Kate Rasmussen is one of HotelTonight’s earliest employees, joining the company in early 2011 as the very first Market Manager. In that capacity, she led the launch of over 20 new destinations throughout the USA before relocating to London as first on ground employee to support the launch of the European operations. She now serves as Director of Strategic Partnerships for HotelTonight, where she oversees the strategic direction of global partnerships with hotel chains, management companies and key accounts. Kate has never been known to turn down the opportunity for a last minute, spontaneous adventure, one of the many reasons why she and HotelTonight are so perfectly matched.

Prior to joining HotelTonight, Kate led the Search Team for Milestone Internet Marketing, a leading website design and marketing agency for hotels and resorts. She holds a BA from the University of San Diego, where she played Division 1 NCAA collegiate soccer.

Nick caught the social bug while in advertising graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin (Hook 'em!). He helped manage and build the social presence of 3 different startups while in school and upon graduation, took over the reigns as Social Media Manger at mobile payments startup, Tabbedout. He joined the Silvercar team in August of 2013 and is focusing on social, content, and email marketing strategy. Claim to fame: front page post on Reddit.

Mark is a revenue management veteran with 14 years of experience specializing in the resort and gaming industries.  He spent the first 10 years of his career with the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, helping to build the revenue management organization from the ground up and was ultimately responsible for all revenue management functions for both the Venetian and Palazzo resorts.  In 2011, Mark was named the Corporate Vice President of Revenue Management for Las Vegas Sands, and his role has not evolved to include Performance Management and Strategic Initiatives.  As the head of Revenue Management for Las Vegas Sands, Mark is responsible for more than $1B USD in annual hotel revenues. 

Hoffmann is responsible for leading the Digital Guest Experience Strategy ensuring new digital touch points enhance traditional ones to exceed guests’ expectations. In partnership with the Chief of Digital, she leverages both internal teams/external partners deploying new digital customer experiences and integrating with existing technology. With a strong belief in the customer, a core focus is on listening to their needs to guide innovation. Time is the one limited universal resource that should be the focus for all Consumer Experience Strategists. Solving for time with simplicity and grace.

Hoffmann joined MGM Resorts International in 2010 as the Director of Interactive Marketing for CityCenter. Most recently, she held the position of Director of Marketing where she worked with property executives and operational departments to provide strategic marketing solutions. These initiatives spanned organic/paid media, on-property technology and traditional marketing integration.  She launched MGM Resorts’ first responsive design website ARIALasVegas.com seeking to accommodate consumer shifts to mobile devices.

Prior to joining MGM Resorts International, Julie held the leadership position of Corporate Director of Internet Marketing for Caesars Entertainment responsible for the digital strategy for over a decade. During her tenure, she implemented a digital marketing platform that serviced 40 resorts nationwide with revenue streams of $150M+. Julie has19 years’ leadership in leisure travel and beverage sales industries, developing marketing initiatives via strategic planning with a core focus on the customer experience.  She brings a deep and comprehensive skill set as well as overall expertise across the digital space.

Jim Abramson joined Marriott in January 2012 and is Vice President of Mobile/Digital Technology, responsible for both Marriott.com and Marriott’s mobile technology strategy and planning.  With over 10 years of mobile experience, Jim has defined and delivered new apps, mobile web sites, mobile messaging, mobile advertising, mobile payments, and location-based solutions. He provides leadership to help Marriott innovate and bring new mobile experiences to the marketplace, including the recent launch of mobile check-in to 329 Marriott hotels in North America.

