With 17 years’ experience in Hospitality and Real Estate , Alex has accumulated a track record in the sector. Currently, Alex is responsible for leading the expansion of Virgin Hotels in EMEA with the first project being VH Edinburgh (opening summer 2021). Virgin Hotels expect to announce a further two to three properties in Europe this year. Prior to Virgin Hotels, Alex was SVP Development at YOTEL, and previously as SVP Development of Orient-Express Hotels Ltd (Belmond) where he managed more than $500 million of acquisition, financing and dispositions of non-core assets. He successfully helped the company transition to third party hotel management agreements with its first hotel being the Belmond Cadogan Hotel.

As Head of Development, Americas, based in Miami, Andrew has responsibility for growing the Six Senses portfolio of hotels, resorts, and spas across the Americas. He believes strongly in the pillars and values of the Six Senses brand, lives by them harmoniously, and applies them to shape how he looks at each new opportunity. As the world recalibrates the focus on well-being and sustainability will no doubt be amplified. Prior to joining Six Senses he spent over 12 years at Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, were he oversaw and lead the growth and due diligence on a number of projects and openings internationally such as, Megeve, Bogota, Sao Paulo, Surf Club (Florida), Los Cabos, Montreal, Rio de Janeiro, and New Orleans.

Arron Taggart is the Head of UK Investment at Cheyne Capital, a leading alternative investment manager. With over 20 years of experience in real estate markets, he joined Cheyne in August 2012 to originate real estate loans in the UK and Northern Europe. He is responsible for originating, structuring, and executing real estate debt transactions, lending across the capital stack. His expertise includes developing complex funding structures for both development and investment projects. Prior to Cheyne, Arron was a Property Specialist and Partner at Clydesdale Bank, and held corporate finance positions at Bank of Scotland and Hitachi Capital.

Carmen leads and drives the sustainability strategy within the Group. She is responsible for a diverse range of sustainability programmes including strategy and policies development, management system, capacity building, stakeholder engagement, communication and reporting. She also believes in sustainability is everyone’s responsibility and her role is implanting this concept like a DNA into every colleague in the company.

Catherine Dolton serves as Chief Sustainability Officer at IHG - InterContinental Hotels Group, where she leads the company's global sustainability strategy and environmental initiatives. With extensive experience in corporate sustainability and hospitality operations, she oversees IHG's Journey to Tomorrow program, focusing on carbon reduction, responsible sourcing, and community impact across the hotel group's portfolio. Dolton drives strategic partnerships and innovative solutions to advance sustainable hospitality practices, positioning IHG as an industry leader in environmental stewardship and social responsibility within the global hotel sector.

Chris is a square peg in a round hole. Or used to be. After a career spanning over 20 years in traditional hotels, he joined Ace Hotels to launch them in London. After an amazing journey with incredible people he decided to pursue his own dreams and visions to build hospitality that related to his own perspective and feelings on the world, the mind and humanity. Steel Hotels (still pre live real estate) and Birch are a product of the journey so far.

Cristina García-Peri is Senior Partner and Head of Strategy and Corporate Development for the Azora Group. Prior to joining Azora in 2011, she worked for 16 years in the investment- banking sector at both Merrill Lynch (2 years) and JP Morgan (14 years), where she held various positions across M&A and Equity Capital Markets, and for 10 year, she was Managing Director responsible for Corporate Equity Derivatives for EMEA as well as Equity Capital Markets for Spain and Portugal. Cristina holds a bachelor degree in Economics from ICADE (Spain) and an MBA from Harvard Business School (USA). Cristina is Board Member at Bankinter, a Spanish IBEX 35 banking institution, where she Chairs the Nominations and Sustainability Committee.

Daniel Johansson serves as Director of Development and Acquisitions at Cheval Collection, driving the company's global expansion and portfolio growth across Luxury Serviced Apartments and Branded Residences. With over 25 years of experience in the hospitality industry, his expertise spans development strategy, hotel management agreements, branded residences and master planning hotel projects.

Emmanuel Dissez is Co-Head of Asset Management for Schroders Hotels. Graduated from Ecole Hotelière de Lausanne and with an MBA from Henley Business School, Emmanuel has 30 years of hands-on experience in the hospitality industry in Europe and North Africa. Prior to joining Schroders 7 years ago, Emmanuel held the position of CEO of CDG Capital Real Estate, the hotels arm of the Caisse de Dépôt et de Gestion of Morocco. Prior to this, he held senior positions in hotels Asset Management for leaders in the industry such as Orco Property Group, Vision Hospitality or Westmont. Emmanuel started his career in hotels operations with IHG and worked and lived in Switzerland, Germany, the UK, Czech Republic, Morocco and Belgium.

