Ron DiLeo

Executive Director, ACTE

Ron is currently executive director of ACTE, the only global association focused on the business travel industry segment. He is a thirty-year veteran of the travel industry during which time he has held various local, regional, multinational, and global leadership roles. Prior to joining ACTE, Ron operated his own consulting practice, the IN THE BLACK Group, specializing in all aspects of travel and business management performance.

Chris Pouney

Owner and Senior Consultant, Business Travel, Severnside Consulting Ltd, Worcester, United Kingdom

After six years at financial giant Citigroup as first European Travel Manager, then Senior Vice President - Global Lead for Travel, Chris left Citi in 2009 to set up Severnside Consulting using his considerable expertise to support a variety of organisations. Chris passionately believes in developing the business travel industry through stakeholder collaboration and working to close the gap between buyer needs and supplier delivery. Chris splits his time between Worcester, UK and Dubai.

Hisham Elfil

Al Shaqab, Member of Qatar Foundation, Doha, Qatar

Over thirty years experience in the fields of Planning, Procurement and Services with General Petroleum Corporation; Sudan, Rasgas Company; Qatar and Qatar Foundation.

Jonathan Taylor

Vice President Corporate Services, AECOM, Middle East

Jonathan Taylor, Vice President Corporate Services for AECOM in the Middle East, is a senior operations executive with 24 years experience working with Fortune 500 companies and high profile global brands.
In 2011 Jonathan worked with AECOM’s senior management and global travel management team to design and implement a best-in class travel program. Since then, AECOM in the Middle East have transitioned from a fragmented, multi agency approach towards a structured and consolidated travel and expense management program.

Martin Sirk

CEO, ICCA

Martin Sirk has been Chief Executive Officer of ICCA since July 2002, but worked for a variety of ICCA member organisations from 1989 after starting his career in general tourism marketing. He has worked in the USA and Asia as well as his home country, the UK, and now is responsible for ICCA's strategic direction and for the operation of its Head Office in Amsterdam and regional offices in Malaysia, Uruguay and the USA.

Karina Lance

Head of Sales and Convention Services, Dubai Convention Bureau

Currently the Head of Sales and Convention Services at the Dubai Convention Bureau, the MICE division of the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, Karina brings with her over 10 years of Business Development and Marketing experience that took her from France, The US, China and the UAE.

Trevor McCartney

Director of Business Development, Qatar National Convention Centre

Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC), one of the most sophisticated convention centres built to date appointed Mr. Trevor McCartney as the Director of Business Development to lead the Sales & Marketing team.

Trevor brings to the table of more than 27 outstanding years of experience, having worked in various convention centres around the world. In his role, Trevor spearheads the sales and marketing efforts for the Centre and provides strategic direction for business development.

Medhat Nassar

Managing Director, Meeting Minds

As leading professional conference organisers, corporate meeting planners, speaker bureau, incentive travel organisers and exhibition organising company, Meeting Minds are based in Dubai, and provide a turn key solution for association and corporate events.

Michael Christian Schultz-Tholen

Hon. Secretary General, Federation of International Polo

Since 2002, Michael has been Hon. Secretary General of the Fedation of International Polo, and President of the Bavarian Olympic Society. In 1996, he was integral in getting Polo granted the status of an Olympic recognised sport, through arranging numerous meetings with the International Olympic Committee. Michael has been CEO of ST Global Consulting since 2000, following 14 years as MD and Partner of Eura Finanz GmbH.

Sally Greenhill

Managing Director, The Right Solution

Before starting The Right Solution in 1995 Sally had spent 20 years in the conference industry as an organiser and on the venue side. She joined Spectrum Communications (now Jack Morton) and stayed for ten years. As Head of Logistics she worked on conference and event organisation all over the World. Towards the end of her time at Spectrum she specialised in consultancy services within the division, which later became The Right Solution.

Dr Edith M. Szivas

Director of Research and Consultancy, Jumeirah Group, Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management, Dubai, UAE

Dr. Edith M Szivas works for the Jumeirah Group as Director of Research and Consultancy at the Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. She is a tourism development specialist with over 15 years international experience in research and consultancy for the tourism industry. She is an advisor to the United Nations World Tourism Organization. She holds a PhD and an MSc in Tourism Planning and Development from the University of Surrey, UK.

Ayman El Aridi

Head of MICE Sales and Operations, U Group Worldwide, Lebanon

Currently the Head Of MICE Sales and Operations at the U Group Worldwide Lebanon, Ayman is a leading conference and events organiser with over 11 years of MICE experience in the Middle East and Gulf States.

Rob Nicholas

Managing Director, Nicholas Publishing International (NPI), Meetme

Rob Nicholas has been working with the Middle East meetings industry for the last 12 years, managing a specialist portfolio of titles dedicated to meetings, incentives and events. The bi-monthly meetme magazine is the leading title in the region for industry planners and organizers.

