SPEAKERS
Sabine Reise
Managing Director
Allseated Europe
Speaking at:
Events - What Does The Future Hold?
Sarah Duncan
Managing Director
Sleeping Lion
Speaking at:
Sustainability - Different Journeys, Same Destination
Louise Carr-Merino
Sustainable Hospitality &
Leisure Manager
Green Key
Speaking at:
Sustainability - Different Journeys, Same Destination
John Davis
Group CTO
The Ivy
Speaking at:
Where On Earth Is The Metaverse?
Jamila Brown
Head of Foundations
Soho House UK
Speaking at:
Sustainability - Different Journeys, Same Destination
Chris Cowls MBE
Chief Executive
Eproductive
Speaking at:
Ingenious Staffing Solutions
Andrew Henning
General Manager
Grosvenor House Suites
Speaking at:
Building The Best Culture - Listen To The Experts!
Dean Madge
Regional Director UK and DACH
Profitroom
Speaking at:
How To Use Clever Technology To Attract The Best Talent
Andrew Evans
CEO
Keystep Solutions
Speaking at:
The Year We Made Our Own Beds
Thomas Greenall
CEO
Bespoke Hotels
Speaking at:
Leaders Panel
Jane Griffiths
Global Sales Director
GLH
Speaking at:
Events - What Does The Future Hold?
Kathrin Cockhill
Director of Hotel Intelligence
HotStats
Speaking at:
The Financial Facts & Figures
Chris Stock
Managing Director
Percipient
Speaking at:
Workshop
Jessica Wilkins
Finance
Mollie's
Speaking at:
Amazing Careers
John Owen
CEO
TigerTMS
Speaking at:
TigerTMS Workshop
Joe Beaumont
Direct Sales Consultant
Exponential-e
Speaking at:
Back-office Technology,
Front Office Smiles
Ted Horner
Managing Director
E Horner & Associates
Speaking at:
Where on earth is the Metaverse?
Ted Horner
Managing Director
E Horner & Associates
Speaking at:
Where On Earth Is The Metaverse?
Peter Heath
Managing Director
Venue Performance
Speaking at:
Events - What Does The Future Hold?
Kate Nicholls OBE
CEO
UKHospitality
Speaking at:
Leaders Panel
Mark Edwards
Audit Partner
BDO
Speaking at:
The Financial Facts & Figures
Christine Davies
FD
Exclusive Collection
Speaking at:
Workshop
Brian Reeves
Founder
RateAdvisor
Speaking at:
Workshop
Matt Broom
Director Of Restaurant Technology
PizzaExpress
Speaking at:
Returning Customers, Familiar Faces
Gabriel Gonzalez
Managing Director
LIMA Group
Speaking at:
Ingenious Staffing Solutions
Darren Sweetland
Managing Director
Mollie's Diner
Speaking at:
Amazing Careers
Harry Murray
President
HOSPA
Speaking at:
HOSPACE Opening
Eamonn Crowe
Editor
Boutique Hotelier
Speaking at:
Amazing Careers
Jerome Wise
Vice President – UK and Ireland and Enterprise Clients
Amadeus
Speaking at:
Workshop
Manuel Lima
Mobile Business Unit Director
Nonius
Speaking at:
Workshop
Sally Beck
General Manager
Royal Lancaster London
Speaking at:
HOSPACE Opening
Pigi Matthaiou
Strategic Partnerships Manager
Google
Speaking at:
Google Workshop
Roy Walker
Vice President of Sales
Harri
Speaking at:
Recruitment Tips & Tricks
Tom Hayley
CFO
The Other House
Speaking at:
Workshop
Judi Blakeburn
Brand Director
Watergate Bay Hotel
Speaking at:
Building The Best Culture - Listen To The Experts!
Michael Clitheroe
General Manager
Balmer Lawn Hotel
Speaking at:
Building The Best Culture - Listen To The Experts!
Katherine Doggrell
Editor
HOSPA The Overview
Speaking at:
The Financial Facts & Figures
Leaders Panel
Jane Pendlebury
CEO
HOSPA
Speaking at:
The Year We Made Our Own Beds
Danny Pecorelli
Managing Director
Exclusive Collection
Speaking at:
Sustainability - Different Journeys, Same Destination
Andrew Stembridge
Executive Director
Iconic Luxury Hotels
Speaking at:
Leaders Panel
David Parker
Commercial & Events Director
Royal College of Physicians
Speaking at:
Events - What Does The
Future Hold?
