Ahmed El-Shal
Chairman
ICOM
Ahmed El-Shal is the Chairman of ICOM and head of the company’s executive board. He graduated from Saint Marc College in 1989, then earned his bachelor’s degree in 1995 from Faculty of Medicine – Alexandria University specialising in Paediatric medicine. He founded a company for organisation & marketing and later on, changed its name to ICOM in 1998. Starting with only 5 employees, the company now has close to 100 highly-qualified professionals across its 3 offices including Cairo and Dubai. ICOM is a key player in the Middle East and Gulf Event Management market, organising over 200 events annually with a focus on clients from the medical and pharma fields. ICOM is one of two companies certificated by IAPCO in the organisation field in Egypt and one of six companies in the Middle East.
Topic: CTW Asia-Pacific Forum 1: Cybersecurity Risks – Are We Doing Enough?
Ajay Kapoor
VP Procurement
Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance India
Ajay Kapoor, presently associated with HSBC Group as VP procurement, is a Mechanical Engineer with Masters from BITS Pilani. He has over 20 years of rich and diverse experience in the field of Procurement, Strategic Sourcing and SCM across leading groups such as Honda cars and Telecom. Ajay’s key traits include excellent analytic and negotiation skills as well as process outsourcing towards the accomplishment of cost optimisation and enhancement of the customer experience. He has excellent interpersonal & communication skills to manage internal stakeholders & supplier relationship effectively. He is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt (KPMG), PMP (USA), CPSM (ISM -USA) and has recently completed certification on BlockChain from ISM (USA).
Topic: CTW Asia-Pacific Forum 2: Ensuring Effective Supplier Relationships In your Travel Procurement
Elena Geremi Ton
Associate Manager
Accenture Philippines
Geremi is a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Hotel and Restaurant Administration at the University of the Philippines. She has worked at Mandarin Oriental, Manila and Makati Shangri-La, Manila for a combined 12 years in different positions in Events Management, Room Sales, Marketing and Human Resources. She joined Accenture in 2011 and has led the Rooms Management Team and Business Services Center Team (Food Delivery, Mobile Management, Telephone Operations, Concierge/Reception and Gym/Recreation Center). In January 2016, she was assigned as the Philippines Travel Lead managing Air Travel, Corporate Card and Ground Transportation. Now she functions as the interim lead for Shared Services with Travel, Events and Executive Support under her wings.
Topic: CTW Asia-Pacific Forum 4: Travel Policy Disruption – Managing Compliance and Traveller Satisfaction
Elis Kodra
Director, CWT Solutions Group, Asia Pacific
CWT
Elis heads CWT Solutions, the consulting arm of CWT, in Asia Pacific. Elis has progressed through the ranks of Solutions Group, starting as a Senior Consultant in London leading spend optimisation projects for some of the largest Global companies in industries such as Oil & Gas, Banking Finance and Telecommunications. Now based out of Singapore, Elis leads a team of 12 Consultants, Outsourced Travel Specialist & Data Insight team members, with their core objective to help clients optimise, provide insights and deliver best practice to their Travel Program. Continuously evolving and bringing the data topic at the forefront of decision-making process.
Topic: CTW Asia-Pacific Keynote: 2019 Asia Pacific Business Travel Market Outlook
Foy Song
Procurement Director
Pearson Greater China
Heading the Pearson Greater China Procurement organisation, Foy oversees key categories in Marketing, Real Estate and Facility Management, IT, Professional Services, Corporate Travel, etc. With his expertise and leadership, Foy has built up the Pearson category sourcing team and developed the procurement framework, policies, processes and tools that cater to multi business units of the Pearson China Group. Before Pearson, Foy served Microsoft and Nokia for 5 years as their Sales and Marketing Sourcing lead covering all the APAC countries.
Topic: CTW Asia-Pacific Forum 1: Cybersecurity Risks – Are We Doing Enough?
Imre Diosi
Event, Sponsoring & Motorsport Manager
Michelin Hungary
Imre Diosi has more than 12 years of experience in the event management sector. He joined Michelin in 2001 as sales and logistic expert, from 2004 trade marketing manager, from 2007 event manager for 4 countries. Currently he is responsible for event, sponsoring and motorsport in Southern- and Central-Europe (13 countries).
