SPEAKERS
Chief Operating Officer
COMO Lifestyle
Alexis Fosler
Alexis is COO of COMO Lifestyle, part of the COMO Group of companies. Headquartered in Singapore, the Group represents an integrated approach to living well, grounded in a celebration of diversity and a deep respect for authenticity.
The Group’s interests extend across hospitality, fashion, wellness, organic living and specialty foods. COMO Lifestyle oversees the COMO Group’s food and beverage businesses spanning import and distribution, restaurants, retail, and wellness.
Prior to joining COMO, Alexis held a variety of positions, including CEO and COO roles in financial institutions in Asia. She has over twenty-five years of experience in financial markets and has a Masters in International Addiction Studies, a Masters in Counselling; and a BA Hons in Chinese. She was born in Hong Kong and educated in Hong Kong, Switzerland, Taiwan, Beijing, and England. She speaks conversational Mandarin, Cantonese, and French.
Global Senior Director, Business Development
Expedia Group Media Solutions
Andrew van der Feltz
Andrew van der Feltz is a senior director of business development at Expedia Group Media Solutions. His team works closely with agencies, destination marketing organizations, hotel and airline partners on display advertising opportunities and campaigns across the portfolio of Expedia Group brands. Andrew previously led business development and oversaw the partner-facing teams for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific.
Prior to joining Expedia, Andy was the director of business development and operations at the Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions (NBTC) since April 2011. Prior to this, he also worked at NBTC in the London office as country manager for the UK and Ireland. He started his career at NBTC as marketing manager, after his role as an international marketing manager at VisitScotland.
Andy studied Marketing and French in Scotland, continued his postdoc education at the Institute of Marketing in Edinburgh, and attended the Executive Educational Programme in General Management at the London Business School.
MD of Asia, and Head of Government Relations and Corporate Affairs
Expedia Group
Ang Choo Pin
Choo Pin ANG is Expedia Group’s Senior Director for Government and Corporate Affairs for Asia. In this role, he spearheads the Group’s Asia governmental affairs and public policy strategy across its portfolio of brands such as Expedia, Hotels.com, and Homeaway. Through the engagement of public and quasi-public stakeholders in the region, Choo Pin helps the Group forge partnerships with governments, advocate on regulatory issues and identify business opportunities. He has also helped shape the debate surrounding travel, tech and e-commerce in Asia. He is the Chair of the Travel and Tourism Committee of the US ASEAN Business Council, and has provided training to senior Southeast Asian government officials on e-commerce under the Singapore-US Third Country Training Program.
Choo Pin has extensive experience in political and economic issues across Asia. He previously headed the China operations of a New-York based investment advisory firm conducting political and reputational risk analysis for a clientele of PE funds and SWFs, before joining Standard Chartered Bank as its Head of Public Affairs. Before that, he served as a diplomat in Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs covering International Organizations, Middle East, and Northeast Asia, where he was Singapore’s Deputy Consul-General to Shanghai. Choo Pin has a BA degree from Tufts University and a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy (MALD) degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, both obtained through the Government of Singapore’s prestigious Overseas Merit Scholarship. He speaks English, Chinese, German, and Spanish.
Vice President, Asia Pacific
Royal Caribbean
Angie Stephen
Based in Singapore since 2018, Angie Stephen has been with Royal Caribbean for over 20 years. As Vice President of Asia Pacific, Angie oversees all commercial and operational activities for the region, and most recently led the restart of Royal Caribbean’s cruises out of Singapore, working closely with the Singapore Tourism Board.
Prior to this, Angie was based in Shanghai, where she led Market Development for Greater China, developing sales distribution, brand marketing and partnerships. She was also previously based in Miami at the RCL Global Headquarters, where she has held many leadership positions within the sales and marketing organization, including District Sales Manager, Trade Strategy, Training & Event Planning, and Marketing Operations.
Managing Director
FCM Travel Solutions Asia
Bertrand Saillet
Bertrand is the Managing Director for the Flight Centre Travel Group in Asia, after being in the role of General Manager for FCM Asia since 2015. Bertrand started his career in the telecom industry in Europe working for Orange and then moved to the aeronautical giant Airbus to lead the sales and marketing department of their IT division. He held multiple global management roles within Amadeus, an IT leader of the travel industry before joining FCM.
CEO
Scoot
Campbell Wilson
Campbell Wilson is the chief executive officer of Scoot.
He was appointed the founding member of the airline on 18 July 2011. Before his appointment, he worked for the SIA group for more than 15 years in countries like Japan, Canada, and Hong Kong. He left Scoot in June 2016 and he is now appointed as the acting senior vice president of sales and marketing for Singapore Airlines. He was once again brought back as the CEO on 1 April 2020.
Campbell joined Singapore Airlines in Auckland in 1996 and was appointed vice-president of the airlines’ operation in Canada in 2006. 2 years later, he was appointed general manager of Hong Kong and then of Japan operations in 2010.
In June 2016, Campbell left Scoot. He is now the senior vice president of sales and marketing for Singapore Airlines.
Campbell took the position in 2011 and was quoted as saying ‘my immediate task is to establish a strong management team and we will be actively recruiting to fill senior positions’. On 1 November 2011, Campbell officially unveiled the new airline.
Campbell left Scoot in June 2016.
CEO & Co-founder
GlobalTix
Chan Chee Chong
Chee Chong is passionate about the tourism industry, so much so that his 15-year career has been centered around it. He has founded not one, but two start-ups to better meet the needs of the buoyant travel/tourism industry.
He is currently Chief Executive Officer and visionary of GlobalTix, an e-ticketing travel marketplace. Chee Chong was also one of the co-founders of Adventure Glamping, which has pioneered and built the first-ever “glamping” (glamorous camping) resort called Canopi, located in Bintan.
He began his travel industry career with SilkAir, the regional carrier owned by Singapore Airlines and subsequently was seconded to Singapore Airlines.
During his seven-year career with the two carriers, he handled various job functions, including postings to Thailand, Indonesia, and Central Japan which gave him invaluable exposure in the airline industry. In Central Japan, he started many initiatives, including several that continue to today, and the team was recognized with a CEO’s Merit Award for operational excellence.
Chee Chong next joined Sentosa Development Corporation as a member of the management team. He started as the Leisure Operation, Director where he was responsible for ongoing daily operations, from beach operation, attractions to ticketing and subsequently became the General Manager of Mount Faber Leisure Group.
Chee Chong holds a Bachelor of Engineering (2nd Upper) degree from the National University of Singapore.
