Raul A. Arce

Vice President, Travel and Transportation, IBM Corporation

Raul A. Arce is Vice President, Travel and Transportation, for the IBM Corporation.  He is responsible for establishing the global strategy and defining the solution portfolio for IBM’s Travel and Transportation Organization.  He has over 15 years of experience in the T&T industry and was an Executive Consultant for IBM directing the development of the Delta Air Lines web site and was a member of the e-Delta Board of Directors.  Prior to joining IBM, he was the CEO/CTO for Oxford-based Travelstore.com, the largest online business travel company in the UK, and Director of Distributed Systems for a major GDS.  Prior to his T&T career, he was an Industrial Engineer in the health care industry and has designed and installed patient information systems at UC Irvine Medical Center, Cedars Medical Center and Presbyterian Healthcare Systems.  He currently lives in Atlanta and holds an MS degree in IT from Southern Polytechnic State University in Georgia. 

Edward Goldman

Vice President, Technology Strategy, Information Resources Shared Services, Marriott International, Inc.

Edward Goldman is Vice President of Technology Strategy at Marriott International, Inc. and has accountability for the information technology strategy for all Marriott brands and business units.  In this position, he is responsible for identifying what role specific technologies will play today, and in the future, to enable Marriott to achieve our company's objectives. Prior to this role, Mr. Goldman had accountability for Marriott’s enterprise operations which included all systems and networks within the corporate data center and its business recovery strategy. Mr. Goldman has been with Marriott for over 10 years and has held a variety of leadership roles within the organization. Some of these included the development of Marriott’s Enterprise Architecture initiative, management of senior technical associates responsible for the design and implementation of systems architecture, leadership of the project managers for infrastructure and the development of systems administration and automation. He joined Marriott from NASD in 1996 where he served as a director in the Systems and Operations group. Prior to that role, Mr. Goldman served as a senior technical resource for several IT consulting companies such as Boeing Computer Services, Operations Research International and IBM Corporation. Mr. Goldman holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland and an MBA in Information Systems from Mt. St. Mary's College.

Rosemary Jay

Partner, Pinsent Masons

Rosemary heads Pinsent Masons’ respected Information Law team.  The team was listed as one of the top UK teams for data protection by Chambers 2008.  She advises on privacy, confidentiality, data protection, access and related information law issues.  Her clients include public bodies, multi-nationals and private organisations in both UK legal issues and international data transfers.  Rosemary has specialised in data protection for over twenty years and is ranked as one of the UK's top lawyers in the area.  She was for 12 years lead of the legal function at the office of the data protection regulatory authority. She is author of the leading textbook in the area, Sweet & Maxwell’s ‘Data Protection Law & Practice’, now in its third edition,  a contributing editor to the White Book on data protection and an editor of the ‘Encyclopaedia of Data Protection’.  She is a member of the UK Government's Ministerial Advisory User Group on access rights and has worked with the Council of Europe and the European Commission on privacy issues in Europe and the Commonwealth Secretariat in West Africa.

Dave Margulius

Principal Analyst, Enterprise Insight

Dave Margulius is an analyst and consultant focused on the enterprise technology marketplace, specifically CIO priorities and how organizations are creating business value with IT.  His firm, Enterprise Insight, is based in San Francisco.  A frequent moderator of CIO roundtables and speaker at industry events, Dave is a member of the Board of Directors of Silicon Valley’s Churchill Club, and a regular contributor to IDG’s InfoWorld.com. He’s also an Executive Fellow of the Center for Digital Strategies at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business.  Before founding Enterprise Insight, Dave held management and marketing roles with several Internet-related companies including Netscape, Evite Inc. and Kontiki. He also co-founded The Boston Globe’s Internet subsidiary, Boston.com, now one of the top ten newspaper sites. Dave holds an MBA from Stanford Business School and a Computer Science degree from Brown University.

