Charles Chen is one of the most influential figures in the global travel retail industry. He has worked in the sector for over 30 years, having joined China Duty Free Group (CDFG) in 1987. Prior to his appointment as President, he held a number of leadership positions at CDFG, including Director of Liquor Sales and Marketing Department, Chief Representative of European Office, President of CDFG Commerce & Trade Co. Ltd, Assistant President and Vice President. He has also served as the General Manager of CDFG Boao Commerce & Trade Co. Ltd and Head of the acclaimed Haitang Bay project, featuring the magnificent CDF Mall andSanya International Duty Free City. He is also President of the powerful China International Travel Service.

Julián Díaz González was appointed CEO of Dufry AG in January 2004, and since then has overseen the company’s rise to become the world’s number one travel retailer. Julián has been a Dufry board member since 2013. He also serves as Chairman of the Group Executive Committee.

Julián’s travel retail career began in 1993 as Duty-Free Division Director with Aldeasa in Spain, managing buying, sales, logistics, advertising, sales promotion and administration. He joined Aeroboutiques/Deor in 1997, responsible for the group’s operations and commercial activities in duty free, duty paid, diplomatic, bars and restaurants.

In 1999 he was appointed General Manager of the Latinoamericana subsidiaries Aeroboutiques de Mexico and Deor. From 2000 to 2004 he was General Manager of Latinoamericana Duty Free.

Philippe Schaus joined Louis Vuitton Malletier in Paris in 2003 as President of the Europe Zone and was then appointed Senior Vice President, International, and finally Executive Vice President in 2009. Schaus joined DFS Group in Hong Kong in 2011 as Group President of Merchandising and Marketing. He was named Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of DFS Group in 2012. Since 1 October 2017, he has been CEO of Moët Hennessy, the Wines and Spirits division of LVMH. He has been a member of the Executive Committee of LVMH since 2012.

Colm McLoughlin is from Galway and he began his retailing career in London in the 1960’s working for the popular high-street chain of Woolworths, before moving back to Ireland to work for Shannon Duty Free. As General Manager of Shannon Duty Free, Colm was one of a team of ten from Aer Rianta (the Irish Airport Authority) who moved to Dubai in 1983 at the request of the Dubai Government, to set up Dubai Duty Free.

Following the successful opening of Dubai Duty Free in 1983, Colm was asked to remain as General Manager of the start-up operation, later becoming the Managing Director of Dubai Duty Free. In July 2011, Colm was named Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of Dubai Duty Free and its subsidiary businesses, which include The Irish Village Bar and Restaurants in Garhoud, at Dubai Parks and Resort and at Dubai Studio City, The Century Village complex and the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium, home to the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. Colm’s remit also includes the Jumeirah Creekside Hotel, which is owned and developed by Dubai Duty Free and is managed by the Jumeirah Group. A keen philanthropist, Colm established the Dubai Duty Free Foundation in 2004 and since then has supported 101 local and international charities.

Akbar Al Baker is one of the most respected and prominent personalities in the global aviation industry. The CEO of Qatar Airways has grown a small regional airline to one of the world’s leading 5-star airlines in just two decades. Today Qatar Airways flies more than 200 aircraft into over 160 destinations across the globe. Under his leadership, Qatar Airways was named ‘Airline of the Year’ in 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2017, by Skytrax, the international air transport rating organisation. His Excellency is also CEO of several divisions of Qatar’s national airline – including Qatar Executive, Hamad International Airport, Qatar Aviation Services, Qatar Aircraft Catering Company, Qatar Distribution Company, Qatar Duty Free and Internal Media Services.

Jessica Spence is President of Brands at Beam Suntory, a world leader in premium spirits. In her role, Jessica’s focus is primarily in leading end-to-end the brand strategy, development and performance, including P&L accountability, for the company’s global iconic brands of Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, Courvoisier and more. Her responsibilities also encompass global innovation, research and development, as well as the global expansion of the ready-to-drink category. Spence works closely with the region presidents and chief supply chain officer to drive the company’s long-term global premiumization agenda.

Spence joined Beam Suntory in 2019 from Carlsberg Group, where she served as Executive Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer, overseeing the company’s global marketing, sales, insights, R&D and innovation functions. She previously served as Carlsberg’s Senior Vice President Commercial based in Copenhagen, and in senior commercial and marketing roles for Carlsberg Asia based in Hong Kong. Prior to joining Carlsberg in 2012, Spence held marketing roles of increasing responsibility for SABMiller in Russia, Slovakia and Poland, as well as in business development based in London and also has prior experience with global advertising agencies Leo Burnett and J Walter Thompson.

Engr. Badr Mohammed Al-Meer is the Chief Operating Officer of Hamad International Airport (HIA), Doha, Qatar since he took up the post in June 2014.

With more than 10 years of experience in construction and project management, Engr. Al-Meer is responsible for the running of the entity that leads and manages the day-to-day operations of one of the world’s latest state-of-the-art airport hubs. He has been instrumental in achieving HIA’s ambition to redefine passenger travel experience and provide a world class service.