Senior Vice President, Research & Product Strategy
Phocuswright
Charuta Fadnis
Ms. Fadnis leads Phocuswright’s research team and is focused on delivering high quality data, intelligence and insights that help customers make strategic decisions. She previously worked at Phocuswright from 2014 to 2016 and recently returned to take on responsibility for research content, delivery and setting product direction. Charuta has broad experience across the industry and has worked across various functions at American Airlines, Egencia and BCD Travel. Her expertise lies in uncovering and applying technological and market trends to strategy, product development and marketing. Charuta holds an M.B.A. from HEC Paris and a Bachelor of Engineering from Saurashtra University, India.
CEO
Pan Pacific Hotels Group
Choe Peng Sum
Mr Choe Peng Sum is Chief Executive Officer of Pan Pacific Hotels Group, a member of Singapore- listed UOL Group, one of Asia’s most established hotel and property companies. He oversees nearly 50 properties with more than 14,000 keys across 29 cities in Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America.
Mr Choe has more than 33 years’ experience in the hospitality industry managing and developing hotels and serviced apartments worldwide, and was formerly the Chief Executive Officer of Frasers Hospitality International Ltd. During his 22-year tenure, he grew the portfolio from two properties in Singapore in 1998 to more than 140 properties across more than 76 cities worldwide. His last appointment was Senior Advisor to Frasers Property Limited.
As CEO of Pan Pacific Hotels Group, Mr Choe is responsible for the expansion of the Group’s hotels and serviced apartments under its Pan Pacific, PARKROYAL COLLECTION and PARKROYAL brands. He is in charge of their performance, operations, marketing and brand standards, as well as the business development of the hotels and serviced suites.
Mr Choe started his hospitality career with Westin and subsequently Shangri-La International in 1981, where he was awarded the Shangri-La overseas scholarship. He graduated from Cornell University (Ithaca, New York) with a Bachelor of Science with Distinction. He was awarded the National Dean’s List (USA) as well as the Phi Kappa Phi for academic excellence.
Co-founder
ZUZU Hospitality Solutions
Dan Lynn
Dan Lynn is the Co-founder of ZUZU Hospitality Solutions, focused on product and finance. Dan has built his career at the intersection of travel and technology. Prior to founding ZUZU, Dan spent much of his career with Expedia, building their Asia Pacific business as the CEO of the AirAsia/Expedia joint venture AAE. Dan also ran HomeAway’s APAC businesses – Stayz, Bookabach and Travelmob. Dan has served on the boards of international travel companies Elong in China, and Movenpick Hotels and Resorts in Switzerland.
Managing Director, Travel & Hospitality
Amazon Web Services
David Peller
David Peller leads AWS Travel and Hospitality, the global industry practice for Amazon Web Services (AWS), with a charter to support customers as they accelerate cloud adoption. Before joining AWS, David held various leadership roles in Singapore, Australia, the Netherlands, the United States and the United Kingdom, in travel and hospitality technology businesses. He has been both an entrepreneur and founder, as well as being part of the launch team of a restaurant business in the UK. He is a qualified Solicitor in the UK, holds a Bachelor in Legal Studies from King’s College, University of London, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Studies from the London College of Law.
Founder & Group Executive Chairman
MakeMyTrip
Deep Kalra
Deep is the Founder & Group Executive Chairman of India’s leading online travel company, MakeMyTrip Limited. He has steered MakeMyTrip as CEO since its inception in 2000, to a successful listing on NASDAQ in August 2010.
Deep is the co-chair of CII’s National Committee on Tourism and Hospitality. He is a founding member of IndiaTech.Org, an industry body representing the interests of Indian digital companies. Deep is on the Board of TiE NCR Chapter and served as President from 2013 to 2016. He is also one of the founding members of Ashoka University and serves on their governing body and Board. A believer in citizens effort, he is a founding member of ‘I am Gurgaon’— an NGO focused on improving the quality of life in Gurgaon. Deep serves on the Board of GMDA, Gurgaon’s Development Authority.
Deep has been recognized by Ernst & Young as Entrepreneur of the Year—Business Transformation (2011), and as the most powerful Digital influencer in India (2012) by KPMG. TTG Asia awarded him Best Travel Entrepreneur of 2012 at the TTG Travel Awards.
Deep is passionate about Sustainable Tourism and has been championing this cause through MakeMyTrip Foundation.
He holds an MBA degree from IIM, Ahmedabad and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi.
His interests include swimming, yoga, adventure sports, quizzing and of course, travelling.
President & CEO
JTB Corp.
Eijiro Yamakita
The JTB Group traces its roots back to 1912 when “Japan Tourist Bureau” was formed to attract international travelers to Japan and assist with their travel needs. While our activities and clientele have expanded greatly since then, the JTB Group remains aligned around a core purpose: bringing people, places and possibilities together.
Over an 18-year career at JTB, Eijiro Yamakita was involved in the development of the company’s global strategy and then moved to Europe, where he was appointed to be a top management at the forefront of the company’s global business. Prior to becoming a Managing Executive Officer, he served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kuoni Travel Investment Ltd and the European Head of JTB Group for 3 years. At the beginning of the year he returned to Japan, then became President and CEO of JTB Corp.
COO & Co-founder
Klook
Eric Gnock Fah
Eric Gnock Fah is the COO & co-founder of Klook Travel, Asia’s leading platform or travelers to explore and book a curated selection of activities. These amazing experiences are verified and vetted by Klook’s team of travel curators and made easily bookable online and on-the-go at unbeatable prices of up to 50% off.
Prior to founding Klook Travel, Eric worked in hedge fund and Investment Banking at Morgan Stanley, focused on consumer and travel companies in Asia. Originally from Mauritius, an exotic travel destination, Eric grew up speaking 7 languages and is a cultural explorer at heart.
Senior Vice President, Online Travel Companies, Asia Pacific
Amadeus
Frederic Barou
Frédéric Barou is Senior Vice President, Online Travel Companies, Asia Pacific at Amadeus. He is responsible for defining and delivering the commercial strategy for Amadeus’ Online Travel business in Asia Pacific, including all Online Travel Agencies and Metasearch in the region.
Frédéric joined Amadeus in 1999 and has held many different portfolios in locations around the world, including in Chicago, Bangkok, Nice (where he is currently based) and soon Singapore. Prior to his current role, he was responsible for the company’s Online Travel business in the Northern, Eastern, Central and Southern Europe (NECSE) region, and before that he drove the Amadeus Online Travel solution direction, investment, roadmap and marketing, globally. From 2014-2018, Frédéric was Vice President Products and Operations for Asia Pacific, in charge of leveraging Amadeus’ investment in leading-edge technology and services for the region.