Harry Murray MBE
President
HOSPA
Speaking at:
Conference Opening
Building The Best Culture - Listen To The Experts!
James Simpson
Managing Director
MethodWorx
Speaking at:
Returning Customers, Familiar Faces
Martin Chevalley
CEO & Co-founder
InnSpire
Speaking at:
HOSPA300
Chris Upton
Past Chairman
HOSPA
Speaking at:
HOSPACE Opening
Bryan Steele
Managing Director
Jireh-Tek Limited
Speaking at:
Workshop
Kate Brooke-Green
Food Development & Innovation
Mollie's
Speaking at:
Amazing Careers
Darrell Spencer
Chief Technology Officer
Village Hotels
Speaking at:
HOSPA 300 Session
Weirong Zheng
Strategic Partnerships Manager
Google
Speaking at:
Google Workshop
Steve Lowy
CEO & Founder
The Residence Apartments
Speaking at:
Building The Best Culture - Listen To The Experts!
SPEAKER BIOS
Jane Pendlebury
CEO, HOSPA
Jane is CEO of HOSPA. With the support of her team and the Board, Jane has been determined to deliver HOSPACE 2022 in the best possible way.
Since March 2020 when COVID-19 had such drastic implications for the hospitality industry, she has been unwavering in her drive to work closely with members and to support the industry.
It's never been more important to share best practice and guidance. HOSPACE looks to impart advice and knowledge to others at a crucial time. It's this sentiment that's spurred Jane and the team on!
Conference & Awards Host
Peter Hancock is a professional conference and awards host. From 2000—2021 he was Chief Executive at Pride of Britain Hotels and before that was Group Publishing Director at Johansens. He is an ambassador for James Hallam (Insurance) and the Gold Service Scholarship.
He is a Fellow of HOSPA and the Institute of Hospitality, a member of the Professional Speaking Association, and a Master Innholder. Last month he was presented with the award for ‘Outstanding Contribution’ at the Independent Hotel Show, of which he is also an ambassador.
Harry Murray MBE
President, HOSPA
Distinguished hotelier, Harry Murray MBE, President of HOSPA, has worked in the hospitality industry for over 60 years and has been recognised with numerous awards for his tireless efforts to raise standards of excellence. His awards include Hotelier of the Year, Catey Lifetime Achievement Award and an MBE for services to the hospitality industry.
In July 2020 he was the recipient of an Honorary Degree of Doctor to the University of Essex following his valued contribution to The Edge Hotel School, the UK’s first hotel school.
Kate Nicholls
CEO, UKHospitality
Kate Nicholls is CEO of UKHospitality, the powerful voice representing the broad hospitality sector, having previously worked as CEO and Strategic Affairs Director of the ALMR. In July 2019, Kate was appointed Chair of the Tourism Alliance, the membership organisation for the tourism industry comprising of leading trade associations/trade bodies within the sector. Kate is also Chair of Mayor of London's Night Time Commission and is also a member of the Events Industry Board, London Food Board, Tourism Industry Council, Cultural Cities Enquiry, London & Partners Members Group and the Advisory Board for the Institute for Industrial Strategy.
After gaining a degree in English and a post-graduate diploma in competition law, Kate worked as a researcher in the House of Commons and European Parliament before joining Whitbread as Government Relations Manager, starting her career in hospitality in 1993. Kate was Director at one of the largest independent public affairs companies, working with a number of hospitality, retail and leisure accounts before establishing her own strategic communications consultancy in 2000. She is a graduate of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge and Kings College London.
Mark Edwards
BDO Partner
Mark is a partner in the Consumer Markets sector in London and has spent 12 years specialising in advising businesses in the hotel, restaurant and food retail sectors. Mark has extensive experience with family businesses, PE-backed entities and large, international listed businesses.
Mark is a member of the Technical Committee of the Hospitality Professionals Association and the firm’s representative on the ICAEW Food & Drink Insight group. He has experience working with corporate finance on IPOs including in China, as well as on a range of special assurance engagements and due diligence assignments. Mark gained commercial experience when appointed interim FD at an international wholesale business in the retail sector. Client experience: Malmaison & Hotel Du Vin, Hoxton hotels, Marriott International, Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill, Four Seasons hotels, Thistle hotels, Prezzo, Tasty, Hotel Chocolat, West Cornwall Pasty and Tossed.
Sarah Duncan
Managing Director, Sleeping Lion
Sarah Duncan specialises in sustainable business development and ethical marketing and is the author of The Ethical Business Book. Through training, consultancy and guest speaking, she helps businesses understand the commercial and moral benefits of sustainable and ethical business practice (or ESG).