Gustaaf Schrils

Vice President, Hotel Technology and Services, InterContinental Hotels Group

Gustaaf Schrils is Vice President of Hotel Technology and Services for InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG).  Since joining the company in 1995, he has held increasing responsibilities and has successfully implemented many large-scale programs impacting telecommunications, hotel based technologies, property management systems, and wide area networking.  He led a $215M technology refresh program for 2,850 hotels in the Americas.    Gustaaf oversees a group of talented resources performing hotel technology life cycle management, integration and innovations, all solutions geared towards improving profitability, productivity and ease of use.    To appreciate the volume his team manages on average one new hotel joins the IHG family of brands almost every business day.  Born in Curacao, Netherlands Antilles, Gustaaf is fluent in English, Spanish, Dutch and his native language Papiamento.  He has a great appreciation for the impact of technology across the world given the diversity of cultures, languages, politics and his experience in global competitive environments. Originally a Master Electrician and Certified Welder, he came to the United States in 1984 to attend the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida, where he earned his Bachelor Degree in Computer Engineering and Master Degree in Engineering Management.  Prior to joining IHG, he held positions at HF Communication Corporation, American Telecommunications Corporation, and O’Neil Communications.  Gustaaf serves on the Board of Directors for Hotel Technology Next Generation (HTNG) and is an advisor to several hospitality technology organizations.   

Barry L. Shuler

Senior VP of IT Strategy and Chief Technology Officer, Marriott International, Inc.

Senior VP and Chief Information Officer, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co.

President and Director, Hotel Technology Next Generation

A graduate of The University of South Carolina, Barry Shuler’s responsibilities encompass all aspects of the Chief Technology Officer role, and he plays an integral role in promoting Marriott’s competitive advantage through the effective identification and use of information technology.  He has held this position for 11 years.  Barry has over 37 years of Information Technology experience, including 12 years of management consulting to Fortune 100 companies and government, and 25 years of internal corporate systems in Western Electric Company, Bell Laboratories, AT&T, and Marriott International.  He has authored and been featured in numerous computing and communications articles, and has contributed to many books on information technology.  He is a popular speaker at conferences and seminars on enterprise architecture, business process reengineering, IT-enabled change, IT metrics, and strategic planning for information technology.  He also serves on a number of other external advisory boards.

Eric Swift

Senior Director, Unified Communications Group, Microsoft Corporation

As senior director of product management in the Unified Communications Group at Microsoft, Eric Swift is responsible for managing customer and industry requirements, product positioning, and marketing strategies for the next generation of Microsoft Unified Communications products and services, including Microsoft Office Communicator, Microsoft Office Communications Server, and Microsoft RoundTable.  Swift has been with Microsoft for six years. Previous to his current position with the Unified Communications Group, he was director of product management in Microsoft’s Application Platform group. Prior to joining Microsoft, Swift held vice president positions at enterprise application integration and CRM software vendors where responsibilities included product management, CRM and Data Warehouse implementations, and technical support operations.  Swift has an MBA from Columbia University in New York, NY.

Brian C. Alessi

Information Analyst, Delaware North Companies

Brian Alessi, Information Analyst, has worked for Delaware North Companies Inc., a privately held international company with 40,000+ employees specializing in food service and hospitality management, for 3 years.  Currently, he is responsible for the coordination of integration projects involving web services frameworks and multi-party interfaces.  These projects focus in areas such as guest service, revenue management, productivity and transactional.  As of late Brian's focus has been related to legacy systems and data mining with regard to web enabled technologies.  Additionally, Brian is responsible for all Delaware North web enabled technologies.  He graduated from the State University at Buffalo with a Computer Science degree.  Brian lives in Western New York and has recently started taking dance lessons. 

T. Paul Armstrong

Executive Vice President & Chief Technical Officer, MICROS Systems, Inc.

Paul Armstrong is Executive Vice President and Chief Technical Officer of MICROS Systems, Inc.  He has been with MICROS since 1981 and has held a number of executive positions in the sales and development functions.  During this period Paul has been instrumental in MICROS product strategy and has architected many of MICROS solutions. He works closely with food service and hospitality operators around the world developing enterprise solutions and helping formulate IT strategies.