Emmanuel Vallee is Director Business development hotels for NEOM (Giga project in North west of KSA: building the city of the future within the Kingdom Vision 2030) in KSA. MBA graduated from IMHI (ESSEC Business School in France) and Cornell University. Emmanuel has 30 years of hands-on experience in the hospitality industry in USA, Middle East, Europe and Africa.

Frank Croston is one of the two founding Partners of Hamilton Hotel Partners. His career progression combines a unique blend of senior executive positions in operations, asset management and strategic advisory services. Prior to setting up Hamilton in 2004 Frank was President UK & Ireland, for IHG; Partner in charge of Hospitality Advisory for Arthur Andersen EMEA and Managing Director PKF. Hamilton recently completed a merger with Pyramid Hotel Group out of the US and the combined group now manages 140 hotels across the US and Europe with AUM in excess of $5bn.

Ms. Hazelton joined Kerzner International in 2017 and is responsible for the growth of the Atlantis and One & Only brands in Europe and the Americas. As a seasoned hotel investment and development executive, her experience includes all aspects of hotel investment including banking, asset management, finance, development, feasibility and investment analysis. She currently has a desire to influence new and existing hotel projects with best ESG practices.

Mr. Blomdahl joined KSL Capital Partners in July 2013. Previously, Mr. Blomdahl was an Analyst in the Gaming and Leisure Division of Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Mr. Blomdahl earned his B.S., summa cum laude, from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.

John Brennan is Chairman of Klarent Hospitality and a strategic advisor on all the hospitality investments. He is ranked by the Caterer as one of the most influential executives in the UK Hospitality Industry. He is a Fellow of the Irish Hospitality Institute and a frequent speaker at industry events. Having worked in the hospitality industry for almost 40 years, John is an expert in the hospitality sector. He has a proven record of delivering enhanced business performance and substantial shareholder returns.

Josh Littman is the VP of Development for SH Hotels & Resorts, responsible for growing the company’s Baccarat Hotels, 1 Hotels and Treehouse Hotels brands throughout the EMEA region. With over 20 years of experience across the hospitality space, from operations to sales & marketing and real estate development, Josh has worked with a variety of international groups, including most recently as Head of Luxury Development in Europe for InterContinental Hotels Group, as VP of Development (EMEA) for Hard Rock Hotels and Casinos and in roles with Kerzner International, PKF Consulting and Mandarin Oriental.

I am co-founder and managing director of Zoku, an award-winning hospitality brand that facilitates global living and working for independent traveling professionals. Recognised by Forbes as “one of the 25 coolest hotels in the world,” Zoku’s reinvented apartment-hotel concept in Amsterdam pioneered a new category for the hotel industry. In addition to my role at Zoku, I am a member of the advisory board of a large family office and part of the investment committee of a Mezzanine Investment Fund. I also act as a coach to start-ups, helping to determine the best business models and most effective strategies for talented entrepreneurs to pursue.

The award-winning CEO of Kerten Hospitality, Marloes Knippenberg, has established the organization as a disruptive, dynamic international hospitality group dedicated to the management of mixed-use lifestyle developments in key global destinations. Her journey in the hospitality field started with Hilton where Marloes held senior operational and commercial management positions for over a decade. At the helm of Kerten Hospitality, which she developed and launched with the backing of Kerten, Ireland-based investment vehicle, Marloes has grown the organization’s operational and pipeline portfolio from one brand in one country to 11 aspirational lifestyle-driven concepts in 35+ development projects across 3 continents.

Paolo Servado is a Managing Director in the Real Estate Group in London. Since joining Blackstone in 2011, Mr. Servado has been involved in analyzing real estate investment opportunities across various property types in both Europe and the United States. Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Servado was an Analyst at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York, where he focused on equity and debt investment opportunities on behalf of their real estate private equity group. Mr. Servado received a BS in Applied Math and Economics from Brown University, where he graduated magna cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

He holds a BS in Business Management/Tourism from the University of Applied Sciences in Munich. He began his career at Hyatt International with assignments in Hong Kong, Jakarta and Berlin. In 2001, he joined Four Seasons as Food&Beverage Director in Boston. Subsequent to a post as Hotel Manager at Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles, he returned to Asia to assume his first General Manager’s role by opening the resort in Koh Samui, Thailand. In 2008, he was promoted to Regional VP, in Bangkok, overseeing the Thai hotel portfolio. He moved to Shanghai in 2011 to open Four Seasons Hotel Pudong while being responsible for a portfolio of Chinese & SE Asian hotels. Since 2016, he resides in Singapore and leads the company’s hotel operations for APAC.

