Speakers
Learn from the airline industry's most influential leaders on stage at Elevate + TravelConnect. They shared their insights on the latest trends and innovation and what will continue to redefine the airline industry.
Shauna Abbassi
Shauna Abbassi
Shauna has held positions in Training, Customer Service, and Partner Services during her long tenure at ATPCO. Following a 15-year assignment leading the team of classroom instructors, instructional designers, and e-learning developers to transform learning assets on ATPCO products for our customers around the globe, she currently leads Partner Services projects to streamline processes behind the scenes, support large scale implementations and data projects, and lead the evolution of our customer support by leveraging the latest tools and technologies.
Mrigya Agarwal
Mrigya is a professional in the travel technology space, currently serving as the Head of NDC Integrations at Spotnana. With a passion for innovation and a track record of success, she has played a pivotal role in advancing Spotnana's capabilities in the ever-evolving travel industry.
In her role, she leads the NDC team, where her focus is on revolutionizing the way Spotnana connects with airline partners. She successfully implemented Spotnana's first NDC connection, a milestone that has enhanced Spotnana platform's efficiency and connectivity, opening doors for multiple airlines. Her experience extends beyond mere integrations – she is passionate about translating complex technology into seamless and valuable solutions for their clients and partners.
Hugh Aitken
Hugh Aitken
Hugh has been at Skyscanner for ten years and is responsible for forging strategic relationships with partners as well as engagement with the wider aviation industry. During his time at Skyscanner, Hugh has led several key business areas and global initiatives including the B2B business and forging relationships with the likes of Microsoft, Yahoo! and Secret Escapes. He was also deeply involved in shaping the commercial and partnership strategy emerging from the pandemic.
Prior to joining Skyscanner, Hugh spent four years at the European low-cost airline, easyJet, where he looked after the commercial performance and market strategy for the airline across London, Scotland the Northeast of England, as well as the Middle East and Iceland. Hugh spent 13 years at UK airport operator, BAA, where he held several senior commercial roles. Hugh has a passion for travel, a unique insight into the entire travel ecosystem, and a deep understanding for how technology can help further enable the industry to better serve the traveler.
Christopher Allison
Christopher Allison is the Offer & Order Management Product Director at PROS. Before joining PROS in 2022, he was the Director, NDC of Hahn Air Lines GmbH, where he delivered Offer & Order Management platforms for Hahn Air, with a scope including 300+ interline partnerships and 190+ points of sale. In 2015, he worked in one of the industry’s first NDC deployments with British Airways. Christopher has held leadership positions within IATA distribution standards since 2016 including as Chair of the IATA Orders group and Vice-Chair of the Future of Interline Group and was an elected board member on IATA’s Shop Order Board & Architecture and Technology Strategy Board.
Joel Antolini
Joel has more than 30 years of aviation, software development and data experience, including at US Airways, Seabury Consulting, Diio and Cirium. Joel ensures that ARC strategically maximizes the company’s technology, data, and insights to support the industry.
Tony Ashe
Tony Ashe
Over the last 20 years, Tony has been involved on the leading edge of payment industry initiatives for the Airline & Travel industry, from concept to market maturity.
Tony now serves as Senior Business Development Manager with WorldPay bringing his deep payment expertise in working with the Airlines, OTAs & TAs, all of which is complimented by the vast payment product offerings of Worldpay by FIS to enhance the travel payment sector he has so passionately served over the last several decades.
Tony has worked with every major airline brand, OTA, Tier One Bank brand and payment schemes to champion efficiencies and integrity in the payment infrastructure.
Davide Baretta
Davide is the head of pricing for ITA Airways leading the company’s commercial offer exploiting the most innovative and recent industry developments. He has an extensive experience across different parts of revenue management, including yield management and managing relationship with Joint business. During his career Davide has worked in international environments in Barcelona, London and Rome, he is passionate about pricing and has therefore led several projects related to the future of pricing and the developments of new pricing tools and processes.
Davide holds a Master degree in International Management from ESADE Business School in Barcelona and a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration from Bocconi University in Milan. In his personal life, he loves travelling, cooking and he is a dad of Oliver, an adorable chocolate Labrador.
Stan Barnes
Stan Barnes
Stan’s primary focus is to educate airlines and associated travel companies about 3Victors data and analytic solutions. Stan has been in the travel industry for 10+ years, supporting revenue management and pricing operations across airline, hospitality, and rental car companies. Before entering the travel industry, Stan was a publisher of multiple magazines and produced dozens of conferences in the software development industry.
Dave Bartels
Dave Bartels
Dave is responsible for worldwide pricing and inventory management strategy and execution, revenue management systems development, corporate revenue forecasting, and global distribution agreements. He joined the company in 1995, and has held various positions within sales, planning, alliances, and revenue management.
Dave received an undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and earned an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA. He is married with two children and resides in the northern suburbs of Chicago.
Wayne Best
As Chief Economist for Visa Inc., Wayne Best keeps close watch on emerging opportunities in the trillion-dollar payments industry, helping to identify economic trends shaping the future. His unique presentations explain the impact of these trends to company and client executives, as well as government leaders around the globe.
Frequently quoted in the trade and business media, Best brings economic theory and analysis to life with compelling stories and data from the largest payment provider in the industry. Because he stays close to the underlying dynamics of the business, his insights provide a clear perspective on the consumer's ability to spend, save and pay down debt. His passion for business and engineer's logic turn mathematical models and technical jargon into business intelligence that enables future oriented business decisions.
Before joining Visa in 1990, Best worked as a consultant performing cost benefit analyses for the power industry. In addition to his MBA, Best holds a degree in nuclear engineering and has participated in the Stanford University and Kellogg School of Management executive programs.
Paige Blunt
Paige Blunt is a veteran of the travel industry. After over 20 years at American Airlines, Paige joined the ARC team. Throughout her 8+ year career at ARC, she has worn many hats. Paige started as an industry relationship manager and has transitioned to a Sr. Manager for Direct Connect and ONE Order. Her focus is now on working with airlines to support their modern retailing strategies with an emphasis on minimal friction for agency partners while transitioning to new delivery methods. Paige also leads the NDC Advancement Working Group, which focuses on normalizing some non-competitive business processes within the NDC environment to increase NDC adoption.
In her free time, Paige enjoys a good game of pickleball and traveling to cool new places.
Jay Boehmer
Jay Boehmer is the Editor in Chief of The Beat, where he leads editorial coverage in the areas of corporate travel distribution, travel management and technology. Since joining Business Travel News in 2002, he has covered a succession of beats, from expense reporting and corporate payment to hotels, travel management, rental cars and airlines. Before taking leadership of The Beat, he was executive editor of The BTN Group.
Tom Botts
Tom Botts
Tom Botts is a senior executive, investor and advisor in the travel industry. He brings extensive expertise in e-commerce, revenue management and technology across the airline, hotel and online intermediary industries. He is currently the Chief Commercial Officer at Uplift, the leading Buy Now, Pay Later solution for the travel industry. Uplift was acquired by Upgrade, a multi-billion dollar fintech focused on consumer lending in July 2023. Serving the world's top enterprise level travel brands, Uplift's complete range of flexible payment options drive higher conversion and loyalty for partners, while giving customers a simple, surprise-free way to pay over time with no late fees or prepayment penalties.
