Jeremy Ward* - President, Term Expires 31 March 2014

Governor, Term Expires 31 March 2014
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.

Monika Nerger* - Vice President, Term Expires 31 March 2014

Monika Nerger joined Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group in 2006 as Vice President of Technology, the Americas, and was promoted to global Chief Information Officer in 2011. Prior to Mandarin Oriental, Monika worked internationally with Pan Pacific Hotels, KPMG Consulting, Advanced BusinessLink and Royal Caribbean Cruise lines. 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 holds a Masters Degree in Business as well as an undergraduate degree in Computer Science, and is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma. Monika has a keen interest in working with and mentoring the next generation of hospitality technologists. Be prepared to debate whether technology in our industry is evolutionary or revolutionary!

Mike Blake* - Treasurer, Term Expires 31 March 2014

Michael Blake is the CIO of Commune Hotels & Resorts, encompassing Joie de Vivre Hotels and Thompson Hotels.  He previously served as CIO and, earlier, as VP-Finance-Global Marketing, Brand Standards & IT for Hyatt Corporation. Michael has over 20 years of experience in finance and technology in various roles. Working with senior leaders throughout Hyatt, Michael is charged with providing strategic leadership and sound perspective that contributes to the management and evolution of Hyatt's global IT functions. He is responsible for driving innovation and supporting revenue growth. Prior to his role with Hyatt, Michael was Senior Vice President of IT for First Data, VP of IT Finance at Kaiser Permanente and Director of IT Finance for Sears, based in Chicago, IL. In each of his roles, he was the highest ranking IT Finance resource and key internal consultant and advisor to national senior leadership teams. Prior to that, Michael was Director of Financial Planning & Analysis for Commerx, a B2B startup, and Director of Financial Planning for United Airlines. Michael received his MBA Finance and Economics from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and his MS Information Technology from Northwestern University.

Mark Rupert Read* - Secretary, Term Expires 31 March 2014

Governor, Term Expires 31 March 2014
Group IT Manager, Firmdale Hotels

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 seven hotels in central London with an eight under construction, and opened their first hotel in New York in 2009. Based in London, Mark manages all aspects of the IT infrastructure in the UK and US, which also includes telecommunications. Projects this year include virtualisation of systems, a credit card tokenisation system, IP telephony projects including PABX virtualisation, wireless VoIP. 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. His role also includes being part of the Environmental & Social responsibly committees within Firmdale, and is becoming a regular speaker at events related to the hospitality industry.

Floor Bleeker* - Governor, Term Expires 31 March 2014

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.

Carson Booth - Governor, Term Expires 31 March 2014

Since 2011, Carson Booth has served as General Manager, Starwood International Licensing Company Sàrl, a Starwood subsidiary, and as Vice President, Global Property Technology, also for Starwood. In these roles, he manages the day to day operations of SILC and seeks to drive holistic and global property technology solutions for Starwood’s 1100+ hotels across 100 countries. Prior to this, Mr. Booth led the IT organization for Starwood Europe Africa Middle East division based in Brussels, managed global technical support call centers, helped lead the technical integration of a new hotel company and brand, and has centralized/decentralized a variety of technology systems. He has over 20 years of global hotel technology experience, beginning at the Desert Inn Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in 1990 as a systems analyst, and in 1996 joined ITT Sheraton as a EMEA Project Manager based in London. Mr. Booth holds a BA in Computer Science with a concentration in business management from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. He is a past Director of Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals and is based in Luxembourg.

Jeff Bzdawka - Governor, Term Expires 31 March 2014

At Hyatt, Jeff is responsible for establishing and executing the portfolio roadmap of all Global Property Systems and Solutions deployed to support Hyatt’s global brands. This includes PMS and PoS, guest service and spa applications, guest Internet access, interactive TV and telecommunications systems. Prior to Hyatt, Jeff was the Executive VP of Global Operations for TravelClick, where he managed a cross-functional, geographically-dispersed team that provided hotel business process management and distribution solutions for 30,000 customers across 140 countries. Prior to that he worked for Pegasus Solutions as SVP of Service Delivery, where he created a functional service delivery organization with focus on enhancing customer experience and improving operational efficiencies. He also served as Pegasus’ SVP of Financial Services, focused on providing centralized travel agency commissions payment services and was responsible for product development, product delivery, sales and support for the global service offering. Earlier in his career, he served as the VP of Strategic Information Systems for Security Capital Group in Atlanta, GA where he managed IS for Homestead Guest Studios. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Wisconsin – Stout with BS in Hotel, Restaurant & Institutional Management, and is active with the university’s foundation alumni programs. He resides in Palatine, IL.