Amy has 11+ years’ experience in digital marketing and started off her career in publishing with Reed Business Information where she helped facilitate the setup of their online marketing activities specially focused on lead generation, eMail & SEO. She then moved to another publishing house, Tango Media, where she lead all aspects of audience development including SEM, social media and remarketing. She later joined Wyndham Hotel Group’s eCommerce team as the Global Director of SEO, running organic and local search.  Following,  Amy moved within Wyndham Worldwide into a new position as the Senior Director of eCommerce for Wyndham Vacation Rentals, where she lead all digital efforts including SEO, local search, paid media, user experience, affiliate, eMail marketing & analytics.  She’s now in her third role at Wyndham Worldwide, back at Wyndham Hotel Group as the Senior Director of Innovation. In this role she liaisons between business and IT to help identify innovation opportunities and create efficiencies through technology, in an effort to improve the experience for Wyndham’s guests, employees and hotel owners.

Amy holds a BA in English and an MBA in Management from Rutgers University. She enjoys spending time with her husband, family, friends and her dog Lady, in addition to watching The Golden Girls.

Eoin currently directs multiple teams based in the Americas, EMEA and APAC regions for Hilton Worldwide providing hotel distribution, front office and new hotel support, producing property and aggregate-level analytics and driving distribution technology development across ten global brands. Previously worked at hotel-level for Doubletree Hotels, Promus Hotels and Hilton Hotels in management positions within Front Office, Food & Beverage and Business Travel Sales, experience which was leveraged to create one of the first 3rd party online teams within the travel industry.

Leah has enjoyed 10 years as a travel professional, establishing an expertise in consumer behavior of US-based travelers, ages 40-65. Beginning her career as a frontline Travel Agent for Coastline Travel, Leah achieved $2 million in luxury sales after one year, becoming a top agent at Coastline and within Virtuoso. After moving into the role of Director of Sales, Leah managed the agency’s transformation from a cruise-centric agency selling a variety of luxury to selling land-based vacations at 25% - 60% higher profits. Leah is the founder of www.TafariTravel.com, a BtoC travel company that capitalizes on online lead generation and land-based travel to emerging markets, as well as the founder and lead consultant for Powered by Tafari, a BtoB agency that oversees US-based operations and business development for key partners such as Whole Foods Market.

Lillibeth Canet Bishop is Air China’s Senior Director, Marketing & Public Relations for North America.  Bishop is also the President/CEO of Bishop International Group, a marketing, PR and advertising company based in Los Angeles.  Bishop is a multi-awarded marketing & PR professional.  In 2009, Bishop was honored for being one of the “Top 25 Most Extraordinary Minds in Sales & Marketing” by the prestigious Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI). In 2012, she was a panel speaker on trade day of the Los Angeles Times Travel Show.  She received two Telly Awards and a Magellan Award (silver) for Best Marketing Campaign from a destination when she was the Publicity & Promotions Manager for the Hong Kong Tourism Board.

With over 14 years of experience in eCommerce, Marketing and Digital Strategy, Jen Abboud-Smith recently joined Apple Leisure Group as Director of Digital Strategy. Jen’s rich background in site optimization, digital marketing, merchandising, and analytics stems from experience in Higher Education, Retail and now the Travel industry. Recently, Jen was responsible for developing a segmentation and personalization roadmap with a large multi-channel retailer, which involved identifying the stages of evolution that most organizations go through in developing a personalized customer experience, as well as an assessment of the technical ecosystem needed to support enterprise-level cross-channel personalization.

 

As Director of Digital Strategy with Apple Leisure Group, Jen leads the teams responsible for Customer Acquisition, Engagement and Retention, across the Customer Experience Journey: Acquisition through Digital Marketing and Media Buying, Engagement through Digital Merchandising and Content, and Retention/Loyalty through Email Marketing. Additionally, Jen’s responsibilities include the Digital Analytics team, which enables the Digital Strategy group to effectively identify high performing partnerships and campaigns, as well as optimize toward the most successful and relevant messaging and vehicles for customers.

Mark Bloxham started overseas at an early age, and quickly moved through the ranks to become the UK based Overseas Manager for JMC (The Tour Operator Brand for Thomas Cook) Controlling over 1700 overseas staff and 1200 airline crew.

