Rodrigo Cobo, General Manager, Travelocity Mexico

Rodrigo holds a Master's in Business Administration and a B.S. in Economics from the University of Miami. His Master's Degree concentration fields were Finance and Marketing.

His area of expertise is business development where he has successfully designed, developed and implemented a series of strategic alliances to increase brand recognition, value added differentiators and consequently created cost-free advertisement campaigns.

Rodrigo is currently the General Manager and Spokesperson for Travelocity Mexico; were he is in charge of Marketing and PR, Sales and Advertisement, Strategic Alliances, as well as strengthen the relationship with Strategic Partners. His main responsibility is intensifying the brand awareness to increase the traffic and transactions on the site.

In Sabre, Rodrigo is in charge of Marketing, PR & Business Development, where his main objective is to implement value added products, that will generate incremental revenue to the company, and at the same time offer a market differentiator to travel agencies, resulting in an enhancement in their customer loyalty.

Pedro A. Valadés, Director de I & T del Grupo Transhotel

Pedro A. Valadés, Director de I & T (Information & Technology) del Grupo Transhotel, se incorporó a la compañía en 2006, tras dirigir durante cinco años la División de Hoteles de Amadeus IT Group. Previamente, Valadés había trabajado durante once años en Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

Valadés colabora con diversas instituciones oficiales y académicas, incluyendo entre otras, HEDNA, el Banco Europeo de Reconstrucción y Desarrollo, el Humanitarian Fund for International Cooperation, la Escuela de Negocios ESIC (España) o la Universidad de Cornell en Ithaca, Nueva York.

Alejandro Calligaris , C.E.O., Hoteldo.com

Mr. Calligaris is 40 years old has spent more than 20 years working in the travel industry, Mr. Calligaris was President of one of the most successful travel agencies in Argentina, Calcos Viajes Internacionales, in the wholesale and constumer sectors, as well. In February 2000, Calligaris sold the company to Barcelo Group.

Soon after selling his family company, Mr. Calligaris became Chief Officer of Operations of Hoteldo.com and was responsible for the establishment of several offices throughout Latin America. In 2002 he became CEO of the company.

Javier Barrera

Posadas' Chief Franchise Officer, Member of the Executive Committee and Member of the Board of Directors

Mr Barrera is an economist by training, with an undergraduate degree from the ITAM (Instituto Tecnológico de México). He also holds a Master's in Business Administration from Tulane University. In 1986, he was granted the National Award of Economics.

During his 19-year tenure at Grupo Posadas-Mexico's and Latin America's leading hotel operator-Javier has held important positions with a high degree of strategic responsibility within the company. Originally in Strategic Financial Planning, in 1995 he went on to become Chief Marketing Officer in charge of the areas of marketing, brands, promotion, advertising, PR and loyalty programs. It was in this position that he participated in the launching of Fiesta Rewards, the first Loyalty Program in Mexico, which now has almost two million members.

Pablo J. Castro, Director, Latin America, Expedia, Inc.

Pablo J. Castro leads Expedia, Inc.'s Latin America hotel revenue management team for Expedia.com and hotels.com. Based in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl., Castro is responsible for developing and executing strategic marketplace initiatives to drive long-term relationships with hotel supply partners in Latin America.

Previously, Castro managed the Expedia Cancun office and served as senior market manager for Expedia, Inc. In this role, he was responsible for Expedia.com and hotels.com hotel revenue management for the Yucatan Peninsula and Central America regions, and developed and maintained supplier relationships with hotel properties, convention and visitor bureaus and government authorities.

Rubén Wertheimer, Director de RRWW Comunicaciones

Director de RRWW Comunicaciones, consultora de Relaciones Públicas basada en Argentina, fundada en 2000.

Anteriormente se desempeñó en Lufthansa en Buenos Aires con responsabilidades en las áreas de Ventas y Marketing entre 1986 y 2000. Desde 1981 hasta 1986 fue miembro del staff de Ferrostaal AG en su casa matriz en Essen, Alemania, donde desempeñó actividades comerciales en Europa y Latinoamérica. Entre 1979 y 1981 trabajó en Siemens Argentina, donde ingresó como trainee y luego colaboró en el área de Ventas.

