Speaker Biographies

Duncan Alexander, Former VP Business Development & Industry Relations, OAG & Managing Director, Encomium Media Ltd

Duncan Alexander is a strategic marketing consultant who has the ability to engage senior management and marketing teams to quickly re-asses their position, define strategies to achieve their goals and to ensure their effective communication and implementation. Duncan has 18 years experience in the travel and transportation sector where he has held senior executive positions in sales and marketing with Galileo, SITA and OAG. Duncan has also worked as a management consultant with software services company Logica and PricewaterhouseCoopers where he completed consultancy assignments across a wide range of sectors. Duncan recently left OAG where he held the positions of Managing Director, OAG Data and Vice President Business Development to establish his own company, Encomium Media Ltd.

Encomium is a marketing services company dedicated to travel & transportation. It provides a range of services including, strategy definition, communications consulting, interim management, market research and production of internet advertising. Duncan read Geography at Kings College London and took a post graduate Diploma in Marketing. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and is a committee member of The Aviation Club of the UK.

Geoff Allwright, Travel and Expenses Manager, Airbus UK

Airbus have a global travel programme alongside their partner companies in EADS. The Travel policy is linked to the electronic online system for booking travel, approval/rejection of trips, right through to expense submission and manager acceptance.

With a full range of preferred suppliers in all travel categories, the Airbus team have been able to provide real time data to stakeholders, suppliers and partner companies, covering all aspects of a business trip, which in turn has delivers massive travel spend savings for the company.

Geoff has previously been employed by Intel and HP in travel manager positions, and has a wealth of experience in the corporate business travel sector.

He is married with 4 big children, and in his spare time runs a youth church every Sunday evening for up to 50 teenagers, plays squash, cycles and logs on to various travel web sites to make sure we have the best deals!!

Grant Appleton, Commercial Director, HRS – Hotel Reservation Service

Grant Appleton has been in the corporate hotel industry for over 20 years. From working in the sales team at Thistle hotels in the early 90’s, he was approached to join BSI as Senior Account Manager where he was responsible for managing some of their larger accounts for over 5 years during some of the most turbulent times in the travel industry. In 2004, he moved from BSI to head up the hotel sales for BTI, now HRG, before joining HRS in 2006.

Serge Bacchus, European Travel Manager, Unisys

After 5 years with Fedex, as France Procurement Manager,and later on, to create the function of the European events Manager, I’ve joined Unisys in 1997 as a Commodity European Manager. I’ve been in charge of European implementations for contracts regarding Catering, Cleaning, Car fleet, Furnitures, Copiers, Stationneries, Facility Management outsourcing… Serge switched to travel 4 years ago with the aim of implementing a European self booking solution for 14 countries+ Canada, align the travel policy, consolidate the implementation of one single travel agent, manage hotels, car rental and air deals.

Andy Blackwell, Head of Aviation Security, Virgin Atlantic Airways

Andy has global responsibility for all aspects of the airline's security programme.

Prior to joining Virgin, he was UK Security Manager and Lead Threat Assessor with DHL International, a position he held for seven years.

Andy also has over seventeen years law enforcement experience and served with UK Customs, British Transport Police, the UK's National Drugs Intelligence Unit, the National Drugs Intelligence Service of the Czech Republic, and the Strategic Research Unit of the UK's National Criminal Intelligence Service.

He is married and lives in the UK with his wife and three children.

Hannah Bodilly, Senior Manager of European Purchasing, Ernest & Julio Gallo

Coming from an automotive purchasing background with buying positions at Ford, Peugeot, Pinin-Farina and Honda, Hannah then moved into Management Consultancy and traveled with PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

After a role back in traditional purchasing at Telecoms giant Cable & Wireless, Hannah’s next move was to set up a European Purchasing Department for Ernest & Julio Gallo Winery, where she develops detailed policies and procedures, trains staff and manages the supply-base for the European Operation.

Hannah is responsible for all categories of purchasing such as Marketing, Travel, Logistics, IT, HR, Facilities, Fleet and even some bottling contracts!