As an event manager he organizes more than 30 events (press conferences, new product launches, trainings, trade shows, conferences) on a yearly level. His main responsibility is to achieve a high-quality level of experience to different target groups supporting the main marketing and sales objectives of the company.
He is very engaged in applying the latest innovations and technology to his everyday work and at the same time seeks environmentally-friendly solutions to decrease the company’s ecological footprint.
Topic: CTW Asia-Pacific Forum 5: Duty of Care – Blurring The Lines in Bleisure Travel
Jacob Hu
Mobility Manager, APAC
OSRAM
As the APAC Commodity Business Manager at OSRAM, Jacob acts as a project leader to execute several procurement P2P projects as well as related sub-categories assignments in the APAC region. He has extensive experiences in indirect material procurement, having worked for several MNCs especially on business travel procurement and services operations. During his past work experience, Jacob introduced new management models which combined creative ideas with effective strategies, resulting in optimised processes, managed vendors’ performances, consolidated resources and controlled overall cost. Mr. Jacob holds a master’s degree in business management and was IT&CMA and CTW Asia-Pacific’s “Stickiest Guru” in 2018.
Topic: CTW Asia-Pacific Forum 4: Travel Policy Disruption – Managing Compliance and Traveller Satisfaction
CTW Asia-Pacific Forum 5: Duty of Care – Blurring The Lines in Bleisure Travel
Jeannie Techasiriwan
Special Events Assistant Director
Amway Thailand
Jeannie Techasiriwan is a Special Events Assistant Director of Amway (Thailand) Ltd. Amway (Thailand) Ltd. is an affiliate of Amway Corporation, one of the world’s largest multilevel direct selling companies, established in 1959 in Ada, Michigan, USA. Amway has been operating in Thailand over 32 years with a net sales of THB 19,000 Million Baht in 2018. Jeannie has extensive knowledge of the meeting industry totalling more than 20 years, starting her career as a meeting planner with American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) in New York City from 2000-2006. In 2006, she moved back to Thailand and continued to work with Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau in the Meetings & Incentives Department. From 2008 to present, she is the head of Special Events Department of Amway Thailand responsible for incentive trips domestically and internationally.
Topic: CTW Asia-Pacific Forum 2: Ensuring Effective Supplier Relationships In your Travel Procurement
Jeremy Lin Junhong
APAC Sourcing Manager for Corporate Travel, Sales and Marketing
Herbalife International Singapore
Jeremy is the Sourcing Manager for APAC region in Herbalife. He is responsible for leading key APAC sourcing projects including global travel agency consolidation, air and hotel program, MICE events and marketing. Prior to joining Herbalife, Jeremy worked for GSK, Toshiba and Micron Semiconductor and he has been in Indirect Sourcing line for the past 12 years and into his 7th year for Travel Category.
Topic: CTW Asia-Pacific Keynote: 2019 Asia Pacific Business Travel Market Outlook
CTW Asia-Pacific Forum 4: Travel Policy Disruption – Managing Compliance and Traveller Satisfaction
Koby Brice
Senior Director, Program Management, APAC
CWT
Starting her career at the coalface, Koby began working in the travel industry as a travel consultant. With more than 25 years’ experience, her travel career has advanced through operations and account management to her current position as Senior Director Global Program Management in Asia Pacific for Carlson Wagonlit Travel, where she leads a team of Program Managers across the region. Since joining CWT in 2013, Koby has successfully managed and transformed global travel programs for some of their biggest clients delivering significant savings to their programs. Adding to this, Koby has 10 years’ experience as a regional travel buyer giving her the fantastic ability to see opportunities from both a TMC and buyer perspective. Her vast operational and travel buyer experience means she has an excellent understanding of the day-to-day intricacies of any travel program and is able to work closely with operations and travel managers to ensure the travel program is performing at optimum level.