She advises on how to make sustainability a genuine part of your business culture and day-to-day practice, not just a tick-box exercise (or race to be the ‘least bad’). She is on a mission to try and simplify this highly complex area and help companies make sustainability work for them, in a long-term, authentic and holistic way.
Sabine Reise
Managing Director, Allseated Europe
Sabine Reise, Managing Director of Allseated Europe is a software entrepreneur who has been involved in 3D visualisation of events and event venues for over 17 years. After a 1.5 year cooperation with Allseated, Sabine merged with the US tech company and sold her company easyRAUM in 2020. She has then been appointed Managing Director of Allseated GmbH since January 2021. Sabine has overseen exponential growth for Allseated Europe since and is a regular leading authority on next generation event planning solutions.
A long-time leader in digital experiences and well-known figure, Sabine continues to set the benchmark for the industry know-how and expertise, bringing the full power of Allseated’s event planning software, offering virtual site inspections, event planning in 4K Gamer Technology, and virtual/ hybrid solutions. Sabine is also the guide and specialist to helping corporations recognise the enormous opportunities that the metaverse can bring to their entire team, so they can thrive in fully immersive virtual environments to host meetings, facilitate interactive experiences, and create entire digital offices. Using a digital twin opens a realm of opportunities for immersive and interconnected experiences.
Chris Cowls MBE
Chief Executive, Eproductive
With a background in international hospitality management Chris co-founded Eproductive which provides EPS, the leading People Management System for hotels which now supports hundreds of properties in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. Chris also coordinates 2050.network, the UK foodservice leaders' network, and has been Visiting Professor at the University of Surrey's School of Hospitality & Tourism Management since 2015. Chris will be able to advise on a range of hospitality management issues, including how to improve staff productivity and engagement.
Katherine Doggrell
Editor, HOSPA
Katherine is a journalist with 20 years' experience in the sector.
Katherine has worked for publications including the FT, Business 2.0 and the leading hotel B2B titles as well as writing her book, Checking Out - What the Rise of the Sharing Economy Means for the Future of the Hotel Industry, published by Bloomsbury.
Managing Director, Jireh-Tek Limited
Non-Executive Board Member, Nonius
An internationally experienced Executive, Board Advisor and Non-Executive-Director with expertise in IT Strategy, Digital Transformation and the full range of IT solutions required by hotels.
Joined the Nonius Board as a Non-Exec in April 2020. Invited to join the Board of Hospitality Technology Next Generation in 2004 in recognition of my ability to analyse problems, identify the specific challenges, create effective strategies and to implement these positive changes. Have been a board member or advisor to its board since. Past Director of HOSPA.
Developed the IT strategy and its implementation for several hotel groups: front office, back office and guest technology. Ensures that technology solutions which are implemented drive operational efficiency and also improve financial performance.
Supports hotels with GDPR compliance programmes.
CEO, Keystep Solutions
Andrew Evans is the Chief Executive Officer of Keystep Solutions who specialise in electronic RFID locks and Digital Key for the hotel, leisure, and student accommodation sectors. Keystep have shattered the stagnation and lack of customer service that has dominated the access control sector for decades with Keystep being the first company to fit Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE) as standard in all its locks.
Andrew’s career spans more than 30 years, during which time he has worked with the leading brands including Best Western, IHG and Accor to name but a few. A big guy with a big personality to match his presentations are always unique and entertaining. Andrew is always in demand to speak at industry events on how technology impacts the guest journey, and he is a generous supporter of the hospitality industry.
General Manager, Grosvenor House Suites
Andrew Henning joined Grosvenor House Suites as General Manager in April 2021. Andrew took over at a crucial point in Grosvenor House Suites’ history, transitioning the property from management under Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts to Highgate. During his expansive career, Andrew has worked through Food and Beverage operations and hotel openings in private and corporate hotels and resorts globally, from the U.S.A. to Ghana, Jordan, and Dubai. Before joining Grosvenor House Suites, Andrew spent 14 years with Starwood Hotels & Resorts, where he held numerous General Manager positions. Andrew now assumes further responsibility as Managing Director for London for Highgate.
Executive Director, Iconic Luxury Hotels
Andrew Stembridge is the driving force and strategic vision behind Iconic Luxury Hotels, a collection of exceptional, award winning, owned and managed hotels, all falling under the wider L+R Hotels portfolio. Stembridge is a graduate of The University of Strathclyde and has since completed courses at both Cornell and Cranfield. He was the youngest recipient of ‘Hotelier of the Year’ in 2010, is a former Chairman of the Master Innholders, a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Innholders, Freeman of the City of London and a Fellow of The Institute of Hospitality. He is also an active supporter and regular fundraiser for Hospitality Action.