Stephen Burke

Vice President, Product Development, Knowcross Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Chair, HTNG Architecture Workgroup

Stephen Burke heads product management and product development for Knowcross Solutions Pvt. Ltd, a New Delhi, India-based provider of software products, such as TRITON™ Guest Services System, that are aimed at enabling high-end hotels to deliver an exceptional overall guest experience.  Prior to Knowcross Solutions, Stephen was the Director of Systems Integration for Hotel Booking Solutions Incorporated, working with distribution and supply interfaces primarily based in OTA XML.  Stephen was also part of New Orleans-based Hotel Booking Solutions, LLC, where he focused on distribution channel and supply acquisition, as well as partner management. Stephen has served in technology management roles for Diamond Data Systems, Sprint E-Solutions and Tulane University.  He has consulted on technology issues with Fortune 1000 clients such as Entergy, McDermott International, SCP Pool/Zen-Noh Grain and Solvay, S.A.  He has previously presented at industry conferences including HEDNA and HITEC. He has been active in HTNG for the last three years, and was part of team that created the Property Distribution v1.0 specification, as well as presently working on the ODX team of Property Web Services workgroup.  Stephen is a graduate of Tulane University and a confirmed curry-aholic.

Brigitte Diem-Guy

General Manager, SpaSoft, PAR Springer-Miller Systems

Originally from Switzerland, Brigitte has spent the last 18 years in North America working for large international hospitality companies in a variety of Operational, Sales & Marketing and International Business Development Executive roles.   A dynamic business leader with over 22 years of broad-based hospitality experience, her strategic approach and will to win has proven effective in driving results in product development, marketing, operations and the successful positioning of hospitality corporations in the global market place.  Prior to joining PAR Springer-Miller Systems as General Manager for SpaSoft, Ms. Diem-Guy was working for the Toronto Convention and Visitors Bureau as Corporate Director. She was responsible for the economic recovery of the Convention & Meeting sector post SARS, ensuring consistent corporate imaging with related strategic initiatives as well as positioning the new brand for Toronto within the international market place.  She has been an active member in the HTNG Property Web Services Group, representing SpaSoft in the Single Guest Itinerary and Back Office Integration workgroups.

Chris Farrar, Ph.D.

President, Percipia Networks

Team Chair, IP Telephony, HTNG In-Room Technology Workgroup

Chris Farrar began his hospitality industry career as a jack-of-all-trades at a small family-owned resort lodge in Carmel Valley, California.  After a successful academic career and detours through a variety of companies and industries, Chris found his way back into the hotel business when he joined Percipia in 1996.  As president of Percipia, Chris is responsible for overall management of the company, development of strategic relationships and executive-level account management.  In previous positions with the company, he helped shepherd it from a small, local telephony company into a multimillion dollar global supplier of IP-based telecommunications goods and services.  In this capacity, Percipia is helping the hotel industry reap the strategic and competitive rewards of the transition to new internet-related voice communication technologies.

Sophie Grigg

Vice President, Advanced Product Technology, PAR Springer-Miller Systems

Team Chair, Protocol & Message Architecture Team, HTNG Property Web Services Workgroup

Sophie Grigg is the Vice President of Advanced Product Technology for PAR Springer-Miller Systems (PSMS) and has been with the company for six years.   As a foundation member of HTNG, Par Springer-Miller understood the importance of this initiative for the hospitality industry and made it a strategic project for the R&D team that Sophie headed.  Sophie has been directly involved in HTNG since its inception as an active and/or chairing workgroup member, most recently chairing the Property Web Services Workgroup's Protocol and Message Architecture team.  Prior to joining PSMS, she held various management and senior management positions in computing or finance organizations including Systems Corporation, Westpac Investment Management, State Street Bank and Trust, and IBM Australia.  Sophie trained as a systems programmer with IBM, has a strong working knowledge of many software languages, and holds a BBus. degree from KCAE - Australia.  Recent large projects at PMS that she has been responsible for have included SMS|Kiosk, SMS|World/XA - A Next Generation Internet capability and several Internationalization and Distribution projects as PSMS expands its global presence.