Once a travel procurement rookie, now with 4 years of managing travel for Gallo, Hannah has learnt from scratch, taking the unmanaged and fragmented travel spend from a call centre environment to a new relationship with her TMC, discounted supplier agreements, reduced spend and implementing on-line booking tools.”

Tom Cannon, Dean, Buckingham Business School

Tom's previous appointments include the directorship of Manchester Business School, the headship of Stirling University Business School, and as Chief Executive of the Management harter Initiative - the Government's leading body for management and leadership education. He chaired the New Vision for Business study initiated by the Rt Hon. Tony Blair, MP, and has completed major studies of Leadership and Management in a Changing World, Entrepreneurship and Management Values and Ethics for UK Government departments. His company Ideopolis International has pioneered new thinking about the future of cities, which has influenced policy makers across the world. He has published over a hundred articles and books, including Enterprise: Creation, Development, and Growth (Oxford / Boston: Butterworth Heinemann, 1991); Corporate Responsibility (London: Financial Times Prentice Hall, 1994); Basic Marketing (4th ed., London: Cassell, 1996); Welcome to the Revolution: Managing Paradox in the 21st Century (London: Pitman, 1996); The Ultimate Book of Business Breakthroughs (Oxford: Capstone, 2000). With Richard Branson, he is the author of How To Get Ahead in Business (2nd ed., London: Virgin Books, 2001). He is managing editor of New Academy Review, and holds visiting chairs at universities in the UK and across the world. Tom is also perhaps Europe's leading expert on sports business and finance (notably football). As well as advising several top clubs and players, he broadcasts regularly on British and international television and radio, including Sky, BBC and ITV, and writes for specialist sports and football magazines.

Shaun Casey, Managing Director – EMEA, BCD Meetings & Incentives, UK and Ireland All BCD M&I country leaders on the continent report to Shaun.

Shaun’s experience in the M&I business is extensive, stretching across the UK, Germany, France, Spain and the United States. He has more than 25 years of sales, operations and general management experience in the highly competitive, service-oriented industries of event management, corporate business travel, enterprise meetings technology and marketing communications. Shaun is fluent in French and German, with a working knowledge of Spanish and Italian.

Amon Cohen, Contributing Editor, Business Travel News

Amon Cohen is a specialist business travel writer. He is contributing editor to Business Travel News, the US journal for travel managers, and writes for numerous other publications, including the The Times and Supply Management, as well as penning a regular column for Buying Business Travel.

Amon works from home in Somerset, UK, where he enjoys his leisure hours by playing double-bass for country gospel punk band The Johnsons, helping run a charity that sends hand-tools to Africa and cooing over his wife and two children.

Chris Crowley, Senior Vice President, Sales – Europe, BCD Travel

Chris is charged with successfully steering and managing a dynamic, client-oriented sales programme, helping BCD Travel to underpin and expand its established position as a leading global corporate travel management company.

Alongside the responsibilities he holds within BCD Travel, Chris is also an active figure within the corporate travel industry – most notably serving as a Director of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) for the past 3 years and a contributor to various industry publications’ editorial advisory boards. His extensive industry knowledge and expertise are also called upon at numerous UK and international industry forums where he is a regular panelist and speaker.

Chris has over 15 years experience in the travel industry. He began his career at 47 Park Street in London’s Mayfair before progressing through the company in sales positions. After leaving the hotel industry to pursue a supplier contracting role at Travel By Appointment he rejoined the hotel industry as Corporate Sales Director for ACCOR Hotels. During his time at ACCOR Crowley was part of the team responsible for the establishment of ACCOR’s global corporate sales network and the roll out of the new Sofitel brand.

Leaving in 2003 he enjoyed spells at the Radisson SAS Portman Hotel and then as Regional Sales Director for Concorde Hotels before joining The Travel Company as Head of Sales in 2005. Participating in the ground breaking launch of the new BCD Travel he has since taken on a multi national sales role as Senior Vice President Sales for Europe.

Robert Daykin, Partner, Corporate Travel Partnership

Robert’s background is in Sales and Marketing, Project Management and Strategic Purchasing. He has previously held travel purchasing and management roles for companies such as The Littlewoods Organisation, Dresser Industries and The Halliburton Company. In 1999, he established travelConsult, a specialist travel purchasing and management consultancy offering services exclusively to corporate clients. His client list included major organisations in finance, retailing, engineering, oil, recruitment, IT and telecommunications.