Tom joined UpLift from Miraval Group, a rapidly expanding wellness brand, where he served as SVP and CMO. Private equity firm KSL Capital Partners recruited Tom to Miraval where he was a key member of the leadership team which successfully sold the brand and resorts to Hyatt Hotels in early 2017. Prior to joining Miraval, Tom served as Denihan Hospitality’s Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Officer.
Earlier, Tom was a co-founder and managing partner of New York City-based Hudson Crossing, LLC, a leading business and technology advisory firm serving the travel, financial services and related industries.
Tom served as Vice President – Global Travel Industry Sales and Strategy for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. where he led a sales and marketing team responsible for $2 billion in revenue generation across multiple distribution channels. Tom later led product and supplier relations for Hotwire, which was successfully sold to Expedia Group.
Tom began his career with Delta Air Lines and held roles of increasing responsibility in customer service, technology, revenue management and e-commerce.
Tom sits on the board of directors or advisory boards of several companies, including Duetto Research, Hudson Crossing, Rocketmiles (acquired by Booking Holdings) and Vacatia.com. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Logistics and Marketing from the University of Missouri.
Sarah Boyd
Sarah Boyd
Sarah spearheads the development of new products and services with a focus on the distribution and financial services space. As part of her role, she leads the development and implementation of ARC’s ONE Order strategy. Sarah draws upon her extensive background at United Airlines, where she honed her skills across various commercial functions including loyalty, distribution, and customer experience. She combines her strategic acumen with a passion for innovation to drive transformative change in the airline industry. Sarah is a Double Hoo with both a BA in Foreign Affairs and an MBA from the University of Virgina.
Pascal Burg
Pascal is a Director at Edgar, Dunn & Company based in the Paris office and co-leads EDC’s Travel Payments Practice globally. He has been with Edgar, Dunn & Company (EDC) since 1999 and has worked in the London, Sydney and San Francisco offices. Pascal has managed a large number of strategic planning, marketing strategy and implementation projects for clients including issuers, acquirers, payment networks and large merchants such as airlines, hotels, rail operators, etc. He received his MBA from Lancaster University in the United Kingdom and his Business Degree from EM Lyon in France.
Amy Burr
Amy Burr is the President of JetBlue Ventures (JBV), the venture capital arm of JetBlue Airways that invests in and partners with early-stage startups innovating in the travel, hospitality, and transportation industries. As President, Amy shapes the strategic venture investment direction of JetBlue and facilitates integration of successful startup programs into the airline’s overall corporate innovation initiatives. Amy has been a leader in creating, sourcing, and implementing innovative technology, products, and programs in the travel space for more than two decades.
Paul Butcher
Paul is an industry veteran with 30 years of experience, 25 of which have been at Expedia. He has played pivot roles in shaping Expedia’s air retailing experiences and building the back-end systems that connect to Expedia’s airline (NDC), GDS and industry partners for all shopping, booking, servicing and settlement systems.
Paul’s journey with NDC began in January of 2017 when he joined his first advisory forum in Singapore. Since that time, he has led Expedia’s path for NDC where he has attended almost every advisory board meeting, actively participated in many implementation forums, offer and order working groups, hackathons and was part IATA’s think tank for three years and Vice Chair of the SOSBAF this past year.
Jay Campbell
Jay Campbell is a journalist with The Company Dime, based in Brooklyn, N.Y., which he co-founded in 2014. Jay has written for and edited travel trade publications for 30 years. He started with the Air Travel Journal in Boston while earning a degree in journalism at Boston University. He held various positions of increasing responsibility in three different engagements with Business Travel News, serving as editorial director until 2013. Jay in 2004 created travel business newsletter The Beat. In 2006, he co-founded Travel Procurement magazine.
Sophie Carkeek
Sophie focuses on business strategy formulation and execution for ATPCO products and partnerships to accelerate innovation and value generation.
San Chen
San Chen (they/them) is a Senior Manager on the Brand team at United Airlines. In their role overseeing design strategy for branded environments, they define the look and feel of United spaces to reflect the customers and communities we serve. In 2022, they were featured in the Empower Future Leaders Role Model List for their work in creating inclusive, accessible, and sustainable spaces both in aircrafts and on the ground. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, San has been a Chicago resident since completing a BS and MS at Northwestern University in Engineering Design Innovation in 2018.
Ian Citulsky
Ian Citulsky is SVP Air Partnerships for Uplift where he is responsible for the company's global airline portfolio. Prior to Uplift, Ian held senior commercial roles at Points.com, where he oversaw ancillary revenue programs for numerous North American and Asia-Pacific airlines. Earlier, at Aimia (previous owners of the Aeroplan program) he developed and operated proprietary loyalty programs for Canada's largest banks. Ian earned his MBA from Royal Roads University in Victoria, Canada.
Richard Clarke
Richard has extensive experience in front line PSS negotiations for more than 40 airlines covering multiple business models including full service, hybrid and more recently LCC and ULCC. Richard has more than 30 years of experience in airline technology including direct and indirect distribution.
Richard speaks regularly at conferences and has written for travel publications such as Airline Business and IATA’s Airlines International. Richard has lived in the UK, France, Spain, Thailand, and China. He has a BA in Business Finance and Accounting from Coventry Business School in the UK.
Lane Clements
Lane Clements
Lane Clements leads the Delta Treasury team responsible for Delta’s global payment acceptance strategy and cost of acceptance. Lane joined Delta in 2017 and has held positions across the Financial Planning and Analysis, Controllership, and Treasury organizations. Lane earned his undergraduate degree in Finance from the University of Virginia and MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. Prior to Delta, Lane consulted for the largest US card brands and issuers at ComScore in Reston, Virginia.
Gregory Cross
Gregory Cross
Gregory Cross is the founder and creator of Hilton Hotels Corporation’s revenue management discipline. A hospitality veteran of thirty-eight years, he was also the first senior vice president of revenue management for Hyatt Hotels Corporation and Live Nation Entertainment. In 2015, Cross was the inaugural recipient of the Vanguard Award for Lifetime Achievement in Revenue Management from the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International for his significant contributions to the field of pricing and revenue optimization in the hospitality industry. He retired in 2018 and lives with his wife, Jill, in La Quinta, California.
Chuck Crowder
Chuck Crowder
Chuck Crowder was appointed as VP and Head of Global Customer Engagement, at ARC in August 2023. In his role, he leads a division tasked with engaging airlines, agencies, government and third parties in developing strategic plans where ARC is a trusted advisor to grow revenue via data, distribution, and financial services portfolio. He has over 35 years of sales, airport operations, distribution, and account management in a variety of senior management roles across travel management and mobility companies and the airline industry, where he spent 23 years with Continental and United.
Chuck received his bachelor’s degree in marketing and a minor in Economics from Northern Illinois University. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, and now resides in Washington, DC.
Andrea da Silva
Andrea da Silva
Andrea has over two decades of dynamic leadership across the hospitality and airline industries and she has excelled in revenue and pricing management roles. From pioneering revenue strategies as a Director of Revenue Management in hotels to optimizing pricing models as a Pricing Manager in airlines, her journey has been marked by innovation and growth as she has consistently demonstrated a knack for innovation and strategic thinking.