Lew J. Harasymiw

Director of Interface Solutions, Synxis

Team Co-Chair, Message Definition Team, HTNG Property/Distribution Solution Workgroup

Lew J. Harasymiw is the Director of Interface Solutions for SynXis, the industry leader in distribution technology and services.  Lew has been working in technology since graduating from Boston College Law School in 1996.  After working for nearly 4 years as a consultant, Lew entered the hospitality industry and in 2000, became one of the founding members of hubX Inc.  At hubX he designed and developed all aspects of the application architecture including PMS integration, booking engines, call center applications, and administration and content management tools.  After hubX was acquired by SynXis in 2004, Lew continued in his role and was instrumental in the transition to SynXis's new RedX platform.  Shortly after Sabre Holdings acquired SynXis in 2005, Lew's focus became centered on interfaces.  He is now responsible for the planning and implementation of strategic partnerships and automation with the industry's leading booking sites.  More recently he has assumed responsibility for SynXis's Technology Partner Program.  Lew is very active in both HTNG and the OpenTravel Alliance.  He is currently the co-chair of the OpenTravel Hospitality Workgroup.  He also acts as the co-chair of the HTNG Property/Distribution Workgroup Message Definition Team where he is collaborating with the other members on the v2.0 specification.

Dale R. Lay

Executive Director, Network Interface Team, AT&T

Dale leads a team of AT&T Consulting and Engineering resources focused on delivering customized solutions to Fortune 500 clients. His specialized team focuses on solutions that enable clients to increase productivity, deliver enhanced services, and position themselves with best of breed technologies, keeping them positioned ahead or even with their competitors. Dale joined AT&T in 2000.  He has over 20 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, nine years with the Federal Bureau of Investigations working Special Operations, and eleven additional years with Ernst & Young, MCI, and AT&T.   During this time, he was responsible across a wide array of premises- and network-based Voice, Data and IP technologies and services, including Virtual Private Networks, PKI Infrastructures, LAN/WAN, Computer Security, PBX, Wireless, and related offerings. Dale has been specifically dedicated to his current role in support of AT&T’s largest Hospitality clients for the past six  years (Marriott, Starwood, Hilton, Hyatt, Cendant, Intercontinental Hotel Group, Prince Resorts, and the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group).  Key projects led by Dale and his team, include a series of VoIP/IPT deployments in the hospitality industry that utilize multiple vendor platforms and customized application development integrated together with an IP/TDM/Hybrid platform into a customized hospitality solution meeting or exceeding client-specific requirements.

Markus Leibundgut

Chief Technology Officer, MenuLogic

Markus Leibundgut is responsible for all technology operations and development for MenuLogic, a supplier of electronic menu and self service solutions for hospitality venues.  Prior to joining MenuLogic, Markus held CTO positions for several new media companies in the social networking, luxury on-line retail, and internet advertising markets.  As the Director of e-Business at Thermo Electron, he created the technology backbone which allowed Thermo to merge the Web presence of over 100 established brands into one single brand, to merge sales data from dozens of ERP systems worldwide into one single sales data mart managing over $2 billion in sales, and to create a unified, global lead-management system.  Markus has also held senior management positions in Technology, Marketing and Operations, including digital systems design, with Mettler-Toledo, a $1 billion provider of precision instruments.  Markus has an MBA with distinction from New York University and a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.

Alan Lubitz

Chief Information Officer, Planet Payment Inc.

Chair, HTNG Payment Systems and Data Security Workgroup

Alan Lubitz is the Chief Information Officer for Planet Payment, Inc.  Planet Payment provides multi-currency credit card processing services for banks and processors in Europe, the United States and Asia Pacific (including greater China).  Mr. Lubitz has more than 20 years of payment industry experience starting at Chase Manhattan Bank and including 11 years as CTO at a couple of large credit card ISO’s.  He has been responsible for developing mainframe, UNIX and Windows based credit card and check transaction processing systems.  In 1987 he was responsible for one of the first UNIX based in-store processors (for retail department stores) marketed in the US.  At Planet Payment he is responsible for a multi-currency Windows based authorization system with Web Services interface support and a “currency agnostic” Solaris based Merchant Accounting System with Web Services interface support.  Mr. Lubitz has a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering and an MBA.  He has published several papers in the areas of telecommunications and data networking.  More recently, he has presented at a NACHA Payments Conference on the subject of Electronic Check Representment.