Frank Doreleijers, Senior Business Development Manager - Olympics Projects, International SOS China

Frank's career started in the Netherlands as product marketing manager for one the country's largest mobile communications provider. He holds an MBA from the Erasmus University in the Netherlands.

Prior to moving to China, Frank spent over three years in Singapore working in the ERP-software industry as regional key account manager for the Asia Pacific region.

Frank joined International SOS in 2003 as business development manager and managed key accounts, such as BMW, Intel and Daimler Chrysler throughout his career. He recently took over as senior business development manager - Olympics Projects liaising with corporations organising hospitality programmes for guests and employees during the upcoming 2008 Summer Games.

He is based in Beijing and enjoys playing soccer and travelling in his spare time.

Dr Ahmed Fahmy, Medical Director, International SOS

Dr. Fahmy, a French national, was born and raised in Germany, and returned to Paris where he completed his medical degree at the University Pierre et Marie Curie, France.

He obtained a diploma in emergency medicine from the University Necker, as well as a diploma in aviation medicine from Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. He has completed his masters in health system management from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK.

Dr. Fahmy started his medical career in France, firstly working as a doctor in a ski resort clinic, followed by positions in the emergency departments of a number of hospitals there. He then took up a post in a Private Practice.

In 1994, Dr Fahmy decided to write his thesis, based on the clinical findings of Rudolph Virchow and his view in regards to disease and experimental pathology.

The following year he joined Service Medical International. He worked as a doctor in an emergency centre in Kinshasa, Zaire, in isolated areas in China and in a remote oil town in Nigeria.

In 1997, Dr Fahmy started his life with AEA / International SOS, joining as a clinic and alarm centre doctor, working in Indonesia, followed by Vietnam. In 1998, he moved to Beijing as a clinic doctor and joined the HK office in 1999. Dr. Fahmy was promoted to deputy medical director in 2000, and to medical director in 2005.

To date, he has completed missions including, but not limited to, Beijing, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Nigeria and Vietnam.

When away from the Alarm Centre, he enjoys reading, history, traveling, and is partial to a good game of squash.

Caroline French, Corporate Travel Manager, Inmarsat Global Ltd

Inmarsat is the leading provider of global mobile satellite communications. The company was created in 1979 to provide global safety and distress communications for seafarers. Today it stands at the forefront of mobile satellite communications, offering a range of voice and broadband data services for use at sea, on land and in the air.

Since joining Inmarsat in 1996, Caroline has worked within the Sales and Marketing Division before taking up the position of Corporate Travel Manager in 2004.

Caroline has overall responsibility for all Inmarsat’s EMEA travel procurement and is bringing the US offices under her remit. Caroline’s focus moving forward is specifically based on cost reduction but mindful of travel safety and security.

Caroline has over 6 years experience in the telecommunications industry having joined Mercury Communications before moving into Cable & Wireless plc.

In 1989 Caroline left the Armed Forces where she had served for just over 4 years in the WRAC with postings both in the UK and Gemany.

Jeff Gazzard, Co-ordinator, GreenSkies Alliance

Jeff Gazzard is a Board Member of the Aviation Environment Federation, co-ordinates the European GreenSkies Alliance network, and is involved in grass roots campaigning, policy development and international advocacy to control and reduce the negative environmental impacts of air transport. Jeff is the co-rapporteur of a task force developing a set of environmental indicators for aviation within a 41 country inter-governmental group, the European Civil Aviation Conference; is an advisor to the World Health Organisation on transport, environment and health issues; and is also the policy advisor to the All-party Parliamentary Sustainable Aviation Group at Westminster. The AEF also administers the International Coalition for Sustainable Aviation, a world wide alliance of NGO's with observer status at the UN International Civil Aviation Organisation's Committee for Aviation and Environmental Protection. Jeff Gazzard had a previous career in advertising and marketing for multinational companies in consumer electonics and financial services.