Before joining Amadeus, he worked as a consultant for SAP and IBM.
A sports fanatic, Frédéric runs triathlons, sails and snowboards. A happy father of two children, he practices photography with his family as they share their passion of travel and exploration.
Frédéric graduated in 1994 from the University of Technology of Compiegne, France and the University of Waterloo, Canada with a degree in Computer Engineering.
Founder & CEO
Hopper
Frederic Lalonde
Frederic is the founder and CEO of Hopper, an airfare prediction app available for iOS and Android devices. Hopper analyzes billions of flight prices a day to provide advice on when to fly and buy. Hopper predicts price changes for your trip, and notifies you when to book. Hopper has received accolades such as Apple’s App Store Best of 2015, the Google Play Award for Standout Startup of 2016, and the Webby Award for Best Travel App.
He previously co-founded Newtrade, where he successfully raised $7 million in two rounds of venture capital and built the company up to 70 employees. Newtrade was acquired by Expedia in 2002, 21 months after their first round of funding.
As a VP at Expedia, Frederic was responsible for developing the Direct Connect product strategy and signing up over 10,000 hotels to the Expedia platform, including major brands such as Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, Carlson, Cendant and Choice Hotels. He later moved on to participate in various Expedia M&A activities, including the acquisition of Hotels.com, TripAdvisor and eLong.
Frederic joined the Board of Directors of MakeMyTrip.com in 2007. MakeMyTrip is India’s leading online travel company and books tickets for all major airlines and reservations at over 1,000 hotels in the country.
CEO
Queen's Road Capital
Fritz Demopoulos
In 2005 Frederick “Fritz” Demopoulos co-founded and was the CEO of Qunar. Qunar was acquired by Baidu in 2011.
Fritz also co-founded and was the CEO of Shawei. Shawei was acquired by Tom.com in 2000.
Fritz held senior management positions at various online and traditional media companies in China including Netease, Hai Run Media Group and News Corporation.
Fritz currently coordinates his personal investment and entrepreneurial activities through Queen’s Road Capital.
A native of Los Angeles, Fritz was educated at UCLA, The Chinese University of Hong Kong and Karls-Ruprecht University in Heidelberg. He has lectured on entrepreneurship and the Chinese Internet at Stanford, Harvard, UCLA, Tsinghua, Beijing University, Singapore Management University and the Communist Party College in Nanjing.
Vice President, Brand, Sales & Marketing
Jazz at Lincoln Center
Gabrielle Armand
NEW YORK, USA // Gabrielle Armand is a seasoned professional with 30 years experience creating, managing, and implementing global marketing, branding and sponsorship initiatives within the entertainment industry, not-for-profit and cultural arts landscapes.
In her current role as Vice President, Brand, Sales and Marketing for Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC), she oversees the Marketing, Creative, PR, & Communications, Corporate Partnerships/Sponsorships, Audience Development, Content Development and Intellectual Property teams, and is responsible for stewarding and strengthening the global brand.
Gabrielle has strategically designed and managed multi-layered partnerships with major global brands. Prior to joining Jazz at Lincoln Center in 2009, she was the Executive Director for Marketing & Communications for the United Nations Association of the USA, where she formed a groundbreaking strategic partnership focused on gender-equity and improving the lives of children in sub-Saharan Africa.
Gabrielle spent the first ten years of her professional career in the recording industry, working with a host of Grammy Award winning artists and shepherding the commercial release of more than 1,500 records.
She is a musician and writer and lives in New York City.
Founder & Senior Managing Director
Certares
Greg O’Hara
Michael Gregory (Greg) O’Hara is the Founder and a Senior Managing Director of Certares. Prior to forming Certares, he served as Chief Investment Officer of JPMorgan Chase’s Special Investments Group (“JPM SIG”). Prior to this role at JPM SIG, Greg was a Managing Director of One Equity Partners (“OEP”), the private equity arm of JPMorgan. Before joining OEP in 2005, he served as Executive Vice President of Worldspan and was a member of its Board of Directors. Greg is the Executive Chairman of American Express Global Business Travel, Chairperson of Hertz Global Holdings and Vice Chairman of Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings and serves on the Boards of Directors of Hertz Global Holdings, Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings and Tripadvisor, The Innocence Project, World Travel & Tourism Council and Certares Holdings. Greg is the Head of the Investment Committee and a member of the Management Committee of Certares Management LLC.
Greg received his Master of Business Administration degree from Vanderbilt University.
Sector Lead, Travel & Vertical Search APAC
Google
Hermione Joye
Hermione is a leader with 15 years’ experience in sales, marketing, strategy and business development in the technology & travel sector.
Hermione leads the APAC Travel team for Google’s Large Customer Sales business, working with leading online travel agents, airlines, hotel chains & vacation rental companies to develop digital business strategy & products for Asian consumers. Additionally she oversees the APAC Vertical search team, who help clients adopt our more technical solutions such as Hotel Ads, and work with our Product & Engineering team to build products for our region. Prior to this, Hermione worked in Google’s Sydney office managing major Retail clients.
Before her time at Google, she worked in the TV industry for 4 years, working for 7media West running the Key Accounts team. When she launched her career she started in Creative Advertising working initially for M&C Saatchi and then TBWA in Sydney.
Hermione was educated in Sydney Australia, completing a degree in Economics & Social Sciences from Sydney University and was awarded the Young Citizen of the Year (2009) by the Woollahra Mulinciptilty.
Hermione now lives in Singapore, and has done so for six & a half years. She is a mum to three young children and a Red Kelpie, and is an incredibly passionate traveler.
Senior Vice President, BrandHQ
Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts
Ho Renyung
Renyung is a next generation entrepreneur, impact investor, humanitarian and writer. Her work lies at the intersection of business sustainability, experience design and brand development, and she is currently SVP, Brand HQ, Banyan Tree Group.
In this role, she spearheads the Group’s transformation drive towards developing a digitally-forward ecosystem of brands around wellbeing and sustainability. This encompasses E-commerce, Customer experience and insights, Culture and development as well as Innovation workstreams, working with cross-functional teams for critical change projects within the Group. Ms Ho joined the Group in 2009, serving across Operations and Headquarters.
An active member in the creative and social business landscape in Singapore and the region, she has co-founded two pioneering businesses in the co-working and e-commerce space, as well as the founding chapter of Asia’s largest, volunteer-run creative network Creative Mornings. She is also a Red Dot for Pink Dot Business Leader, founding member of the AVPN Gender Network and Asia Corporate Leadership Council, as well as mentor for Unreasonable Group, which exists to repurpose capitalism for positive change.