Ms Chan assumed the role of CEO at AirAsia.com in January this year, having previously been Group Chief Commercial Officer at the airline. Ms Chan is charged with transforming AirAsia into the fastest-growing travel tech and lifestyle platform in ASEAN, one that offers a frictionless and personalised experience to consumers across discovery, ticketing, activities, hotel booking and holiday packages, powered by a unified payment and loyalty solution.

She has over 20 years of experience in digital and retail consulting. Prior to joining AirAsia, Ms Chang was the SVP of Digital for C&J Clark APMEA and Chief Digital Officer for Pizza Hut APAC, championing efforts in omnichannel retailing, digitalisation of brick-and-mortar stores, customer relationship management and headless ecommerce.

A renowned change agent and business and brand transformation leader, Sandeep Seth is currently Chief Executive Officer of Global SK-II, Procter and Gamble’s multi-billion-dollar prestige beauty business. With his wealth of omnichannel experience leading local, regional and global organisations across 11 countries in APAC, Greater China, India and the US and a deep expertise in the beauty and prestige industry, he has transformed SK-II to become a human brand that is a force for good and a force for growth in the world today.

Under his leadership, SK-II has been globally recognised for its thought leadership in brand-building with award-winning campaigns such as #ChangeDestiny with the multi-Cannes Lion award winning viral film ‘Marriage Market’. Prior to this, Sandeep’s career was at Procter & Gamble within New Business Development and White Space Expansions, having led the launch of the Olay business across the region (Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines and India) since 2001.

Paul Griffiths is Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Airports, with the responsibility for the operation and development of Dubai International (DXB) – the world’s busiest airport for international passengers, as well as Dubai World Central (DWC).

Paul joined Dubai Airports as its first CEO in October 2007. Exactly a year later, on 14 October, he orchestrated the flawless launch of Terminal 3 at Dubai International and on 27 June 2010 successfully opened the Emirate’s second airport, Dubai World Central (DWC). He achieved another milestone in Dubai’s aviation history on 2 January 2013 with the similarly flawless opening of Concourse A, the world’s first purpose-built A380 facility and again with Concourse D on February 24, 2016. Paul also oversaw the historic opening of the passenger terminal at DWC on 27 October 2013.

Prior to moving to Dubai, Paul was Managing Director of London’s Gatwick Airport, the second largest airport in the UK. Before joining airport operator BAA in 2004, he spent 14 years with the Virgin Group, working closely with Sir Richard Branson as a Board Director of the Virgin Travel Group, embracing the commercial activities of both Virgin Atlantic Airways and Virgin Trains.

Philip Eckles is the CEO of Delhi Duty Free Services Private Limited (DDFS) the operator of India’s largest Duty Free business. Eckles was appointed to the role in 2018 having transferred from Aer Rianta International (ARI) the global duty free operator headquartered in Dublin. Eckles has spent 31 years working within the duty free industry, 25 of them with ARI where he held a number of senior executive roles including Global Implementation Director, CEO of ARI Middle East based in Bahrain and Regional Director for ARI and its North American operations based in Montreal Canada.

Eckles first entered the duty free world in 1989 at London’s Heathrow Airport.  Four years later he commenced his international career with roles based in Pakistan, Ukraine, UK & France, Bulgaria, Canada, Bahrain and most recently India.  He has extensive senior retail management experience and was a member of the ARI senior executive team before joining DDFS.  Eckles, much respected within the global duty free industry has also served on several industry association boards including – the International Association of Airport Duty Free (IAADFS);  MEADFA – The Middle East & Africa Duty Free Association and most recently the Asia Pacific Travel Retail Association (APTRA).

Lisa Bauer is President and CEO of Starboard Cruise Services; she oversees all operations for Starboard and sister company Onboard Media. Bauer previously held the position of Vice President of Onboard Experience at Delta Airlines, responsible for creating the strategy to elevate the carrier’s onboard customer experience and improve its competitive advantage on the global stage. Prior to joining Delta, Bauer was Executive Vice President of Global Operations and Chief Operating Officer for International Cruise & Excursions, Inc. (ICE), a global travel and leisure company with a worldwide network of innovative travel alliances.

Alex is an Entrepreneur and Data Scientist holding a Ph.D. in Decision Science with a specialization in Data Mining. He is the founder/owner and a passionate Data Scientist at Contineo Labs and the CEO of Generation Research. Alex believes that data driven, collaborative and agile systems are key to approach the Travel Retail data challenge. He sees Brands as a fundamental pillar in this equation and is continuously looking for lighthouses to work with.

After obtaining a BA in Economics from the University of British Columbia, Kevin Chiang returned to Taiwan to serve in his country’s army. On leaving military service he began working in the duty free business at Taoyuan International Airport. He progressed to become the head of the airport’s Marketing Department, and after some years’ experience as Vice President he was promoted to the post of President of Ever Rich Corporation.

Craig Johnson, BA Engineering, Rochester Institute of Technology and MBA, The University of Connecticut, started his career at BIC in 1993, where he transitioned from engineering to marketing, before joining Allied Domecq Spirits USA in 1999 as Brand Director, Innovation & Advantage.

