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Hotel & Tourism Investment & Development Conference Speaker Faculty
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HTID Speakers
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Guest Speakers Include:
- Taleb Rifai, Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations World Tourism Organization, Spain
- Claude Attala, Managing Director, Northcourse Advisory Services, UAE
- Philippe Baretaud, Development Director, Accor Middle East, UAE
- Paul Bell, Managing Director, Aldar Hotels and Hospitality, UAE
- Conrad Bigham, Director, Cushman & Wakefield Hospitality EMEA, UK
- Hala Matar Choufany, Director Middle East, HVS International, UAE
- Dave Evans, Executive Vice President Global Legal Affairs, Group RCI, UK
- Eric Gummers, Senior Partner, Howard Kennedy, UK
- Kenneth L Hatton, Partner, Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal, Belgium
- Tom O’Grady, Head of Real Estate ME, DLA Piper, UAE
- Phil Kasselis, Vice-President Development, Middle East & Africa, Intercontinental Hotel Group, UAE
- Jan Laverty Jones, Former Mayor, Las Vegas, USA
- Tom Sprinkle, Vice President and Principal, SB Architects, USA
- James Lehouiller, President, Dileonardo International, USA
- Gary Lopez, Group Director of Development and Planning, Jumeirah Group, UAE
- Peter MacLeod, Vice President, Fairmont Hotels Real Estate, UAE
- Ivor McBurney, Vice President, Development, Middle East Hilton Hotels, UAE
- Jalil Mekouar, Executive Vice-President, Jones Lang LaSalle MENA, UAE
- Darrell Metzger, CEO, Ruwaad Destinations and IAAPA First Vice Chair, UAE
- Piaras Moriarty, Executive VP, IFA Hotels and Resorts, UAE
- Tarek Nabulsi, Vice President, Elaf Group, Saudi Arabia
- Ananya Narayan, Senior Vice President Global Strategy, Preferred Hotel Group, UAE
- Malcolm Ross, Chief Operating Officer, Seven Tides, UAE
- Alexandre Sogno, Managing Director Asset Management, Global Asset Solution, Indonesia and Singapore
- Rohit Talwar, CEO, Fast Future, UK
- Rod Taylor, Head of Hospitality & Tourism, Europe Arab Bank MENA, UK
- Mihir Thacker, Director Development Middle East & Africa, Intercontinental Hotel Group, UAE
- Nick Turner, Managing Director, RCI Middle East, UAE
- Jose Ventura, Executive Director, Interval International, UAE
- Elie Younes, Senior Director – Acquisitions Development EAME, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, UAE
- Dale P. Young, Vice President & General Manager - Middle East, Marriott Vacation Club International, UAE
- Manfred Ursprunger, CEO, QE2 Enterprises, Nakheel Hotels, UAE
- Lee Tabler, CEO, Tourism Development and Investment Company
| Taleb Rifai, Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations World Tourism Organization, Spain |
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 Mr. Taleb Rifai took up his position as Deputy Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in February 2006.
From January 2003 to February 2006, Mr. Rifai was the Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Arab States of the International Labour Organization (ILO).
Prior to this appointment, Mr. Rifai was in charge of several senior government portfolios as Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Minister of Information and Minister of Planning and International Cooperation in the Government of Jordan.
As Minister of Tourism, Mr. Rifai served as Chairman of the Executive Council of the World Tourism Organization (2002-2003).
From 1997 to 2000, he was Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Jordan Cement Company, one of the largest public companies in Jordan, and directed the first large scale privatization and restructuring project in Jordan in 1999.
In his capacity as Director General of the Investment Promotion Corporation (IPC) in Jordan (1995-1997), Mr. Rifai was actively involved in policy making and developing investment strategies.
During 1993-1995, Mr. Rifai headed Jordan’s first Economic Mission to the USA based in Washington DC, promoting trade, investments, and economic relations between the two countries.
Mr. Rifai began his career as Professor of Architecture, Planning and Urban Design at the University of Jordan from 1973-1993. He received his PhD in Urban Design and Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and a Master in Engineering and Architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), Chicago. He also attained a B.Sc. in Architectural Engineering from the University of Cairo in 1973.
Born in 1949, Mr. Rifai is married and has five children.