Co-founder & Executive Chairman of the Board
Trip.com Group
James Liang
James Liang is one of the Co-founders and Executive Chairman of the Board of Trip.com Group Ltd. He was the Chief Executive Officer from 2000 to 2006 and from 2013 to 2016. Under his visionary leadership, Trip.com Group has achieved great milestones over the years. The company has successfully carried out transitions from offline to online, and from desktop to mobile. Furthermore, Trip.com Group has made strategic investments in key industry players, cultivated and invested in new business ideas, and established industry-leading operational standards and processes. Trip.com Group has grown to become one of the world’s largest online travel agencies.
Currently, James serves as Co-Chairman of Tongcheng-eLong (HKSE:0780) and on the boards of a number of other companies, including BTG Hotels(SSE:600258), Sina (NASDAQ: SINA), and MakeMyTrip (NASDAQ: MMYT). He is also Research Professor of Economics at Peking University.
James has been awarded various accolades for his contributions to the travel industry. Some of his recent awards include: 2019 Forbes China Multinational Business Leader, Best CEO in the Internet category in the 2016 All-Asia Executive Team Rankings by Institutional Investor, 2016 Top Ten Economic Leaders of the Year by Sina Finance, 2015 China’s Business Leader of the Year by Forbes, 2015 Most Influential Business Leaders by China Entrepreneur Magazine, 2015 Top Ten Economic Leaders of the Year by Sina Finance, People’s Daily, and The Paper, 2015 China’s Most Transformative Leader by Sohu Finance, and 2015 China’s Best Business Leader by Yicai.com.
In addition to his expertise in the travel industry, James is also a leading scholar of demographics and social studies. He has played an important role in shaping China’s population policies in recent years and in generating public interest in issues such as education and urban planning. As a co-author of the book Too Many People in China?, James analyzed the impact of the one-child policy and the adverse effects of demographic changes on China’s economy. He is also the author of multiple other publications, including The Rise of the Network Society, and his latest book published in 2018, The Demographics of Innovation.
Prior to co-founding Trip.com Group, James held a number of technical and managerial positions at Oracle Corporation from 1991 to 1999, both in the United States and China. He was the head of the ERP consulting division of Oracle China from 1997 to 1999.
James received his Ph.D. degree from Stanford University and his master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Georgia Institute of Technology. He was also an attendee of the “China Gifted Youth Class” at Fudan University.
CEO
Agoda
John Brown
John Brown has been CEO of Agoda since June 2018 and during his 10 years at Agoda has overseen product, marketing, customer experience, and partner services teams.
He had a brief stint as advisor to Minister of Commerce in Afghanistan from June 2009 to May 2008 and prior to that, worked with Boston Consulting Group for nearly six years.
Vice President, Strategy & Partnerships
Spotnana
Johnny Thorsen
Johnny Thorsen is a global technology evangelist in the corporate travel and mobile world with proven ability to start new business or develop new services within large companies as well negotiating and closing “impossible deals” between global enterprise buyers, start-up suppliers and major established industry players.
He has all-round background in software services ranging from actual code writing to marketing of new products and services and creation of completely new business models with associated go-to-market strategy and significant disruptive innovation resulting in new customer value creation.
He is also a proven presenter at very large travel industry events in both EMEA, APAC and US, with audiences ranging from 10 – 1,000 delegates.
Named as of the 25 most influential people in the travel industry in 2010 by Business Travel News as CEO and co-founder of conTgo, a UK-based startup acquired by Concur technologies in March 2013 Global network of business contacts within the travel, procurement and mobile world after living and working in 5 different countries in EMEA, APAC and now USA.
CEO
Go City
Jon Owen
An experienced leader with a passion for high-growth digital businesses, Jon became CEO of Go City at the beginning of 2020, aer stepping up from his role as Chief Commercial Officer, which he had held since 2017. Go City is the world’s largest sightseeing pass business, operating in over 25 cities across the US, Europe, and Asia. During his time at the company, Jon has overseen rapid business growth, which has resulted in over 60% global pass market share, an expansion of the global destination footprint, and an increase in Go City’s customer base to more than 2.5m / annum.
As CEO, Jon has focused the business around a new mission of “transforming the way people see and experience the world’s greatest cities”, and driven a strong focus on customer satisfaction as a key measure. Jon is a passionate, customer-centric leader, focused on improving the sightseeing experience for travelers around the world. Go City enables its customers to see the best attractions, tours and activities in a city, whilst retaining the freedom to do what they want, when they want – all whilst making incredible savings.
Before Go City, Jon simultaneously served as CEO of Ribble Cycles, a disruptive, direct-to-consumer, technology-enabled cycling manufacturer, and a non-executive director at OVO Energy. Prior to that, he worked at U.K.-based online retailer Shop Direct, where he ran Very.co.uk, a digital department store which he grew to a £800 million business and £100 million in profit.
Outside of Go City, Jon leads a team he’s just as dedicated to: his son’s football team, which he coaches at home in Harrogate, England. Jon has a growing passion for rewilding and biodiversity, and loves travelling to the mountains of Europe and North America with his family.
CEO
Yanolja
Jong Yoon Kim
Jong Yoon Kim is the CEO of Yanolja & Yanolja Cloud, leading all strategic management of businesses regarding domestic/international accommodation and leisure activity platforms and cloud-based hospitality solutions. He also oversees the company’s ongoing expansion efforts with responsibility for investment attraction & corporate acquisition strategies.
As a digital professional and business strategy expert, Kim is leading the company to grow 2X bigger per year while spearheading the digital transformation of travel and leisure industry.
Prior to joining Yanolja in 2015, Kim worked across several innovative brands and sectors including 3M, Google, and McKinsey & Company
CEO, Venture Republic
- TRAVEL.jp & Trip101
Kei Shibata
TravelTech entrepreneur based in Singapore and Tokyo with 20 years of experience. He led his company to an IPO, a buyout and two exits.
Kei co-founded Venture Republic in Tokyo, Japan in 2001 and has been serving as a CEO since foundation. Company runs a group of online travel websites and apps worldwide including TRAVEL jp, Japan’s largest online travel metasearch/media (Over 30 million monthly visits/23 million followers. http://www.travel.co.jp/), Trip101, Singapore based global online travel media (https://trip101.com/) and Allstay, mobile accommodation search app in Korea (http://www.allstay.kr/). In 2018, he led the company to bring in LINE Corporation, Asia’s leading mobile messaging company as an investor. In 2021, company launched the chat based corporate travel booking and management service, “TRAVEL jp for Business” by the partnership with LINE WORKS, a leading business communication platform in Japan that has over 20 million corporate clients.