Managing Director, Exclusive Collection
Managing Director of the Exclusive Collection, a family-run independent group of 6 country house properties, two spas, golf club, cookery school and inn. Danny was voted Hotelier of the Year in 2014 by the Caterer and previously Chairman of the Master Innholders. Innovation and sustainability are at the core of Danny’s philosophy as demonstrated by the opening of the spa at South Lodge with its biomass boilers, wild swimming and Botanica an innovative free from restaurant. Hillfield and The Wellhouse restaurants both sourcing hyperlocally their food and drinks, as well as planting their own vineyard at South Lodge. Exclusive Collection have recently become the first hotel group in the UK to become an accredited B Corp leading the way in sustainability for the hospitality sector.
Darren Sweetland
Managing Director, Mollie's
Mollie’s is led by Managing Director, Darren Sweetland, former EMEA Finance Director of Soho House. At Soho House, Darren worked closely with Founder, Nick Jones and played an instrumental role in the brand’s commercial expansion across the UK, Europe and Asia. Prior to Soho House, Darren worked at Tesco Plc holding a number of commercial roles including their group FMCG procurement, M&A and UK & Europe commercial finance. Darren is a qualified chartered accountant with strong corporate finance experience across the retail and hospitality sectors. Darren is a keen rugby fan and adventurous traveller, but more often than not has his hands full with his two young boys who fortunately share his passion for the outdoors.
Dean Madge
Regional Director, UK and DACH, Profitroom
Dean Madge is a commercial and operational hospitality specialist and currently holds the senior management position of Regional Director for UK and DACH at Profitroom.
Bringing a strong skill set to the table, backed by extensive industry experience, Dean’s passion for helping hoteliers maximise and grow their revenue allows him to be an advocate for a range of specialties. Most importantly commercial sales, people development, hotel openings, operations, and building strong internal and external relationships. From hotels to luxury serviced apartments, each sector has offered valuable opportunities enabling him to truly relate to the challenges that hoteliers face and provide clear insights into the industry.
At Profitroom Dean leads on the strategic and operational activities to deliver transformative, tangible results for leisure hotels and resorts in the UK, DACH and beyond.
Eamonn Crowe
Editor, Boutique Hotelier
Eamonn Crowe is an experienced hospitality journalist and Editor of Boutique Hotelier, the only B2B news publication that provides business intelligence for owners, operators and decision makers in luxury, independently owned properties across the UK. The market-leading monthly magazine and online portal, including daily e-newsletters and continually updated social media channels, is the only publication specifically targeted at this sector of hospitality. In addition to providing news and exclusive interviews, comment and analysis, lively debate and examples of best practice and innovation, Boutique Hotelier supports the industry with its annual awards and drives its news agenda with bespoke events, reports and research into the industry.
Jamila Brown
Head of House Foundations, Soho House UK
Jamila is Head of House Foundations at Soho House, driving teams around the world to explore and implement innovative solutions to reduce waste and emissions, source ethically, and engage our members along the way. With an operational background of 12 years in the hospitality industry, Jamila’s work blends the theoretical and the practical to make running a more sustainable business inclusive, rewarding, achievable, and fun.
Jerome Wise
Vice President – UK and Ireland, Amadeus
Jerome has been with Amadeus since 2005, initially joining the company to set up and run the Digital Media, Web and SEO teams. Over the past six years, he has focused on bringing in new business from large Enterprise clients and is now heading up our UK & Ireland sales team.
Jessica Wilkins
Finance, Mollie's
Jess is a qualified accountant with a wealth of industry experience having worked for Soho House, Brasserie Bar, Sweaty Betty and Home Retail Group. Jess joined Mollie’s in 2021 and oversees all things finance ranging from the group’s funding, financial modelling, forecasting, and annual budgeting to statutory accounting, taxation, and payroll. Jess business partners the People and Operations teams, leading on trade performance, operational improvements, oversees all the system, controls and transactional side to our finance function.
Jita Heer
PPM Support
PPM Support is a storage and logistics company that specialises in the hospitality industry. We work closely with luxury hotels and restaurants in London. Helping them handle their stock in a safe and efficient manner. We offer unique tailor made packages to our clients to ensure all of their needs are met, and provide a professional manner service. We have excellent facilities and equipment to make transporting and handling our clients stock as seamless and efficient as possible.