Jonathan Green, Sustainable Travel Manager, Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)

Jonathan is a passionate exponent of sustainable development, advocating the management of business travel through a carbon budgetary control system. A carbon system of management will deliver smarter procurement, financial savings, traveller compliance and happiness, productivity and duty of care – alongside a reduction in carbon emissions – revolutionising the role of travel manager. He founded and chairs a cross-Government business travel group, has advised the Office of Government Commerce, Sustainable Development Commission and many public sector bodies on carbon foot-printing & offsetting, communicating sustainability, travel procurement, and management.

Jamie Hindhaugh, Head of Sourcing, BBC

Jamie Hindhaugh is the Head of Sourcing for the category management strand for Production Resources. This covers areas of spend in Post production and Graphics, Studios, Lighting, Scenery, Props, OB's, Locations, Shooting, Make Up, Costume, Radio and Music Facilities, New Media and Content and Knowledge and Reference.

As well as the above, Jamie is also the Head of logistics (incorporating managing the BBC transport Services operation which covers minicabs, couriers, self drive vehicles, coaches and shuttles BBC wide). He manages the BBC Travel services for Flights, Rail, Hotels and Shipping and is the national and international CPC holder for the BBC. Alongside this, Jamie also chairs the Environmental Steering group for the BBC in Transport and Travel.

Jamie's areas of expertise extend to Contract Management, Deal Negotiation with Suppliers, Investment Proposals, Negotiating WithExternal Training Providers and Preferred Suppliers to name a few.

Bradley Jones, Corporate Services Procurement Manager, Cancer Research UK

Bradley has 11 years experience as a procurement professional, spanning private, public and charity sectors. Areas of specialisation cover: Facilities projects and services, travel, fleet, print and IT projects, professional services and contract management.

Bradley’s major strengths are in being able to analyse problems quickly and to recommend workable short term and strategic solutions, which meet the objectives of the organisation. He is an enthusiastic, self motivated, hard working procurement professional who places a lot of emphasis on establishing strong long term relationships with internal business partners as well as external suppliers at all levels within the organisation.

Christopher Juneau, European Product Marketing Director, Concur

Christopher Juneau has been with Concur for over 6 years, and currently manages all aspects of product marketing for Concur's suite of integrated on-demand Employee Spend Management services for Europe.

Mr. Juneau received his Masters in Business Administration degree from Emory University and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering from Louisiana State University.

Torsten Kriedt, Vice President, Innovation & Intelligence , Advito

Torsten leads a team of professionals responsible for promoting collaboration to bring relevant products and services to the market, to drive strategic growth initiatives and to strengthen Advito’s position as thought leaders.

Previously, Torsten headed the Professional Services division at TQ3 Travel Solutions, where he garnered more than 15 years of international travel management and consulting experience working with blue chip companies from various industries. Building on his experience in an in-house business consulting unit for a major UK public sector organization, his expertise is in defining strategy, steering multinational projects, and setting up effective performance-management frameworks. Torsten is an active member of the industry associations ITM and ACTE, and serves on the sustainability committee for the German travel management association VDR. His insight and perspective make him a sought-after interview partner and speaker at industry events.

David Leckie, Partner, Maclay Murray & Spens

Solicitor Advocate, with particular expertise in energy and regulatory law, including health and safety and environmental law. David qualified in Scotland in 1987 and called to the English Bar in 1994. Based in London, he covers a wide range of commercial litigation in both the English and Scottish jurisdictions. He has also acted in a number of international arbitrations. He is chair of the Lex Mundi Energy Group, a worldwide association of leading independent law firms - www.lexmundi.com. He co-authored The Human Rights Act 1998 Explained and is a contributor to Green's Employment Law, Tolleys Health & Safety and Butterworth's Corporate Liability.

Mike Lyon, Director, Write Style Communications Ltd

Mike has many years experience as Conference Manager for Barclays Global Payments Division. He has made presentations at key events including International Confex, National Venue Show and the UK Business Tourism Conference. Mike manages the Ask the Experts Pavilion at a major European Meetings and Events Show - EIBTM each year and also runs an Advice Centre/CV Clinic for Event Planners at International Confex. He has written two books on Fam Trips and Destination Research techniques and is a regular feature writer for a number of conference related trade publications. Write Style Communications Ltd is an events consultancy company offering copywriting, PR and Training for a number of major exhibitions both in the UK and Europe.