He led the company to an IPO in 2008 (2177. JASDAQ) after 7 years of inception and to LBO by management in 2012. In its history, company had built one of the leading online comparison shopping businesses in Japan through running “coneco.net” which was acquired by Yahoo! Japan. He also led to acquire Flocations, a Singapore based travel startup, rebrand it to Trip101 and have it grown to one of the fastest growing online travel media sites attracting the users from over 200 countries worldwide.
As a co-founder/organizer, he also runs WIT (Web In Travel) Japan & North Asia, largest international business conference in North Asia focusing on technology & travel.
In 2019, he received the WiT Hall of Fame award which honors individuals who have had the greatest influence on the progress and professionalism of the digital travel industry in Asia Pacific.
Frequent speaker at travel & technology events and conferences. Among them are ITB, Google Travel Executive Forum, Phocuswright, TBEX, WiT and Digital Travel APAC.
Angel investor in travel & technology space across APEC and America regions over 10 years. He serves as a board of director for various startups including BeMyGuest (Singapore).
He also serves as a Chairman of Keio University’s alumni association for startup founders/CEOs, Executive Committee Member of Harvard Business School Club of Japan and co-chapter leader of Travel Massive in Singapore and Tokyo.
Kei received a BA of Law from Keio University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Avid nordic/alpine skier & snowboarder.
Group Chief Technology Architect
Accor
Khang Nguyen Trieu
From France and then from Singapore, Khang has 20+ years of tech leadership in digital native companies and more traditional companies going for deep digital transformation. A strong advocate of “Management 3.0 | Agile Leadership Practices” and of “Tech for Good”, he is currently Group Chief Technology Architect at Accor, the world-leading augmented hospitality group, where he leads the middle and long term tech strategies of the Group.
He is also a shareholder of Time for the Planet, the first crowdfunded investment company and open source accelerator to fight climate change.
Finally, he enjoys advising startups which need to scale up their tech management practices.
Managing Director & Vice President, Asia Pacific
Booking.com
Laura Houldsworth
As Managing Director & Vice President of Asia Pacific, Laura Houldsworth leads and oversees business growth, operations and strategy for one of Booking.com’s most vibrant and diverse regions globally.
Laura joined Booking.com in June 2021, following 10 successful years at SAP Concur where she last served as Senior Vice President and General Manager for Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China. Laura has previously held regional roles in BCD Travel and ABN Amro Private Banking; and is a commercial leader with more than 15 years of experience managing successful, multi-cultural teams.
Laura has lived and worked in Singapore for more than 15 years and holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Marketing Management from Bournemouth University, United Kingdom. Besides being an avid traveller and runner, she enjoys a good game of chess.
Managing Director, Air Hub Development
Changi Airport Group
Lim Ching Kiat
CEO
Unlisted Collection
Loh Lik Peng
Dynamic hotelier and restaurateur, Loh Lik Peng was born in Dublin, Ireland on May 4, 1972 to Singapore parents who were practicing medicine there at the time. He attended Law school in England, University of Sheffield and Postgraduate at London School of Economics followed by bar exams in London before returning to Singapore in 1997. Loh became a corporate litigator upon his return before leaving the profession to step into the hospitality industry. Since then, Loh has started ventures across Singapore, Shanghai, London and Sydney under the Unlisted Collection.
CEO & Partner
Future Now Capital
Louise Daley
Louise is Fund CEO responsible for coordinating and delivery of strategy and outcomes across the business. Louise was a member of the Fund’s Investment Committee until March before joining full time as CEO.
Prior to Future Now Capital, Louise was Deputy CEO of Accor Hotel Group Asia Pacific, operating more than 1,200 hotels and ancillary businesses across 22 countries with gross revenues of over $10 billion. Louise also sat on the Accor global disruption and growth board, the only member outside of France. Accor is one of the world’s most active enterprise adopters of technology, having developed its own unique digital ecosystem. Louis completed her Executive MBA at SMU Singapore has a Bachelor of Business (Accounting) and is a Certified Practicing Account (CPA).
Returning WiT Debator
Martin Symes
After spending some 20 years in various senior and pioneering roles in the Asia Pacific travel industry, Martin Symes returned to the U.K. in 2016. He now keeps himself busy with property renovations and early stage investment and advisory work, mainly focused on the Asian online travel space.
Most recently, he was Chief Marketing Officer of the Sabre GDS in Travel Network APAC, where he led product development and marketing.
Prior to this, he was co-founder and CEO of Wego.com, a leading travel metasearch engine and before that Executive Director, Commercial at ZUJI, a pioneering pan-APAC online travel agency. He was also a key member of the team involved in bringing Priceline’s buyer-driven e-commerce model to Asia.
Earlier, Martin held a senior sales role at British Airways in London, and various roles at American Airlines in Dallas, London and Hong Kong where he was Managing Director Asia Pacific.
Martin earned a master’s degree in Geography at Oxford University and gained an MBA from the London Business School. An avid traveller, Martin has visited almost 100 countries. He is married with two children.
CEO & Founder
The Atlas
Mary Li
Mary Li has built her startup career in solving flight problems and is back with a new startup, The Atlas, which is a global airfare aggregator, offering unique content from low-cost carriers and domestic airlines. Before that, she was co-CEO of Mystifly where she managed its product, technology, operations, human resource, and APAC Sales from Bangalore, India. Her first flight startup was ASLAN, which she ran for eight years, building it from a 40-person offline travel agency into the largest B2B air ticket platform in China. In 2014, Aslan was acquired by Alitrip (Fliggy), Alibaba’s online travel platform.
Senior Vice President, Marketing
Marina Bay Sands
Maunik Thacker
As the Senior Vice President – Marketing for Marina Bay Sands, Maunik leads the marketing organization in developing and delivering a strong brand proposition and alignment to the service culture for Marina Bay Sands. Data, analytics and technology are at the core of the personalized and seamless customer experience he is charged with developing for the brand. Maunik started his career in revenue management for hotels, working with brands such as Taj Hotels, Le Meridien and Starwood, in India, Bahrain and Dubai, before moving to Macau to join the pre-opening team for the Venetian Macau and other Las Vegas Sands properties. With the experience of the casino industry, he moved to Singapore where he is based now, as part of the pre-opening team at Marina Bay Sands with the remit of extending the revenue optimization practice across the casino as well, before transitioning to lead the marketing function at the Integrated Resort.