Craig joined the Group at Pernod Ricard USA in 2004 as Brand Director and became Vice President Marketing, Spirits in 2010. He joined The Absolut Company in 2013 as Global Brand Director, Malibu, and was promoted to Global Marketing Director in late 2015. Craig has been the Global Vice President Marketing for Pernod Ricard Global Travel Retail since January 2019.

Gemma has worked in the travel retail industry for 18 years, beginning her career with British American Tobacco International, before moving to the confectionary category as UK & Ireland Travel Retail Manager with Mondelez.  In 2010 Gemma returned to the tobacco category, joining JTI as International Key Account Manager.

The majority of Gemma’s travel retail career has been spent in commercial roles, most recently as Regional Director Middle East, Africa, UK & Ireland.  In October 2016, Gemma moved to a new department – Corporate Affairs and Communications, where she holds her current position of Global Corporate Affairs and Communications Director.

In her current role, Gemma works with industry colleagues internally and externally to JTI, including the regional travel retail associations around the world, seeking to safeguard this unique retail channel, raise awareness of current issues and ensure the channel is well understood, recognised and protected.

Sunil Tuli is the Group Chief Executive of Hong Kong-based King Power Group, driving the company’s duty free & travel retail activities as well as a number of its other diverse ventures.

He is a founding board member of the Asia Pacific Travel Retail Association (APTRA), and previously served for six years as the association’s President before once again being elected to that position in 2020. APTRA has over 100 members across the region, including suppliers, retailers, airlines, airports and regional associations.

A passionate and articulate advocate of greater collaboration between airports, retailers and brands, Sunil Tuli has been a key influence in the Trinity debate of recent years.

Erin Lillis is an accomplished Travel Retail professional with more than 19 years managing and directing operations within Lacoste, from both a Travel Retail & domestic retail perspective.

Since mid-2012 she has been solely focusing on the travel retail channel responsible for the development of Lacoste Asia Pacific at all airports, downtown duty-free stores and other point-of-sales connected to duty-free business.

Erin is a dynamic leader, solutions & detail oriented. She works extremely well under pressure to deliver, while maintaining a directive and nurturing environment that motivates her teams to be effective and always on time. Erin has proven leadership and teambuilding skills, a reputation for getting the job done with a high energy, down-to-earth mentality, turning strategy into reality & forging outstanding relationships with key stakeholders.

Vincent started his 27-year career at L’Oréal as Area Manager for Lancôme, in Travel Retail Europe, before being promoted to Managing Director of L’Oréal Travel Retail Europe in 1998. In 2000, he moved to the position of International Business Development Director for Lancôme, and was then given the responsibility of General Manager of Biotherm, Cacharel & Guy Laroche France in 2004. In 2007, Vincent moved to Japan to become Vice President of Nihon L’Oréal in charge of the Luxury Division.

Vincent then returned to Paris in January 2012, to set up the Retail Excellence Program for the L’Oréal Luxe Division worldwide. In 2015 he became Managing Director of L’Oréal Travel Retail Worldwide and, since July 2019, he has also been a member of L’Oréal’s Executive Committee.

Jean-Charles Decaux joined the family firm in 1989 to set up and develop out-of-home media in southern Europe. In 1991 he was appointed MD of Madrid- based JCDecaux Spain. In 1994 he became CEO, responsible for developing business activities in Southern Europe, Latin America and Asia. Returning to France when JCDecaux acquired Avenir in 1999, he was appointed Chairman and CEO of Avenir, JCDecaux Airport and JCDecaux Artvertising. In 2000 JCDecaux changed its legal status to a Société Anonyme, governed by Supervisory and Executive boards. Jean-Charles Decaux serves as Co-Chairman, alternating with Jean-François Decaux. In 2001 they managed the stock market listing of JCDecaux SA and played an active role in the consolidation of the out-of-home advertising industry, making JCDecaux the world’s no.1 player by 2011.

Working with internationally renowned architects and designers, Decaux pursues a strategy based on the development of new products and service concepts designed for cities, transport companies and airports. He promotes the creation of innovative solutions including, among other things, self-service bicycle rental schemes, digital displays and Intelligent Street Furniture.

Alex has been driving marketing and communications innovation in the travel retail sector for over 15 years, working with a wide range of retailers, airports and brands across all categories. In 2016, he established FILTR, with co-founder Nick Sutton, as an integrated retail marketing and design agency. Since then, FILTR has developed rapidly into a leading partner in the sector, applying its wealth of expertise in business and marketing strategies, design, public relations and communications, digital and production for its impressive client roster.

In 2020, FILTR merged with creative group QINGWA, forming a strong 55-person global agency network with operations in Singapore, Hong Kong, Paris and London. FILTR is also the official Virtual Stand & Experience Partner of the Moodie Davitt Virtual Travel Retail Expo, working with all exhibitors to curate their digital experiences.

Mauro Anastasi is a partner based in Bain & Company’s Milan office. He is an expert in the firm’s Retail, Airlines & Transportation and Advanced Manufacturing & Services practices. He has more than 15 years of consulting experience across retail and aviation sectors within both Europe and the Middle East.

