Speakers
Marnix H FruitemaSenior Vice President Asia Pacific Graduate of Leijden University (The Netherlands) in International Law, he joined KLM in 1985. He has extensive experience in Sales and Distribution, Marketing , Pricing and Revenue Management, E-commerce, Sales and Service centres, Airport Operations and Strategic Partnerships. He worked and lived in Africa, Middle East, South America and Europe. 
Glenn FogelExecutive Vice President, Corporate Development Mr. Fogel joined Priceline.com in February 2000 and is responsible for all of the firm's acquisitions and strategic transactions. He has been a key figure in Priceline's international program and has led all transactions since the first deal in September 2004. Through this program, Priceline has become the leading online seller of hotels outside North America. Mr. Fogel is a member of the Board of Directors of all of Priceline.com's international subsidiaries, including Europe-based Booking.com and Asia-based Agoda. Before Priceline, he worked in finance, first as an investment banker at Kidder, Peabody, and later as a senior equity trader at Morgan Stanley Asset Management. Mr. Fogel is a graduate of Harvard Law School, and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. 
Aloke BajpaiFounder & CEO Aloke Bajpai packs 8 years of GDS, travel technology, travel distribution and online experience, having started his career with Amadeus in France building agency front office products Vista and Cruise and then in operational roles evangelizing open-source systems adopting within Amadeus' products. Aloke is an electrical engineering graduate from IIT Kanpur and holds an INSEAD-Wharton global MBA. He has lived and worked across 4 continents and is an active blogger and tweeter. 
Gaurav SundaramCountry Director Gaurav brings extensive expertise in corporate travel management from previous executive positions, including Chief Executive Officer for Lionel India (formerly Rosenbluth International India). A proven, high-energy leader with nearly 20 years experience and notable success in the travel services industry, Mr. Sundaram leads the Egencia team in India, overseeing the business operations of sales, account management and exemplary, localized customer service. Immediately prior to his position with Egencia, Mr. Sundaram was the Managing Director of ProKonsul, the India affiliate of Management Alternatives INC., USA, a global consortium of consultants offering domain expertise in managed business travel, technology and global best practice.His previous assignments included stints as Country Manager India for Utell International and Director Asia for Global Experts in Travel (GET). As part of the Egencia team, Mr. Sundaram adds significant depth of knowledge in the India business travel environment coupled with wide exposure in business development , marketing and strategic account management and is a certified Corporate Travel Expert (CTE) holding professional qualifications from IATA , Switzerland . Mr. Sundaram holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honors) from Delhi University. 
Saurabh BhatnagarRegional Director - India Saurabh Rai Bhatnagar, most recently takes over the dual mantle of Regional Director - India, having previously worked in the capacity of the Director Global Sales & Development, India & Middle East for the Preferred Hotel Group. Saurabh oversees the development and expansion of the Preferred Hotel Group and its family of brands in this region, along with maximizing outbound sales from India and Middle East to all member hotels worldwide. Since joining the Preferred Hotel Group in early 2008, he augmented the group's presence in India from five hotels to a four-fold expansion in just over a year. His Industry expertise of ten years in the Hospitality domain includes Development Consulting, Sales & Marketing, Hotel Operations, Market Studies and Quality Assurance. He began his career with The Oberoi Hotels and Resorts and moved on to The Imperial, New Delhi, where he last worked in the capacity of Director of Sales. 
Pritpal SainiCEO Over 13 years of experience in the travel industry Pritpal is a born entrepreneur. Started his career at the young age 18 with Malaysian Airlines in the sales department and founded his own IATA company at the age of 21. He brings a strong travel sales, marketing and product development base, along with his dynamic understanding of technology and travel e-commerce environment to the company. This hardcore businessman is also known for his noble cause, in 1996 formed Non-Profit organization "Noble environment and research foundation". This NGO is active in the field of environment awareness programs for schools in India. This year launched www.Bid2Travel.com, the first online bidding site for hotel rooms in India. This is a revenue management base concept to maximize the revenue from the perishable hotel inventory. 