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| Claude Attala, Managing Director, Northcourse Advisory Services, UAE |
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 Prior to joining NorthCourse, Claude was heading the Planning & Operations at the Qatar Tourism Authority, where he was responsible for the licensing framework for the hospitality sector and drafting the classification systems for hotels and tour operators. He was also head of the business development team, assisting potential investors and developers with tourism-related projects in Qatar.
Prior to this Claude worked in various senior roles with Rezidor SAS, Intercontinental Hotels, Meridien Hotels & Resorts and Sheraton.
Claude has worked on several key projects in the Middle East; the following is an overview of some of recent projects that he has been involved with:
- The implementation plan of the Master Tourism plan for the State of Qatar
- Nomination file of the Khor Al Adaid area in Qatar for the inclusion on the UNESCO natural world heritage list
- Framework for licensing and regulation of the Tourism sector for the state of Qatar
- Implementation plan for the Classification of Hotels and Serviced Apartments in the State of Qatar
- Business case for the Joint venture between Northcourse and Qatari Diar for sales leisure real estate solutions related to Qatari Diar’s mixed used developments
- Design development brief, concept recommendation of four hotels within a mega-mixed used resort project planned in Al Ain
- Sales implementation plan for a timeshare development in Mecca, Saudi Arabia
- Design development brief and financial analysis of mixed use a resort in Dubailand
- Negotiated and secured hotel management agreements for various projects in the United Arab Emirates
- Identified and negotiated hotel operator management agreements for luxury mixed used resort development in Morocco.
- Market research, site analysis and development brief for a major real estate developer of the Greater Cairo district, Egypt
- Market Research and feasibility study to analysis Fractional Shared Ownership for the Jumierah Golf Estates development in Dubai
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| Philippe Baretaud, Development Director, Accor Middle East, UAE |
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| Paul Bell, Managing Director, Aldar Hotels and Hospitality, UAE |
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 Paul Bell is the Chief Operating Officer of Aldar Hotels and Hospitality Group. In this role Paul is based at Aldar corporate headquarters in Abu Dhabi and heads a team which has responsibility for all of Aldar’s hotel and hospitality related investments. Aldar is one of the UAE’s largest integrated real estate development companies with over 25 million square metres of mixed use projects currently under development including YAS Island (which includes a Ferrari branded attraction and a race track which will host the 2009 Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Grand Prix), Al Raha Beach (an 8.5 kilometre mixed use waterfront development) and Central Market projects in Abu Dhabi.
Prior to his current position Paul was VP of Business Development EMEA for InterContinental Hotels Group and has held a number of senior development roles in 2 spells with IHG. In the late 1990s Paul led the development of Stannifer/ Somerston’s hotel business in the UK and served as Managing Director from 2000 to 2004.
Paul has considerable brand development and management experience gained within UK and EMEA roles with leading global brand owners and has in the past been the Finance Director and an Executive Board Member of the British Franchise Association.
Paul is married with 2 grown up children and his interests include football, current affairs and contemporary music.
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| Conrad Bigham, Director, Cushman & Wakefield Hospitality EMEA, UK |
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 Conrad Bigham joined Cushman & Wakefield Hospitality, EMEA in 2007, based in London. His particular expertise centres upon providing Investment and Debt Advisory services to investors in the hotel industry.
Together with acquiring and selling hotels for clients, he has also advised on a wide variety of cross border strategic funding requirements ranging from the UK to Kazakhstan. These assignments have included advising a Spanish hotel group on debt funding, a UK hotel developer on development finance requirements and a Middle Eastern investor in relation to acquiring and financing a European hotel portfolio.
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| Hala Matar Choufany, Director Middle East, HVS International, UAE |
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 Hala Matar Choufany is a Director with HVS International and is responsible for the firm's valuation and consulting work in the Middle East and Egypt. She initially joined HVS London in 2005, moved to HVS Shanghai in September 2006 where she helped grow HVS Shanghai office and business in the Asia region. She relocated to Dubai in September 2007 and looks after HVS interests in the Middle East. Before joining HVS International, Hala had four years of operational and managerial hotel industry experience. She lectured at Notre Dame University in Lebanon on International Travel and Tourism.