Jon Davis
Group CTO, The IVY
Senior executive with verifiable year-after-year success achieving revenue, profit, and business growth objectives within start-up, turnaround, and rapid- change environments. Iʼm an innovative and established global Chief Information and Technology Officer with solid management consulting background combined with technology line management experience. With a reputation for owning strategic digital transformation programmes, delivering innovative operating models and technology roadmaps that boost revenues and reduce costs.
Kate Brooke-Green
Food Development & Innovation, Mollie's
Kate leads our food strategy and evolution at Mollie’s. Kate is a fully trained executive chef who honed her career in many top London restaurants including The Wolseley. Since then, Kate’s held a number of senior creative food development positions across some fantastic brands and has an extensive background in food within the retail, restaurant and food manufacturing sectors. Kate’s experience stems across overseeing development and product launches with Waitrose and M&S, heading up food development for The Ivy Group, and most recently as head of food innovation at Mustard where she lead on all aspects of food development for large restaurant groups such as Coppa Club, Caprice Holdings, Leon and Itsu.
Katherin Cockhill
Director of Hotel Intelligence, HotStats
Kathrin is Director of Hotel Intelligence at HotStats. HotStats provide monthly P&L benchmarking & market Insight for the hotel industry.
Manuel Lima
Mobile Business Unit Director, Nonius
An executive with 17 years of experience in Business Development & Operations with a clear focus on Technology related businesses since 2009. Currently, Director of the Mobile Apps Unit of Nonius, a technology company delivering a comprehensive integrated solution suite for the Hospitality Industry to support the Guest Digital Journey. Strong international experience including 6 years resident in Spain and Brazil and having visited and done business in more than 30 countries worldwide. Before Nonius, worked as Marketing and Sales Manager at TIMWE Tech, Mygon and Letsbonus, managing Sales teams and launching new markets.
Steve Lowy
CEO & Founder, The Residence Apartments
Steve has been connected with the hospitality sector his whole working career. Steve is very passionate about the sector and has run restaurants, hostels, hotels, serviced apartments, student accommodation, and a digital agency specialising in travel & hospitality. His current focus is as CEO of Anglo Educational Services and The Residence Apartments. AES is a full-service study abroad operator offering a suite of academic services alongside over 250 student apartments in Central London. The award-winning Residence Apartments are a collection of 75 luxury serviced apartments in London. Steve is also Chairman of BETA, on the Tourism Alliance board, Trustee of the Savoy Educational Trust, and Chairman of ASAP.
Thomas Greenall
CEO, Bespoke Hotels
Thomas Greenall joined Bespoke Hotels in 2010 and worked his way up to become CEO in 2020. He has overseen the openings of Brooklyn Manchester and Leicester as well as grown the Bespoke portfolio with the addition of McMillan Hotels, Cube Hotel Birmingham and the Coast and County Hotel Collection (40 ex Shearings Hotels). Thomas is also Non-Executive Chairman of Randalls, the largest pub company in Jersey.
Roy Walker
Vice President of Sales, Harri
Roy is currently Sales Director at Harri, the award-winning employee experience HR tech platform which operates in the hospitality, retail and leisure industries to support operators in building, managing and engaging their teams from recruitment to onboarding; scheduling to payroll and compliance. Roy has been key in transforming the employee experience across hospitality, through his love of the industry and has developed Harri over the last five years, bringing on board some of the best and brightest brands including Dishoom, Hawksmoor, Radisson Hotel Group and KFC.
Trudi Parr
People & Development, Mollie's
Trudi is a CIPD qualified people professional with over fifteen years' experience in the hospitality sector. Having held a number of senior commercial and people operational roles, Trudi specialises in implementing people operational structure and strategy from the very beginning of a business, setting parameters to allow it to flex and adapt in high growth environments. Trudi achieved Best Companies listing during her tenure at HotelScene and has a proven success in creating cultures where employees feel valued, challenged in their performance and in implementing people and organisational policies aligned to a company’s values.
Michael Clitheroe
General Manager, Balmer Lawn Hotel
Michael has been the General Manager of the Balmer Lawn Hotel in the heart of the New Forest for over 7 years and is an industry professional with over 20 years hospitality experience behind him. Previous roles include GM of the Sandbanks Hotel, GM of Bowood Hotel Spa and Golf Resort in Wiltshire and Director of his own 10-bedroom boutique hotel on the edge of the Cotswolds for over 3 years with his wife.