Amit SaberwalVP Retail & Business Development Amit Saberwal is Vice President-Retail and Business Development at MakeMyTrip.com-India's largest online travel company and has been with MMT since the launch of its India business over 4 years ago. He currently runs and has started from scratch several business lines including India Holidays, Meetings & Incentives, hotels etc. He heads retail for MakeMyTrip and is responsible for the profitability of 16 sales offices and 4 regional offices. Amit also heads contracting and MMT's B2B Channel. Prior to MMT, Amit headed sales and marketing at The Park Hotels as Director Sales and Marketing for 3 years, first at Bangalore and then at New Delhi. His other stints included another young start up and now highly successful hotel company-Sarovar Hotels, where he spent 5 years as Regional Sales Manager Amit is a hotel management graduate with a post graduate diploma in Sales and Marketing from NIS. He has spent time at Cornell University honing his professional skills as a hotelier and has 18 years of professional experience. 
Siddhartha SinghMarketing Manager, India Siddhartha heads marketing for Travelocity.co.in, the full service OTA brand of Travelocity in India. His work involves growing the brand saliency of the Travelocity brand, driving various marketing channels towards profitability, and improving conversions with relevant merchandising and offers. Sid leads a team that looks after online and offline marketing, partner promotions and CRM. Passionate about all things online, Sid's background covers Online strategy and planning for a large number of brands across verticals. His spends his downtime pursuing his love for photography, travel and building his antique book collection. 
Shaun DubashVP Business Development Shaun has been with Travelguru since its inception 4 years ago and heads the supplier relations for Travelguru. An MBA, Shaun has 8 years experience in the corporate world and has been a part of India's largest chain of 5-star hotels - The Taj Group of Hotels. He has also been an entrepreneur for 4 years and his several learnings have been incorporated in the way he works today. 
Frank TietjenHead of Corporate Strategy Mr Frank Tietjen has been involved in the design of corporate strategies for TUI AG, which include portfolio management in tourism and other business fields. He is also responsible for developing tourism business models and the evaluation of new source markets and new business fields. Together with his team, he led the integration process of acquired companies (e.g. Thomson Group UK with a turnover of € 4 billion) and ventured into new source markets opening up TUI China, TUI Russia and most recently India. Prior to joining TUI AG, Frank was with Lufthansa AG for 7 years, responsible for marketing as well as corporate strategy. Frank was also the Co-founder of Low Cost Airline Hapag-Lloyd Express (www.hlx.com) and launched the LCC Thomson FLY (www.thomsonfly.com). 
Rishikant SinghAGM Revenue Management Rishikant has 22 years airline experience in diverse areas of Revenue Management, Central Space Control, Marketing, Airport, and Region management. Had a successful stint as Manager Kuwait & Cyprus from 2004-2006 wherein turnover increased by over 50%. Satisfaction of evacuating over 2200 nationals during Lebanon crisis in July 2006. Currently oversees Revenue Automation projects and Rev.Management team of Air India's Gulf Route of turnover exceeding USD 250 million. Responsibility of GDS Agreements, Reservations Automation, and Reservations Procedures for Air India. He is a team member of the Passenger Services System and Business process re-engineering solution for NACIL - National Aviation Company of India Limited, formed in 2007 by merger of erstwhile Air India with Indian, and doing business as Air India. 
Rajji RaiPresident CURRENT PRESIDENT (2008 -2009 ) of India's largest and oldest travel & tourism Association TRAVEL AGENTS ASSOCIATION OF INDIA 2008- 09. Is a MEMBER of the EXPERT COMMITTEE TOURISM OF ASSOCHAM (ASSOCIATED CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY OF INDIA ) and of the TOURISM COMMITTEE- CII (CONFEDERATION OF INDIAN INDUSTRY) Appointed on the tourism Advisory committee of the prestigious PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry ( PHDCCI ) and Intach (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) Mr. Rai has been involved in the myriad activities of TAAI- India's most prestigious and largest nodal travel & tourism Association for over a decade and is a stalwart of the travel trade, well known to all members and other dignitaries of the trade. Mr Rai represents TAAI in all deliberations with the Ministry of Tourism, and Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. 
Mark GoldspinkManaging Director Before joining ReD, Mark was European General Manager of Hemscott plc where he was responsible for delivering outsourced e-business information solutions to investment banks, auditors, head-hunters, stockbrokers and blue chip companies. Prior to Hemscott plc, Mark spent 12 years with Texaco UK as Retail Director and Texaco, Inc. as Global Marketing Director. Mark has a PHD in Chemistry from London. |
Phanindra SamaFounder & CEO Phanindra Sama "Phani" is Founder & CEO of redBus.in, India's largest bus ticketing company. Founded in Aug. 2006, redBus today has operations across 15 states and offers services in 5000+ routes and has built a robust distribution of over 75000 outlets! Phani was recently named amongst India's Most Promising Entrepreneurs by Business World. He was awarded the Star Entrepreneur of the Year at 3i summit, Mumbai. He is also selected as an Endeavor Entrepreneur (www.endeavor.org) and TiE Entrepreneur, TiE (www.tie.org). He graduated with distinction from BITS-Pilani, and worked with Texas Instruments, Bangalore before he co-founded redBus. 