Niki Schilling is Rituals’ Innovation & Sustainability Director, speaks 4 languages and has a 16-year background in international marketing for Nike, Adidas and Heineken. It all started in New York, where she studied fashion management at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Besides being a person with a clear vision and strategic mindset on what a brand needs to be successful in international markets, she is also an Anusara yoga teacher and spirituality is an important part of her everyday life.

Niki has a true passion for leading people and a strong sense of business in her daily work to make both, people & brands flourish through product development, sustainability, and spirituality, paired with doing everything with a clear purpose. She is very passionate about her job at Rituals because it allows her to combine all these things.

Former UK category leader for Beer, Wine and Spirits at Amazon leading a team of vendor managers, Charlie successfully partnered with global brands to accelerate growth for clients and Amazon alike.

Now Chief Strategy Officer at Molzi, Charlie is responsible for the company’s international expansion and growing its offerings for global brands. Molzi has grown rapidly in Europe over the last three years, with the 60-person team currently managing over £100m of annualised Amazon revenue.

Mr. Thabet Musleh is the Vice President of Operations at Qatar Duty Free (QDF), the second-largest duty free operator in the Middle East at the heart of Qatar’s state-of-the-art Hamad International Airport in Doha.

Thabet leads the company’s retail, inflight, food & beverage and in-house advertising divisions. He brings more than decade of experience in the retail sector, and plays an instrumental role in driving duty free sales and positioning Qatar Duty Free to deliver valuable services and bespoke shopping concepts to appeal to all passenger demographics, in addition to its luxury segment.

Thabet joined QDF’s parent company Qatar Airways in 2016 as Head of Retail Operations for the national carrier’s duty free business. Prior to his role at QDF, Thabet spent ten years at World Duty Free Group, holding a number of senior roles across London’s three biggest airports: Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted.

Franck joined Havas Media Group in 2015 to set up Adcity, a location-based specialist agency in Singapore, Hong Kong and the Philippines. He was promoted Adcity Asia-Pacific Director in 2019. Franck and his teams have implemented award-winning campaigns in Singapore (AXA, Netflix), Malaysia (Netflix), the Philippines (NBA) and Hong Kong (Swarovski). As an advocate of the OOH Digital transformation, Franck has implemented integrated solutions fusing OOH and mobile together or delivering Digital OOH campaigns contextually and programmatically.

Previously, Franck held roles with JCDecaux, successively in UK, France and Thailand, looking after Airport media sales and Kinetic Worldwide, WPP’s OOH arm as Asia-Pacific Account Director, handling Travel Retail, Travel & Hospitality, Finance and B2B clients. Franck is also an active member of IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) of Southeast Asia & India.

Oana Damian founded Damazo Group in January 2017, as the specialist advisory firm which goes beyond the industry-specific commercial due diligence, by considering tech innovations and the ever-changing passenger travel trends. Damian started her career in aviation at LeighFisher, where she was the lead commercial advisor and key member of on-site teams across various high-profile airport transaction projects. Since starting Damazo Group, Damian has provided commercial revenue advice on over 15 airport projects in Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia Pacific.

Kan (Arthur) Cong is the Founder and CEO of Extra-aile Media, the publisher of Globuy, founded in 2014. The most influential travel retail KOL platform to Chinese travellers, Globuy has over 800,000 followers, and some 7 million readers a year.

He is also the Founder & CEO of TripurX Tech, the acclaimed travel retail ecommerce and livestreaming platform. TripurX has integrated several of China Duty Free Group’s airport, downtown and inflight duty free online marketing and operation activities.

Sisi Zhang is the E-Commerce Marketing Director of TripurX Tech, the owner of TripurX E-TR platform, a key digital partner to CDFG, leveraging the platform’s strength in precision marketing through an integrated WeChat ecosystem. And its social media account Globuy, who has over 1.5 million followers in total of its omni social platforms.

Sisi has been working in the travel retail industry for more than 8 years, started her career in Ctrip in 2012. And before joining in TripurX Tech in 2017, she has worked as the Chinese marketing manager in The Shilla Duty Free and Galleria Duty Free.

Eugene joined Dubai Airports in 2009 and is responsible for leading and developing the company’s aeronautical and non-aeronautical revenue portfolio, including Dubai International’s and Dubai World Central’s airport business. In 2019, Dubai International was the busiest airport in the world for international traffic. His portfolio includes property management, concession management, aviation business management, cargo business management, corporate communication, consumer marketing, and CRM.  He is a member of Dubai Airports’ Executive Board and a Director on the board of Emirates Flight Catering.  Eugene has worked in the airport commercial industry for over 25 years, and has previously worked in development and travel-retail management roles for Aer Rianta International, DFS/LVMH, Dufry, and Dubai Duty Free. He has also served as a board member and treasurer of MEADFA.