Topic: CTW Asia-Pacific Forum 4: Travel Policy Disruption – Managing Compliance and Traveller Satisfaction
Maciej Olbert
Travel Manager
Luxoft
Maciej Olbert joined LUXOFT – a DXC Technology Company in 2011 and is currently working as a Travel Manager, responsible for Poland and Asia-Pacific region. He has almost 10 years of experience in business travel and in handling multi-national clients. His professional experience stems from years of providing excellent customer support, creative problem solving, vendor management and cost optimization of airline, hotel, OBT, TMC solution contracts in existing and emerging markets. As a PhD Candidate, he served as an assistant professor at University of Economics (Wroclaw, Poland).
CTW Asia-Pacific Forum 4: Travel Policy Disruption – Managing Compliance and Traveller Satisfaction
CTW Asia-Pacific Forum 5: Duty of Care – Blurring The Lines in Bleisure Travel
Manish Raj
Vice President, Global Sales & New Initiatives
MovieInSync Technology Solutions, India
Manish has over 2 decades of experience in Employee Transport Automation, Travel and Hospitality industries. In his current role, he is responsible for driving the Technology solution of MoveInSync to global markets – APAC, Africa, and Europe.
An ISO 27001:2013 certified organisation, MoveInSync is the global pioneer in employee transport automation and is India’s largest office commute platform that drives 1/4th of the Indian IT/ITES workforce. It simplifies the complete employee transport management process and powers shared mobility for businesses across India, Sri Lanka and most recently in Africa.
Manish is the honorary board member of INFHRA membership committee. He was also the Co-Founder of a Corporate Travel Management Company, Tripeur. Before his stint as an entrepreneur, he served as Vice President & Business Head – Corporate Travel Services for VIA.COM, a travel services company based in Bangalore and a leading SaaS platform based B2B travel commerce provider. Prior to VIA, he played active roles in the Hotel Industry in India. He was the Director of Sales for Golden Palms Hotel & Spa and later AVP for Best Western India.
Topic: CTW Asia-Pacific Forum 1: Cybersecurity Risks – Are We Doing Enough?
Mizuho Hara
Manager, Events & Promotions and Cvent Strategic Partnership
JTB Pte Ltd
Mizuho Hara is the manager for Events & Promotions and Cvent Strategic Partnership of JTB Asia Pacific Headquarters based in Singapore. She is spearheading marketing and sales for JTB’s management solutions for the Cvent suite of products in addition to overseeing business development & client relationship management for MCE projects in the company’s 29 branch offices in the region.
JTB has a long history in events starting with the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. The company solidified its position in the industry through their delivery of the 1970 Osaka World Expo. JTB continues to be heavily part of large events in Japan with their involvement in the G20, the Rugby World Cup Japan 2019, the 2019 Imperial Transition and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In Asia Pacific, Mizuho and the rest of the team is working to bring JTB’s exceptional MCE management expertise to the regional platform.
Topic: CTW Asia-Pacific Forum 3: Strategic Management Meetings (SMM): Makring Technology Work (In Partnership With JTB-CVENT)
Monika Mantuano
Marketing Manager
HP Hungary
Monika has been a marketing manager at HP for 16 years. She handles different local and international roles both in consumer and commercial marketing at different departments of the company. Before HP, Monika worked for companies like Budapest Airport, BCG and VELUX as a marketing manager. Besides HP, she is also Vice President of UNICEO (United Network of International Corporate Event Organizers). As part of her responsibilities at UNICEO, she organises corporate events, develops strategy and defines the expected ROI of the event.
Topic: CTW Asia-Pacific Keynote: 2020 Asia Pacific Business Travel Market Outlook
Philomena Seet
Senior HR / Training Manager
Kseven Industries
Philomena is a Senior HR Training Manager of a medium-sized Investment Holding Firm for the past ten years. The experience and knowledge acquired in her career with several MNCs prior to her current role has enabled her to assume wider responsibility in managing local & overseas employees from diverse cultural backgrounds.
As a HR practitioner and a Certified ACTA trainer, focusing on HR Management & Training, she also assumes “corporate travel management” responsibility. She is a strong advocate on data privacy protection especially with the pool of “high net worth investors” who have maintained substantial investments with the company for several years.