Hala holds an MPhil from Leeds University, UK, an MBA from IMHI (Essec-Cornell) University, Paris, France and a BA in Hospitality Management from Notre Dame University, Lebanon. Since joining HVS, she has worked on several mid and large scale mixed use developments and conducted numerous valuations, feasibility studies, operator search, return on investment and market studies in Europe, Middle East and Asia.
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| Dave Evans, Executive Vice President Global Legal Affairs, Group RCI, UK |
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David Evans, Group RCI Vice President, heads the Government Relations Program for Wyndham Worldwide Corporate Services. He serves as Chair of Wyndham’s internal Government Relations Council and is responsible for coordinating federal, state and international government relations efforts for the government relations executives at Group RCI, Wyndham Hotel Group, and Wyndham Vacation Ownership.
David has spent the last five years in the Group’s legal department advising business clients on government relations, regulatory compliance, real estate and timeshare regulation.
Prior to joining Group RCI, David served as Senior Legislative and Corporate Counsel to the American Resort Development Association (ARDA), and held various state government positions with the Florida House of Representatives, the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
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| Eric Gummers, Senior Partner, Howard Kennedy, UK |
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 Partner Eric Gummers joined Howard Kennedy in September 2003 from Amhurst Brown Colombotti as part of the merger between the two firms. Eric is a corporate partner with 22 years´ experience. His expertise includes mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, shareholder agreements and commercial contracts. A high proportion of his work is international. Eric is recognised for his specialised work in the hotel and leisure sector, particularly membership clubs, loyalty programmes, fractional, shared ownership and condo-hotels.
Eric is consistently rated in the top tier for his work in the hospitality and leisure sectors by both Chambers and Legal 500. He is a fluent French speaker and a graduate from Cambridge University. Eric is also a committee member of City of London lawyers commercial law sub-committee
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| Tom O’Grady, Head of Real Estate ME, DLA Piper, UAE |
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| Jan Laverty Jones, Former Mayor, Las Vegas, USA |
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 Jan L. Jones is Senior Vice President of Communications and Government Relations for Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. In that capacity, she oversees all worldwide government affairs, corporate communications, community relations and corporate-social responsibility programs for the $9 billion corporation.
Prior to joining Harrah’s in November 1999, Jones served two terms as Mayor of the City of Las Vegas. She was the city’s first woman chief executive, and among the most popular mayors in its history, having won reelection in 1995 by a 72 percent margin. While in office, Jones presided over an unprecedented period of economic, social and cultural expansion, one in which the city’s population increased 66 percent, making Las Vegas the fastest-growing major metropolitan area in America throughout much of the 1990s.
As mayor, Jones spearheaded a massive growth and redevelopment effort in the city’s once-neglected downtown neighborhood. She played a pivotal role in conceiving, and promoting investment in, the $70 million Fremont Street Experience; she also worked to secure a new County and Government Center, a $170 million regional Justice Center, a $90 million Federal Courthouse, and numerous other capital projects. Her focus on building cooperative, mutually beneficial public/private sector partnerships led Inc. magazine to name Las Vegas the No. 1 city in the country for entrepreneurs, while Fortune ranked the city second in the nation on its list of Best Places in America in which to do business.
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| Tom Sprinkle, Vice President and Principal, SB Architects, USA |
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 Tom brings over 20 years of experience to his role as principal of SB Architects, nearly all of them in San Francisco. In those two decades, he has worked on over 200 projects, working with some of the most iconic firms in the architectural profession. As one of the firm’s design directors, Tom is responsible for overseeing the design of all projects within the firm, as well as leading the design effort on particular projects. His extensive experience with a range of projects in all parts of the world gives him the ability to effectively lead the design of large-scale projects in a variety of settings, with a particular emphasis on projects in dense, urban settings.
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| James Lehouiller, President, Dileonardo International, USA |
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 James Lehouiller is President of DiLeonardo International, one of the world’s largest and most respected interior architectural design firms and universally recognised for its achievements and innovations in the hospitality and leisure industry.
James joined DiLeonardo in 1994. His keen business acumen and management skills, which have been greatly responsible for the firm’s remarkable growth over the past decade, led to his appointment as President in 2006.
He began his business career as a successful institutional trader with Sanford Bernstein, one of New York’s leading boutique investment firms. After joining DiLeonardo in 1994, he started working in the firm’s Hong Kong offices. He received his Bachelor of Sciences in Business Administration degree, with a concentration in Finance and Marketing from the University of Vermont.