As Group Sustainability Officer and Director of the L’OCCITANE en Provence brand, Adrien Geiger is a daily advocate for the power of nature. Initially based in London, he first led product development and then the Group’s digital arm, becoming Chief Digital Officer in 2014. He completely revamped the L’OCCITANE en Provence brand’s e-commerce strategy, which accounts for over 80% of the Group’s turnover. This success propelled him into the roles of first Chief Customer Experience Officer and then Chief Growth Officer, before taking on the overall management of the brand at group level.

In early 2020, Adrien officially took the reins as Group Sustainability Officer, in which he ambitiously leads all the Group’s sustainable development operations and initiatives. Adrien is an active member of the One Planet Business for Biodiversity (OP2B) coalition and supports the L’OCCITANE Group brands around the world in their commitment to regenerate biodiversity and develop the regions in which they operate.

Fraser Brown became Retail Director at Heathrow on 1 November 2018 following over four years at Heathrow Express as Managing Director and formerly Commercial Director.  Prior to this he worked at Gatwick Airport as Head of Travel Services, before moving across London to Heathrow. His roles at the UK’s busiest airport have included Head of Travel Services and Managing Director of Ultra Global PRT.

Manuela has been working in the travel retail industry for 25 years, having started her career in Weitnauer in 1995. At Dufry she was Head of Food & Confectionery & Souvenirs & Toys for 13 years from February 2003 to late 2016, before her current role as the Global Category Director for Luxury, Fashion, Watches, Jewelry, Accessories and Sunglasses.

Jerome Falic is the Chief Executive Officer of Duty Free Americas, Inc, (DFA), one of the leading duty free operators in the Western Hemisphere. Established in 1972, and purchased by the Falic family in 2001, Duty Free Americas operates more than 180 duty free stores in the United States and internationally.

Phil Yoon is a retail expert with 20 years of extensive experience in the retail industry. His career spans several categories, including Luxury Fashion, Fashion Accessories, Cosmetics and Perfumes, in both travel retail and domestic markets. While serving as Managing Director of Shilla Duty Free Singapore, he led high performing teams, achieving more than double-digit sales growth every year and extended Changi Airport concessions including Cosmetics and Perfumes, Watches, Bottega Veneta and Victoria’s Secret. After returning to Korea from Singapore in 2019, he has been working as Shilla Duty Free’s Luxury Fashion and Fashion Accessories Merchandising Director.

Mudit oversees Wavemaker, the world’s second largest media agency network, global ecommerce practice. He is tasked with delivering solutions for clients to grow their ecommerce business in a holistic way across media and retail through our proprietary tools.

Mudit has a fine nose for retail all over the world and is always looking for ways in which brands can deliver a joined up consumer purchase experience by bringing their retail and data efforts, data, and budgets together. Mudit has deep expertise on how retail and media come together, as the line between retailer and publisher blurs.

Lucy Thomas is the Head of Retail for Auckland Airport, New Zealand’s busiest airport owned and operated by one of New Zealand’s largest publicly listed companies.  Lucy leads the team responsible for both the international and domestic terminal retail across all categories (duty free, F&B, specialty, paid media, services etc); managing everything retail from the operations, leasing and marketing to business, terminal and other strategic developments.

Prior to joining the airport, Lucy had a consumer insight background. With over 14 years airport experience, Lucy has held 4 different roles at Auckland Airport, all with a strong retail and commercial focus. Her previous roles have encompassed passenger experience development, marketing, managing the airport’s paid media concession, delivering pan-business insight as well as leading commercial business development. Lucy led the tenders for the major contracts in duty free, advertising and currency exchange and headed the team delivering the expanded retail & F&B experience in the 2017 international departures project. Lucy joined the APTRA Board in 2020 and is representing airports in Oceania who often face similar challenges in the region.

Julia Bauer is an assured Travel Retail professional with more than 12 years managing and directing operations within Imperial Brands, for both Travel Retail & domestic business. Her expertise covers key accounts, to strategy, marketing, trade marketing as well as heading up a 250 strong field team running the German domestic channel. With strong skills & knowledge, cultural understanding & an enviable proficiency in leadership all this experience combined with her international background has led Julia to what is now her eighth role for the company.

Since late 2018, Julia has been back ‘home’ in Hong Kong heading up the travel retail and export business for Imperial Brands, focusing on the development in airports and other point-of-sales connected to duty-free and export business for the Asia Pacific region. Julia forms part of the APTRA board, where she has been appointed to the role of Secretary earlier this spring.

Jayne is the Head of Omnichannel at Auckland Airport and leads the strategy development and execution across the Airport’s retail digital channels. During her 5 years with the Airport, she has been integral to the development and innovation of the Airport’s omnichannel platforms, launching the ecommerce marketplace The Mall, the Collection Point logistics and fulfillment platform and dedicated shopping experiences in partner channels.  She is a strong advocate for defining a vision, customer centricity, digital transformation and stakeholder collaboration across the industry to create value.

Prior to her role with the Airport, she launched a tech start up and built it into a multi-channel retail operation across New Zealand and Australia. Jayne has also held strategic advisory and corporate finance roles at Ernst & Young for clients within the Retail, Technology, Foreign Investment and Construction & Infrastructure sectors and has worked for strategy consulting firms in the United Kingdom and Australia.

