We are proud to have a wealth of talented and knowledgeable guest speakers joining us for KDS Now! 2012.
Mark Avery, Head of Business Services, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Working as Head of Business Services at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Mark Avery holds responsibility for a number of central business functions all of which have a strong customer service and procurement focus. Mark holds responsibility for UK travel management, meetings and event services alongside corporate charge card, Business Insurance and Ground Transportation.
Pascal Boniface, Founding Director of IRIS (Institut de Relations Internationales et Stratégiques)
Dr. Pascal Boniface is the founding Director of IRIS (Institut de Relations Internationales et Stratégiques – Institute for International and Strategic Relations). He is a professor of International Relations at the Institut d’Etudes Européennes (Institute for European Studies) of the University Paris 8. He has been the Director of the quarterly journal La Revue Internationale et Stratégique (The International and Strategic Review) since 1991, and the Editor of the yearbook L’Année Stratégique (The Strategic Yearbook) since 1985.
Suzanne Cockburn, MD/CEO, Gray Dawes Travel
Suzannne Cockburn is CEO of leading independent corporate travel management company, Gray Dawes Travel. Suzanne joined Gray Dawes in May 2011, prior to which she was Director of Account Management and Implementation at Egencia (Expedia Corporate Travel) where she took responsibility for account management, new business development and supplier relations.
Olivier Dardenne, Business Applications International Support at Group Level, Safran
Olivier has a corporate Information System Background gained within Sagem, Snecma and recently Safran. After completing an engineer degree at Arts & Métiers and Supelec he started his career in computer product development and as product manager. Since 1999 he had the opportunity to participates and lead several ERP implementations and other Software as a Service implementations. Among other projects Olivier is currently in charge to deploy KDS at Safran.
Ron DiLeo, Executive Director, ACTE
Ron DiLeo has more than 30 years’ experience as a corporate travel management executive, including 25 years with the former Philadelphia-based travel management company Rosenbluth International, five years with American Express Business Travel as head of its London-based European sales organisation and three years as head of independent consulting company In The Black.
David Harrison, VP Head of Large and Mid-Market Europe, Visa
In his current role as Vice-President, Visa Commercial, David is head of the Large & Mid Market team responsible for European product and proposition development, marketing, B2B acceptance and the development of Visa Commercial payment technologies. David has over 20 years’ experience in financial services and, after graduating, began his career with Coopers & Lybrand.
Pascal Jungfer, CEO Areka Consulting
Pascal is the President of Areka Consulting which specialises in business travel optimisation for large corporations.
With more than 20 years’ experience in business travel and consulting, Pascal has also worked in a consulting capacity for Cap Gemini and Accenture and more recently worked for 10 years as global head of the consulting division of a large TMC.
Franck Gervais, CEO, Thalys International
Having graduated as an engineer, Frank Gervais went on to obtain an MBA from the CDI, London Business School and the Stanford Business School. Currently working as Director at Eiffage Travaux Maritimes et Fluviaux, Frank has previously worked at the French Ministry of Infrastructure and SNCF as director of the cabinet.
Scott Gillespie, travel industry commentator on innovation and best practices
Scott Gillespie is one of the travel industry's leading commentators on innovation and best practices. He authors the popular blog "Gillespie's Guide to Travel + Procurement", and speaks at travel conferences worldwide. Before founding Travel Analytics, Scott was a principal with A.T. Kearney. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago.
John McCallion, Managing Director, GroundScope
John has a corporate commercial, marketing and business development background gained with Pepsi Co and Marks & Spencer. Before founding GroundScope in 2007, John was a founding Director of Active Hotels Europe, a leading hotel online reservation supplier which was bought by Priceline.com. Previously he was a Director in a 3i backed MBO of Great Western Trains which was sold to First Group Plc.
David Meyer, Director of Research and Media Strategy for Northstar Travel Media’s BTN Group
Prior to working for Northstar Media, David Meyer previously served for 17 years as editor-in-chief of Business Travel News. David has also worked as managing editor of both Philip Morris Magazine and CommunicationsWeek, as well as holding editor positions with Aviation Week & Space Technology and for Popular Mechanics.
Michiel Verhaagen, Executive Vice President Sales Europe, AirPlus
Michiel Verhaagen was born 1967 in Castricum, The Netherlands. After completing a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration, he started his career as Business Development Manager at Royal Econocto NV. He then worked and lived abroad in several European Countries, after which he continued his career as Strategy Consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers. In 1999, the father of two young children started working for KLM. Since 2007 Michiel Verhaagen has worked at AirPlus as Executive Vice President Sales Europe, based in Frankfurt and Amsterdam.
Steffen Weinstok, Managing Director for France and Benelux, Lufthansa
Steffen Weinstok has 20 years’ experience in the aeronautical industry. Having studied Travel Management and Sales, he went on to achieve success as Lufthansa’s Sales Manager for Germany. This led to his appointment by Lufthansa as Managing Director for France and Benelux in December 2011.
Jon West, Managing Director, HRS
After a successful career advising corporations on Internet strategy, Jon West was approached by HRS in 2009 to run their London office. One might think rapidly growing HRS UK whilst introducing self-service solutions which have revolutionised the Corporate Travel Market would be enough, but Jon is now leading the HRS campaign to better equip the industry for the future by highlighting the importance of cost of distribution.