Maunik holds an MBA in International Hospitality Management from IMHI in Paris, a program jointly administered by Cornell University, USA and ESSEC, France. His personal interests lie in travel and he has always had a desire to live and work in different parts of the world, learning about different cultures. He also serves on the HSMAI Asia Pacific Digital Marketing Advisory Board and has been involved with the organization for several years.
Executive Vice President & Managing Director, Asia Pacific
Amadeus
Mieke De Schepper
Mieke De Schepper is Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Asia Pacific at Amadeus. Mieke is responsible for Amadeus’ Airlines and Travel Agency business, and leads business development across the company’s portfolio of airport, payments and hospitality solutions in the Asia Pacific region.
Previously, she was responsible for Amadeus’ Global Online Travel business, a role she held since joining the company in 2019.
Mieke has a strong track record of managing B2C and B2B businesses over two decades. Before joining Amadeus, Mieke worked for the Expedia Group as Vice President of Lodging Partner Solutions Asia Pacific, and later as Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Egencia, Expedia Group’s corporate travel brand. Prior to Expedia Group, she spent 10 years with Phillips Electronics in various global, regional and local leadership roles in product, marketing and sales. She started her professional career with McKinsey & Company.
A Dutch national, Mieke has lived in Singapore for almost 17 years, and has worked extensively across multiple countries in Asia-Pacific, while also having worked and lived in Europe, Latin America and USA. Mieke holds an MBA from INSEAD and an MSc in Industrial Design Engineering from the Delft University of Technology.
Co-founder, Airbnb/
Chief Strategy Officer & Chairman, Airbnb China
Nate Blecharczyk
Nate Blecharczyk is the co-founder of Airbnb, Chief Strategy Officer, and Chairman of Airbnb China. Nate plays a leading role in driving key strategic initiatives across the global business, particularly those which require a combined understanding of the business, product, and data. Recently he oversaw the creation of the Airbnb City Portal, an industry-first software solution that addresses the needs of cities relating to short-term rentals. Previously Nate oversaw the creation of Airbnb’s engineering, data science, payments, and performance marketing teams.
CEO
VNLIFE
Niraan de Silva
Niraan is currently Group CEO and a Board member for VNLife, one of Vietnam’s largest and fastest growing technology groups. VNLife operates across digital banking, e-payments, online travel and new retail. VNLife’s largest subsidiary is VNPay, the largest financial technology and payments company in Vietnam.
Prior to VNLife, Niraan was a senior executive at a diverse Vietnamese conglomerate called Sovico Holdings.
Niraan started his career in Investment Banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch where he spent over 11 years reaching Head of Asia Pacific for Equity Linked Capital Markets and Head of Equity Capital Markets South East Asia for South East Asia.
Niraan has a degree in Commerce and Economics from Monash University in Australia.
Deputy Governor for Policy & Planning
Tourism Authority of Thailand
Numfhon Boonyawat
Mrs. Numfhon Boonyawat is Deputy Governor for Policy and Planning of the Tourism Authority of Thailand. She oversees the organisational policy, overall marketing strategy planning, monitoring and evaluation.
Prior to this, she was the Executive Director of the Planning Department. Her previous positions and responsibilities at TAT have included TAT Director of Marketing Strategy Division, Director of the TAT Sydney Office, and Executive Director of the Human Resources Department.
Head of Asia, MD Japan
Skyscanner
Paul Whiteway
Paul Whiteway is Head of Asia, MD Japan at Skyscanner. Based in the regional headquarters in Singapore, he is responsible for helping lead the company’s growth across APAC, and he also heads up the Japan business based in Tokyo.
Paul has been working with Internet companies since the industry’s formation and is experienced at scaling businesses in both start-up and corporate environments. He was previously General Manager of the Internet Advertising Division for Yellow Pages Australia, VP for a telecommunications start-up in New York City and Business Manager for MSN in London. He has been working in Asia since 2007 where, amongst other roles, he held senior roles at Yahoo!, leading product, editorial and engineering teams across the region and was Chief Operating Officer for iProperty, based in Malaysia up till his appointment at Skyscanner in 2013.
Paul is also an Entrepreneur in Residence at INSEAD Singapore where he provides coaching and advice to students interested in entrepreneurship. In his spare time, he loves to cook with ingredients he directly imports from Australia and tries to practise Yoga regularly.
Managing Director
Phocuswright
Pete Comeau
Mr. Comeau is responsible for overall strategic and operational leadership at Phocuswright. Pete oversees all aspects of Phocuswright’s commercial activities including product, sales and service, and marketing. He also plays a key role in product development and business development strategy for Phocuswright research, events and media businesses globally. Pete is a frequent speaker at industry events and heads Phocuswright’s coverage of startups and innovation.
Mr. Comeau’s travel industry career spans over two decades. Previously, he managed strategic partnerships at Orbitz in Chicago, where he assisted in growing and managing accounts for the Orbitz Partner Network. Prior to Orbitz, Pete was the sales leader at Moguls Mountain Travel, a ski tour wholesaler in Boulder, CO. He helped design, implement and maintain four reservation systems during his tenure and managed and mentored a team of successful sales agents.
Based in the Denver, Colorado area, Pete holds an M.B.A. from Daniels College of Business and graduated magna cum laude from Bowdoin College with a degree in government and economics.
Vice Chairman & CEO
Expedia Group
Peter Kern
Peter Kern is the Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Expedia Group. Mr. Kern has been a director of Expedia Group since completion of the IAC/Expedia Group Spin-Off and has served as Vice Chairman of Expedia Group since June 2018.
Mr. Kern has spent decades in leadership roles in public and private settings. Previously, Mr. Kern was CEO of Tribune Media and Managing Partner of InterMedia Partners VII, LP, a private equity firm. Prior to joining InterMedia, Mr. Kern was Senior Managing Director and Principal of Alpine Capital LLC. Prior to Alpine Capital, Mr. Kern founded Gemini Associates in 1996 and served as President from its inception through its merger with Alpine Capital in 2001. Prior to founding Gemini Associates, Mr. Kern was at the Home Shopping Network and Whittle Communications. Mr. Kern has served on the Board of Directors of Tribune Media Company since October 2016, where he currently also serves as Chief Executive Officer, as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hemisphere Media Group, Inc., a publicly-traded Spanish-language media company, since April 2013, and since 2016, as a member of Supervisory Board of trivago N.V., a majority-owned subsidiary of Expedia Group. Mr. Kern also serves on the boards of several private companies.