Andrea’s experience has involved successfully launching departments and integrating optimization and forecasting tools into existing frameworks. She has had the opportunity to manage mid-sized teams, fostering a collaborative environment focused on achieving shared goals and driving results- she is driven by a dedication to innovation, strategic initiatives and leveraging her expertise.
Jost Daft
Jost Daft is Head of Order Transformation at Lufthansa Group. In his previous position, Jost was responsible for the Revenue Management & Distribution Strategy and lead large size projects such as the implementation of Continuous Pricing for Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa, and SWISS. Being dedicated to move the airline industry to 100% Offer and Order, Jost is currently also holding the chair position of the IATA Offer & Order Group. Before joining the Lufthansa Group, he worked in business policy and logistics and holds a PhD in Business Administration.
Joey Dembek
Joey is the Head of Solution Delivery at Optimized Payments, responsible for creating consulting and analytics services which drive cost savings, efficiencies, and actionable insights to the firm’s global enterprise clients and pay-facs. His 17 years of payments expertise help organizations easily navigate the complexities of accepting card payments, mobile wallets, and alternative payments. Prior to joining Optimized Payments, he spent 11 years at Elavon directing Interchange Optimization and Chargeback Management solutions for many of the largest airlines, hotels, and retailers around the globe.
Melanie Dezelak
Melanie is a Principal at ATPCO with over 25 years of experience in airline pricing standards. She played a key role in the development of ATPCO’s data collection and distribution standards for airline fares and related data and has led multiple industry working groups, including recent efforts on dynamic offers.
Al Enes
Al is a seasoned payments technology leader with a decade of experience in global eCommerce solutions. He spent 9 years working for Worldpay in various commercial roles as well for US Merchant Systems and Humboldt Merchant Services. As VP of Gig Economy & Travel at Nuvei, he is responsible for growing the North American business across these key verticals. His goal is to help organizations optimize their payment strategy and leverage it as a strength to accelerate their business.
Al holds a post graduate degree in Management in International Payments Ecosystem from Middlesex University. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife Carrie and two dogs Ewok & Kylo. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling, cooking, watching sports, attending concerts and is an avid snowboarder.
Kiah Erlich
Kiah Erlich
Kiah Erlich is the Head of Partnerships and Consumer Sales for Blue Origin. Working closely with innovative industries, Kiah is focused on developing unique business models and partnerships with the best brands on Earth. As the first point of contact for future astronauts, she also leads Blue Origin’s Astronaut Sales team working with future Blue Origin astronauts. Kiah grew up on the Central Coast of California watching rocket launches out of Vandenberg Air Force Base. When she was 16-years old, she started taking flying lessons and soon after became a licensed pilot. She continued flying in college where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Aviation Management from Auburn University, as well as a Master of Business Administration in Aviation from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Kiah’s career lifted off at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport where she worked as a graduate intern in airport management. Keeping her focus on the aerospace industry provided Kiah the opportunity to lead multiple $300M+ avionics and software businesses for Honeywell Aerospace, and several key acquisitions. At Honeywell, she was selected as one of the top 100 global millennial business leaders by Forbes 30 under 30 author Dan Schawbel and was featured in his Washington Post bestseller Back to Human. More recently Kiah led the global sales team for Panasonic Avionics Corporation. In 2019, Kiah joined Blue Origin as the NASA Launch Services Director, where she sold rocket launches to the Moon and beyond to NASA. Kiah is now the Head of Partnerships and Consumer Sales where she develops the company’s consumer sales strategy and key partnerships and builds relationships with future astronauts to help them achieve their dream of going to space as part of Blue Origin’s mission of millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth.
Lorraine A. Evans
As the Global People and Culture Executive at ATPCO, Lorraine strategically aligns the People & Culture function with the overarching goals and vision of ATPCO, a leader in airline pricing and retailing solutions. She has a distinguished career of over 25 years in people leadership across diverse sectors and a solid track record of driving organizations toward success through innovative HR strategies.
Her experience is characterized by her ability to lead cultural transformations, provide leadership development insights, and formulate policies that contribute to positive organizational climates. Lorraine holds a Master of Science in Organizational Leadership and certifications in Change Management and NBI. Her dedication is evident in her passion for making a significant, positive impact on the organizations and individuals she collaborates with.
Donna Farmer
During her nearly 40 years as partner support enthusiast, Donna has been instrumental in partnering with airlines to expertly integrate and leverage key ATPCO pricing products, including Fare by Rules, Negotiated Fares and Automated Reissues and Refunds.
Cheryl Fischer
Cheryl is the lead trainer for Architect and has been with ATPCO for almost five years. She has experience in international airline pricing, special prorate agreements, and published and private fares, having spent almost 8 years in international pricing for a US airline. As part of the Learning Solutions team, Cheryl provides training related to Architect as well as fares, footnotes, and rules within FareManager, making sure that airline customers can work efficiently within ATPCO systems.
Chuck Fischer
Chuck Fischer
Chuck Fischer leads a team focused on the continuous growth and evolution of ARC’s settlement, payments, and airline retailing solutions portfolio. He also sits on the board of directors at Traverse Technologies.
Chuck has been at ARC for more than 30 years, starting his career as an area bank representative in Louisville, Kentucky. Prior to ARC, Chuck was a contract specialist with the U.S. Department of the Navy.
Chuck earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Virginia Tech.
Kristyne Forbes
Kristyne Forbes
Kristyne is responsible for global payment processing, form of payment strategy, partner relationships and contracts, interchange, fraud, chargebacks, and gift cards. She has 18 years of airline experience across US Airways and American and has spent the last 7 years leading American’s payment modernization journey. A North Carolina native, Kristyne is a graduate of Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Randy Gibbons
In his current role, Randy is responsible for developing and executing the company's global consumer payments strategies and managing acceptance relationships. He joined Southwest Airlines in 1997 and has served in various capacities, including the Manager of Corporate Credit Cards (Purchase Cards) where he started the program and grew it to over $200M a year in spend. Randy has previously held management roles in Corporate Sales in Marketing and Marketing Technology where he developed Southwest Airlines corporate business website, SWABIZ. He also held previous positions in Reservations and Technology providing Customer support and service. Randy currently is an active member of the Merchant Advisory Group (MAG) and other payments groups.
Ron Glickman
Ron Glickman has an extensive background in the aviation and travel technology industries, spanning over 20 years. He started his career in the airline industry at EL AL Israel Airlines, before going on to successfully scale Etihad Airways’ global corporate sales channel to record results. After this achievement, he launched the North America operations of Air Italy (formerly Meridiana) and led its sales and distribution strategy across the region.
In 2021, Ron brought his area expertise to the technology sector with PSNGR1, where he was part of the team that won Business Travel News Innovate People’s Choice Award. Following the acquisition of PSNGR1 by Snowfall, he currently is involved in architecting modern multimodal retailing solutions for its corporate, TMC, and OTA channels.
Tom Gregorson
For over 25 years, Tom has been working to develop products that enhance the travel industry. Throughout his career, he has gained insight and provided leadership through his various roles at airlines and global distribution systems, and with ATPCO since 1996. In his current role, Tom leads the Strategy organization and is responsible for creating the long-term vision for ATPCO and exploring new business ventures. His focus is on industry standards and effective ecosystem governance, as well as driving forward concepts like dynamic pricing and tax automation. Tom has built a reputation for being a thought leader and implementer of industry solutions in the distribution space.