Girish ShahHead of Branding Girish is Head Branding and part of the Groups Central Senior Management Team of the over $25bn group, and has been responsible for key marketing and branding assignments across the Financial Services, Education and Media & Entertainment verticals. He has launched Reliance Power, served as CMO for Reliance Capital, and is now Head Branding for Reliance Big Entertainment. Prior to this Girish was Head of Department and responsible for the high profile launch of Kingfisher Airlines. He went on to build a $1.5bn brand via strategically migrating the beer franchise to a world-class luxury hospitality brand through highly innovative industry firsts product, advertising and trade campaigns and alliances. 
Devdutta BanerjeeRegional Director Revenue Management MR. Devdutta Banerjee has been involved in the Hospitality industry since the late 1990's. He joined the Taj group of Hotels as a management Trainee in 1997. In 2001, Dev moved into revenue management. Having spent close to 9 years at the Taj group in various locations Dev moved on to Starwood to develop the RM discipline in India, Bangladesh and Maldives. Amongst other things his current role includes:
Tarun LakhanpalGroup Manager - Revenue Management and Distribution Tarun Lakhanpal is a member of The Lemon Tree Hotel Company for the last 3 years. He is a graduate from Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, Bangalore. He has previously worked with Jaypee Hotels and Nikko Hotels. 
Puneet MahindrooCorporate Director of Revenue Management & Global Distribution In a career spanning 10 years in the hospitality industry Puneet Mahindroo has worked in various hotel and regional level roles in Revenue Management and Distribution. In his current role with Taj since 2005; Puneet has been responsible for implementation of a wide range of projects; ranging from Automated Revenue Management System, Revenue Academy, Pricing Reforms to the most recent Implementation of Taj's Next Generation Distribution Platform. Puneet is also involved in various industry wide initiatives and serves as the Asia Pacific representative on the Board of Directors of HEDNA and is also a member of the Leading Hotels of the World Revenue Management and Distribution Advisory Board. Puneet holds a Bachelor's Degree In Hospitality Management from Huddersfield University, UK, a Diploma in Hospitality Management from American Hotel and Motel Association, USA. Puneet is also passionate about education and is an external faculty of Revenue Management to business schools and universities. Over the years Puneet has won several awards and accolades for his contributions in Revenue Management and Distribution; most recent being the "Rising Star" award by Leading Hotels of The World and the TABE Award for Business Excellence. 
Dhruv ShringiFounder & Executive Director Dhruv's most recent role prior to co-founding Yatra was as Director Group Operations and Technology of the Ebookers Group where he was responsible for sales of over $850 million and was accountable for developing the IT strategy over 13 locations. He was also instrumental in leading the operational integration of a key acqusition by Ebookers. Prior to his stint at Ebookers, Dhruv worked with Ford Motor Company in their Business Strategy team based in London and also has significant work experience in India having spent over 6 years with Arthur Andersen based in their office across India. Dhruv holds an MBA from INSEAD and is also a qualified Chartered Accountant. 
Sharat DhallManaging Director - India Sharat Dhall is the Managing Director of TripAdvisor India. He holds a Master of Management Studies degree from B.I.T.S. Pilani, and an MBA from X.L.R.I. Jamshedpur. Sharat has over 15 years of work experience in a career spanning the Internet and FMCG businesses. Prior to joining TripAdvisor, Sharat was Director of the eCommerce business at Indiatimes, one of India's leading portals. The eCommerce business consisted of Online Shopping, Travel, Auto and Art. In addition, Sharat spent a decade with Hindustan Unilever in sales and marketing, and set up Project Shakti, a globally acclaimed rural initiative with Self Help Groups. Project Shakti was featured in a Harvard Business School case study as a unique example of a public-private partnership that created social as well as business good. The initiative was also a finalist at the Stockholm Challenge in 2006 and featured prominently in management guru C.K.Prahalad's 'Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid'. 