Fiona Pelham, Managing Director Organise This

Fiona is managing director of Organise This, an event management company focused on planning events in a way that is environmentally responsible and community involved.

Fiona represents marketing on the UK MPI board and is also on the programming committee for Green Meetings Industry Council.

Fiona is a chair for BS 8901 a sustainable event standard, created by the industry for the industry and due to launch Autumn 2007. Organise This was appointed to run the first trial of BS8901 with the Manchester International Festival in June 2007.

Organise This is a founder member of Positive Impact, a not for profit project to provide education on sustainability to the hospitality and event industry. Positive Impact education series have been run in Manchester since 2006. The first London Positive Impact session will start in October and is being run in conjunction with Meeting Professionals International and Conference and Incentive Travel Magazine.

Organise This has been awarded the Manchester City Council Silver Environmental award and believe that events of all shapes and sizes can make a positive difference to the surrounding community, environment and economy.

Graeme Payne, Writer & Author

Born in Hertfordshire England, Graeme Payne studied Transport and Economic Geography at London University in the 1970s before joining Gulf Air at the airline's Bahrain headquarters in 1977. In 1980, Graeme was appointed Training Officer at ABC Travel Guides back in UK and was invited to set up a worldwide training organisation for corporations, airlines and travel agents. Within five years, the operation was relaunched as Reed Travel Training and provided courses in over 50 countries, in 11 languages, to over 25,000 trainees a year.

Graeme has provided seminars for Business Travel Shows since they began at London's Wembley and frequently offers one-day workshops to help those involved in planning travel for others. Graeme has also written a Travel Planning Made Easy booklet, which has been distributed to those attending the London shows. Since 2001, Graeme has run his own travel training consultancy, Talking Travel… and regularly writes features for Buying Business Travel magazine and ABTN (Air and Business Travel News). He has also written a Travel Planning Workbook and numerous magazines about luxury travel and the cruise industry.

Graeme provides research into hotels and cruise ships throughout the world for the Travel Weekly Group and recently spent time reviewing the facilities and shore excursions on cruises in the Arabian Gulf. Graeme Payne is an authority on international travel planning and believes that those involved in arranging business travel need unbiased, concise information.

Mike Penrose, Regional Commercial Director - Crisis and Risk Management Services, International SOS

Prior to this, Mike was the regional consultancy manager and advised on security risk throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Before working for International SOS, Mike was a special adviser to the UK Government on conflict and response management, specialising in the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa. Mike has acted as a seconded adviser to the UN in numerous operational theatres.

Roger Peters, Purchasing Manager - Corporate Services, Thales UK

In a long and varied career focused on the procurement of business services, Roger has held several senior positions within the Thales Corporate Purchasing function. However, the management of the procurement of travel services has been a constant theme throughout his years as a purchasing professional, and he currently leads the purchasing management activities in this sector for Thales UK. In collaboration with his Thales colleagues from other countries, Roger is a key decision maker in the creation and implementation of Thales Group's global travel services acquisition strategy.

Christophe Peymirat, Managing Director – UK, Expedia Corporate Travel

Christophe Peymirat has been managing UK Expedia Corporate Travel activities since 2004, when Expedia Corporate Travel acquired World TM. His objective is to develop the right solutions for business travellers, using a combination of innovative technology and exceptional service.

Prior to this Christophe was part of the Egencia team for several years, which Expedia Corporate Travel acquired in France. His role within this organisation was firstly Director of Product Development, he then went on to be Director of Large Accounts.

Christophe’s career started working for L’Oreal as a Sales and Marketing Executive. Later he went on to work for Bain & Company for three years working as a Business Consultant.

Mr. Peymirat graduated in 1994 from HEC School of Management in Paris where he specialised in Finance.

Rob Pollack, VP-Brand & Market Positioning Boeing Commercial Airlines

Robert Pollack was named vice president of Brand and Market Positioning for Boeing Commercial Airplanes in October 2002.