To further his career he re-qualified through the Chartered Institute of Marketing, a career move that he has never looked back from.

Leaving the Travel industry in 2001, mark joined the world’s largest recruitment company Adecco as Marketing Director UK and spent five years working in the UK, US and Switzerland, culminating in a global Brand Directors role.

With International experience, he joined the Washington post Group, and worked for a period of time between the UK / US rebranding the UK training organization, during one of the largest transitions as the Washington Post group evolved into being primarily an education brand.

Mark returned to the UK, and a return to the Leisure industry, joining (DMGT) the Daily Mail group to manage the travel brand marketing. His main successes came from the rebirth of a historic UK travel aggregator, into a complete digital media site, and the eventual MBO from the parent organization.

Mark joined James Villas a part of the Wyndham Vacation Rentals company in June 2013 as Marketing Director, supporting a period of dynamic strategic change within the organization. He led the creative change of the brand and sister company Villas4You culminating in a second record breaking year for the organization.

Promoted to Managing Director in 2014, Mark leads a team of a 140 staff and a company with aggressive growth strategies.

JasonAntony has over a decade of online experience in consumer products,entertainment, and hospitality verticals. He formerly was the Assistant VicePresident of Digital Engagement at Viceroy Hotel Group where he was responsiblefor managing all digital marketing, the development of new websites, contentmanagement systems, social media strategy and CRM communication strategies. Asan expert in luxury and life-style marketing he recently dove into a new careerand vertical in the real-estate industry as the Director of Corporate Marketingfor TRI Pointe Group.

As Vice President, Marketing Communications for San Francisco Travel, Lynn Bruni oversees the creative services, domestic media relations, web development, advertising and promotions, and content and social marketing teams for the organization. She is responsible for the development of marketing programs and strategic partnerships to increase overnight travel to San Francisco and provide meaningful marketing opportunities for SF Travel partners. In 2011, Lynn lead the development of San Francisco's 49 Hours of SF consumer campaign, which received U.S. Travel’s 2012 Destiny Award for Full Marketing Campaign, the DMO industry’s highest honor. Lynn has more than 15 years of marketing industry experience, with an extensive background in advertising, media planning, branding and strategy. Passionate about travel, Lynn has visited more than 40 countries and counting, and is working on checking off all 50 states when she can find a dog-sitter.

Named general manager of The Beverly Hills Hotel in 2011, acclaimed hotelier Edward A. Mady is responsible for all operations of the iconic 210-room Beverly Hills Hotel – a Dorchester Collection property. Mady is also regional director, USA for Dorchester Collection, overseeing Southern California’s Hotel Bel-Air as well as The Beverly Hills Hotel. Mady has worked with Dorchester Collection since June 2009, serving as general manager of The New York Palace.

Prior to joining Dorchester Collection, Ed Mady spent two decades with The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, serving most prominently as vice president and area general manager, overseeing five Ritz-Carlton hotels and playing a pivotal role in the company’s unprecedented capture of two Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards – a first for the hospitality industry. He held other hotel and general manager positions with Ritz-Carlton properties in Atlanta, New York and San Francisco. Mady’s professional path has also encompassed high-profile leadership positions with Helmsley Hotels, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, and Fairmont Hotels and Resorts. His hospitality career began in 1974, when he was a night chef for Château Lake Louise in Alberta.

Widely recognized as a leader in the luxury hospitality industry, Ed Mady’s illustrious career has attracted industry and consumer recognition and national awards for his hospitality coaching strategies. His core competency strengths lie in the creation of organizational cultures of excellence and in the maximization of
demand for businesses’ products and services. He received the 2011 Hospitality Professional of the Year Award from the Food and Beverage Association; was tapped as a 2011 class speaker by Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration; and he received the 2009 Gold Plate award for worldwide excellence in the hotel sector from the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association. He was also a nominee for the industry’s most prestigious award, 2013 Hotelier of the World, as presented by Hotels Magazine. A native of Windsor, Ontario, Mr. Mady graduated with honors from Saint Clair College in
Windsor with a concentration in hotel studies. As a recognized Alumnus of Distinction from the college, he delivered the 2013 keynote graduation speech for St. Clair’s College of Applied Arts and Technology. The same year, Mady was also nominated for Ontario, Canada’s Premier’s Awards of Excellence which
celebrates the outstanding contributions college graduates make to Ontario and throughout the world.