Janice Chen is Head of Cross Border Payment Operations and Marketing, Alipay. Alipay is China’s largest digital payment platform and Ms Chen one of its most-respected executives.
Her presentation in the Expo’s Knowledge Hub will focus on Alipay’s growing travel retail presence and its aspirations in the channel, culminating in a case study specially prepared for the Expo.

James Prescott is Managing Director of Harding, the Flemingo International-owned, UK-headquartered cruise retail concessionaire and a highly experienced travel retail executive. He joined Harding from Bahrain where he had played a key since 2008 as Aer Rianta International-Middle East General Manager Operations. Before then he was World Duty Free Head of Category – Liquor, Tobacco, Food, Tax Free and Luxury Goods, and earlier Whyte & Mackay Global Travel Retail Director.

Jack MacGowan is Director at Castlepole Consulting in Ireland and former CEO of Irish state-owned Aer Rianta International (2011-2018). He joined the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) in 2005 from Tesco plc. He held the role of Chief Commercial Officer, with responsibility for all commercial operations in Ireland including retail, car parks, marketing and property concessions. In August 2011, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Aer Rianta International, with responsibility for all retail activities globally.

Dag Rasmussen is a Norwegian citizen and lives in France.After graduating from the French business school ESSEC, Dag spent five years with the Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques (SITA).

Dag joined Lagardère Travel Retail as International Financial Controller in 1988. In 1991 he took over the position of Director of Finance and Organisation with Press Shop in Brussels before joining AMP, the Belgian press distribution subsidiary, at that time part of Lagardère Group. Dag became CEO of AMP in 1996.

In 1999 he was promoted to COO of Lagardère Travel Retail, overseeing the Central and Eastern European subsidiaries of the group, later adding Western and Southern Europe and North America.Dag has been Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lagardère Travel Retail since 2011 and with his teams, has turned travel retail into a core activity for the Lagardère group.

Muriel Zingraff is a Partner at Damazo Group, specialising in airport concession planning, from initial concept development through to tenders, implementation and delivery. Zingraff is the former London Heathrow Airport Retail Director, where she was responsible for developing Heathrow’s retail business in existing and new terminals. Zingraff developed the airport’s retail sales, reaching £1.9bn in 2013 from £1.7bn in 2012 and delivering EBIT growth of +7% in 2012 and +8% in 2013.

Julie is a luxury retail professional with over 20 years of experience in travel retail and is knowledgeable in various categories: Fashion, Watch, Jewelry & Accessories, Beauty and Food & Wellbeing. Her experience includes regional and global roles based in Hong Kong and USA, supporting 15 countries. She is currently the Deputy Director for Fashion at CDFG.

Heidi Van Roon is a leader, a mentor, and a perennial champion of the entrepreneurial spirit. Her many ventures, which run the gamut from founding a line of luxury furnishings to her current work as the Founder and CEO of SPARK Group of Companies, are all indelibly stamped by her enthusiastic personality. She is a savvy strategist with a soft heart. She sees opportunities to create mutually rewarding arrangements, positive growth, and a better world for all stakeholders, and she runs after them. Hard.

Kian Gould is one of the leading global omnichannel ecommerce and digital transformation experts within the open source space. He is a regular speaker at many global conferences, and a well-known expert in airport digitalisation. For the past 15 years, his company AOE has assisted global Fortune 1000 companies with their digital transformation and omnichannel ecommerce strategies. AOE has been a key influence in the growing digitalisation of retail at airports such as Auckland and Heathrow and the Singapore omnichannel joint venture Krisshop.

Chris Pok joined Singapore Airlines in September 2001 as a Purchasing Executive in the Commercial Supplies Department.

After a stint in the Singapore Sales Corporate Marketing Department in 2010 he was posted to Jakarta as Commercial Manager Indonesia. In March 2011 he moved to Perth, Australia to take up the position of Manager Western Australia. The following year, in November 2012, Pok was posted to Amsterdam as General Manager Benelux. In August 2014 he was promoted to General Manager China. In January 2017, Pok returned to Singapore to head the Merchandising Department, and in December 2018 he was appointed CEO of Singapore Airlines’ flagship omninchannel retail arm, KrisShop.

Kevin Zajax is CEO of Ground Control, specialist business advisory for airports and stadiums as well as retail and F&B brands. Ground Control’s mantra is ‘memorable experiences, superior returns’ and they have already established themselves as the “go-to-guys” in Asia-Pacific, working with clients such as Marvel Stadium, the SCG Trust as well as airport and non-airport businesses and brands.

Before moving to Singapore, Kevin spent 11 years in the Middle East. His most recent role was Chief Operating Officer for Emirates Leisure Retail (retail F&B division of the Emirates Group) managing over 300 bars, restaurants and coffee shops across the Middle East, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

Kevin has also founded an eco-friendly supply business to the Hospitality sector and sits on a number of Advisory Boards across Asia-Pacific.

TW.0 & Partners, expertise in Travel Retail, is the specialist in helping luxury and premium brands to secure the right airport locations and optimise the customer experience. Our partners and associates have more than 100 years of experience in the Travel Retail market and an enviable track-record of working with leading luxury and premium brands.