Monika Nerger

Vice President, IT - The Americas, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group

Co-Chair, HTNG In-Room Technology Workgroup

Monika Nerger has been engaged in the technology and hospitality industries for the past 25 years.  As a writer and consultant, she has published several articles on subjects ranging from legacy application modernization, CRM in the gaming industry, to the use of satellite communications onboard cruise ships.  She has worked on a number of new hotel projects, including the opening of The Borgata in Atlantic City and the Sands (Venetian) in Macau.  Monika worked internationally with Pan Pacific Hotels, KPMG Consulting and Royal Caribbean Cruise lines, before assuming her current position as Vice President of Technology, The Americas, for Mandarin Oriental Hotels.  In her current role she oversees regional responsibilities for technology in Mandarin’s hotels in New York, Washington, Miami, Bermuda, San Francisco, as well as new developments under construction in Las Vegas, Cancun, Costa Rica, Turks and Caicos, Boston, Dallas, and Chicago.  She holds a Masters Degree in Business as well as an undergraduate degree in Computer Science, and is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma.

Greg Pasetta

Chief Operating Officer, Tangerine Global

Team Chair, Media Content Team - HTNG In-Room Technology Workgroup

With more than 20 years experience, Greg Pasetta has worked in all facets of the television and media industry from content creation to distribution. As COO of Tangerine Global, he is responsible for the technology and operations of the company.  Greg started his career in live and variety television working on the largest television shows, including: The Academy Awards, Emmy Awards, Full House and over 30 other series and specials.  He has managed and operated many companies, including: TVN Entertainment, Alyna Media and NetSmart.  While at TVN, he created a satellite distribution and asset management system that today is the main VOD content delivery platform for the cable industry serving content to over 30M households. Greg's extensive background in HDTV started in 1991, working on early HDTV productions and building an HDTV facility in 1993.  For many years, he also served as an advisor to the Board of Directors of DePfa Bank, one of the largest banks in Germany.

Francesca Pasetti

Senior Product Manager – Interfaces, Trust International

Co-Chair, HTNG Property/Distribution Solution Workgroup, Message Definition Team

Francesca Pasetti, Senior Product Manager for Interfaces at Trust International, has over ten years’ experience working with reservation systems and hotel technology. With a diploma in Managerial Engineering, and a first BA Honours degree in Hospitality Management from Thames Valley University (London), she quickly established herself in the Hotel Industry, gaining a strong foundation in Hotel Management (from the 3-4 star to luxury sectors), in particular in electronic distribution strategies.  In 2001 she “swapped sides” from client to supplier, joining the Trust family, as Product Engineer, and later, Senior Product Manager. Here she applied her technical know-how, and her practical understanding of hotel needs, to several aspects of electronic distribution, including GDS connectivity, switch and content management products, as well as the Trust CRS.  In 2005 she assumed responsibility for the development and implementation of supplier interfaces, as well as standardised specifications for the Trust CRS. She has been the driving force in establishing Trust, already a recognized leader in Voice Services, Content Distribution and SNG connectivity, as a strong, reliable partner in third party interfacing.   She has co-chaired the HTNG Message Definition Team since 2006 and played an instrumental role in bringing out the first set of HTNG specifications.  She is committed to HTNG and contributing to making interfaces easier for everyone!

Bill Peer

Director, Enterprise Architecture, InterContinental Hotels Group

Bill Peer has spent the past decade focusing exclusively on Internet technology based large scale systems.  He has worked in many industries, including hospitality, insurance and retail.  During his nearly 20 years of professional experience, Bill has worked in every IT capacity and his career even includes time at the National Security Agency.  Bill is a member of the customer advisory boards for a number of technology companies, including Akamai and Day Software.  He has conducted numerous presentations about the Internet, its foundational technology, and its constraints .Bill earned his baccalaureate in Physics (Cum Laude) and received a Master’s degree in Computer Science.