Debbie Johnsen is Director, Interactive Marketing for The Leading Hotels of the World. She began her career in Marketing and E-Commerce over twenty years ago, and has developed global, multi-channel campaigns on both the client and agency side. Her background includes Digital Marketing roles with Bertelsmann, Omnicom and Rail Europe Group, with industry experience spanning Travel & Hospitality, Retail and Entertainment.

Debbie is also Adjunct Faculty at N.Y.U., where she teaches Digital Marketing and E-Commerce in the SPS Integrated Marketing graduate program.

As director of product marketing in the Media and Advertising group, Ali Bohra directs the team responsible for the strategy and innovation that support the growth of the big data behind the Adobe’s Marketing Cloud. Bohra has over a decade of experience working in high tech, where he has served in a variety of roles including positions within business operations, product management, strategy and product marketing. Previously Bohra held a leadership position at Interactive Corp (IAC) where he helped transform the companies advertising model and built successful synergies across the companies properties. Bohra earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Allyson has 15 years' experience marketing SaaS-based technology to companies of all sizes across the globe. She previously held marketing leadership roles at Boston-based RAMP and LogMeIn. At Boxever, she is responsible for corporate marketing, demand generation, lead qualification, and inside sales.

Jim has over 20 years’ experience in the travel industry, the last 15 dedicated to the online market at the intersection of travel and media.  Prior to joining Criteo, Jim worked for world-class travel brands including Kayak.com and Carlson Wagonlit Travel. His include clients venerable travel companies including Expedia, TripAdvisor, Priceline, Marriott, Starwood, Lufthansa, and Avis/Budget.

Jeremy oversees consumer insights, brand strategy and creative planning at Fitzgerald & Company. He has experience leading global brands such as Coke, Microsoft, Nestle and Jose Cuervo, with a special emphasis on helping brands connect with millennial consumers in addition to general market. Before Fitzgerald & Company, Jeremy established the strategy department at MRY in an attempt to help his clients build relationships with millennial consumers through social media, digital and WOM marketing. Currently living in Atlanta, GA, Jeremy is a graduate of Yale University.

Evan has a long history of building brands from all angles with Fitzgerald & CO, where he started his career in 1996 as an Assistant Account Executive. He went on to serve in a variety of Account Management roles before making a turn toward Creative, where he thrived for over a decade, rising to Group Creative Director. During his creative run, he laid the groundwork for Fitzgerald & CO’s digital growth, creating and leading digital creative development, hiring and production. This unique blend of experiences made Evan the perfect choice for the agency’s first Chief Digital Officer, overseeing digital strategy integration, social media and creative development.

Evan’s experience includes brands such as Coca-Cola, Sony Mobile, Aruba Tourism, IHG, and Navy Federal Credit Union. Evan is a two-time graduate of Northwestern University— earning both his undergraduate degree and Kellogg MBA in Evanston.

Derek is Vice President of Advertising Sales and Service for Intent Media. In this role, Derek is charged with leading the team responsible for the success of the world’s largest travel advertisers – including travel suppliers, online travel agencies and metasearch sites – with Intent Media’s advertising products. Prior to Intent Media, Derek spent five years at Google, most recently as Head of Agency Relations for Omnicom and Publicis. He entered the online media space in 1999 as the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at SmartBrief, a B2B e-newsletter publisher. Derek began his career at The Advisory Board Company and earned his BA from Williams College.