Didier Scaillet

Chief Development Officer, Meeting Professionals International (MPI), Luxembourg

Didier joined MPI on a full-time basis in 2000 and currently serves as Chief Development Officer MPI and MPI Foundation. Based in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg at the MPI EMEA office, Scaillet is responsible for the expansion of the MPI community and value propositions into new regions and countries as well as new products and services development, global sales and partnership.

Bicky Carlra

Global President, TraVision Inc. & Founder, 7Deals.Travel, UAE

Bicky Carlra is the Founder & Group President of TraVision Inc. He has embarked on the most ambitious project of his life - to develop several projects covering multiple segments within the Online Travel World. These include developing & launching an Online Leisure Portal within GCC for one of the worlds leading Credit Card Brands, a B2B Global Fares sharing platform & an Online e-Learning plus Virtual Classroom platform. His vision is to lead the Middle East Africa regions in the online segment within the travel industry with innovative projects & businesses.

Thierry Dongier

Regional Sales Director - Key Acounts, MENA, Amadeus

Thierry Dongier joined as a Regional Manager Global Customers & Key Accounts effective since January 2011. Thierry comes to the MENA region from Amadeus Sophia Antipolis (France) where he held several positions over the last three years including Sales Manager, Western Europe and most recently IT and Global Account Manager for Amadeus Global Customers. In his new position Thierry will be focusing on developing, in addition to the global accounts, the region's Top 20 accounts and this within a new regional sales strategy and in close collaboration with the region's GMs and Sales teams.

Benjo van Laarhoven

President, The Travel Consulting Group, Dubai

Highly competent and experienced senior manager with over 10 years of experience within Executive and Vice President Level roles in the Travel Industry.
Since May 2011, Benjo heads up the Middle Eastern branch of the Travel Consulting Group. He has engagements with key players in the travel market (TMC's, Airlines and Technology Companies). Besides his day job, Benjo has been active within ACTE since 1998.

Julia Sullivan

Head of Program Management, Alshamel/Carlsonwagonlit, Dubai

Julia has extensive knowledge on managing mid size and large travel programs from her work with leading Travel Management Companies in Europe and the Middle East.
Julia manages local as well as global travel programs, to help customers achieve a positive return on their travel investment. A focal areas is supporting customers in improving their travel payment processes, part of this focus is working with leading credit card companies and Finance departments.

Thomas Grundner

Vice President, Global Sales, Jumeirah Group

Thomas is Vice President of Global Sales for Jumeirah in charge of the Global Contact Centre, 17 Global Sales offices across the world, Electronic Distribution, Sales Automation, Revenue Management and Global Partnerships; he is responsible for driving the Global Sales direction for Jumeirah, which manages a current portfolio of 18 Hotels, Resorts and Residences. Thomas is a Board Member of MPI Foundation and holds the Regional Chair for the Middle East for ACTE.

Camil El Khoury

International Speaker, Author and Vision Coach, ideas group, Beirut, Lebanon

During the past years, Camil has helped public, private and non-governmental organizations build capabilities of growth in more than 80 countries. Camil is the Chief Vision Officer of ideas group a global learning and development consultancy that works with organizations to facilitate and sustain their performance. As an entrepreneur he has co-founded companies in the events, real estate, financial planning, IT and telecoms industries.

Lee Mancini

Managing Director, Sekari, Dubai, UAE

With a partner network of 18 offices around the world SEKARI provides native Search & Social solutions for global campaigns. With 10 years in the Middle East region working within the travel industry with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Jumeirah and Emirates Hotels and Resorts Lee brings with a vast amount of experience of digital marketing within the Middle East.

Ali Al Saloom

Ask-Ali.com, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Tues 27th March 11.00 - 11.25
(for Hosted Buyers only)

Ali Alsaloom is a cultural expert, one of the fastest rising media personalities and a charismatic public speaker in the Gulf Region. His internet portal ask-ali.com became one of the most comprehensive and authentic source of information about culture and heritage for the UAE and the Gulf region. His themed “Ask Ali” shows, weekly columns in the M magazine and cultural guide books about Abu Dhabi and Dubai reach an international audience in thousands.

Tariq Hayat

Principal at Arcapita Bank, Bahrain

Tariq is a Corporate Communication Principal and Administration Manager with Arcapita Bank B.S.C.(c) a global investment firm. Tariq has more than 15 years of experience in public relations, advertising, production design, digital design, and web development. He is a holder of B.S.c in Computer Science and Information Technology from University of Bahrain, and an MBA from University of Strathclyde, UK.

Danny Barranger

VP Global Sales, Etihad Airways

Daniel Barranger joined Etihad Airways as Vice President Global sales on January 1, 2009 He is responsible for the airline’s sales, and manages a team of over 700 sales personnel globally, across six geographic regions.

Mr Barranger has over 25 years’ experience in different markets and regions around the world. His experience includes high-level positions in the airline, hotel and car hire industries.

Speaker Bio

Meet the speakers at GIBTM 2012(in order of appearance)