Today, from the firm’s world headquarters in Warwick, Rhode Island, he oversees all aspects of DiLeonardo’s global operations. He travels extensively, overseeing the firm’s offices in the United States, Dubai, Hong Kong and the Philippines.
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| Peter MacLeod, Vice President, Fairmont Hotels Real Estate, UAE |
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Peter Macleod is the Executive Director, Residential Development for Fairmont Raffles Hotels in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
He has over 25 years of experience in the Hospitality Industry, the past 5 of which have been spent with Fairmont Raffles Residential Development Group.
Peter joined Fairmont Hotels and Resorts in 2003 when FHR started its first Private Residents Club in Acapulco.
Peter presently works with the hotel group to integrate Fairmont Raffles residential products into mixed Urban and Resorts Developments.
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| Ivor McBurney, Vice President, Development, Middle East Hilton Hotels, UAE |
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 Ivor McBurney, born in Belfast, N. Ireland, has over thirty years experience in the Hospitality Industry with Hilton Hotels Corporation.
He is married with three children aged 20, 15 and 11.
He joined Hilton in the mid 1970’s in the United Kingdom on a Finance Training course and during his time with the company, has held a wide range of Finance positions at Hotel, Area and Head Office levels.
His roles have taken him from the United Kingdom to the United States, Europe and, for the last 10 years, the Middle East.
Prior to his current position, Ivor was Director of Finance – Middle East, for 5 years during which time Hilton’s operations in the region expanded from 18 to 32 hotels.
He established the Development Office in Dubai in late 2005 and leads the expansion activity covering the Hilton Family of Brands in the region.
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| Jalil Mekouar, Executive Vice-President, Jones Lang LaSalle MENA, UAE |
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 As Executive Vice-President, Jalil Mekouar heads Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels Middle-East & North Africa and leads the client relationship.
Jalil has over 17 years of international experience in Corporate Finance/Accounting, Investment, Strategic Consulting, Asset Management, Corporate Strategy, Business Development and Hospitality Operations with various asset classes such as hotels, resorts, spas, time-share, and retail with global hospitality operators and developers/investors. Jalil speaks 5 languages and his professional exposure spans over 21 countries throughout 5 continents, where he sat on the Board of various hospitality companies.
Jalil carries 2 post-graduate degrees from France in Financial Accounting and Tourism & Hotel Management and an MBA (International Hospitality Management) from IMHI (Cornell-ESSEC) and is an active speaker in various conferences and member of various international professional real-estate, hospitality and financial institutes and associations.
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| Darrell Metzger, CEO, Ruwaad Destinations and IAAPA First Vice Chair, UAE |
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 Darrell Metzger, who has more than 30 years of experience in the industry, is CEO of Ruwaad Destinations, the destination development unit of Ruwaad. In this position, he has direct management responsibility for the development and operations of all Ruwaad Destinations projects, as well as its many partnerships.
He has played a major role in the start up, operations and rejuvenation of many major leisure, lifestyle, resort and destination companies and has held leading positions at renowned destinations such as Disneyland Resort in California, Tokyo Disneyland Resort and Ocean Park in Hong Kong.
Before joining Ruwaad, he was CEO of the Sentosa Leisure Group, where he accelerated a major 10-year program to reorganise and revitalise the US$6 billion Sentosa Islands in Singapore – now a top Asian lifestyle destination.
Darrell Metzger began his career in the happiest of places – Disneyland Resort in California – with the Walt Disney Co., where he worked for 10 years, the last five of which was as a founding member of the Directors Operating Committee for the planning and implementation of Tokyo Disneyland, the company’s first foray into the international market.
He then became Vice President of an international consulting firm, where he worked on the planning and implementation of several aspects of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, one of the most financially successful modern Olympic games every held.
As CEO of Ocean Park in the early 1990s, Darrell Metzger headed up the major reorganisation, rejuvenation and repositioning of this high-profile leisure park in Hong Kong, successfully implementing a five-year US$100 million strategic plan that vastly improved revenue, and in just four years, he increased annual attendance figures 50% to 3.7 million and doubled profits.