Marc leads Jumio’s worldwide marketing efforts and brings over 20 years of marketing innovation and operational experience in emerging technologies and the financial sector to Jumio. Previously, he served as CEO of mobile applications company Emotive, CMO of enterprise search SaaS pioneer Marin Software and CMO of Ingenio, where he sparked creation of pay-per-call technology; a multi-billion dollar adtech product which lead to Ingenio’s acquisition by AT&T in 2007. As CMO of online insurance first mover InsWeb, Marc drove revenue which enabled the company to raise $100 million in its IPO. Additionally, Marc has held executive-level marketing posts at a number of financial institutions including Charles Schwab and First Nationwide Bank. A frequent speaker at prestigious conferences worldwide, Marc has been widely quoted in national and business press.

Graham has been working with web technology since 1995, designing and building websites with emergent technology. Prior to founding Qubit, he spent 5 years working at Google. His most recent role there was as global leader on Google’s strategy for conversion rate improvement. This involved working with Google’s largest and smallest customers to improve their online conversion rates as well as developing the Google Conversion Professional program. Graham has also worked extensively with Product Management and Engineering teams to deliver tools to build more effective marketing solutions with the AdWords auction system as well as management of campaigns with millions of keywords. Prior to Google Graham ran his own technology company delivering Internet Protocol television systems to the advertising industry.

Having been publicly acknowledged by Direct Marketing News as a “30 under 30” for her ability to lead and transform growing teams, Dianna is fiercely committed toproviding measurable results for clients. Before joining Rivet, Dianna held the role of VP of Client Services at Marketvine by Dell, where she was awarded the Dell Gold Award for her leadership. She has also held executive and strategic roles at startups and public companies including Bazaarvoice, Adperio, and Meredith Corporation. She formerly served on the Board of Directors of the Online Trust Alliance, and has spoken at numerous industry events. Dianna currently serves on the Advisory Council for the Akins New Tech Academy in Austin, Texas, and is the co-founder of the ATX Customer Success Management Professionals organization. She earned her BA in News-Internet from Drake University. 

Parag has been involved in the hotel industry and digital media space for 14 years. His in-depth knowledge of the online travel space makes him an industry expert in hotel revenue management and digital marketing.

Before joining Sojern, he spent five years at Wyndham International and three years at Marriott International, learning the hotel space inside and out. He then served Director positions at Yahoo!, Travelzoo, and TripAdvisor.

Parag has a B.A. in English Literature, an M.S. in Hospitality, and an MBA in Information Systems and Marketing from Bentley University.

Dave Frankland leads corporate strategy for StrongView, developing and evangelizing the firm's contextual marketing vision to the marketplace and aligning internal resources to make it successful.

David Elliott is the Senior Director of Loyalty and Mobile for Switchfly, responsible for the strategic vision, maintenance and implementation of related products. David is a member of the original Switchfly startup team, and has been with the company since 2004. Prior to Switchfly, David led and managed vendor and customer reporting for STA Travel. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics at UCLA. When he’s not developing new strategies and products at Switchfly and jet-setting around the world collaborating with clients, David can be found refining his Muay Thai and boxing skills in the San Francisco Bay Area. Contact David at delliott@switchfly.com.

Chris Walsh is one of the founders of TMM Data.  With a background in marketing strategy and analytics, and marketing strategy he helps drive the day-to-day business and sales strategies at TMM Data.  His experience spans a range of start-ups as well as large organizations such as the Houston Chronicle, Alliance Health Networks, and Penn State University. Chris currently resides in Salt Lake City, Utah with his wife and two children.

Charlie founded Triptease to add a touch of joy to hotel booking. Triptease builds digital tools that help hotels build stronger relationships with guests and increase direct bookings.

Charlie was named Young Entrepreneur of the Year by Esquire Magazine and was profiled in Seth Godin's most recent book, Icarus Deception. He is a member of YPO Mayfair, a Companion of CMI and a Fellow of the British American Project. He is a Member of the British Airways Advisory Board.

