“As someone who has to travel a lot for work, more than 150,000 miles per year, I am quite intrigued by the topic of travel in the future. I would be happy to speak on the topic of communication and travel in the future at your conference.”

Dr Adrian Cheok , Mixed Reality Lab

Aya Aso, CPA, is the CEO & President, of Agora Hospitalities Co., Ltd. She manages ‘the b roppongi’ hotel brand and the ‘Kotoran’ Spa brand in Japan.

Azran Osman-Rani is the chief executive officer of AirAsiaX, responsible for implementing the company’s business plan and the negotiations for landing rights.

Barry has been a co-manager of Skyscanner since 2001. He became Business Development Director in January 2007. He has 9 years experience as a technical architect having worked with FI Group, SalomonSmithBarney, DLJ and M&S. He is committed to growing Skyscanner's global business relationships.

Brad Holman is the Managing Director, Asia Pacific for Travelport GDS. Brad is responsible for relationships with all travel agency and supplier customers and has overall responsibility for the performance of the region and its financial contribution Travelport.

Bernard Harrison was the CEO of the Singapore Zoological Gardens from 1983 to July 2002. Credited with a creative and innovative vision, Harrison is synonymous with the Singapore Zoo, having brought the Zoo, its open concept of animal display and the Night Safari to international acclaim.

William D. Black is the Managing Director of Bed Management Ltd, based in Thailand. Bed Management company is passionate about developing and operating high concept, destination food and beverage outlets and boutique hotels in Southeast Asia while delivering excellent value to owners and having an impact in its local communities.

Charles Reed is the Chief Executive Officer, interTouch, a leading broadband Internet service provider to the hospitality and travel industries, and a global operating subsidiary of NTT DoCoMo.

Craig Doherty is the vice president of strategic partnerships at Flight Centre North America. He was instrumental in overseeing Flight Centre's acquisition of Liberty Travel and GOGO Worldwide Vacations, as well as his company's new Home Based agency initiative. Flight Centre is rebranding its US stores as Liberty Travel. Doherty has been in his current position with the company for some 16 months, but earlier served as general counsel for Flight Centre.

David Brett is the Vice President, Amadeus Asia Pacific, responsible for driving strategic commercial development in this region, which has rapidly become a major source of growth for Amadeus. David moved the Asia Pacific management and operations team from its global headquarters in Madrid, Spain, to the Amadeus regional headquarters in Bangkok. 

Henrik Kjellberg leads Expedia Asia Pacific. Based in Hong Kong, Kjellberg is responsible for the Expedia points of sale in the Asia Pacific region, including Expedia.com.au, Expedia.com.jp, hotels.com, Worldwide Travel Exchange (WWTE®) – Expedia’s private label business – and eLong.com, of which Expedia owns 52 percent.

Gordon Locke is the Vice-President of Airline Marketing and Strategy for Sabre Airline Solutions/Sabre Travel Network. He is responsible for global airline marketing strategy solutions to help airlines market, sell, serve and operate, including multi-channel distribution, customer management, and self-service airport products

Mr Ho Kwon Ping is Executive Chairman of Banyan Tree Holdings, which owns both listed and private companies engaged in the development, ownership and operation of hotels, resorts, spas, residential homes, retail galleries and other lifestyle activities in the region.

Ian Wilson is Fairmont’s Regional Vice President for Asia, and G.M. of the Fairmont Hotel in Singapore. He was most recently the GM of the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto.

James joined Mindshare Asia-Pacific in Singapore in August 2005, where he oversees all Asian strategy and research initiatives and communications planning development. Since 1994, James has managed several pan-Asian research and marketing teams, on both the agency (Ogilvy, Grey) and client (Intel) side.

Jens Thraenhart has over 15 years of international hospitality experience which includes hotel and restaurant operations, revenue management, sales & marketing, e-business, strategic planning, and hospitality consulting. He has worked with such companies as Fairmont, Four Seasons, Ian Schrager Hotels, Kempinski and Marriott.

You might find Jim Donnelly sitting next to you on an airplane, but he's no ordinary traveler. As the former President and Co-founder of IgoUgo, he combined his love for travel with his business and brand know-how to build one of the most popular online travel communities in the world.

John Northen is the Area Vice President for South East Asia, responsible for the operational standards and excellence of Marriott International’s 30 hotels in his territory.  John joined Marriott in 1986 as a Director of Food & Beverage for Renaissance Hotels in London followed by assignments in Turkey, Aruba and Grenada.  

Kathleen Tan joined AirAsia as Senior Vice-President for Greater China in August 2004. Kathleen was instrumental in securing AirAsia’s entry to China and launched the first route to Xiamen, making AirAsia the first low cost carrier to operate in China.

Karthik is the founding chairman of the Global Brand Forum .  As Chairman of the Global Brand Forum, Karthik's main role lies in helping create the world's most inspiring and influential platform for brands, businesses and leadership. Karthik oversees strategy development, brand planning and Advisory.

Ken Mandel is the Vice President and Managing Director for Yahoo! Southeast Asia. He came to Yahoo! in 2007 from OgilvyOne Asia Pacific as Vice President, Digital and CEO, Neo@Ogilvy, where his responsibilities included the growth and management of interactive marketing, digital media, and emerging channels in 11 markets across Asia.