Es Licenciado en Administración de Empresas con un Master en Marketing Estratégico, es Técnico en Administración de Empresas por el sistema dual de la Cámara de Industria y Comercio Argentino-Alemana, bachiller del colegio alemán Pestalozzi en Buenos Aires y fue becado en "Integrierte Gesamtschule" en Aurich, Alemania en 1977. Nació el 13 de septiembre de 1958 en Buenos Aires, posee excelentes conocimientos de inglés y alemán, está casado y es padre de dos varones. Ha participado en varios seminarios de IATA y Lufthansa en Latinoamérica y Europa sobre Marketing, Customer Relations y comunicaciones en momentos de crisis.

Jurgen Wassmann, Vicepresidente Comercio Electrónico y Nuevos Canales, Visa Inc., Región América Latina y el Caribe

Desde mayo de 2002 Jurgen Wassmann es responsable de la estrategia y desarrollo tecnológico de las áreas de Comercio Electrónico y Nuevos Canales, esenciales para hacer realidad la visión de Visa sobre el "comercio universal" - la posibilidad de comprar en cualquier momento y lugar, con cualquier dispositivo.

Su participación ha sido primordial para posicionar a Visa con una sólida presencia en el mundo virtual. En efecto, desarrolló alianzas estratégicas con reconocidos portales de Internet, y promocionó el uso de programas de autentificación, tales como Verified by Visa, que han estimulado la aceptación y confianza entre los consumidores y comerciantes que realizan transacciones en línea.

En 1998, se unió a Visa América Latina y el Caribe como gerente de Tecnologías Emergentes supervisando las áreas de Comercio Electrónico y Tecnología de Chip para la Región Andina, incluyendo Colombia, Ecuador, Perú y Venezuela. En 1999, fue designado gerente de mercado para Visa Perú.

Antes de sumarse a Visa, trabajó en la industria de licencias para productos, en áreas de Mercadeo y Desarrollo de Negocios, en empresas tales como Disney, Warner Brothers y Universal.

Rhett Hirko, Director of Revenue Management Analytics, Hyatt International Corporation

Rhett graduated from Michigan State University in 1990 with a B.A. in Business and a focus on Hotel and Restaurant Management. He has worked for Hyatt for over 15 years, starting at the Hyatt at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco where he worked in most rooms-division roles. After five years, Rhett moved to the Hyatt corporate office to design and implement the single image inventory reservations process for all Hyatt hotels in North America. Hyatt then moved Rhett to oversee Revenue Management for all hotels in California, later moving to Chicago in the same role for hotels in the Central U.S. and Canada. In the last three years, Rhett’s latest role has been in Hyatt’s international division. He has designed the CRS-RM interface and the RM training programme and directs the RM process for all international hotels. Rhett further specializes in pricing and distribution strategies for the Park Hyatt brand in North America and all Hyatt hotels in Mexico and South America.

Pablo Schiselman, Director México, Hoteldo.com

Pablo Schiselman, abogado . Durante mas de 20 años ha dirigido en Argentina diferentes proyectos de turoperación con charter para América Latina y ha encabezado los principales lanzamientos de nuevos destinos, sobre todo al Caribe y México. También participo activamente como directivo en Asociaciones de agencias de viajes y en la dirección de diferentes Ferias Internacionales ( FIT o ECTU; Caribe hoy etc.)

Desde el 2002 se desempeña como Country Manager de México de HotelDo.com .

Ha sido el responsable de haber consolidado la Cia en México, colaborando durante estos años en el desarrollo del e-comerce como una herramienta fundamental para la reconversión de las agencias de viajes

Roland de Bonadona

Roland de Bonadona, 57 years of age, has graduated in Business administration at Paris IX Dauphine University.

He began his career with ACCOR GROUP in 1973 where he held different management positions in public restaurants, airport and industrial catering. He was in charge of SOFITEL development for Europe area since 1987 when at the end of 1989, he took the chance to move to Sao Paulo to take over the QUATRO RODAS Hotel chain later converted to SOFITEL.

In 1994, Roland de Bonadona was entrust with the mission to assume ACCOR HOSPITALITY in Brazil, taking benefit of the new economic perspective opened after “plano real” to re-launch the then 40 hotels company.

Leaning upon existing platform, Bonadona took in charge the renovation and fast expansion of the network.

ACCOR HOSPITALITY in Brazil has grown up today to 139 hotels and 22.876 rooms.

ACCOR is the main Brazilian hotel Group today, operating 5 brands, Sofitel Luxury hotels, Novotel and Mercure Midscale full service hotels, Ibis Full service economy hotels and Formule 1 limited service budget hotels.