As Head of Strategic Consulting at Urban Airship, Alyssa leads a team of consultants that deliver tailored, digital marketing strategies to enterprise clients in order to increase mobile app engagement and grow business ROI. Strategy sessions use research, trends and data on markets, consumers and culture, to define app and messaging strategies and KPIs, and ultimately inspire clients to incorporate a profitable relationship-based mobile strategy into their core marketing mix. Alyssa’s client experience spans a diverse set of vertical industries, including brands such as The Times, Starwood, CBS, the NBA, NASCAR, Virgin Atlantic, Bank of America, BCBS, Dunkin’ Donuts, PayPal, Caesar’s Entertainment, Abercrombie + Fitch, Neiman Marcus, Novartis, Biogen, and Comcast. Prior to Urban Airship, Alyssa was Vice President Marketing at DigitasLBi She has over 15 years experience in creating innovative mobile and web-based applications and user-centric digital experiences from roles at various advertising and digital media companies on the agency-side, client-side and as an entrepreneur.

As Senior Director of Product Management at Webtrends and with 20 years' experience in enterprise software, behavioral targeting, customer experience optimization and conversion marketing, Michael Wilson sets the direction for Webtrends optimization and segmentation solutions. Prior to joining Webtrends, Michael worked with Vignette, RichRelevance, and TouchCommerce to build solutions that help organizations create better customer experiences that drive revenue and retention.

Michael is responsible for growing group and leisure/transient revenue along with market share in both existing full service assets and forthcoming lifestyle/independent properties. As a part of this role he helps drive overall property revenue with a focus on F&B on-property spend, along with other ancillary revenue opportunities. Additionally, he works on strengthening the White Lodging employment brand and overall positioning to support rapid and continuous growth.

Junvi Ola is the industry's leading hotel and resort copywriter and content marketer. As the principal writer/editor at Hospitality Content Studio, she works with hotels and resorts, DMOs and CVBs, and other travel businesses to tell their stories to entice and engage travelers and meeting planners. She writes and edits for travel Websites, email marketing campaigns, blogs, brochures, press releases, and social media. Junvi has several years of destination marketing experience at the San Diego Tourism Authority, plus a decade of creating content for print, TV, radio and the Web. 

Chelsie McLaughlin is the Operations Manager for the Reputation Management/Customer Relations Teams for Choice Hotels International. Chelsie has 10 years’ experience in the Hospitality and Customer Service Industries and has worked direction at hotels and at the corporate level. She has led teams in both Customer Service and Online/Social Media Management and is skilled in providing hiring, training, and operational support. Chelsie attended the University of North Dakota and Minot State University where she graduated with a degree in Public Relations, Advertising, and Mass Media. Chelsie started the Reputation Management Department for Choice Hotels and oversees the team responding directly to customers in social media forums as well as providing counseling to hotel management to ensure a higher level of customer service and retention in the ever-expanding online world. 

Since 2008, Rich’s social media marketing resume is field with many firsts from running the first ever Twitter Sweepstakes to winning the inaugural Shorty Award for the best Travel content on Twitter.  Rich has sold the most cruises via Twitter, built a Facebook audience of over 500,000 from 0, and trained 100s of Travel Agents on how to grow their business using social media.   Thanks to Social Media and blogging, Rich has been featured in Wall Street Journal, Forbes, NY Times, and many more publications

Octavio joined the international fast-growing payment service provider Trustly in 2012 to lead it's development in the European market, specifically to continue developing the travel sector. Octavio has more than 15 years of experience as an entrepreneur, founder and CEO for various technology based companies. He is used to lead diverse development and acceleration projects within payments and Fintech. Octavio started his career at Coopers & Lybrand (currently PricewaterhouseCoopers) in it's Audit and Corporate Finance divisions