Thomas W. Pullen

Vice President, IP Video-on-Demand, Guest-Tek

Tom is the Vice-President of IP Video-on-Demand for Guest-Tek, where he is responsible for the company’s global IPTV and IP-VOD businesses.   Tom manages the video technology development strategy, product features and functionality, Hollywood studio relationships, as well as, the video products’ global sales.  Under Tom’s direction, Guest-Tek delivered the first IPTV solution to the hospitality market in North America in November 2005 and the first high-definition IP-VOD and IPTV solution in the world in August 2007.  Tom joined Guest-Tek in January 2005 after three years with General Dynamics Interactive (GDI) as its Director of Strategic Alliances.  At GDI, Tom was the top sales and business development executive.  He facilitated the development of the first high-definition IP-VOD solution in the hotel marketplace which was deployed in November 2003 at the Mandarin Oriental New York City and subsequently in the Wynn Las Vegas Resort.  Prior to GDI, Tom was the Vice-President of Sales and Corporate Development at NXTV where he led the sales team and established long-term deals with the Four Seasons and St. Regis hotel brands.  Tom holds an M.B.A. in Strategy & Marketing from the Anderson School at U.C.L.A. and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with honors from Tufts University.

Douglas Rice

Executive Vice President & CEO, Hotel Technology Next Generation

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. 

Gregory K. Rutledge

Executive Vice President, Head of Engineering, interTouch Pte. Ltd

Gregory Rutledge oversees the Engineering and R&D activities in software and hardware development for VOD and Broadband systems.  He has more than 19 years experience in service operation requirements for new product development and service implementation in the Hospitality marketplace.  Mr. Rutledge has been directly involved in management of cable, satellite and television systems as well as third party maintenance of supported product lines in small, medium, and large mainframe systems and document processing equipment.  Mr. Rutledge, former CTO and VP Engineering of MagiNet joined the company in 1996.  His prior position was Regional Director of Granada North America Inc., responsible for regional planning and supervision of field service, installations, and operations for the Western USA.   Mr. Rutledge holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Technology from Americus University.

Neil Schubert

Vice President, IT Strategy, Marriott International.

Co-Chair, HTNG In-Room Technology Workgroup

Neil Schubert plays a major role in the determination of which technologies and applications will be used in Marriott beyond the traditional 3-year planning horizon. He joined Marriott’s Information Resources (IR) division in 1996 after eight years with Renaissance Hotels. He is a 25-year hospitality technology industry professional. He has held a variety of roles in IT leadership, application development, network and operations support.  Marriott International, Inc., is a leading worldwide hospitality company with over 2,700 operating units in the US and 64 other countries and territories. Marriott’s lodging business includes hotels and vacation ownership (timeshare) resorts operated and franchised under the Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, Renaissance, Residence Inn, Courtyard, TownePlace Suites, Fairfield Inn, SpringHill Suites, and Marriott Vacation Club International brands. The company is headquartered in Washington, DC and has approximately 128,000 associates.

David M. Straitiff

Chief Technology Officer, Lorica Solutions

Team Chair, In-Room Guest Controls Team, HTNG In-Room Technology Workgroup

David M. Straitiff is the Chief Technology Officer of Lorica Solutions, a systems integrator specializing in hospitality. Prior to joining the Lorica management team, he founded Intuitek, a hardware and software development company partnered with Lorica where he continues as its President and CEO. His start-ups also include Syrinex Communications, a manufacturer of Internet server appliances, where he served as President and CEO; and as EVP and CTO of Voice Technologies Group, a leading provider of computer telephony integration that was acquired by Intel. David has also held executive positions with Algonquin Studios, Compass Ventures and Cyberfone.  He has worked in the computer and telecommunications industries for over 20 years leading strategic relationships, development projects and the successful launch of numerous product lines with partners including Intel, Microsoft, Cisco, HP, NEC, Analog Devices, Toshiba and Avaya. He is a US patent holder and was involved in the early development of industry standards including the Microsoft Windows Telephony API (TAPI), Universal Serial Bus (USB), SCSA and MVIP telephony buses. Currently he sits on the Hospitality Technology Next Generation (HTNG) In-Room Technology workgroup helping define emerging standards.