Kevin Haag
Kevin Haag
Kevin has a passion for payments and over 30 years of experience in the industry and treasury related services. Throughout his career he has focused on payment innovation, payments data, and managing the cost of acceptance.
His background includes payment processing and acceptance for consumer to business (C2B) and business to business (B2B) with Ecommerce, bricks and mortars, and domestic and international merchants.
In his roles he was also responsible for co-branded cards programs, corporate card programs, Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS), dispute management, card brand rules and regulations, and payment reporting & reconciliation.
Kevin’s career includes serving four years on the Board of Directors for the Direct Response Forum (DRF) holding positions of board member, Secretary and Chairman.
Kiera Haining
Kiera Haining is the SVP of Travel at Hopper, a global travel platform that powers Hopper’s mobile app and HTS partners’ direct channels. As the SVP of Travel, she currently oversees all aspects of Hopper’s air and transportation business units. Kiera joined Hopper in 2018 to head up our data analytics team, later going on to lead Hopper’s air business unit at Hopper’s Head of Flights before stepping into her current role.
Michael Harbin
Michael is a proven architect, designer, and leader with a 35-year track record of innovating for global airlines, hoteliers, vacation rental providers, global distribution systems, and travel management companies. His expertise spans eight startups, including WebVentures, Orbitz, G2 Switchworks, OptionsAway, and now as President and CEO of Traverse Technologies.
He is known for his ability to collaborate across business and technology models and adapt legacy methodologies to current and emerging technologies (web3/5, ML/AI, blockchain, self-sovereign data, and spatial/XR computing) to optimize value. Michael is passionate about empowering and serving others and continuously innovating for customers-partners while never standing still or allowing complacency or perfection to get in the way of progress. Outside of work, Michael enjoys time with his family, running and biking, and taking his dog to the beach.
David Harvey
Dave Harvey has been with Southwest Airlines for 25 years in various Leadership roles across Technology, Corporate Strategy, Commercial Planning, Network Planning, Business Development, Corporate Sales, and most recently, Vice President & Chief Sales Officer at Southwest. His Teams are responsible for all aspects of business-to-business selling and service for accounts including global, national, federal/state, higher education, mid-market, small business, and meetings/events travel. Additionally, Dave manages all distribution relationships (global distribution systems, travel management companies, online booking tools, and technology intermediaries) across sales channels. Business Travel News (BTN) has named Dave among the 25 Most Influential People in Business Travel four times (2019, 2020, 2021, 2023). Dave strives each day to learn and serve others. He lives in Dallas, Texas, with his wife of 24 years, Juleeta. They have five sons that keep Dave active outside Southwest.
Cornelius Hattingh
Cornelius Hattingh
Cornelius leads a cross-functional team devoted to ensuring due diligence of ARC participants, compliance to ARC products and overall integrity to our settlement and ARC Pay products. He has worked for multi-national companies and trade organizations across the globe, with experience in the Middle East, Europe, Asia and the U.S.
Derric Hawkins
Derric Hawkins
Derric Hawkins brings close to two decades of experience in the aviation industry, all with Delta Air Lines. Being in various roles throughout his carrier, from frontline Baggage/Reservations customer service to Revenue Management pricing distribution/implementation, has afforded him a deep understanding of the end-to-end customer booking experience and of fare rule filing structures.
During his time with Delta, Derric has helped to launch Delta’s Comfort Plus and Refundable branded fare products, implemented Delta’s Branded Fares and Routehappy merchandising strategy for third-party channels, and partnered with ATPCO to implement the Modern Airline Retailing Attributes. Throughout each phase of his career and project implementation, he has taken his frontline experience into consideration, having customers in mind and how the decisions made could positively or negatively impact the customer.
Derric is currently the Manager of Distribution Technology and is working on the Sales and Distribution Innovation team to transform how Delta sells and services products across all channels.
Sarah Hayden
Sarah manages the global travel program. She oversees supplier sourcing, data management, technology integrations and is constantly seeking ways to disrupt the corporate travel industry while keeping in focus cost-effectiveness and efficiency. She and her team are proud to have built a best-in-class travel program with near 100% adoption.
Prior to joining ZS, Sarah spent time in the hospitality industry as well as visa services. She holds a bachelor’s degree in French and International Studies from Indiana University.
Bonnie Holland
Bonnie Holland supports the Travel Vertical merchants within Mastercard's North America Market Development team. In this role, she is responsible for communications with the merchants as it relates to operational items. Additionally, she supports Mastercard’s rollout of new technologies to expand card acceptance, improved cardholder benefits and the security of the Mastercard network.
Josephine Husson
Josephine Husson is a Senior Expert at Amadeus. She represents Amadeus at ATPCO Subscriber forums and ATPCO design team on a variety of topics including Fares, Rules, Branded Fares, Ancillary Services, Rich Content, Dynamic Pricing and NDC. She also represents Amadeus at IATA Pricing Automation Group (PAG) , Tax Governance Group (TGG) and Industry Coding Working group (UCWG) events. With 12 years experience in this field, Josephine, in her current role, is designing the pricing solutions for the current environment and also contributing to the shift towards an Offer Management System solution.
Phil Ingram
Phil Ingram
Phil Ingram is a seasoned professional with over three decades of experience in the travel industry. Beginning his journey at ATPCO in 1989, he has honed his expertise across various domains including sales, customer service, product development, finance, and strategy. Phil briefly ventured to Amadeus for four years from 1995 to 1999 before returning to ATPCO, where he has made significant contributions. For nearly 20 years, he has spearheaded ATPCO's corporate strategy, demonstrating his prowess in steering organizational direction and fostering growth. Currently serving as the Director of Corporate Strategy and Industry Standards and Governance, Phil continues to shape the industry landscape with his wealth of knowledge and strategic acumen.
George Jebran
George Jebran
George is an expert in airlines and advanced analytics, with over a decade of hands-on experience in airline pricing, revenue management, shopping, and competitive data products. He leads the data science initiatives and is a driving force in the evolution of product development at 3Victors.
Crystal Jones
Crystal Jones
Crystal has over 30 years of experience supporting the use and development of ATPCO products and services. Her role for the last 10 years has been developing enhancements and standards for ATPCO’s tax product, and she is currently focusing on the refund and reuse rules for taxes and carrier-imposed fees.
Justin Jovignot
Justin Jovignot
Justin Jovignot is the current Director of Commercial Strategy and Distribution for TAP Air Portugal, managing leisure and corporate segment, distribution, and commercial strategy. Justin is an aeronautical engineer and holds more than 13 years of experience in the aviation business. During his career he worked in France, UK, and Portugal and had several management roles within commercial. Outside his professional life, Justin has been an international swimmer and continues to swim for leisure.
Rich Kassner
Rich works in an area that collaborates across all divisions and product teams to provide the shared services of product strategy, design, and operations. As the industry moves toward dynamic offer creation, his team will ensure that the tools for offer creation and presentation have a clear vision and roadmap and are created with user-centric design.
Christophe Kato
Christophe Kato
Christophe supports many airline industry projects such as the impact Modern Airline Retailing (MAR) will have on payment at IATA. He also leads the engagement with international card schemes and provides expert support to airline industry advocacy efforts on payment regulation.