Over the last 7 years Michael has positioned Balmer Lawn into the luxury sector, raising the profile and annual turnover by over £3m by steering new and exciting refurbishment programmes through its bedrooms, expanding the capacity of its spa and function rooms, introducing a brewery, new wedding pavilion in the gardens and re-branding. More recently Michael campaigned with the Owners of Balmer Lawn, Chris and Alison Wilson, for planning permission for 38 additional bedrooms in the grounds of the hotel, a spa expansion and new banqueting suit for 300. This was a £100k, three year-long task that was awarded in 2020 with delivery of the scheme likely for 2024-2026 at a cost of over £6m
Michael credits his business successes from continuous staff development and his people first approach. He has not only supported multiple employees over many years to achieve greatness in Balmer Lawn but also heavily invests in further education and development opportunities for all those working at the hotel. Michael himself recently completed the Chartered Management Degree in Leadership and Business Management at Solent University achieving a 2:1. Michael is an active member of multiple industry organisations including, Fellow of the Institute of Hospitality, Chair of the New Forest Hotels Group, Committee member of Bournemouth and Poole College Employers Advisory Board, Springboard Ambassador, UK Hospitality South West Committee member.
The results of Michaels achievements speak for themselves; he has twice in the last 3 years been shortlisted for GM of the Year by Boutique Hotelier and the Balmer Lawn has maintained 2 AA rosettes and 83% silver-star status for over 6 years now. More recently Michaels long term employment and development culture saw a pre-pandemic staff retention figure of 97% for its full times roles for 2 years and since returning from covid retains enviable staff retention figures. Balmer Lawn has won multiple awards this past 18 months some of which include “Business of the Year” and “Training and Development Award” from the New Forest Business Partnership and the Springboard Award for “Business Innovation.
Sally Beck
General Manager, Royal Lancaster London
Sally Beck is General Manager of Royal Lancaster London, one of London’s largest independent hotels, with 411 bedrooms, three restaurants and bars and some of the largest banqueting space in Europe. Sally has led the team through an £83m renovation whilst keeping the hotel open and achieving entry in The Sunday Times Top 100 Best Companies to Work For over the last three years, voted for by her employees.
Sally and her team are passionate about giving back to the community. Now in its fifth year, Royal Lancaster London’s Community Consortium supports five charities within the local community. Sally works with local churches, the police, schools and residents to ensure that the chosen projects are supported fully and bring a meaningful difference to the local area as a whole. Together they help the homeless, work with The Clink Charity as well as Springboard and Hospitality Action.
Gabriel Gonzalez
Co-founded & Managing Director, LIMA
Gabriel is the co-founder and Managing Director of LIMA. He is an experienced restaurateur with 10 years in the industry in London, the GCC and Caracas. He launched LIMA in 2012, and in 2013 the restaurant was awarded one Michelin star, the first Peruvian restaurant in the world to receive the coveted award. In 2014 he opened Floral by LIMA in Covent Garden and LIMA Dubai in 2017. Prior to starting is career in the sector, he held marketing positions at L’Oreal, Philip Morris and British American Tobacco in Paris and Caracas. He has an MBA in HEC Paris.
David Parker
Commercial and Events Director, Royal College of Physicians
David has been in the industry for over 30 years starting in New Zealand and making his way across the globe via various venues, arriving in the UK in 1998. After time with City Cruises, Imperial College and managing the Mermaid Conference Centre in London he joined The Royal College of Physicians in 2012 and is now Commercial Director. The RCP hosts over 400 external events per year in its two venues RCP London and Spaces at The Spine in Liverpool which opened in 2022 along with managing its own extensive conferences and events programme throughout the UK.
Floor Bleeker
Group Chief Technology Officer, Accor
Floor Bleeker holds a Bachelor degree in Hotel Administration from Hotelschool The Hague, Netherlands and an MBA from the University of Colorado, USA.
Floor has over two decades of multinational experience in the hospitality industry, and a substantial background in IT leadership, strategy development and execution, business analysis and application development. In all his roles, Floor has prioritized team leadership and performance management as fundamental to delivering on the demands of the industry. Prior to joining Accor, Floor was the Chief Information Officer of Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts. In this role he was responsible for IT strategy, program development and implementation across the Group.
