Speakers 2019

Responsible for leading Ryanair’s digital experience transformation and overseeing the roll out of platform & product strategy across all digital channels. Currently leading a multi-disciplinary team spread across Product Development, UX, UI, CRO & Research/Usability. A creative problem solver and strategic thinker with over 10 years of experience in the field with the majority of time spent in digital marketing, brand advertising and conversion performance. Ryanair is Europe’s favourite airline, operating more than 1,600 daily flights from 73 bases, connecting 194 destinations in 31 countries and operating a fleet of more than 300 new Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

Since becoming MD, Global Contact & Digital Channels in 2016 Simon has been relentless around creating a culture of care and ownership within the Contact teams recognising that in the moment, empathy and knowledge are key to driving the best customer experience.

Rob is Chief Digital Officer at National Express Group, a leading transport provider operating bus, coach and rail services across the UK, Continental Europe, North Africa, North America and the Middle East; over 921 million journeys are made on our services each year. He is responsible for the development and implementation of digital and data strategies across the Group, driving both customer focus and operational excellence. Rob is an experienced customer centric marketer, covering local and international aspects of business strategy and integrated digital marketing strategy, working extensively across digital marketing, technology and business transformation.

Riko oversees distribution, e-Commerce, revenue management, and loyalty at Kempinski's headquarters, and is directly responsible for the strategic direction of digital marketing, pricing and guest engagement initiatives.  Riko’s main goal through his role is to constantly embrace the rise of technology deployment in the hospitality industry –successfully translating technical advances into market growth.

Yuki Huang (Huang Chao-Ying) leads KKday’s global sales and marketing teams in executing creative marketing programs, developing strategic brand management, and driving local markets’ sales. Prior to joining KKday, she was at the industry-leading retail company, VF Corporation, serving as Timberland Taiwan’s youngest-ever General Manager. Also notable is her nine-month tenure as the Brand Head for Kipling Taiwan, where she spearheaded the sales for Taiwan market to be champion amongst all Asian countries. 

With the outstanding performance, Yuki was promoted to be the General Manager of Timberland Taiwan, where she boldly led the team to kick-start an O2O (Online-to-Offline) retail revolution. By interconnecting online advertisement and offline in-store experience, and precisely targeting consumer groups with the use of digital monitoring tools, Yuki successfully drove an impressive revenue growth for Timberland Taiwan. 

Before joining VF Corporation, Yuki worked at Yahoo Taiwan for nine years, attaining the position of Senior Sales Manager. 

Alessandra is Chief Commercial Officer - Media & Partnerships at lastminute.com group. Heading up the group’s media business, The Travel People, she oversees advertising and partnerships revenues for the group. With over a decade in digital marketing, Alessandra has previously held roles at eBay, Vodafone and Yahoo, with a focus on digital monetisation, mobile and data-driven product development. Passionate about all things tech, Alessandra is also a member of the Board of Trustees for Youth for Technology.

Victor is Vice President of Corporate Affairs at Ctrip. Victor accumulated deep experiences in the Internet and TMT space for the last 17 years. He has been involved in a couple of startups in the last couple of years. Most notably he was Chief Financial Officer of Lianjia, China’s largest real estate agency, helping them raise a series B capital of about RMB 6 billion. He was also Chief Financial Officer at Anjuke, China’s leading online real estate platform, helping drive the US$267 million M&A deal with Nasdaq listed 58.com. Previously Victor was also Director at Baidu, China’s leading search engine. And Vice President and Lead China Internet Analyst at Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong where you covered Ctrip and online travel industry 10 years ago. Victor obtained his International Master of Business Administration degree, a joint program from Tsinghua School of Economics and MIT Sloan. He obtained his Bachelors of Science degree from University of California at Los Angeles.

An almost 20-year thrill ride in advertising, digital marketing and technology implementation has fueled Amanda’s passion to pair unique consumer insights and database analytics with unique brand offerings to drive business.  She has delivered winning B2B and B2C strategies for Fortune 500 public, private and non-profit environments alike.  Amanda is currently enriching American summer fun by driving personalized, behavior-based marketing programs for Herschend Family Entertainment’s 26 theme park and attractions across the U.S.  When she is not analyzing and strategizing, she is making memories with her own family in Atlanta. 

Kevin is responsible for digital marketing analytics and attribution, enabling more relevance and personalisation through our data-management platform towards all our online channels and cross-channel optimisation of the marketing spend. As the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands, the vision of KLM’s marketing programme is to humanise advertising through personalisation and relevance at scale. Supported by a data-driven approach, KLM wanted to address the proliferation of fragmented channels and develop smarter, more effective media buying models. By combining data to connect every touchpoint of the customer journey, Kevins aim aim was to serve more relevant advertising and improve media spend.

Kevin's goals are to develop smarter, more effective media buying models through data, Drive relevant advertising, and  scale predictive modelling across all touchpoints in the customer journey.

Yas is a digital executive with 20 years of digital product and services design experience. Yas is trilingual (Japanese, English and French) and has worked across markets in Europe, Asia and North America with wide range of projects and clients. Currently Mr. Inukai is a Director of Digital Business for Disney Parks, Experiences and consumer Products on international assignment at Tokyo Disney Resort. He leads the digital transformation of theme parks, attractions, hotels, food & beverage, photo imaging, merchandise and travel ecommerce.

Erik-Jan Ginjaar, Managing Director of Postillion Hotels Nederland, obtained his diploma at Hotel School Maastricht at the age of 22. After having practiced almost every possible job within the hospitality industry, Erik-Jan started as General Manager at Postillion Hotel Utrecht Bunnik in 2012. He became Director Region West of the chain in 2014 and as of February 2017 he is to be called Managing Director of Postillion Hotels Nederland. Erik-Jan’s leadership style is characterized by being hands on in combination with courage and a touch of humor!

Christoph von Bülow, COO HolidayPirates Group – over 15 years of experience in the areas of operations and business development, primarily in the travel environment. Prior to joining the Holiday Pirates, Christoph worked for the European branch of Travelzoo for nearly eight years in various management positions at home and abroad alongside stations at Tomorrow FOCUS, lastminute.com and Humboldt Reisen Berlin. Most recently he was responsible for the German business of the global payment provider Adyen from Berlin.

Mark Struik, Commercial Director of Postillion Hotels, graduated at the International Hospitality University Leeuwarden. Mark worked in several sales positions in and out side the hospitality industry. He made a transfer from Starwood Hotels & Resorts to Postillion hotels in 2014 and started as Director of Sales. Early 2017 he was promoted to Commercial Director and is supervising Sales, Marketing, Revenue, Reservations and Productions. Mark is specialized in commercial strategies and makes translations between ideas and implementations.

Cathy specializes in customer experience management with a diverse background in hospitality, retail, and the online banking and travel sectors. She joined Hostelworld in 2012, having previously worked in senior roles with brands such as Fairmont, Marriott, HSBC, and Walmart. Her focus is to embed new customer insights across the business and develop new ways of engaging Hostelworld customers in their online and offline journeys with the brand. She holds an MBA from Seattle City University, an Honours Bachelor of Journalism from Carleton University, and is a native of Vancouver, Canada.