Luca has 30 years’ experience in consumer and luxury goods & has been voted #1 luxury goods analyst in the Institutional Investor surveys in most of the past 10 years. His prior experience covers 12 years in consulting and also was partner of the Boston Consulting Group – serving luxury goods, consumer goods and retail clients all over Europe. Luca moved on to lead a publicly trading luxury conglomerate that he restructured and refinanced between 2002 and 2005. He has worked on the sell side in the past 15 years, covering both luxury goods and general retail – as well as trying his hand as Director of Research in 2012 and 2013. Luca is currently the senior analyst responsible for luxury goods globally at Bernstein, and a senior advisor of the Boston Consulting Group.

Shashank Nigam is a globally sought-after consultant, speaker and thought leader on airline branding and customer engagement strategy. He is the Founder and CEO of SimpliFlying, one of the world’s largest aviation marketing firms working with over 85 aviation clients in the last ten years. Nigam is also the youngest winner of the Global Brand Leadership Award and has addressed senior executives globally, from Chile to China.

Karen Lee is a Chinese actress in Hong Kong currently working with the TVB Broadcasting company.

She is most well-known for her roles in television programmes ‘Line Walker – The Prelude’ and ‘White War.’ Lee has 330,000 followers — from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia — on Weibo.

Her areas of interest include beauty, cosmetics, wines & spirits and fashion accessories

Joshua Romero or ‘The Garnish  Guy’ is a leading cocktail consultant, prestige bartender and drinks industry mentor. Romero has over 90,000 Instagram followers mainly from New York, Los Angeles, Miami, London and Barcelona. He covers wines & spirits and men’s consumer technology.

Yurina is a leading Singapore-based beauty KOL who also spent time living in China and Canada. With 2.95 million followers on Weibo, Yurina’s demographic embraces a core Chinese audience and also overseas Chinese travellers. Her areas of interest are beauty, cosmetics, fashion and food.

Commenting on her participation at the pioneering virtual event, top beauty KOL Yurina said: “As a frequent traveller who runs a studio in Shanghai, resides in Singapore, and spends holiday with family in Vancouver and Taiwan, I leverage these opportunities to satisfy my curiosity for new and cool beauty products during my trip.

“I love to share these experiences and my feelings through make-up and beauty looks. I really thank the travel retail channel for bringing lots of joy. It enriches my life experience and allows me to connect with the people and the world through the language of beauty. Life is beautiful!”

For twin sisters Elena and Giulia Sella — Co-Founders of creative studio DesignbyGemini— experience and design inform everything they do.

Known for their Instagram-worthy pop-ups and installations, the Sella sisters have made a big name for themselves in the world of experiential retail design. And when a crisis like no other put a temporary halt to physical events, Elene and Giulia quickly pivoted to launch their colourful travel-friendly personal care brand  Make Sure.

They will reveal more about their brand and philosophy at the Virtual Travel Retail Expo.

Paul Kristoff aka ‘The City Lane’ is a writer/photographer who encourages aspiring foodies to seek out the people and stories behind each place they travel to. Kristoff has 100,000 followers on his Instagram account with audiences mainly from Australia and New Zealand. He mainly covers wines and spirits, food and men’s accessories.

Cameron founded the world’s first IoT agency, SharpEnd, in 2014 to transform the real world into a connected platform for fashion, beauty, drinks and CPG brands. The agency creates competitive advantage for brands through creative expertise and its world-leading technology platform, io.tt, supplying real-time consumer metrics and insights.

He is a regular speaker, writer and podcast guest exploring how to build brands in a connected world and has spoken on many of the world’s biggest stages including Cannes, the Festival of Marketing, LuxePack, Ad:Week, DMA, Cosmetics Business Live, Mobile World Congress and the IoT World Forum.

Adrian Pittaway is the Head of Retail for MSC Cruises.  Based in Geneva, Adrian heads the largest in-house cruise retail operation in the world. With one of the most modern cruise ship fleets in the world, MSC Cruises’ global retail team operate as part of the larger MSC Group, the world’s largest privately-owned shipping company, with over 160 boutiques on 16 luxury cruise ships. A further 130+ boutiques are in the pipeline on 13 additional ships.

With over 20 years of experience in retail management and over 12 years now in travel retail, Adrian is responsible for leading all aspects of the MSC retail business covering buying, operations, logistics and business development for nearly 200 premium brands. Prior to joining MSC Cruises in July 2015, Adrian worked for over 7 years with Nuance / Dufry.

Olivier Jager is a seasoned travel technology entrepreneur. He launched ForwardKeys in 2010 and drives the company’s vision, strategy and growth as it provides solutions for companies operating in the travel ecosystem to better anticipate future demand by knowing who’s travelling tomorrow. Before launching ForwardKeys, Olivier built his knowledge with companies including AOL, Amadeus, PhoCusWright, Market Metrix and TravelCLICK.

As a strategic thinker with a passion for innovation and solving problems, Olivier’s expertise has focused on marketing and distribution, management and business development. Olivier is a frequent speaker on the international circuit on subjects related to how travellers are responding their behaviours in a global and volatile marketplace.