Christophe is a graduate of the Institut Supérieur du Commerce (ISC), Paris, and holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of South Carolina (USC).
Jason Kaufman
Jason Kaufman
Jason is a longtime agency professional, having led revenue generation and preferred supplier initiatives at local, regional, and national agencies and TMC's since the 1990's. His efforts have focused on customer value creation for complex international accounts, automating commission processes, and market-share shifts. He is currently leading DT's NDC initiatives. Jason sits on industry leadership committees with ARC, a GDS, and multiple major US airlines.
James Kirkeide
Jim Kirkeide is the Vice President of Global Airline Acquiring at Elavon. He has over thirty years of experience at Elavon and its parent company U.S. Bank. He has spent most of his career in payment processing and card acquiring. Jim’s background encompasses business development, portfolio management, and systems administration. Jim supports regional and global air carriers’ electronic payments acceptance programs. Jim’s payment card-acquiring experience includes managing highly valued clients engaged in a variety of industries.
Jeff Klee
Jeff Klee is a self-described computer geek who developed and sold his first video game at the age of 13. In college, he and a buddy got a crash course in the intricacies of the airline business while planning their own backpacking trip and later decided to use that know-how to help others save money on airfares. What was first known as 1-800-Cheap-Air was founded out of a University of Michigan dorm room in 1989. When the company took off, Jeff ditched his law school plans for a far more exciting journey, combining two passions – travel and software development. CheapAir.com was born, and soon after, AmTrav for Business, which together serve almost 400,000 travelers annually.
Lisa Kos
Lisa has 15+ years of experience spanning technology and design projects. She joined ATPCO in 2018 as the Director of Sales Channel Retailing, focused on integrating Routehappy content into booking flows to enhance the flight shopping experience. Previously, she managed and led complex software as a service (SaaS) integrations for the Asian market for a travel tech startup. Lisa is a travel enthusiast and has visited 50 countries so far.
Mark Kosikowski
Mark Kosikowski is currently the Senior Manager for distribution channel partners at Air Canada. He has held various positions in product and project management in industries ranging from airlines to software development and banking. He currently has the responsibility of representing Air Canada to travel agencies, corporate clients and technology vendors. He provides solutions to Air Canada’s partners and customers and is tasked with bringing to life and deliver the global enterprise distribution strategy, creating a memorable, seamless, friction-free experience for Air Canada’s customers in the indirect channel.
Karin Kron
Karin has 30+ years of experience in the travel industry. She has worked in four different countries, serving in multiple roles at various airlines and a system provider before joining ATPCO in 2019. Karin has experience in product management, business analysis, and consulting, and her areas of expertise include airline pricing, ticketing, ticket changes and refunds, which have led to participation in several IATA industry groups. Karin currently leads the ATPCO design team that is helping identify changes needed to support the industry’s goal to achieve fully automated servicing of tickets and orders.
Rich Licato
Rich Licato has more than 30 years of experience spanning IT security risk and compliance, operational and enterprise risk management and systems development. His responsibilities as ARC’s Enterprise Risk and Chief Information Security executive include Information Security, Physical Security, Enterprise Risk Management, Business Continuity, Network Operations, End User Support, Corporate Systems and Identity and Access Management.
Prior to ARC, Rich held numerous Director positions at Fannie Mae overseeing Operations Risk Management, Information Systems Management, Enterprise Architecture, Information Security, and Systems Development. He also previously held positions at American Management Systems, Inc. Rich holds a Bachelor’s degree from the College of William and Mary and a Master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University Tepper School of Business.
Will Linderman
Will Linderman
Will is a travel industry enthusiast and airline pricing expert with over 15 years of airline industry experience. His expertise includes revenue management, airline pricing, and competitive business intelligence. He currently leads airline content acquisition initiatives for 3Victors.
Steven Mandelbaum
Steven is renowned for his innovative strategies that tackle complex challenges with cost-effective solutions. At EAB he oversees a wide range of internal operations, such as technology, real estate, travel, events, employee experience, and strategic vendor partnerships. His leadership has been pivotal in developing and implementing major internal processes and systems across the company including enhancements in customer relationship management, finance, human resources, marketing, travel, real estate management, events, and product offerings. Thanks to his efforts, EAB partners and employees enjoy a markedly improved experience, contributing to the firm's significant growth and operational efficiency, leading to the conservation of tens of millions of dollars annually. Steven's innovative contributions in cloud computing and travel management have earned him recognition within the industry and he is a past recipient of the Business Travel News Travel Manager of the Year award.
Michael Marrone
As Chief Financial Officer of UATP, Michael Marrone is responsible for all accounting, finance and treasury functions of the organization. Before joining UATP, Marrone was a treasury manager for Discovery Communications, where his responsibility was focused on financial risk management and global cash forecasting. Prior to Discovery, he spent several years at Fannie Mae, where he led a team in the execution of cash movements in excess of $6 trillion annually in support of the United States housing market. Marrone earned his Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from Loyola University in Maryland. He is a CPA and has an MBA from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Alkistis Mavroeidi
Alkistis oversees KAYAK's metasearch product. Through the use of UX research, design thinking and UX practice methodologies, Alkistis works alongside KAYAK’s team of product managers, product designers, and engineers to help build and deliver products that make it easier for people to experience the world. Prior to her time at KAYAK, Alkistis worked at the tech startup Building Conversation and focused on leveraging VR and AR technologies to inform product design decisions. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Architectural Engineering from Greece’s NTUA polytechnic school and a Master in Design Studies (MDes) from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Karoline Mayr
Karoline’s expertise is in global travel, expense, payments, and strategy for managed corporate travel programs. Her background includes developing strategies and implementing new programs in the technology vertical at Deltek, Workday, Uber and NVIDIA. Her efforts have earned multiple industry awards including Business Travel News Travel Manager of the Year, GBTA Business Travel Services Award and the Association of Corporate Travel Executive President’s Award for Advancing the Travel Industry. Mrs. Mayr is a certified Global Travel Professional and earned her Global Leadership Professional Designation from the Wharton School of Business.
Callie McKill
Callie McKill
Callie McKill is a Senior Director leading the Global T&E Product and Payment Experience organization at Visa. In this role, Callie is responsible for developing policy, products, and services to enhance the payment ecosystem in close collaboration with travel and entertainment merchants, acquirers, technology providers, and issuers. Callie has been with Visa since 2001. Prior to joining Visa, Callie worked at American Airlines.
Chris Mellin
Chris heads product management for Airline Data Products at ARC. He has been with ARC for nearly a decade, serving in multiple product and technology roles. Prior to ARC, Chris led multiple large-scale data warehousing and data product initiatives within the telecom industry. He is passionate about data and how it can help customers drive informed decision-making along with helping improve efficiency in the travel ecosystem. Chris has a degree in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a master’s in Information Systems from George Washington University.
Erika Moore
Erika is the President of World Travel Incorporated, a travel management company specializing in small and medium corporate travel, as well as specialized VIP leisure trips. Her role is to lead the company’s journey of governance transformation and digitization for the next era of travel management.
With more than 20 years of experience in the travel and technology industries, Erika has been described as visionary and innovative. She has successfully led commercial teams through transformation and crisis management while driving revenue growth and global expansion.