Darrell Metzger is Vice-Chairman of the IAAPA, the industry’s largest international trade association. Next year, he will become its Chairman.
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| Piaras Moriarty, Executive VP, IFA Hotels and Resorts, UAE |
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 Piaras Moriarty is the Vice President of IFA Vacation Ownership and has 20 years of leadership experience building marketing infrastructures and guiding top-tier companies to integrate shared ownership products into their product mix.
He joined IFA Hotels & Resorts in 2004 to analyse the specific needs and requirements for the successful introduction of IFA Fractional & Vacation Ownership products in Dubai and has been driving the IFA Vacation Ownership division forward ever since.
Piaras’ previous timeshare marketing experience includes a stellar track record with Marriott Vacation Club International in the Middle East.
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| Ananya Narayan, Senior Vice President Global Strategy, Preferred Hotel Group, UAE |
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Ananya Narayan, formerly Managing Director – Asia Pacific for Preferred Hotel Group has recently been promoted and relocated to Dubai as Senior Vice President – Asia Pacific with a dual role as Managing Director – India, Middle East and Africa. Ananya rapidly increased the number of hotels in Asia Pacific under Preferred Hotel Group from 13 to 47 in less than 3 years whilst increasing the partner hotel revenues through their channels by over 20% annually.
Prior to joining Preferred Hotel Group, he spent ten years in senior management roles including seven at Hyatt International Corporation and Grand Hyatt Hong Kong.
Preferred Hotel Group delivers sales, marketing and technology solutions to more than 600 independent hotels and resorts in over 65 countries. Its family of brands includes Preferred Hotels® & Resorts, Preferred Boutique, Summit Hotels & Resorts, Sterling Hotels and Historic Hotels of America.
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| Malcolm Ross, Chief Operating Officer, Seven Tides, UAE |
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| Alexandre Sogno, Managing Director Asset Management, Global Asset Solution, Indonesia and Singapore |
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| Rohit Talwar, CEO, Fast Future, UK |
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 Rohit Talwar is an internationally recognised futurist and advisor to leaders in global businesses and government. He is also an award winning speaker, entrepreneur and mentor to fast growth companies. Rohit has a particular interest in the evolution of fast growth economies such as China and India and is also a specialist in studying the future of travel, tourism, meetings and events. He has recently completed major global studies on the Future of Events, the Future of China’s Economy – The Path to 2020 and the Future of Travel and Tourism in the Middle East.
Rohit was nominated as one the top ten global future thinkers by the UK’s Independent newspaper. He is the founder of the consultancy Fast Future and the think tank - Global Futures and Foresight. He spends his time travelling the world speaking, consulting and researching the ideas that will shape the future and meeting the people and organizations behind them.
Rohit has spoken and consulted on 5 continents and in over 30 countries including Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Italy, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, The Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, UAE (Dubai), UK, USA and Zimbabwe.
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| Rod Taylor, Head of Hospitality & Tourism, Europe Arab Bank MENA, UK |
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 Rod Taylor heads the Hospitality & Tourism Team for Europe Arab Bank with specific responsibility for the bank’s clients who have actual or potential interests in Western & Eastern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.
His team provides intra-region or cross border acquisition finance, construction & development loans, coupled with the refinancing of existing assets.
In addition, Rod manages and ensures a cohesive approach to the financing of hospitality led assets which Europe Arab Bank make available to the industry from its overseas corporate centres located in London, Frankfurt, Paris, Vienna, Madrid, Rome and Milan.
While based in the heart of London, Rod Taylor is now often seen in airport departure lounges, either leaving to visit overseas clients or to speak at conferences on such diverse topics as cross border financing, fractional ownership, mixed use or lifestyle and designer led hotels.
Europe Arab Bank has during the last 6 months completed transactions from Paris to Dubai and is currently progressing hospitality led proposals in the UAE, Libya, and Morocco and in other capital cities within mainland Europe.
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| Mihir Thacker, Director Development Middle East & Africa, Intercontinental Hotel Group, UAE |
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 Mihir is currently Director of Development at Intercontinental Hotels based in Dubai. He is responsible for the strategy and growth of the various IHG brands in emerging markets across Africa and the Middle East.