Brad Miller joined Manchester Airports Group (MAG) in 2007 and is now Managing Director of MAGO, the airport-centric travel company that helps airports drive their non-aeronautical revenues. He has has accountability to grow digital sales as well as MAGO’s global reach, by delivering premium profit levels that MAG says only MAGO can unlock. Before his current role, he was Chief Operating Officer for Manchester Airport which included responsibility for the day to day running of the airport.

Previously he was MAG’s Chief of Staff; bringing together the core support functions relating to people, assets, technology and business partners allowing MAG to find the single best way of doing things consistently and more efficiently. As part of this remit he provided leadership for several transformational programmes that facilitated and support MAG’s ambitious growth aspirations. Brad was accountable for the successful leadership of Manchester Airport’s £1.2 billion Transformation Programme (MAN-TP), which is on course to transform how customers (guests & airlines) and colleagues use and interact with the airport. Brad was also responsible for developing new revenue streams for MAG, in particular leading the establishment of MAG USA through market research, strategic assessment and business development.

Anuj Roy is an insights professional with natural passion for unearthing deep-rooted consumer truths to drive business growth. He has 16 years of cross-cultural experience of leading transformational projects. Anuj started his nearly a decade long journey at Pernod Ricard in India in 2011 before moving to Hong Kong at the Travel Retail Asia Pacific hub and then transitioned into the newly formed Global Travel Retail team in London in 2017. Anuj is an Engineer and holds an MBA from IMI New Delhi, India.

Tom has over 15 years experience in the Out of Home media specialist industry. 10 of those years have been international leadership positions. Tom leads the Plexus team and is responsible for delivering Smarter as Standard, consistent solutions for our clients across multiple markets and environments.

Manishi Sanwal is a leading retail & marketing professional in travel retail. Previously, he was the CEO, of Flemingo – the biggest Duty-Free retailer in India. As a Managing Director with DFS Group in India, He led Mumbai Duty Free for many years. He was instrumental in setting the operations in New Terminal T2 of Mumbai Airport & won many awards for strategy and marketing. Previously he has held various leadership roles in TAG Heuer Watches & group in India and in China. He was the Brand Manager of TAG Heuer watches in China & subsequently the General Manager LVMH Watch & Jewellery in India Sub Continent. He is an engineering graduate from IIT, BHU, Varanasi & MBA from IIM Ahmedabad.

Joining oOh!media’s team in 2008, Robbie leads the oOh!DataScience powered Product strategy. Robbie is responsible for driving growth across our major portfolios including Airports, Airline and In-Flight Entertainment, Billboards, Retail, Rail, and Street Furniture. Robbie also leads the Commercial agenda for Airports, Qantas Lounge and inflight, Street Furniture and Rail media businesses.

Robbie’s 25-year career spans aviation, financial services and media sectors in UK, European, North American and Australian markets. His commercialisation of customer experience through data, content and technology led to him becoming an aviation and airport media industry thought leader. He was responsible for creating the premium Qantas Club and Business Lounge digital media strategy which consistently delivers the highest net promoter score (NPS) of all Qantas products.

As a strong strategic, creative and commercial leader, Robbie has earned the reputation for motivating and developing individuals with diverse skills and experiences into high-performance teams. He has also been recognised with several Moodie Davitt awards for his innovative approach to developing unique and engaging Out of Home media platforms.

Currently Retail Editor at Global Drinks Intel magazine, Doug was previously the founder and editor of Travel Retail Business and founder of Duty Free News International. Renowned for his prowess in breaking big stories, Doug has long been considered a highly influential commentator on the travel-retail industry.

Sujay is research professional and is an expert in the field semiotics and ethnography. Previously, He was Senior Vice President, Blackstone Market Facts ( Now Synovate – the research arm of communications major, Aegis Group Plc) before turning an entrepreneur in the field of Research & Analytics. He has more than 35 years of experience in all forms of Market Research. He has worked on research projects with corporates like Diageo, Pfizer, Sanofi Aventis, Mars International, Hyundai, Toyota International & many other international names in India, China and South East Asia.

Ollie Palmer

Ollie Palmer, who has worked at Diageo for nearly ten years, is currently Head of Customer Marketing for the Global Travel division.

With a passion for challenge, adventure and the outdoors, he was responsible for pulling together a team of four friends to take part in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic challenge in the 2019/20 race. The team subsequently went on to win the race by 48 hours, setting a world record in the process and raising over £300,000 for their partner charity.

As the only member of the crew who was sub 6ft and without a military background, he was determined to show that anyone can achieve anything with the right mindset.

Tom Foley

Having spent over eight years in the Royal Navy as a Mine Clearance Diving Officer, Tom Foley shares a thirst for adventure and challenge. As one of Ollie’s oldest and closest friends, he was first on the team sheet for the Atlantic row.

Tom believes that careful preparation, teamwork, dedication and optimism are foundations for the team’s success. He now splits his time between planning the next challenge and retraining as a surveyor, having recently left the military.