Manish Nagpal
Manish Nagpal is a prominent industry contributor and influencer, recognized as a leading voice in NDC and airline retailing.
In his previous role at Accelya/Farelogix, he helped build the core NDC product, encompassing offer and order management. In his current role at Spotnana, Manish leads the engineering team, driving the development of a best-in-class flight booking experience and establishing deep direct integrations, including NDCs, with some of the world's top airlines. His focus is on solving long-standing industry challenges and revolutionizing the travel landscape through Spotnana's Travel as a Service platform.
Throughout his career, Manish has excelled in various capacities, including overseeing technology, sales engineering, and product portfolios. His unwavering passion for bringing innovation to airline distribution remains at the forefront of his endeavors.
Doug Nass
Doug Nass
Doug analyzes airline ticket data from US-based travel agencies to uncover various fraud schemes targeting the US travel industry. Doug focuses on tracking and disrupting the activity of various fraud rings and serial fraudsters from around the world that target US travel agents. He has worked for the past 29 years as an analyst, trainer, and manager in the Fraud Prevention department at ARC.
Sébastien Nicolas
Sébastien Nicolas
Sébastien has been working in the airline industry for over 22 years, for Spanair, Lufthansa, Swiss International Air Lines and Lufthansa Group. He currently works in Lufthansa Group’s Revenue Management, Pricing & Offer Solutions department, and is responsible for Future of Offer conceptual development and solutions. He’s active in integrating airlines into the LHG’s revenue management ecosystem.
Sébastien has in-depth expertise in airline pricing and revenue management, distribution, revenue accounting, reservation, ticketing and ground operations. He’s been a long-term active participant in ATPCO and IATA working groups and sees industry standards activities as crucial to enable airline Future of Offer and Automation improvement. Sébastien enjoys driving industry change and is currently serving as Chair of IATA’s Airline Product Management Working Group.
Daphne Nothwehr
Since joining ATPCO in 2012 and before that in her 10-year career with Northwest/Delta Air Lines, Daphne has many years of experience in the airline industry in various roles across sales, revenue management, product, and corporate strategy. A strategic thinker, she enjoys analyzing trends and business processes to identify opportunities to drive industry value, a great fit for her current role in exploring what new and improved data is required to move the industry forward on its journey toward dynamic offers.
Brent Overbeek
Brent Overbeek
Brent Overbeek was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer for Hawaiian Airlines in July 2023. He oversees the company’s revenue management and analytics, network and schedule planning, cargo division, distribution, U.S. and international sales and airline partnerships. Overbeek has also served as an ATPCO Board Member for the past nine years.
Overbeek joined Hawaiian Airlines in July 2014 as Vice President – Revenue Management and Network Planning. He was named Senior Vice President - Revenue Management and Network Planning in 2018, and became Senior Vice President – Chief Revenue Officer in March 2022.
Previously, Overbeek served as Vice President - Revenue Management for Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi. He also worked for American Airlines, where he gained 19 years of progressive analytical and revenue management experience in several positions including Managing Director - Domestic and Regional Revenue Management as well as Managing Director - Domestic Pricing and Regional Revenue Management.
Overbeek holds a Bachelor's in Economics from the University of California, San Diego.
Andy Palacios
Andy Palacios is a seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience in the travel industry. Andy is a dedicated husband and father of three wonderful kids based in sunny Florida. Andy has held various key roles in corporate hotel sales and account management throughout his career with reputable companies such as Marriott, Crowne Plaza, Travel and Transport, and Travel Leaders.
Driven by his passion for innovation and technology, Andy transitioned to the travel tech sector. He joined Yapta, where he played a pivotal role in revolutionizing air and hotel price assurance for large corporate customers. Andy has served as the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Growth at App in the Air, a leading travel tech company, for the past four years. In this capacity, Andy has been instrumental in spearheading the development of a cutting-edge, all-in-one corporate travel ecosystem tailored for the unmanaged traveler.
Ana Perez Mahiques
Ana Perez Mahiques oversees strategic collaborations with travel organizations, consultants, agencies, and key players in the payments ecosystem. Since joining Riskified in 2019, she has been instrumental in driving valuable partnerships and fostering innovation in the industry. Prior to Riskified, Ana spent five years at BBVA supporting enterprise global merchants across industries with debt financing and bond issuance.
Chris Phillips
Chris joined ATPCO in 2019. Leveraging more than 30 years of commercial airline and consulting experience, he assists ATPCO’s partners in achieving their financial objectives by optimizing their use of the ATPCO solution suite. His background in supporting effective commercial strategies along with his passion to de-commoditize the airline shopping experience complement the airline pricing and retail models enabled by ATPCO. Before joining ATPCO, Chris held leadership positions at Delta Air Lines and Four Corners Consulting Group.
Lisa Pierce
Lisa Pierce
Lisa is an influential airline industry leader with a passion and proven track record inspiring and developing high performing teams. She is energetic with an extensive background in sales, operations, negotiations, purchasing, planning and project management. Based in Toronto, she is responsible for defining and implementing strategies and tactics to expand Air Canada and Air Canada Vacations market share and revenue performance globally.
Bruno Pinto Oliveira
Bruno leads sales and business development efforts in the Americas for Airline Regional Payments Americas, Outpayce from Amadeus. Prior to joining Amadeus, he worked in business development for BNPL and managed airline acquiring across EMEA for several years. He is fluent in four languages: English, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian.
A Portuguese national based in Miami, Bruno is passionate about the exciting world of payments and Outpayce’s mission to deliver smoother end-to-end travel payment experiences, so airlines and travelers easily benefit from new advances in payments.
Jason Rabinowitz
Jason joined ATPCO from the acquisition of Routehappy in 2018 and now leads the Content Creation team, focusing on the market success and future enhancements to UPAs (Universal Product Attributes) and Amenities products. Before joining Routehappy in 2013, he spent several years writing about the airline industry from a passenger experience point of view, focusing on in-flight entertainment and connectivity systems. Jason graduated from Western Michigan Law School, where he received his Doctorate in Law.
Tye Radcliffe
Tye Radcliffe has been in the travel industry since 1997. He is currently SVP of Accelya’s Product Strategy over the Order Group, where he and his team are responsible for designing and delivering innovative products and services to enable airlines to achieve their strategic goals in the areas of content distribution, payment, and order modernization. Prior to joining Accelya, Tye was Director of Distribution for United Airlines, where he was responsible for optimizing commercial agreements and modernizing technology for external retail channels, as well as improving the direct-channel experience for corporate travelers. Tye was a founding member of IATA’s NDC initiative, serving as chairman of the steering group for several years, and was chairman of the IATA Passenger Standards Conference from 2017 until 2021. Tye has worked for Orbitz.com, Travelport, G2 Switchworks and Amadeus.
Vasu Raja
Vasu Raja is American’s Chief Commercial Officer. He oversees the airline’s Customer organization, global network and has oversight of the airline’s alliances and partnerships, revenue management, and American’s AAdvantage program.
Previously he served as Chief Revenue Officer and Senior Vice President of Network Strategy, where he was responsible for Network and Alliances. Vasu joined American in 2004 and has held a variety of roles in Sales, Planning and Revenue Management.