Scot Campbell* - Governor, Term Expires 31 March 2015

Vice President & Chief Information Officer, Pinnacle Entertainment

Scot is currently Vice President & CIO at Pinnacle Entertainment, having joined them in October 2011.  He was previously Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer-Hospitality for MGM Resorts International. He started his career with Mirage Resorts in 1994. He  spent two years with the CityCenter team, guiding in-room and business technology strategies for Aria, Vdara, and Mandarin hotels. Scot's professional affiliations include Hospitality Technology Next Generation. Scot also serves on the Board of Directors of Hospitality Financial Technology Professionals

Peter Engel* - Governor, Term Expires 31 March 2015

Peter Engel is CTO for Marcus Hotels & Resorts, a division of The Marcus Corporation. Engel has more than 35 years of experience in the information technology industry. In his role at Marcus Hotels & Resorts, he leads the strategy and implementation of hotel, food & beverage, electronic distribution and guest technologies. He is also responsible for technology evaluations of acquisition candidates, IT support of hotel openings and business opportunity development. Engel has over fifteen years of travel and leisure industry experience, including serving as SVP at The Mark Travel Corporation where Engel lead the systems engineering, operations, and system architecture functions. Mark Travel is a leading tour operator with multiple vacation brands and manages vacation programs for major airlines and hotel companies. Engel also served as COO for Trisept Solutions, a leading travel technology company providing reservation systems and ecommerce to the tour operator and vacation travel industries. His roles during this time include heading software development, customer service, sales, and system engineering. Prior to joining the travel industry, Engel gained broad technology and industry experience during thirteen years at Tandem Computers (now Hewlett Packard).

Scott Gibson* - Governor, Term Expires 31 March 2015

Scott leads the Information Technology team at Best Western, and also is responsible for global electronic channel distribution, central reservations delivery, and for providing strategic consulting, business planning and performance measurement services to the Board and the senior management team. Gibson joined Best Western in 2005. Under his leadership, Best Western has become a technology leader in the travel industry, and bestwestern.com has been named the “Best of the Web” among travel and hotel web sites. In 2010, Best Western’s IT team was included as one of InformationWeek’s 250 most innovative business technology organizations. Gibson was named one of ComputerWorld’s Premier 100 IT Leaders for 2010. Before joining Best Western, Gibson held a number of industry leadership positions, including senior vice president and chief information officer for Kerzner International Resorts, Inc., and senior vice president and chief information officer for Cendant Corporation’s hotel division, where he was responsible for delivering the technology needs for the hotel division and its nearly 6.000 franchisees. Gibson also has held positions with Ramada, Red Lion Hotels and Anasazi. Gibson is married, with one grown son. As a child, he grew up in Ethiopia, Panama, Greece, Italy, and Washington, D.C., and served in the U.S. Army in Hawaii, New Zealand, Japan, and Korea.

Vineet Gupta* - Governor, Term Expires 31 March 2015

Vineet started with Fairmont Hotels in 1999 as Director of Corporate Technology. In 2001, Vineet was appointed Executive Director, Technology. In this capacity he was responsible for overall company technology operations including new responsibilities for hotel technologies. In 2002, Vineet was appointed Vice President, Technology. In this role he was responsible for all aspects of technology for Fairmont and Delta Hotels including strategy, project management, application development and operations. After the merger of Fairmont & Delta Hotels with Raffles & Swissotel Hotels in 2006, Vineet was promoted to his current role as Senior Vice President, Technology. Reporting to the CEO, he currently manages global technology for Fairmont Raffles Hotels International which manages the Fairmont, Raffles, Swissotel and Delta group of hotels worldwide. Prior to joining Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, Vineet worked with Spar Aerospace Ltd. And Bombardier Inc. where he was responsible for large-scale engineering projects and enterprise level technology deployments. Vineet is a graduate of the MBA program from the University of Western Ontario and holds a Masters of Engineering degree from Concordia University and a Bachelor of Engineering degree from McGill University.

