About KDS management

KDS Team

The KDS team comprises talented employees who share a great energy and enthusiasm about streamlining processes in the business travel industry.
KDS’s professionals are drawn from organizations including international and start-up software companies, consulting groups, airlines and travel management companies.

KDS Management Team

Dean Forbes: CEO

As CEO Dean is responsible for KDS' Strategy and Operations. Having originally joined KDS as EVP for Worldwide Sales and Marketing, Dean transformed the KDS offering by leading the development of new products, the KDS partner programme and a number of marketing initiatives which lead to record breaking performance in 2010.

Before joining KDS, Dean Forbes worked for the IT giant Oracle, where he was Group Vice President for project and portfolio management solutions on a worldwide basis, whilst also participating on Oracles UK Executive committee. In this role Dean was one of the youngest Vice Presidents in the Oracle's recent history. Prior to the company being acquired by Oracle in 2008, Dean had previously led international sales and commercial activity at Primavera where he grew the company's sales and international presence across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. He has also held management positions at Motorola and Isis Telecommunications.

A keen car collector and an avid sports fan, Forbes actively participates in work for a number of charities and not-for-profit organisations. He is also an active blogger (www.seeitdeansway.com and on twitter @DeanForbesKDS) and technology enthusiast.

Roxana Bressy: Executive VP of Business Operations

Roxana Bressy, Executive VP of Business Operations, is in charge of developing business/functional plans and operating KPI’s at KDS.

Several years of successful work experience, in a multicultural environment, as CFO & HR director and member of the Management committee enabled Roxana Bressy to acquire a reel expertise of Finance, Human Resources and management.

Prior to joining KDS she served as CFO and HR Director of Nobel Biocare, one of the world’s leading providers of medical devices, before which she was at Mercury Interactive, a US NASDAQ software company where she worked alongside the management team to grow the business in both revenue and headcount. In addition to these roles, Roxana has also held senior management positions at Total Immersion (a software start up) and Hitachi.

Roxana graduated from a business school (EDC Paris) with a specialization in Financial Management, followed by an Executive MBA at ESCP Europe.

Philippe Marin: Vice President Engineering

Philippe Marin, Vice President of Engineering at KDS, is in charge of the company’s R&D team and hosting department of the provider of Travel & Expense (T&E) management systems.
Before joining KDS, Philippe held the position of R&D Director at Alcatel-Lucent, where he managed teams of more than 700 international collaborators. in charge of the  R&D team and hosting At Alcatel-Lucent he also was Director of the IP Communication BU, managing international R& D teams, after which he became Director of Application Enablement Solution.

Prior to this, Philippe was Vice President of Nextenso S.A., a startup company which he created as an Alcatel internal spinoff, focused on creating new internet products and solutions.
He started his career at Paris-based IT company Bull as a consultant before becoming Technical Director.

Philippe is married with three children and lives in the Paris region.
Philippe Marin is a graduate of the French engineering school ENSAM (Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Arts et Métiers).

Oliver Quayle: VP Product Marketing

With a background in BI, Project, Portfolio and Risk Management (PPM) Oliver joined KDS in 2010 to bring new products to market and build the strategic partner network.

Prior to KDS Oliver worked at Oracle (PPM), Primavera (PPM), Evolve (PSA)  and on a number of SAP procure-to-pay implementations. Oliver has a BSc (hons) in Psychology from Royal Holloway, University of London.

Adam Spearing: VP of Sales for Northern Europe

Adam Spearing, KDS’ VP of Sales for Northern Europe, joins us with over 18 years’ experience in the software industry. At KDS, he is responsible for the sales, pre-sales, account management and partner sales activity across Northern Europe, primarily the United Kingdom and Nordic region.

Prior to joining KDS, Adam was VP EMEA for xMatters (formerly AlarmPoint Systems,) before which he held the position of VP Northern Europe at Opsware, a leader in the provision of network and server management applications in both positions he showed a strong ability to increase revenue and maximise staff efficiency. Adam has also held sales and management positions at other technology companies including Sun Microsystems, HP and IBM.

Adam graduated from Bradford University in 1992 with a degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

Annika Gummesson: Chief Customer Officer

Annika Gummesson has joined the KDS Management team in the newly created position of Chief Customer Officer.

As CCO, Annika is in charge of managing our client relationships and ensuring that our customers are all successful and satisfied.

Before joining KDS, Annika was Global Commercial Director for leading multi-media and television company Eurosport where she led the international teams in growing the business with strategic clients.

Prior to this, Annika spent many years at Carlson Wagonlit Travel as Vice President of Global Strategic Sales, first from Paris and then later from New York. In this role at CWT she was involved in winning and retaining a number of high profile direct customers as well as a number of large KDS deployments. Annika has also held marketing and finance positions in a number of international companies.

Annika has an MBA in International Business from the Gothenburg School of Economics. She is Swedish of origin and lives outside Paris with her partner and their two children.