As the leader of this newly created strategic marketing team, Rob leads the effort in crafting the Boeing Commercial Airplanes’ brand. Integrating the multiple resources from marketing, Rob and his team work closely with sales, product groups and communications to ensure brand identity is communicated in a relevant and exciting way with both internal and external constituencies.

Prior to his joining Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Rob was based in London as the vice president of Marketing for Motorola cell phones in Europe, Middle East and Africa. There he helped re-energize the Motorola brand with the launch of the “Moto” campaign in the region. He joined Motorola in 1992 and led the marketing of Motorola’s consumer paging business during its period of exponential growth in the mid-'90s.

Rob started his career with General Electric Company. He became director of marketing for Black and Decker after they acquired General Electric’s small appliance division in 1984. There he helped devise and implement the brand transition of GE’s Small Appliance Division to the Black and Decker brand.

A native of New York City, Rob completed a bachelor of science degree from (SUNY) Binghamton University, N.Y., and received his master’s in business administration in marketing from New York University.

Rob is married with two teenage children. He enjoys traveling with his family and considers aviation a hobby.

Bob Schumacher, Senior Director – UK & Ireland, Continental Airlines

Bob is responsible for the sales and marketing activity in the UK and Ireland - as well as corporate representation, in what is the largest off-shore sales area for the airline.

Bob joined Continental Airlines in 1994 as Airport Business Manager at Gatwick and became Cargo Director Sales & Service for EMEA in 1997, before becoming Director Passenger Sales for the UK and Ireland in Summer 2000.

Prior to joining Continental Airlines, he worked for UK charter airline Air 2000 (now renamed and a part of the First Choice Group); and previous to that worked for British Midland at the (then) newly opened London City Airport.

Bob is a BSc Hons graduate in Geography/Economics from Keele University.

He lives in Surrey and is married with two young children.

Derick Shaw, Managing Consultant – Business Travel, Aviva Group

Derick has a vast experience in all areas of the travel industry commencing his career over 40 years ago. He attended college in Manchester taking the course for the Travel Agents Institute (now The Institute of Travel & Tourism) and later took the advanced course to be awarded a Fellowship. Derick also has a Degree in Travel & Tourism (Business Studies).

He has worked at all levels from office junior to MD, for small companies, Blue Chip organisations and self-employed, in: Business Travel, Tour Operation, Lecturing, Travel Industry Software and Corporate Travel Management Buying. During his career, Derick was an active member of the ABTA North West Regional committee, NAITA, (Company Founder Member) Skal (Past President) and The Guild of Business Travel Management (Company Founder Member).

In his personal life, he enjoys boating (naturally living on the Norfolk Broads), music (a guitarist and vocalist from the 60's), Rugby, swimming and most sports.

Jonathan Shopley, Executive Director, The CarbonNeutral Company

Jonathan Shopley is an Executive Director at The CarbonNeutral Company – one of the world’s leading carbon offset and climate consulting companies, and the leading brand in the retail carbon market. Previously, Jonathan’s career focused on the development of technologies for the mitigation of environmental impacts in industry – as an environmental engineer in the mining sector in South Africa (Steffen, Robertson & Kirsten) to Managing Director and Vice President in the technology and management consulting company, Arthur D. Little in Europe. He holds Civil Engineering and Environmental Science degrees from the University of Cape Town, and an MBA from the London Business School.

Stanley Slaughter

Stanley Slaughter began his career as a journalist in 1969 and worked for regional and national newspapers in the UK. He left The Birmingham Post where he was travel and features editor in 1991 and became a freelance writer specialising in travel. He began specialising in business travel in 1993 and since then has worked on a regular basis for Business Travel World, the UK’s foremost publication in that field, as well as for several national newspapers including The Times, Daily Telegraph, Financial Times and Mail on Sunday and various trade magazines.

He has won four national awards in the UK for his articles on car rental, rail and airlines. In 2004 he launched his own online website and weekly newsletter www.businesstraveleurope.com

The newsletter goes out to more than 6,000 executives in the business travel industry to most countries in Europe but mainly in the UK, Germany, France, Belgium and The Netherlands. These include travel managers and buyers and executives in travel management companies, IT companies, airlines, hotels, rail and car rental companies. The newsletter carries a mix of new stories, an Analysis article on a current industry topic and a Comment piece.