James Simpson
Managing Director, MethodWorx
James Simpson has built an agile software development agency focused on delivering value to hospitality companies by creating customer facing applications and system integrations that utilize cutting edge cloud technologies. A technologist at heart who heads up a highly skilled team that advises, designs, implements and supports technology to enable or enhance how hospitality brands engage with their customers. Working with some well know restaurant brands, James and his team have gained a unique understanding of the challenges of integrating third party industry specific platforms within the hospitality
Jane Griffiths
Global Sales Director, GLH
Jane joined GLH in May 2013 as Regional Operations Director for 20 Thistle hotels outside London, after 18 months she moved over to head up the GLH sales function, where she is now responsible for the central sales teams, the hotel-based sales teams, meeting and events, and the central reservations department based in the Tower hotel which covers all brands and hotels. Prior to joining GLH, Jane held commercial roles in Macdonald Hotels with 100 hotels around the UK as Sales Director, Nuffield Health, the Rank Group and was part of the launch team for the Channel Tunnel.
Judi Blakeburn
Brand Director, Watergate Bay Hotel
I’ve worked in hospitality marketing for over 30 years. In 2000 I relocated to Cornwall to join Rick Stein’s Seafood Restaurant and then in 2003 moved to Watergate Bay Hotel first as Marketing Director and then Brand Director delivering the brand strategy, marketing, sales and guest experience. In May 2015 we announced the launch of Another Place, a collection of hotels, independent of Watergate Bay, but calling on the same distinct approach to hospitality. Our aim is to create a collection of lifestyle hotels in truly inspiring locations, our first, Another Place, The Lake - on the shores of Ullswater in the Lake District - opened in August 2017. I was also a member of the team that founded the social enterprise restaurant, Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Cornwall, at Watergate Bay. Until its closure in December 2019 I was a trustee of the Cornwall Food Foundation, the charity that owned the restaurant and delivered the training programme and a non-executive director of the restaurant.
Peter Heath
Managing Director, Venue Performance
Peter has worked in the meetings and events industry in the UK and internationally for over 25 and has always been focused on helping businesses improve their performance. Venue Performance was started at a time when the M&E industry was in need of a solid benchmarking solution and now Venue Performance is used by venues, hotels, DMOs, government and industry associations and we’re delighted to be able to support such a fabulous industry association like HOSPA and help with their annual event.
Aneesh Gupta
Managing Director, Centelli
Aneesh helps hospitality organisations improve their guest experience, using process automation and Digital Workers as they reach their efficiency & growth goals. Centelli have multiple customers in the hospitality sector (both hotel groups & restaurants) but also work across other sectors such as supply chain, financial services and retail. He is able to advise on how hotels & restaurants use automation to operate repetitive business processes and increase the guest experience. Some of their customers include Village Hotels, GLH Hotels & Ivy Restaurants, automating processes across every application and PMS, and in all business functions (inc. Revenue & Distribution, Rate Management, Finance & HR). Processes can be anything from reservations / cancellations / amendments to report running, onboarding/offboarding and invoice processing
Darrell Spencer
Chief Technology Officer, Village Hotels
Darrell is an experienced hotelier who has held multiple leadership technology positions throughout the last 17 years. Darrell is currently leading the technology strategy at Village Hotels. Darrell uses his knowledge of technology & operations to help drive a digital strategy at Village Hotels to underpin and enhance the guest and employee experience. Using the data and details within an organisation to reduce costs, simplify procedures and increase productivity.”
John Owen
CEO, TigerTMS
John has over 25 years’ experience as a provider of software and integration solutions to the global hospitality industry. During this time, he has worked closely with all of the major operators in every corner of the world, and is uniquely placed to offer a comprehensive insight into the technology trends that prevail in the industry today. John acquired TigerTMS (www.tigertms.com) in March 2020 in a management buy-out from Mitel Networks. The company is now firmly on course to consolidate its rich heritage of interface development to be at the forefront of the migration to middleware-centric architectures and new App-less mobile guest solutions.
Matt Broom
Director of Customer Technology, PizzaExpress
Matt has been with PizzaExpress since 2015 supporting the business with its digital transformation programme. The role has expanded through the years and now includes the responsibility of data & BI, front of house tech and back of house tech at PizzaExpress. Most recently Matt has overseen the implementation of the PizzaExpress Club which is a loyalty app designed to transform the way the business trade and increase frequency across its loyal customer base. The app now has over 1 million members and growing with roadmap directly aligned to business growth.
Joe Beaumont
Direct Sales Consultant, Exponential-e
Joe has been with Exponential-e for over three years and during this time has developed a clear knowledge and deep understanding of the hospitality sector's key challenges and what is to be expected from the guest experience. Through his engagement with a wide range of customers across different brands, management companies, and integration partners, Joe has further evolved his expertise, which has enabled him to deliver leading-edge technological solutions that provide the client with total peace of mind.