With the recent upsurge of cyberattack threats, she began to implement stricter travel policies across the board, including constant engagement and direct communication with TMCs, and hoteliers on global cyber security risks for the organisation.
Topic: CTW Asia-Pacific Forum 1: Cybersecurity Risks – Are We Doing Enough?
Pulak Bhaumik
Associate Director & Head – Supply Chain Management & Procurement
CBRE South Asia
As a Head of Strategic Supply Chain Management & Procurement at CBRE in India, Pulak brings over 19+ years of rich experience in Strategic Sourcing, Supply Chain Management & Procurement functions for various corporates. He has been in the Indutry as speaker, moderator, advisor in various forum on supply chain transformation, innovative sollutions, technology implementation.
Prior to joining CBRE, has has worked with Leading Fortune 500 Global Real Estate Firm JLL (Jones Lang Lasalle) as Regional Procurement Lead and Cushman & Wakefiled 7.5 years respectively where he was responsible for driving strategic initiative for regional clients and establishing of Technology Driven Solution such as Sourcing as Services to the clients. Pulak has also worked with companies like Bausch & Lomb, American Express Bank, Blackstone, Stork Engineers BV.
Topic: CTW Asia-Pacific Forum 2: Ensuring Effective Supplier Relationships In Your Travel Procurement
CTW Asia-Pacific Forum 4: The NDC Impact
Sunil Gupta
Global Procurement Manager
Nxp India Private Limited
Sunil is an experienced procurement professional with 22+ years of rich experience in strategic sourcing mostly in the semiconductors industry. Currently as part of NXP, Sunil is managing a global team of sourcing managers & senior sourcing managers representing $300m+ annual indirect spend including $50m+ travel spend. Sunil has been an active advocate of providing practical solutions to challenges in managing a corporate travel program that is aimed at keeping road warriors contented, while increasing compliance & saving money for the corporation.
Topic: CTW Asia-Pacific Keynote: 2020 Asia Pacific Business Travel Market Outlook
Tejveer Singh Bedi
Group Director Revenue
Park Hotel Group
Mr. Tejveer Singh Bedi, has been Group Revenue Director of Park Hotel Group since October 2014 and serves as the current President of HSMAI Singapore Chapter. He oversees partnerships, performance and distribution strategy for the Park Hotel group’s portfolio of hotels. He has extensive experience in yield, pricing strategy as well as distribution management and digital marketing. Mr. Bedi also serves as a trainer for Singapore Institute of Hospitality and has trained officers of Singapore Tourism Board as well as other senior executives.
Topic: CTW Asia-Pacific Forum 5: Duty of Care – Blurring The Lines in Bleisure Travel
Volente Mckay
Corporate Travel Manager
ATNS
Volente is currently the Corporate Travel Manager at Air Traffic and Navigation SOC Limited in South Africa. She has approximately 18 years’ experience in the Travel industry. Her career in Travel started out as an Africa Franchise manager for South African Airways Travel Centre (SATC). During her tenure at SATC she was responsible for market penetration through franchise opportunities in the African continent. She also has vast experience in the Hospitality Industry and has held positions such as Group General Manager, General Manager and various Sales related portfolios.
Topic: CTW Asia-Pacific Forum 5: Duty of Care – Blurring The Lines in Bleisure Travel
Will Kataria
Director
Cvent Singapore
Will Kataria is the head of Cvent Singapore office and leads APAC sales of the flagship event management solutions and the hospitality cloud. To this end, Will travels across the globe and is often called upon to speak at conferences regarding technology trends in the meetings industry. Will works closely with the global leadership team and helps shape the strategy and direction for APAC market in terms of product roadmap, marketing initiatives, operational efficiencies and global expansion.
Will started with Cvent in 2006 and worked through the ranks. He was one of the top producing sales reps and helped in dramatically expanding Cvent’s footprint in Middle East, Africa, UK, Europe and South East Asia region. With over 12 years of Industry experience, Will has successfully onboarded 100s of customers and helped implement Event platform solutions.
Topic: CTW Asia-Pacific Forum 3: Strategic Management Meetings (SMM): Makring Technology Work (In Partnership With JTB-CVENT)