Since 2003 Roland de Bonadona is the CEO of ACCOR HOSPITALITY for the South and Central America region, and since 2007 he has taken over Mexico as well. Supported by brazilian resources, logistics and expertise, ACCOR is expecting to accelerate its development pace, mainly with Novotel and Ibis networks.

President, theglobe.com, Chief Executive Officer, Tralliance (The .travel Registry)

Edward Cespedes was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Tralliance Corporation, theglobe.com’s subsidiary and registry for the .travel top level domain in July, 2006. Cespedes continues to serve as the President and Chief Financial Officer of theglobe.com.

Cespedes is a well-known investor and entrepreneur, who has led or been involved with various successful ventures during his career, including:

• Leading the largest single-day returning initial public offering in history at the time (theglobe.com – increase of 600%+ on first day of trading)
• The sale of Alamo Rent-A-Car to AutoNation for $625 million
• The sale of Nantucket Nectars to Ocean Spray (amount undisclosed)
• The sale of Sendtec to Relationserve Marketing for $49 million
• The sale of webMillion to L90, Inc for $25 million

Cespedes began his career in the Investment Banking Division of J.P Morgan and Company, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions. Other positions held by Cespedes include: Vice Chairman of Prime Ventures, LLC, President and Member of the Board of Directors of the Dr. Koop Lifecare Corporation, Managing Director of Dancing Bear Investments, Inc., and Director of Corporate Finance for Alamo Rent-A-Car.

ING. Andrés E. Engels Errass

Mr. Engels has a Bachelor degree in Computer Science and Electronics Engineering from ITESM, a Master’s degree in Computer Science and Robotics from the University of London and from Imperial College of Science and Technology, and studies in the MBA Program from ITESM. He is married and has three children.

He currently is CEO and part of the team that founded Aladia Airlines in 2004, a charter airline flying B757-200 aircraft. He is also a founding partner of Colegio Euroamericano de Monterrey, a K-9 private school with over 1,200 students, and one of the founders of Eurobeauty, LLC a distributor for Swiss cosmetic products in the USA. He is a board member, and until 4 years ago, CEO of an information technology group (LOGON) which he founded 21 years ago. He was founder and member of the board of PEMSA, Vertex del Norte, LAN, and Executrain del Norte, companies that he has sold over time.

Additional activities include: Honorary Consul of Switzerland in Monterrey, Mexico since 2001; Board member American Chamber of Commerce, Chapter Monterrey since 1999; Vice-president of the Swiss-Mexican Association; Vice-President and President of the Association of Computer Dealers in Monterrey (ADEC) in 1990.

Mc Neely Kroupensky, CEO, Kroupensky & Associates

El Lic. Kroupensky es un respetado consultor ejecutivo y conferencista, considerado por muchos la autoridad sobre temas de visión e innovación en negocios en México.

Ha dictado más de 300 conferencias y talleres, que han sido aclamados en foros nacionales e internacionales. Actualmente realiza un programa de radio semanal con cobertura nacional en Radio Red con Sergio Sarmiento.

Durante 10 años fue profesor invitado de marketing estratégico del IPADE y más recientemente de UCLA y de la Universidad de Cornell.

Cuenta con más de 25 años de experiencia participando en el lanzamiento y construcción de industrias, compañías y marcas. Ha realizó más de 500 campañas de mercadotecnia estratégica y ha ocupado puestos de alta dirección en empresas transnacionales como el Grupo Accor y Ogilvy, al igual que ha puesto en marcha exitosas empresas propias.

Entre las instituciones que ha apoyado destacan: American Express, Bimbo, Cemex, Hoteles Sheraton, Oracle, La Secretaría de Turismo y El Gobierno de Guanajuato, entre otros.

Martin Rastellino - Co Founder & Chief Operating Officer

Martin Rastellino es cofundador y Chief Operating Officer de Despegar.com. Estuvo a cargo la expansión regional de la empresa, siendo actualmente el responsable de las operaciones de la empresa a nivel regional. Es también head para Mexico y Estados Unidos. Antes de trabajar en Despegar.com se desempeño en Arthur Andersen y en Teleglobe (Bell Canada). Martin Rastellino es egresado de Ciencias Economicas de la Universidad de Buenos Aires y tiene un MBA de Duke University.