Weirong Zheng
Strategic Partnership Manager, Google
Strategic Partnership Manager at Google Travel EMEA team, based in Paris. Weirong helps foster a healthy ecosystem of suppliers and hotel tech partners, to connect every single hotel with Google through organizing the world's hotel pricing and availability information. She is proactively looking to engage more with the hotel industry to close the gap of information between players.
With 7 years experience in account management and business development, Weirong stepped into the travel industry at the beginning of her career as a corporate sales coordinator at Emirates airline. She account-managed main French companies for their corporate air travel contract with Emirates. Weirong’s interest in high-tech and trendy fields then brought her to work for Amazon as a Key Account Manager where her main mission was to recruit Chinese and French fashion brand owners to Amazon European marketplaces to sell their products and also helped increase their e-commerce revenue.
In her own words : “with my great passion both to travel and new technologies, I am keen to push my boundaries towards increased complexity and ambiguity in order to bring my own small power to the environment where I was raised. Life is a continued show without rehearsal, and I am always prepared to take part in the next episode of adventures. “
Please feel free to connect with her on the Linkedin page here and interact with her directly during Hospace !
Martin Chevalley
CEO & CO-Founder, InnSpire
Martin Chevalley is a global business catalyst with over 10 years of experience in successfully conceptualizing, launching and commercializing electronics and software-oriented brands, products and companies in multiple business sectors worldwide. Before co-founding InnSpire – the Digital Guest Journey in 2012, he also co-founded the software company Zebor Technology, which delivers software to Intel and other key global market solution providers. Prior to that he was involved in the launch of the world's first Android-TV in 2009. Before fully embracing the world of technology and innovation, Chevalley worked in Telecom, managing marketing and product roll-out for Millicom in Vietnam. As CEO of InnSpire, his passion lies in developing hospitality-specific technology systems and integrated solutions designed to streamline the guest journey and create maximum efficiency for hotel operations. His depth of knowledge and experience is augmented by an exceptional academic background, including a Masters in Business Administration from Stockholm University and Harvard University.
Ted Horner
Managing Director, E Horner & Associates
In 1989, he established E Horner & Associates Pty Ltd a Consulting Practice specializing in Technology Consulting to the Hospitality Industry and he is now widely respected as Australia's leading consultant in this area During this time he has done consulting work all over the world
In 2004 he was the first non US person to be elected to the HITEC Technology Hall of Fame for his contribution to the advancement of technology in the hospitality industry .
In 2002 he was a founding member of HTNG ( Hotel Technology Next Generation ) a not for profit body which was established in the US to promote open systems integrations between vendors in the industry and today he is an Executive Advisor to HTNG .
Brian Reeves
Founder, RateAdvisor
Brian is the founder of Avvio, GOPPAR Digital and Rate Advisor. A thought leader in digital marketing, revenue management and distribution, Brian has been a 4-time winner of Deloitte Fast 50 Technology and a finalist for The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Brian's and his team are now building the ValueVerse; A dis-intermediated hotel ecosystem that supports a 1:1 value-based relationship between hotel and guest. Rate Advisor is the first solution in this new ecosystem.
Chris Stock
Managing Director, Percipient
Chris stock is the Managing Director and founder of Percipient. Born out of a passion to approach things differently, the Percipient ethos has always been based on customer collaboration. With a focus on understanding key industries, building long-lasting relationships, and implementing technology solutions to solve real business problems, Chris has grown the Percipient brand and team of specialists from a start-up in 2003 to the £4 million turnover company it is today.
Pip Matthaiou
Strategic Partnership Manager, Google
Pigi Matthaiou is a Strategic Partnership Manager for Travel EMEA at Google, based in Paris, where she fosters collaboration amongst many travel partners and Google. Prior to this team, she has worked on Google Ads products, with a specialisation on travel.
Adrienne Hanna
Founder & CEO, Right Revenue
Adrienne is the Founder & CEO of Right Revenue and an all-round revenue nerd! With a lifetime career in travel and hospitality, Adrienne has spent the last 20+ years in the amazing world of revenue management.
With a background in Revenue Management consultancy, Adrienne saw a problem in an industry she was passionate about, hence Right Revenue was born. Designing and developing a revenue software solution that takes the myth out of Revenue Management, Right Revenue’s goal is to partner with independent hotels providing a software solution that gives great rate recommendations, accurate forecasting and bespoke reporting – all with the goal of not only adding profitability to the bottom line but also supporting a revenue culture through your whole business.