Bryan Steele

Founder and Managing Director, Jireh-Tek Ltd.

Representing eTV Interactive as Team Chair, Applications & Device Integration Team - HTNG In-Room Technology Workgroup

Bryan Steele has over 17 years of IT and business experience gained not just in the hospitality sector but also from 19 years with Unilever, a Blue Chip company, where he held a number of senior IT and engineering management roles which included international assignments. He was the Director of IT and a member of the Senior Management Team at Thistle Hotels, a £300m company comprising 50 hotels and 10,500 rooms operating under the Thistle and Guoman brands; where he had responsibility for all Information and Communication Technology. During this time Brayn co-founded and chaired the Micros Fidelio Opera Users Group.  He is an ex HTNG Board member and currently an Executive Advisor to the Board. He is also on the Advisory Board of Lorica Solutions.  Jireh-Tek’s client list includes Hilton Hotel Corporation, Majid Al Futtaim Hospitality, AT&T, ETV Interactive, Cinven, and Professionalink.

Victor Vargas

Director of Product Management, AltiusPAR

Victor Vargas has a proven track record of delivering successful software products to the hospitality industry market and demonstrated knowledge and execution of product planning, requirements management and the overall product delivery lifecycle. As the Director of Product Management he is responsible to provide technology vision, strategy and leadership for researching, planning, designing, developing, and implementing state-of-the-art products and technologies to addresses current and future customer needs. Before his current position, Vargas was the Director of Research & Development for AltiusPAR. Prior to joining AltiusPAR, Vargas was the chief solution architect and project manager for Grupo Posadas’ patent-pending Central Inventory Systems (CIS) and Distribution Technology Platform, the core technologies behind the AltiusPAR’s revenue and inventory management technology.  During his 10 years at Grupo Posadas, Vargas led strategic IT projects, played an active role in defining, managing and architecting the solutions, and he also led the process improvement programs to define, promote, and implement the standards, methodologies and best practices behind all software initiatives. Prior to Grupo Posadas, Vargas worked for seven years at Grupo Financiero Serfin (currently Santander-Serfin); Mexico’s third largest banking institution, holding regional and nationwide consumer credit managerial positions. Vargas graduated with honors from the Universidad ISEC, where he received an undergraduate degree in computer science engineering and holds an MBA from the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico (ITAM) obtaining certifications for both Marketing and Finance.

Yvette Vincent

Director of Applications, Delaware North Companies

Co-Chair, HTNG Property Web Services Workgroup

Yvette Vincent, Director of Applications, is CHTP certified and has worked for Delaware North Companies Inc., a privately held international company with 40,000+ employees specializing in food service and hospitality management, for 9 years.   Currently she is responsible for the IT management of corporate systems and data architectures for Finance, HR, Payroll, Benefits Administration, CRS, PMS, and other hotel systems.   Yvette is working on several integration projects and is excited about the solutions that HTNG is working on to meet business needs related to guest service, revenue enhancement, and productivity.  Prior to joining DNC, Yvette was responsible for programmers and 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 has recently begun rehearsing with her former ballroom dance partner with whom she used to compete at the National Championship Level in Amateur competitions. 

Richard E. Wagner

Director of Network Architecture & Planning, Marriott International

Team Chair, Infrastructure - HTNG In-Room Technology Workgroup

Richard E. Wagner is currently Director, Network Architecture & Planning for Marriott International, Inc.  In this position, he is responsible for the design and planning of the company’s wide area network and its infrastructure.  This network serves Marriott’s corporate offices, reservation sites, subsidiary offices and over 2800 Marriott properties worldwide.  Prior to joining Marriott, Richard held similar network management positions for an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and a Competitive