Kenny Mathers is the Head of Developers and Channels, Forum Nokia for Asia Pacific. The primary role of Business Development and Channels team is to work with APAC based developers in order to ensure support for Nokia platforms and technologies and to drive developer revenue by leveraging Nokia’s internal and external channels to market.

As the Chief Executive Officer, Lee is responsible for HolidayCity’s overall company management and business profitability. This involves the establishment of the company’s strategies, business development and marketing directions to build and develop HolidayCity to become a global brand name.

Leveraging his unique skill set of digital marketing, including online media sales, and above-the-line and below-the-line experience, Mark is responsible for growing the overall service offering at Qais Consulting while also bringing his digital media expertise to the company.

Martin joined Wego as CEO in March 2006 and with nearly 15 years of travel industry experience, the last seven focused on the Asia Pacific online travel space.
He was previously Executive Director, Commercial for ZUJI, where he was instrumental in establishing and building the business and brand. Prior to ZUJI, he was a key member of the team involved in bringing Priceline’s buyer-driven e-commerce model to Asia. Martin has also held senior commercial roles at British Airways and American Airlines, where he was Managing Director, Asia Pacific from 1997-99. He has an MA degree from Oxford University and an MBA from London Business School.

As the Chief Executive Officer, Lee is responsible for HolidayCity’s overall company management and business profitability. This involves the establishment of the company’s strategies, business development and marketing directions to build and develop HolidayCity to become a global brand name.

Mike Buckman is responsible for driving BCD Travel’s business strategy in the Asia-Pacific region, an area where the company has experienced tremendous growth. He previously served as CEO of BCD Travel following the company’s launch in 2006, overseeing the successful integration of three corporate travel industry powerhouses and securing the company’s position as one of the top three global travel management companies worldwide.

Peter is responsible for driving the overall strategy for delivering successful business solutions to customers in Asia Pacific. He is actively involved at a senior executive and strategic level in the commercialization of solutions that integrate Travel Business Solutions, local and regional content and fulfillment services.

Philip, a respected travel industry guru, founded PhoCusWright Inc. in 1994 and serves as president and CEO. His expertise in travel distribution strategy, technology and innovation has made him a sought-after speaker around the world.

Richard Noon has worked in many areas of the travel industry, from hotels, airlines, retail and tour wholesaling to airfare consolidation. He has 25 years travel and 10 years internet marketing experience

As senior director, research, Mr. Badrinathan’s focus will be on PhoCusWright’s custom research projects as well as being focused on the rapidly changing travel distribution markets across Asia Pacific in conjunction with the team of analysts based in India, China and Japan. Ram will also be developing regular market updates on key markets (e.g. New Zealand, China, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore) in 2008 in addition to India.

Robbie Cooke joined Wotif.com in January 2006, initially as the Chief Operating Officer, before taking the reigns as CEO and Managing Director in October 2007 following the retirement of Wotif.com’s Founder, Graeme Wood. Having been instrumental throughout the company’s listing on the Australian Stock Exchange in 2006, Robbie’s knowledge of and experience in achieving continued profitability and growth through strategic development has helped Wotif.com sustain its position.

Dr Reza Azmi is the founder and Director of Wild Asia, a Malaysian-based conservation initiative. Reza has over 13 years experience in issues relating to biodiversity conservation. His conservation career began with WWF Malaysia in 1994 and went on to establish Wild Asia in 2003.

Mr Robert Bailey is the President and CEO of Abacus International. Robert’s career in travel distribution includes a variety of roles with Galileo International; a Europe based Global Distribution System (GDS) now part of Travelport. Robert was responsible for developing Galileo’s network of National Distribution Companies with airlines worldwide and latterly as Director, Sales and Marketing, Europe.

Stephen has been working as a creative and technology consultant since 1995. Prior to co-founding Sentias, Stephen was a Managing Consultant with a large IT Consultancy in Chicago as well as a Creative Director for one of Vancouver's premier web development studios. 

Stephen Hay is the general manager of the Hong Kong operation of ICLP, the world’s number one specialist loyalty marketing agency. Tasked with managing the day-to-day operations of the agency, Hay is also responsible for driving growth. He joined ICLP as a consultant in 1999, and during his tenure has been responsible for establishing the loyalty development division, with responsibility for strategy, consulting, digital and data-driven marketing practices.

Timothy Hughes, Commercial Director for Hotelclub.com is a senior online and new media executive. Timothy is responsible for a team of 50, managing the sales, revenue management & pricing, sourcing (hotel inventory), content (descriptions) and database operations for online hotel sites HotelClub.com, RatesToGo.com and asia-hotels.com.

Timothy O Neil-Dunne serves as the lead for the Airline, Aviation and Airport Practice. Timothy has worked in aviation and travel distribution for more 30 years, including time with Worldspan and Microsoft/Expedia before founding T2Impact in 1998. He leads the group’s efforts in the international arena, providing e-commerce services to travel and technology clients, and others involved in transaction processing oriented e-businesses.

Mr William Liu (or Bill which he is more commonly known) is currently the Chairman of Stream Global, a business advisory and management consultancy firm focusing on Infocomm Technology SMEs in the Asia Pacific Region.