Mr. Kern holds a B.S. degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Deputy Director, Infectious Diseases Translational Research Programme;
Professor, Department of Medicine, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine;
President-elect, International Society of Infectious Diseases (ISID)
Prof Paul Tambyah
At the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, Prof Tambyah is Professor of Medicine. He is also a Senior Consultant in Infectious Diseases at the National University Hospital and has served as the Research Director in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the National University Health System (NUHS). Outside of the NUHS, Prof Tambyah is the President of the Asia Pacific Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infection. Other positions Prof Tambyah has held include being the immediate past-president of the Singapore Society of Infectious Diseases and Assistant Dean at NUS Medicine in 2015.
Group CTPO & Co-founder
ixigo
Rajnish Kumar
Rajnish Kumar is the Group CTPO & Co-founder of ixigo, an intelligent AI-based travel app. Spearheading the company’s innovation and technology, he has created many global industry first products, that are revolutionising the way India travels. Under his leadership, ixigo trains app has emerged as the 6th most downloaded travel app globally and the second most downloaded travel app in India.
He holds a BTech degree in Computer Science from IIT, Kanpur. He has also published research papers on AI, one of which was presented at MIT, Boston in 2004.
CEO & Co-founder
Wego
Ross Veitch
Ross is CEO & Co-Founder at Wego, which is online travel marketplace that provides top ranked mobile apps and websites for users living in the APAC and MENA regions. Wego harnesses powerful technology that simplifies the process of searching, comparing and booking flights and hotels across hundreds of airlines, hotels and online travel agency websites. Wego is has dual-HQs in Singpaore and Dubai and is backed by top-tier investors including Tiger Global, Crescent Group, Square Peg Capital and the MBC Group.
Ross is a veteran of the Asian internet industry having established Yahoo!s Southeast Asian operations in Singapore back in 1998 and leading product development efforts across the region for 6+ years. He is also Singapore Co-Chair of H2, the premier global leadership network for the digital industry. Ross has been an active angel investor in the technology sector for a decade and enjoys working with other passionate entrepreneurs. He has worked in Sydney, Melbourne, London, Kuala Lumpur and is now splits his time between Singapore and Dubai. He travels frequently for business but not nearly enough for leisure.
General Manager, Singapore
Klook
Sarah Wan
As Klook’s General Manager for Singapore, Sarah oversees the travel and leisure platform’s operations, including business development, marketing and e-commerce. Over the past year, Sarah has led her team in tackling the domestic tourism market amidst a rapidly changing environment – from kickstarting Klook’s foray into hotels and cruises, to innovating and enhancing traditional tourism products to better suit local tastes.
Sarah was previously Southeast Asia Marketing Director (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore) for Klook. Prior to that, she worked in Edelman’s Brand practice – where she led consumer campaigns for prominent international and local brands including Diageo, Shell, Singapore Tourism Board, Lagardère Sports, Kimberly Clark and Nestlé.
Director, Global Product Management
Expedia Group
Shyn Yee Ho-Strangas
Based in Singapore, Shyn Yee holds the role of Director, Global Product Management for Brand Expedia Group
Shyn Yee draws on a deep understanding of travel, the global online travel marketplace, and Expedia’s innovation and expertise. In her role as Director, Global Product Management for Brand Expedia Group, she is responsible for driving product local relevance, expanding both Expedia group’s global footprint and online travel audiences for suppliers around the world. Shyn Yee also oversees Expedia’s product strategy in the chat apps space. Shyn Yee directs and utilizes Expedia’s core technology and innovation, leverages global travel product to inform and design strategies aligned to business development goals.
In her six years with Brand Expedia Group, Shyn Yee also led Expedia’s retail strategy in China, and Merchandising efforts for Expedia across Asia, overseeing all regional merchandising strategies and activities for Brand Expedia and AirAsiaGo, Expedia group portfolio brands, across 25 points-of-sale in 13 countries.
Shyn Yee has spent her career developing a broad set of expertise in the travel industry, including general management, strategic development, product management, online distribution and hotel revenue maximization. Her perspective and experience span across Asia Pacific, having held various roles in organizations across the travel industry value chain.
Prior to joining Expedia, Shyn was part of the Digital Marketing team at Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels and Resorts supporting more than 250 upscale hotel properties; and prior to that, Assistant Director at Horwath HTL where she led consulting engagements, focusing on strategic expansion and hotel and resort developments in the region.
A strong advocate for women empowerment, education and young talent development, Shyn Yee founded and co-led the Women at Expedia, Leading and Learning (WELL) Singapore Chapter from 2014-2016; and is also actively involved with her alma mater, the Singapore Management University (SMU) as a guest lecturer, student mentor and Founding President of the SMU Travel and Hospitality Alumni Group (SMUTH). She is a Fellow Member with the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) Company of Good programme for the year 2017, and is actively involved in Expedia Group’s community impact efforts in Singapore and the region.
Shyn Yee is a proud mother of a prolific Grade-schooler and an fearless toddler. In her free time, she is an avid reader, budding musician, and attempts to learn more foreign languages.
CEO
Travelstart
Stephan Ekbergh
Stephan Ekbergh married father of 4, lives in Cape Town. Ex professional DJ for 10 years. Entrepreneur in Travel. Started the E-commerce revolution in Scandinavia 1999. Is now doing the same in Africa. Passion for releasing gifts and entrepreneurship with people. Writes and speaks about business, life and taking risks. Investor and active boardmember, also works with and finances non profits organization Thembalitscha foundation.
Director General
Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA)
Subhas Menon
Subhas Menon joined the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines in March 2020. Subhas has over 35 years’ experience in international aviation with the Singapore Airlines Group, having served in a wide spectrum of roles including international & government relations, marketing, product development, logistics, country & regional management.
In his various roles in the airline industry over the past three decades, he has developed a solid skill set that includes successfully building and managing relationships with different stakeholders, strong communications and public speaking skills as well as commercial acumen honed across different regions.
As Regional Vice President for an Asian airline in various regions around the world, and having also served as Chief Executive of SilkAir, Subhas is familiar with the Asian airline environment, its market dynamics and the region’s diverse political landscape. Building on his early experience in international relations, he has well-developed lobbying and negotiation skills as well as dealing with government affairs, which makes him well-placed to undertake the kind of advocacy and lobbying activities AAPA conducts as a trade association on behalf of its member airlines.
He is a graduate of the National University of Singapore, with a Bachelor of Social Science (Honours) in Sociology.