In 2006, he launched his recruitment site www.businesstraveljobs.com which advertises a range of executive jobs in the business travel industry.

Robin Smith Managing Director, BCD Meetings & Incentives, UK and Ireland

Robin has nearly forty years’ experience in the travel industry, the first seventeen years of which were spent with British Airways. He was involved with several inaugural Concorde activities, the success of which provided the impetus for establishing Talking Point in 1986. A full-service agency specializing in creative event and incentive solutions, Talking Point serviced a wide range of client markets in manufacturing and consumer fields, as well as the more traditional pharmaceutical, financial and management consultancy sectors. Through the mergers that created the current BCD Travel organization, Talking Point became part of BCD Meetings & Incentives in 2006.

Tom Stone, Director, Sirius Management

Tom Stone has worked in various roles in the travel industry for 25 years. Having begun as a business travel agent, Tom then held several European and Global Travel Manager positions with major blue chip organisations, before launching Sirius Management Ltd. in 2003. Sirius provides outsourced travel management to a range of businesses as well as business travel consultancy services to buyers and suppliers. Tom is immediate past Chairman of the Institute of Travel Management and has served two terms on the ACTE Board of Governors.

Caroline Strachan, Chairman, ITM

As International Travel Manager at Yahoo!, Caroline Strachan oversees Europe and Asia Pacific travel management, across 19 countries. Caroline’s responsibilities include strategic programme development, supplier management, a multi-level approach to internal stakeholder engagement and initiative leadership (ie. agency implementations, payment process re-engineering).

Previously, Caroline held the position of EMEA Travel Operations Manager for Cisco Systems. Tasked with the overall transient travel management for EMEA and Global Group Travel. Caroline’s key success was the implementation of regional group travel desks in the Americas, EMEA, Asia Pacific and Japan.

With over sixteen years experience in travel management, Caroline has worked as both a supplier & buyer. Much of her experience was gained in a management role with American Express Groups & Events and subsequently as Divisional Head of BTI UK Groups & Meetings Division. At BTI, Caroline’s key role in addition to business direction was consulting to buyers on the benefits of Strategic Meetings Management Consolidation.

Genevieve Sulway, Director - Travel and External Resources, Nokia Indirect Sourcing (INS)

Genevieve began her career in hotels, travel agencies and the hospitality industry where she spent 12 years as a supplier. She then moved to the other side as a corporate buyer, and over the past 12 years, Genevieve has held senior procurement roles in Australia, Singapore, China and now in London in the UK working for Nokia. In her current role, Genevieve manages the 3 categories including Travel with a team of 30 people.

Having been both a supplier and a buyer, Genevieve has had extensive experience implementing procurement programs globally and is a regular speaker at conferences in Asia, Europe and the U.S. on best practice procurement processes and solutions for travel as well as sourcing innovation.

Paul Tilstone, Executive Director, Institute of Travel Management

Paul Tilstone worked in the business travel industry for 16 years for travel management companies, including Portman and P&O Travel, before taking up the Executive Director position at the Institute of Travel Management in 2005. Since then he has overseen substantial membership growth of the association, the creation of ITM Research and the introduction of Project ICARUS - with targeted carbon emission reduction across the industry as the project's focus. He regularly presents at conferences and the annual business travel show in London.

Martin Umbleja, Independent Travel Consultant

Martin has spent the last 35 years working for a FTSE top 100 company mostly in the UK but also in Europe and the USA.

Latterly Martin has had major responsibilities in a number of cost efficiency programmes which included travel. His main focus was to work with major travel suppliers to recognise the potential in a situation where adoption rates increased, costs were reduced and quality improved.

To fully realise this potential Martin turned aspirations into reality by going out to market to tender a world wide multi million pound travel contract, with the aim of increasing participation in on line booking, communicating to travellers the benefits - both in terms of quality and cost, and producing a worldwide travel policy to reflect the new strategy. His efforts were recognised in 2005 when he and small team were awarded the prestigious Business Travel Account Management Team Award.

He now works as an Independent Travel Consultant using his vast knowledge of the Travel Industry to the benefit of his clients.