of her resignation as hotel group CIO, and currently is an Executive Advisor. She is an active participant in HFTP’s and other industry educational and business forums. In her most recent position, as Senior Vice President for Kempinski Hotels & Resorts, Wibecke project managed the company's IT requirements for Emirates Palace, implemented several major corporate IT and S&M system projects and in general headed IT for this organization for 8 years. Since 2008 Wibecke offers her services as IT & Systems Consultant for Hospitality, assisting a range of hotel companies with designing and planning effective IT business strategies and appropriate governance processes.

Jeremy WARD

Senior VP Information Technology, Kempinski Hotels S.A.

Jeremy Ward was appointed as the Senior Vice President-IT for Kempinski Hotels in 2008. He brings more than 17 years of experience in the IT industry to the position. Prior to his appointment, he was the CIO for JJW Hotels and Resorts. At JJW Hotels and Resorts, Jeremy was fundamental in establishing and expanding the technology used throughout the groups hotels, including applications and solutions used across the back-office, and the emergence and convergence of technologies used for guest facing solutions. At Kempinski Jeremy is tasked with aligning the business requirements of the group with the IT strategy and steering the Group through a rapid expansion process as they look to double in size over the next 3 years. Jeremy sits on a number of external advisory panels related to the hospitality industry and is a board member for HTNG.

Michael ZETTERLUND - EAME Co-Chair, Infrastructure & Device Forum

CTO R&D - Nordic Choice Hotels

Michael Zetterlund has 15 years of IT experience working with various customers in primarily the offshore and hospitality business before joining Choice Hotels Scandinavia (now Nordic Choice Hotels) in 2000. He is currently working as CTO R&D and is responsible for developing and integrating new products. Current projects overseen by Michael are Energy Zones (interfaced HVAC systems managed by Cenium PMS , including a unique 7-day prognosis for maximum efficiency), Check in/out kiosks, RFID based in-house micro payment and Microsoft Surface based “virtual concierge”. Nordic Choice Hotels currently operates 165+ hotels in Scandinavia, Finland and the Baltics ranging from bed & breakfast to five star resorts.