Daniel Kornick* - Governor, Term Expires 31 March 2014

Daniel A. Kornick joined Wyndham Hotel Group (WHG) as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer in May 2010. In this role, Kornick oversees engineering and architecture, technology development, information security and compliance and technical support for WHG’s 15 brands representing almost 7200 franchised and managed hotels. Prior to joining WHG, he served more than 16 years in a variety of roles throughout Wyndham Worldwide (WHG’s parent company), including Senior Vice President, Global Applications Development & Architecture for Wyndham Exchange & Rentals. In that role, Kornick was integral in the company’s efforts to transform the RCI.com site and enhance the member vacation planning experience. Prior to his Wyndham Exchange and Rentals experience, he was Chief Information Officer for Cendant Corporation’s Vacation Rental Group in London. Dan is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University, with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Computer Science.

Kevin Quinlivan* - Governor, Term Expires 31 March 2015

Kevin Quinlivan is in the newly created position of Chief Information Officer of Delaware North Companies, a global leader in hospitality and food service. With more than $2 billion in annual revenue and 55,000 employees, it is one of the largest privately held companies in the world. Quinlivan has responsibility for information systems, infrastructure services, information technology (IT), project and relationship management, operations support and information security and oversees Delaware North’s IT Department of more than 50 professionals. He came to Delaware North with global IT experience from companies such as Digital Equipment Corporation, Quantum Corporation, Schick Wilkinson Sword, where he served as Vice President/Chief Information Officer, and Norwegian Cruise Line, where he was Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer. He is a graduate of Worcester State College with a master’s degree in computer science

Anand Rao - Governor, Term Expires 31 March 2014

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.

Gustaaf Schrils* - Governor, Term Expires 31 March 2015

Born in Curacao, Netherlands Antilles, Gustaaf Schrils 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. As 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 Masters Degree in Engineering Management. In 1995, he joined Intercontinental Hotels Group formally known as Holiday Inn Hospitality, where he has enjoyed a career with increasing responsibilities and executive roles within the IT organization. He is currently leading a $215M technology refresh program for 2,600 hotels in the Americas. Gustaaf is a devoted husband, father and family man currently living in Alpharetta, Georgia.

Richard Tudgay - Governor, Term Expires 31 March 2014

As vice president of information technology, Richard Tudgay is responsible for long range planning, budgeting and execution on existing and future systems including hotels, corporate office, and reservation center as well as day to day operations and support of technology. Along with these duties, Tudgay is also responsible for the assessment of technology for new builds and acquisitions of hotels. Prior to being named vice president of technology in 2006 for Omni Hotels, Tudgay served as director of information technology and manager of corporate/hotel systems. He joined Omni Hotels in 2001 and assisted in the implementation of Oracle Financials serving as an Oracle DBA. Prior to Omni Hotels, Tudgay had 8 years experience in project management and data warehousing of retail systems with The Container Store. Tudgay graduated from Penn State University with degree in economics.

Hank A. Weigle - Governor, Term Expires 31 March 2014

Senior Vice President, Global Information Resources, IT Delivery, 
Marriott International, Inc.

Hank Weigle is accountable for ensuring the reliable, predictable and cost effective delivery of Marriott’s applications and infrastructure. He is responsible for managing this delivery via service providers and Marriott associates, as well as for standardizing key processes and driving continuous improvements in Marriott’s IT delivery capabilities. Prior to this role, Hank was the SVP for Global IR Shared Services and had the responsibility of leading his team of over 600 Marriott associates in the planning, engineering and operations of Marriott’s technical infrastructure that supports the computing resources for Marriott’s worldwide operations. Prior to that role, he served for more than a decade as the SVP, Information Resources Global Field Services. In this role he provided technology leadership for all internationally located brands including Renaissance, JW Marriott, Marriott, Courtyard, Residence Inns, Bulgari, The Ritz-Carlton and field offices of Marriott International. From 2003 to 2008 he was also CIO for The Ritz-Carlton LLC. Earlier in his career at Marriott, he held roles as SVP and CIO of Marriott Distribution Services and VP, Reservation Systems. He started at Marriott International in 1984. Prior to joining Marriott, he worked for the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Amtrak. Hank has been married to his wife Martha for over 30 years and they have two children, Andrew and Meghan..