Rami is a Partner & MD of Orion located in London. Since joining Orion in 2002, he has been involved in acquisitions, asset mgmt and realizations for the Orion European RE Funds across Europe with a particular focus on larger corporate transactions, pan-European portfolios, debt acquisitions, restructurings, hotel & retail investments. This includes active involvement in investments such as Infracity in Stockholm, Puerto Venecia or Sotogrande in Spain, the equity participation in Société Foncière Lyonnaise or the debt acquisition & restructuring of the Spanish company Inmobiliara Colonial. Before joining Orion he was an associate at Arthur Andersen within the transaction support team, advising large corporations on their RE strategies.

Wesley Paul is the Executive Chairman and Founder of Gemin-i Analytics, where he spearheads the strategic vision and direction of the company. As founder, he has been instrumental in establishing Gemin-i Analytics, a firm focused on leveraging data and analytics to provide insights.

Alex Edds is the Head of Sustainability - Europe at LaSalle Investment Management, a role he commenced in January 2022. He directs the sustainability strategy for LaSalle's extensive European real estate portfolio, focusing on Net Zero Carbon commitments, data digitalization, and enhanced transparency. With over 15 years of real estate experience, Alex previously served as Director of Innovation and Head of Sustainability at JLL, and Head of Sustainability at Nuveen. He contributes to LaSalle's Global Sustainability Committee and has been instrumental in LaSalle's recognition as Real Estate Firm of the Year (ESG) at the New Private Markets Awards 2023 for progress in their European sustainability strategy. He also previously held advisory roles at PropTech companies.

Adrian Flueck is Director of Hotel Asset Management at Invesco Real Estate in Germany, bringing over 16 years of expertise in hotel real estate investment, asset management, and advisory across Europe. He oversees an internationally branded European hotel portfolio and plays a leading role in Invesco Real Estate's Sustainability Focus Group, driving pan-European ESG activities. Joining Invesco in 2015, his prior experience includes serving as Vice President at Jones Lang LaSalle's Hotels & Hospitality Group and holding positions at CBRE Hotels. Adrian holds an Executive Masters in Real Estate from IREBS and a Bachelor of Science from Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne.

Benedetta is Managing Director & Co-founder of Considerate Group a specialist sustainability solutions company that drives responsible management across hospitality businesses. She has over 20 years’ experience in the travel and hospitality space. Over the past 10 years she has been focusing on developing data technology & sustainability solutions for the sector thanks to her in-depth understanding of hotel operations and challenges as well as their need for technology driven solutions. Under her leadership, Considerate Group has been awarded two innovation competition grants by BEIS (UK Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy) in technology, which led to the development of their innovative mobile App

Jeffery joined Six Senses in 2016 as Vice President Sustainability to support the group’s leadership position in sustainable hospitality. He is a strong believer in the hospitality industry’s capacity to engage with sustainability, to welcome guests and communities to join in rebuilding a better future, and foster the authenticity and optimism that our world so desperately seeks. He ensures Six Senses remains at the leading edge of sustainable tourism practices including environmental performance, support for the preservation of natural and cultural heritage, and enhancing social and economic benefits to local communities in each destination. Jeffery holds degrees in Master of Environment and Sustainability and Bachelor of Applied Science.

Ru joined EP&T Global in 2016 and was appointed Commercial Director for UK & Europe in 2018. He brings over 11 years’ experience in real estate sustainability consultancy, having previously worked at Atelier Ten, JLL and Turner & Townsend. His passion is to accelerate the transition to a Net-Zero built environment through data analytics, operational efficiency and collaboration. Ru completed a BSc in Environmental Sciences in 2009, achieved Chartered Energy Manager status in 2015, and completed the UKGBC Future Leaders programme in 2017.

Wesley Paul is the Executive Chairman and Founder of Gemin-i Analytics, where he spearheads the strategic vision and direction of the company. As founder, he has been instrumental in establishing Gemin-i Analytics, a firm focused on leveraging data and analytics to provide insights.