Prabhat PaniCEO & Director Prabhat Pani is CEO of Roots Corporation Limited, a subsidiary of The Indian Hotels Company Limited, India (well known in India and many parts of the world for the Taj brand of premium and luxury Hotels) since 2006. From the current number of 19, the company intends to have 30 operational 'Smart Basics' Ginger Hotels across India by end-2010. As CEO and Director, Prabhat Pani is responsible for formulation of strategies towards facilitating rapid growth, fostering a culture of continuous innovation and managing efficient day-to-day operations of Ginger Hotels. He holds a degree in Engineering from BITS, Pilani, India, and Post-Graduate Diploma in Management from IIM, Ahmedabad, India. He has extensive experience across India in handling portfolios of Sales, Marketing and Operations in large companies engaged in the FMCG and Telecom space. Starting his career in 1982 with the TATA Administrative Services, he has held positions in Brand Management, Sales Management and Exports functions of FMCG companies. Thereafter, he has gained experience of managing high growth in the Telecom business in India, while working in some prominent Telecom companies based in India. 
Nikhil RungtaHead of Marketing Nikhil holds a management degree from NMIMS - Mumbai and over 12 years' experience currently heads marketing at Yatra.com. He has been instrumental in building Yatra.com as one of the most preferred travel services brand in India, in a short span of less than 3 years. He has an extensive Sales and Marketing experience across various categories like FMCG, Consumer Durables, Finance, IT and Travel Services. He started his career with Shaw Wallace & Co. and has also worked with advertising agencies like Contract and McCann Erickson, where he worked on a diverse set of brands like Sony, Revlon, MasterCard, Microsoft XBOX, HP Compaq, LG, Dabur and NIIT. Nikhil is one of the few marketing leaders in the country who has a deep understanding of both traditional offline and the new age digital marketing. He feels digital marketing is the future of marketing communication and appreciation of the same is must for all marketing and advertising professionals. 
Vikas GulatiFVP Marketing and Business Development Vikas joined Sprice.com, leading travel search engine in Europe and Asia, in January 2008. In this role, he manages business development with Online Travel Suppliers across the region and is also responsible for formulating & driving strategic marketing plans to promote Sprice.com brand to consumers in Asia. He has been instrumental in Sprice.com re-launch in South East Asia with new product focus and has led the expansion of Sprice in India, one of the fastest growing travel markets in Asia He has over 10 years of experience in media and marketing communications, which he combines with his passion for online marketing to drive strategic brand initiatives while focusing on strong Return on Investment (ROI). 
Ankur BhatiaExecutive Director As Executive Director of the Bird Group of Companies, Ankur Bhatia provides the strategic vision and direction to the consortia of the Bird Group of Companies. At 35, he manages the diversification charter at the Bird Group, which today is a business conglomerate with a turnover in excess of USD 60 million. His focus is on devising blue ocean strategies that strengthen the overall brand proposition and accelerate a leap in core business value by exploring new growth avenues for building uncontested market leadership. Among other things, Ankur is credited with bringing in the Amadeus brand for the group which is today the market leader in providing travel technology for travel agents & airlines in the Indian sub-continent. 
Abinash ManghaniHead Sales & Marketing Abinash Manghani is the Head-Sales & Marketing for Fortune Park Hotels Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of ITC Ltd. An MBA from the Asian Institute of Management, Manila, with a Bachelors degree in Economics and Diploma in Hotel Management from IHM Mumbai, he joined ITC Ltd. in the year 1987. He was assigned the role of Marketing Manager, ITC Maurya Sheraton Hotels & Towers, New Delhi. In September 2000, Mr Manghani joined Colliers International as General Manager and during his four years tenure with the company, was instrumental in growing the business, streamlining operations and bringing the region into profits. In September 2004, he rejoined ITC Ltd. as Head-Sales & Marketing for Fortune Hotels and has since been involved with the growth & development of the brand. In his current role he has been able to develop Fortune Hotels as the fastest growing brand of ITC Welcomgroup by adopting strong brand management practices and developing a strong distribution system with a focus on electronic channels as a key differentiator in the fast developing system of the Indian Hotel Industry. 
Noel SwainVice President of Marketing Noel is the Vice President, Marketing of Cleartrip, the online travel company that is focused on making travel simple. In his role Noel creates the Marketing strategy, executes its implementation and is responsible for customer acquisition. Noel creates the customer proposition and manages the media plan, publishers, advertising and PR agencies, wholesale travel partners, online distribution partners and marketing alliances. Noel has done his Bachelors in Economics and is a Management graduate. He has been in the travel business for 10 years and prior to Cleartrip, Noel worked with Kuoni Travel India as Sr. General Manager - Marketing Services. |