He began his career with Teach for America in 1999 and taught for three years in Baltimore City Public Schools. In 2013, he was named one of the Top 50 Executives under 50 by Diversity MBA Magazine.
Vasu earned a bachelor’s degree in humanities from the University of Texas at Austin, where he serves on the Advisory Council for the College of Liberal Arts.
Tom Randklev
Tom Randklev is the Global Head of Product for CellPoint Digital where he is responsible for setting the vision for the product and managing product development and pre-sales. Tom has deep payment industry experience ranging from financial services sales and strategic marketing to product management. He was previously Vice President of Global Product at Global Payments and held product roles at TSYS and InComm. Tom earned a bachelor's degree in economics and a master's in business administration from the University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC. He is also a Certified Scrum Product Owner and active member of the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG), and the Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association (AiMA).
And...he may also be the only guy you know from Idaho.
Sara Reid
Sara leads a cross-functional team devoted to delivering Delta’s New Distribution Capability (NDC) enabling omni-channel dynamic offers and seamless servicing, in keeping with Delta’s established and differentiated customer-centric distribution strategy. In addition to this scope of work, Sara leads the Global Sales Support servicing team.
Starting her career with Delta in 2007, Sara brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise from her various roles within Revenue Management, Distribution, and Global Sales. She has worked diligently to enhance and differentiate our B2B offerings, develop industry-leading products, and ultimately provide Delta customers with a more premium travel experience.
Sara holds an MBA from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of West Georgia. She is based in Atlanta, where she is a proud mom of three, an advocate for her community and local public schools, and an avid Yellow Jackets fan.
Lauri Reishus
Lauri Reishus is passionate about connecting stakeholders throughout the travel ecosystem and sees ARC as the industry leader for data insights, flexible distribution services and innovative financial solutions. She works closely with the executive team in leading ARC’s mission to accelerate the growth of global air travel.
Lauri has spent more than three decades in the industry because she believes in travel’s power and potential to connect the world. She began her career at American Airlines before moving to the travel agency side of the business where she led global customer success management with SatoTravel/TQ3 Navigant before joining ARC in 2005.
Lauri hails from northern Wisconsin. She’s a graduate of George Mason University, an avid traveler and now lives (and explores the world) with her family in Northern Virginia.
Phil Rendell
Phil has spent his entire career within the airline industry and for the past 11 years has been responsible for all Travelport’s payment products, including looking after their ARC and BSP settlement processes. He also manages fraud processes and represents Travelport at several industry forums. Before Travelport, Phil worked for a major European airline in revenue accounting, a BSP data processing centre, and IATA. In his spare time, he enjoys horse racing, cooking and travelling to warmer climes.
Aaron Robinson
Aaron Robinson
Aaron leads sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for International Airlines Group and its carriers in the United States, as well as emissions data strategy for customers. While in sustainability at United Airlines, he implemented the first customer emissions data in a US airline’s booking display, helped design the new IATA standard methodology for calculating customer emissions, created the world’s largest corporate customer SAF program, organized the first two airline flights to use 100% SAF, and successfully lobbied California to include SAF in its Low Carbon Fuel Standard.
Aaron began working on aviation sustainability at Northwest Airlines in 2007 as part of the fuel efficiency team, and continued at post-merger Delta Air Lines, where he oversaw compliance with the EU ETS. He is a Washington, DC, native and has a private pilot license.
Mandira Roy-Bambardekar
With over 20 years in cutting-edge software engineering and product management (including 12 years at ATPCO), Mandira brings a rich and unique perspective of cross-functional collaboration to drive business innovation and improve flight shopping for millions of consumers. Currently she leads the commercial and strategic initiatives for sales channels (EMEA) and drives adoption of Routehappy, helping them become world-class retailers. In the past, she has successfully spearheaded Optional Services, Branded Fares, and NDC initiatives and has proactively identified airline needs to move the industry forward on its retailing journey.
Nicole Rudder
Nicole Rudder
Nicole has 23 years of ATPCO knowledge and experience, including 16 years of training customers in courses at Washington, Singapore, London, and other locations around the world. She has also participated in on-site consulting for airlines and developed many customized courses for individual airlines. Nicole is a subject matter expert in ATPCO Fares, Rules, Fare by Rule, Optional Services, Carrier-Imposed Fees, Branded Fares, RBDs, and Baggage. In recent months she has helped to develop online overview sessions for the Routehappy suite of tools, as well as online refresher courses on various ATPCO products.
Sean Rumage
Sean Rumage
Sean Rumage is the Strategic Sales Initiatives Manager at Alaska Airlines, where he owns the airline’s SMB corporate products. Prior to joining Alaska’s Sales division, Sean worked in a variety of roles across Network Planning, Scheduling, and Crew Strategy at Alaska, United and Southwest, all thanks to a fateful walking tour in Brussels that led him to pursue a career in aviation.
Ellen Runyon
Ellen Runyon is a leader in travel product management with a long-standing passion for evolving the travel industry. Her expertise lies in airline retailing, NDC, and the changing landscape of customer expectations and technology, relying on actionable strategies to move and transform the industry.
Ellen is currently SAP Concur’s Director of Air and Rail product and is focused on leveraging airline retail strategies to deliver an exceptional customer experience for corporate travelers.
Michael Schlesinger
Mike leads the Sales Strategy, Distribution Services, and Learning Solutions teams. These teams are focused on commercial planning and reporting, data delivery to customers, and internal and external product training. Having joined ATPCO in 2018, Mike previously led global sales for ATPCO’s Routehappy product line following its acquisition.
Rick Seaney
Rick Seaney is the Vice President of Innovation at ATPCO/3Victors, following the successful acquisition of 3Victors, Inc. by ATPCO in late 2023. Rick was the co-founder and CEO of 3Victors, a groundbreaking big-data travel analytics startup that secured venture funding in early 2020.As the VP of Innovation at ATPCO/3Victors, Rick drives the company's innovation efforts, shapes its vision, and oversees its execution and development. He is dedicated to catalyzing the transformation of the travel ecosystem, advocating for real-time data-driven decision-making as the travel industry's future.
Kunal Shah
Kunal is the leader of ZS B2B GTM and Travel & Hospitality practice areas, where he supports clients across industries in commercial strategy and transformation engagements.
With Kunal’s over 20 years of consulting and industry experience, he has engaged with travel and hospitality clients in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific across a variety of commercial topics. While at ZS, Kunal has helped travel companies enhance their sales, revenue management, B2B marketing offerings and organizations, optimize and deploy their segment and channel strategy, and drive commercial effectiveness, which has resulted in significant and tangible margin improvement for them. Kunal is also closely engaged with the broader travel industry and is a contributor to Forbes’ Aviation section.
Amanda Simpson
Amanda R. Simpson is a senior-level operations executive with extensive experience leading programs in the areas of advanced technology, aerospace and defense, aviation, test and evaluation, energy, and national security. Throughout her career, she has demonstrated ability to undertake and tackle challenging assignments and deliver success with innovative and disruptive technology and processes.
David Smith
David Smith, Director of ATPCO’s Distribute the Offer portfolio, has 30 years of experience working in the airline industry in the travel distribution ecosystem. With 10 years at a major European airline, and 20 years at ATPCO, he has experience in product management, finance, business process re-engineering, program management, contract management, data distribution, and standards creation and management. He also runs several council and design team communities within ATPCO’s industry-leading governance, and is a member of various related IATA communities.