Venture Partner
Monk's Hill Ventures
Susli Lie
Susli is a Venture Partner at Monk’s Hill Ventures, a venture capital firm investing in early-stage tech companies, primarily Series A, in Southeast Asia. She is based in Indonesia and is responsible for sourcing, analyzing, and executing deals, and working closely with portfolio companies. Prior to MHV, she co-founded ErudiFi, a tech-enabled education financing company in Southeast Asia. She is also the first female founder backed by Y Combinator from Indonesia.
Susli is a seasoned finance professional, having built a career at the cross-section of finance, development, and technology with global experience spanning North America, Australia, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Born and raised in Jakarta, she has spent the last decade advising, investing, and operating as a founder primarily in Indonesia. She began her career in strategy consulting at Oliver Wyman in the financial services practice, and subsequently pioneered the role of Asia-Pacific Chief of Staff. Her investment experience is focused on Indonesia and includes stints at LeapFrog Investments, Quvat Capital, and YCAB Ventures. Susli also advises on development finance projects for the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank Group.
Susli received her BA in Economics and Chinese from Yale, MBA from Wharton, and MA in International Development from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
WiTtie
Syazanah Haniff
Founder & CEO
Reiwa Travel
Takaya Shinozuka
CEO
Sentosa Development Corporation
Thien Kwee Eng
Vice President, Corporate Development
Agoda
Timothy Hughes
Timothy Hughes is the Vice President Corporate Development of Agoda (a Priceline Company). Timothy is a “retired” blogger and pundit. Previously he was the editor and publisher of one of the top online travel industry blogs (the BOOT: the Business Of Online Travel) and a writer at Tnooz.
Tim is a former lawyer and venture capitalist. As a venture capitalist and consultant he helped a number of start-ups (inside and outside travel) secure funding, set up online media companies, managed investments in public companies and held regular client briefing sessions for a brokerage house. As lawyer he represented technology, new media, Internet, telecommunications and broadcasting clients in Australia, Europe and Hong Kong.
He first joined the online travel industry in 1999 and has worked for top tier online travel companies in Europe, the Americas and Asia. Tim has a Bachelor of Commerce and Hons Law Degree from the Australian National University.
Principal
T2Impact
Timothy O’Neil-Dunne
Timothy O’Neil-Dunne is a principal at 777 Partners, a private equity investment firm based in Miami with deep experience in aviation. He is a frequent speaker and commentator on aviation, travel distribution, technology, startups and innovation at events around the globe. Timothy is also the head of product at Air Black Box, a global travel technology company founded to help airlines address the complexities of cross-selling travel product inventory. Air Black Box is headquartered in Manchester, UK with offices in the USA and Asia. Most recently, Air Black Box was recognized as a 2019 CIO 100 Award Winner.
Before founding Air Black Box, Timothy was a founding management team member with Expedia, heading its international and ground transportation portfolios. He also spent time with Worldspan as their international head of technology, where he managed technology services from infrastructure to product.
CEO
Pace Enterprise
Turochas “T” Fuad
Turochas “T” Fuad enjoys building companies and he has successfully launched and sold 3 startups thus far. T’s first startup was WUF Networks, Inc., an Internet of things software company based out of Silicon Valley. The company was acquired by Yahoo!, Inc in 2005. T was also the CEO and Founder of travelmob, an online marketplace for vacation rentals. Headquartered in Singapore, travelmob was acquired by HomeAway, Inc. (now part of Expedia) in mid 2013. In 2016, T established and ran Spacemob, a co-working operator based out of Singapore. Spacemob was later acquired by WeWork in 2017 and T was appointed as the Managing Director of WeWork Southeast Asia and Korea.
In between his startups, T was the Managing Director for Skype AsiaPac, responsible for its business expansion across Japan, China, Australia, Taiwan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia. T led and launched a mobile partnership with KDDI to make Skype available to the second largest mobile network in Japan. Prior to Skype, T was responsible for all business aspects of Yahoo!’s Mobile division across the Southeast Asia market.
T’s background has spanned across various industries which include enterprise software, e-commerce, mobile, travel, real estate, hospitality and consumer internet services. Born in Indonesia, T currently resides in Singapore, plotting out his next adventure.
Founder & CEO
GEVME & GlobalSign.In
Veemal Gungadin
Veemal founded GSI in 2006, architected and coded the very first software platform of the company. GSI is today a leading event tech company with offices in Singapore, Australia, India, Myanmar and the US. Having graduated from the National University of Singapore with a degree in Computer Science, Veemal remains at the forefront of technology and spearheads the software products being crafted at GSI. GSI’s core SaaS product is GEVME, the award-winning enterprise event ticketing & marketing platform.
Regional Director, Airports & External Relations, Asia-Pacific
International Air Transport Association (IATA)
Vinoop Goel
Vinoop Goel is the Asia-Pacific Regional Director of Airports & External Relations for the International Air Transport Association (IATA). He is based at their Asia-Pacific regional office in Singapore. Vinoop leads a team that is responsible for all IATA’s activities in the Asia-Pacific region relating to Airports, Passenger Experience, Baggage, Ground Handling, Cargo Supply Chain, Security and Facilitation. In addition to this, Vinoop also heads the Member and External Relations department for the region that is responsible for IATA membership and government policy issues such as environment, taxation and aviation regulatory matters. Vinoop has a degree in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT, Delhi in India. He has 3 decades of aviation industry experience including a 15-year stint in Japan and has been with IATA since 2005.
CEO
AllSeated EXVO
Yaron Lipshitz
Yaron Lipshitz, CEO, has led rapid growth in Allseated for the past six years. Prior to that, he was an Investment Banker at Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers and Ridgecrest Capital where he led scores of strategic transactions in the high-tech industry. Yaron served in the 8200 unit of the IDF and holds a BA in Economics and Computer Science from Tel Aviv University, and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon. In his spare time, Yaron enjoys skiing, sailing and spending time with his wife and four kids.
Founder
WiT
Yeoh Siew Hoon
Yeoh Siew Hoon is the founder of Web In Travel (WiT), launching it in Singapore in 2005 and going on to launch WiT editions across Asia Pacific and Middle East. In 2016, WiT Europe made its debut in London, days after the Brexit vote.
WiT has won several awards including Most Innovative Marketing Initiative and Trade Conference Of The Year from the Singapore Tourism Board and in 2014, Siew Hoon was recognised Tourism Entrepreneur of The Year. A journalist by profession and passion, she’s also a speaker and facilitator at events around the world.
She’s also a published author of titles such as “Around Asia In One Hour: Tales of Condoms, Chillies & Curries” and children’s books such as “Adventures of Habibie The Turtle” and “The Story of Baitong and Boon”.