Prior to joining IHG, Mihir established the regional development office for Shangri-La Hotels in Dubai where he was responsible for the growth of Shangri-La across North Africa, Middle East, Indian Ocean and the Indian Sub - Continent. Previously he obtained extensive real estate led consulting experience with the international consulting firm - Knight Frank and established the Hospitality practice for the firm in India. He advised clients on their acquisition, valuation and disposal strategies across various asset classes.
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| Nick Turner, Managing Director, RCI Middle East, UAE |
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 Nick Turner has nearly 20 years experience in the international hospitality, travel and leisure sectors.
He joined Group RCI , a division of Wyndham Worldwide, the worlds leading hotel group and vacation exchange in September 2006 as Managing Director, Middle East. His responsibilities include overseeing the regional expansion of affiliated resorts high yielding Leisure Real Estate asset classes which include Hotels, Vacation Ownership & Timeshare , Fractional models and Buy to Use and Let Real Estate.
By the end of 2007 Nick developed the RCI Middle East business into a team supporting over 60 mixed use resorts in the region with a team of 30 RCI product and advisory professionals.
Prior to joining RCI , Turner held various leadership roles with several hospitality and leisure companies based in Europe , including the De Vere Hotel Group, Forte & Le Meridien Hotels & Resort and the Intercontinental Hotel Group.
Among his many career accomplishments is the development of worldwide hotel sales and distribution channels to 60 countries, the development of new hotel brands and the project management and delivery of new mixed use hotels and resorts.
Turner was recognized by Hotel & Caterer magazine in 2001 with an Acorn Award for “Top Industry Achiever Under the Age of 30” and again in 2003 at the National Sales Awards as a “Sales Leader of the Year in UK Industry Winner.”
He is a graduate of Leeds Polytechnic with a HND in Tourism and is a member of the Institute of Directors.
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| Jose Ventura, Executive Director, Interval International, UAE |
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Jose Ventura is executive director – resort sales & services for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for Interval International, a leading provider of vacation services.
In his role, Jose oversees Interval's presence in the UAE and directs the day-to-day sales and service activities. He assists in servicing Interval's existing affiliated resorts, facilitating sales and marketing support, as well as building Interval's developer client base in the region.
Jose has responsibilities relative to Interval’s expansion strategy for the African continent and Indian Ocean and is also responsible for the Middle East resort affiliation, services, and marketing of Preferred Residences, a membership and exchange programme for luxury shared ownership properties.
He has extensive experience within the leisure and real estate industries and has worked for some of the most prestigious names in hospitality including Hyatt, Ian Schrager International, Marriott, Ritz Carlton and Le Meridien.
Before joining Interval, Jose was managing director for Pam Golding Vacation in Property, a division of Pam Golding Property, South Africa’s largest independent real estate companies.
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| Elie Younes, Senior Director – Acquisitions Development EAME, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, UAE |
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| Dale P. Young, Vice President & General Manager - Middle East, Marriott Vacation Club International, UAE |
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Dale P. Young is Vice President and General Manager – Middle East of Marriott Vacation Club International (MVCI) the interval ownership division of Marriott International, Inc. Dale is responsible for all in-market Sales, Marketing and Administrative functions for the Middle East. He also manages the delivery of the Marriott Vacation Club – Dubai Festival City resort, a joint venture with the Al-Futtaim Group, and serves as MVCI’s primary in-market representative for the joint venture.
Dale began his tenure with MVCI in January 2000. Most recently, he served as Vice President - Feasibility, Business Planning and Project Delivery - Europe, Middle East and Asia where, among other efforts, he led the Business Planning Team for projects in Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Tenerife and multiple other efforts across Europe and the Middle East.
Before joining MVCI, Dale spent the previous four years with Universal Studios Orlando where he led the Accounting and Finance operations for Universal Studios’ CityWalk, a restaurant, retail and entertainment complex.
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| Manfred Ursprunger, CEO QE2 Enterprises, Nakheel Hotels, UAE |
| Manfred Ursprunger joined Nakheel in 2007 to head up the QE2 Enterprises unit of Nakheel Hotels. Mr. Ursprunger has a 20-year record of achievement as a cruise line and hospitality executive and strategist. Some of the clients he consulted for included Holland America Line, Silversea Cruises and Costa Crociere. Prior to that, he was the President & CEO of Renaissance Cruises. |
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