Alex Snape
Alex works with airline clients to create accurate, relevant, and inspiring merchandising content that captures the uniqueness of each airline’s brand. He focuses on delivering quality digital messaging and visuals that enhance the flight shopping experience by providing customers with highly targeted information about the exact product that they’re buying. Alex is an experienced writer and aviation enthusiast. Born and raised in New Jersey, he has traveled to various countries around the world, speaks French, and now calls London home.
Steve Solomon
Steve Solomon leads many of ARC’s commercial functions, including Global Data and Analytics Products, Data Partnerships, Sales, Customer Success, Marketing and Operations. He spearheads the development and execution of strategies that create value for the global travel community, improve the customer experience, grow ARC's data portfolio, and drive commercial excellence.
Before joining ARC, Steve held senior roles at Kastle Systems, Fannie Mae and MicroStrategy, with diverse experience across strategy, sales, marketing and customer engagement. He began his career with Citigroup’s Global Institutional Bank and spent several years as a managing consultant with Willis Towers Watson.
Steve earned a bachelor’s degree with a dual major in Business and Political Science from the University of Maryland, College Park, and an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business. He holds a Six Sigma Black Belt.
Mitra Sorrells
Mitra Sorrells joined PhocusWire as a Senior Reporter in January 2018 and became Editor in Chief in May 2022. She has more than two decades of experience as a journalist for a variety of digital, print, and broadcast outlets and a B.A. in Journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Mitra is based in Orlando and enjoys rowing, cooking, and playing with her dog.
Robin Trickel
Robin Trickel
Robin brings over 25 years of industry experience to the forefront of payments innovation. Her comprehensive portfolio encompasses Network, Merchant, and Third-Party Policies/rules, alongside Data Standards, Data Quality programs, and internal acquisition policies. Before her decade at American Express, her career included significant tenure at a major US Merchant Acquirer. She holds a BBA in Accounting from Southern Methodist University and is based in Phoenix.
Maarten van der Lei
Maarten van der Lei
Maarten van der Lei joined KLM 25 years ago and is currently heading the Air France‒KLM Pricing & Revenue Management Teams both in Paris and Amsterdam, with more than 20 billion euro of annual revenue to price and steer. Maarten has represented KLM on the ATPCO Board of Directors for seven years and is currently the Chairman.
He holds MSc degrees in both theoretical and applied mathematics. A father of six, Maarten is also passionate about traveling and exploring the world with his family. He loves to play his saxophone, read a good book, or go for a run.
Steven Van Overmeiren
Steven Van Overmeiren
Steven leads the Global Travel Program and Team at Baker McKenzie, a leading global law firm. His team is currently focused on building Baker McKenzie's first-ever global travel program “from scratch” and doing so in an innovative, agile, and future-proof way. Steven has a passion for challenging the status quo, delivering service excellence, and leveraging technology to focus on the user experience. Prior to joining Baker McKenzie, Steven has experience in various global roles on both the supplier and buyer side of business travel.
Keith Wallis
Keith Wallis
Keith Wallis has 25+ years of experience in the airline industry. He has held various positions in Operations, Product Management, Distribution, Payments and Digital Technology.
Keith is responsible for all customer journeys across the airline’s digital ecosystem, as well as the distribution of the airline’s content across NDC-direct channels and non-direct channels. With ownership of both the customer digital product and the distribution/payment strategy, Keith is defining and executing how the airline markets, distributes, and sells its core air products, along with how it engages with its customers across all journey touchpoints.
Keith is a current member of the Board of Directors of UATP. He is also a member of and the current Chair of IATA’s Distribution Advisory Council.
Jenny Walsh
Jenny specializes in Aviation Executive Search and works with some of the best transport and travel professionals in the world. After leading Venari Partners’ Research function for several years, Jenny is currently Head of Client Relations and advises clients and candidates on the global aviation talent market. She ensures Venari Partners delivers an exceptional product and experience to their customers.
Jennifer Watkins
Jennifer has over 25 years of experience in the travel industry and is passionate about bringing industry experts together to identify and implement innovative payment acceptance solutions. Jennifer has experience in the airline and travel agency distribution channel where she was responsible for the secure and cost-effective settlement of over $80 Billion in payment transactions annually.
Jennifer founded the ARC Payments Forum in 2015 which brings all participants in the transaction flow within the travel agency distribution channel and the air travel industry together to identify and talk about how to solve industry payment challenges and improve payment acceptance.
Jennifer Weissman
Jennifer Weissman
In her role as Senior VP, Chief Marketing Officer, Jennifer is responsible for creating, establishing and implementing key marketing strategies, and evaluating and monitoring all marketing activities.
Before joining PENN, Jennifer gained over 17 years of casino marketing experience with Caesars Entertainment. She also served as Regional Vice President for Caesars, overseeing the strategic marketing efforts for nine geographically and competitively diverse casinos and hotels. Jennifer also has extensive property-level experience, serving as the head of marketing at casinos in several markets.
Jennifer holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland-College Park and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
Paula Weitzenberg
Paula Weitzenberg
Paula has over 24 years of experience in the payment industry, with a focus on strategy and merchant processing. Prior to joining Visa in 2021, Paula worked at major US carriers, where she gained extensive knowledge and expertise in the travel payment ecosystem. She spent five years at Chase Paymentech as an Account Executive, where she was responsible for the airline vertical.
Zachary Wynne
Zachary Wynne
Zachary has 15 years’ experience leading commercial transformation projects at airlines around the world. In his current role, Zachary facilitates dialog with ATPCO’s airline and technology partners, helping to make modern airline retailing a reality. His special focus areas include deployment of airline rich content, pricing and revenue management automation, and distribution modernization. Before this role, Zachary filled several roles at ATPCO in account management, consulting services, analytics, and marketing. As an American based in Europe, Zachary is an avid traveler who enjoys discovering new destinations with his family. In addition to his native English, Zachary also speaks fluent German and conversational Russian, Spanish, and Hungarian.
Uri Yerushalmi
PhD in Computational Neuroscience. Three decades of experience in software development and AI. Chief AI algo trader, neuroscientist, AI researcher, manager, and programmer. Experienced in business, management, and entrepreneurship. Former CEO and Head of AI for a major algo trading firm.
Shelly Younger
Shelly's 25-year career started at American Airlines, then moved to ARC in 2005. She leads the team that collaborates with industry partners on omnichannel solutions, including Direct Connect with NDC, manages ARC’s core settlement product and fosters GDS and aggregator relationships.
Alex Zoghlin
A lifelong entrepreneur and innovator, Alex brings more than 25 years of knowledge and experience in technology, airline distribution, and travel to ATPCO. He founded six startups, including Orbitz and G2Switchworks, before serving as Executive Vice President, Global Head of Strategy, Innovation, and Technology at Hyatt Hotels Corporation. He brings his business acumen and experiences from the hospitality world to concepts the airline industry can use, such as addressing digital booking flows, digital display, unstructured datasets, and dynamic pricing. When not working, Alex enjoys spending time with his wife and four daughters, making music, building rockets, and learning new things.