World-renowned Communications Guru & Seasoned Hospitality & Tourism Professional

François Baird is a founder and chairman of Baird’s CMC Ltd, Baird’s US LLC and Calbridge (Pty) Ltd. Baird’s CMC is an international communications management consultancy with 34 partners in 17 countries who employ about 500 people. He is also the founder of the FairPlay anti-dumping trade movement.

François consults internationally on issues, communication and strategy to clients across the world in the USA, Africa, India, Europe and the Middle East. His specialties are market entry strategies, public affairs, corporate reputation risk assessment and management, communication strategy and crisis management. He consults to governments, international institutions and companies.

He has a special interest in developing countries and institutions and has advised the Rectors of Stellenbosch University (Brink and Botman) and the Chancellor of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (Botha). François is a Board member of the University of Pretoria Centre for Communication and Reputation Management and the Child Witness Foundation. He serves on the Board of the Presidential Precinct and is an advisor to its Young Africa Leaders Initiative (YALI) program.

He has a long track record in advising boards and top management, advising state owned enterprises, financial institutions and technology companies, among many others.

He has worked in Africa outside South Africa since 1988. Over the years he has managed election campaigns for President Chiluba of Zambia, for President Chissano in Mozambique and advised on election campaigns invarious other African countries.

François is an American citizen who was born in South Africa, grew up on a farm in its Northwest province, started his career on the gold mines, attained a degree in international politics and political science at the University of Pretoria, served as a commissioned officer in the SA Air Force and founded his own business in 1987, following various corporate management positions at Gold Fields of SA, Small Business Development Corporation and Sappi, the South African multi-national forestry products company. He is also emeritus Chairman, Africa of Daniel J Edelman Inc.”

Jeremy is a serial entrepreneur, investor and social media expert having spent over 10 years in the digital advertising industries.

He is the Founder & CEO of Beautiful Destinations. Voted by Fast Company as one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies in 2017, Beautiful Destinations is the award-winning creative agency behind the world’s largest tourism community on social media. Every day over 20million people in 180 countries turn to Beautiful Destinations on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Youtube & Weibo to be inspired about travel & tourism. He has a background in elite sport, having represented Scotland at rugby whilst at school and has served on the Board of the Entrepreneurs Organization (EO), as a dealmaker for UK Trade & Investment’s Global Entrepreneur Program, is a fellow of the British American Project and ambassador for the World Wildlife Foundation.

After a brief career as a teacher Derek Moore worked for some 13 years as a Tour Leader leading group tours for various overland and safari companies before co-founding Explore Worldwide, one of the earliest adventure travel companies. He was Operations Director at Explore for some 20 years, developing itineraries and programmes in most parts of the world and seeing changes in the group tour sector over those years.

After selling Explore he became Chairman of AITO, and additionally now presents seminars and training sessions for tourist boards and DMCs on aspects of marketing and promoting niche tourism products. In his spare time he plays golf and music, although accuracy is a feature of neither.

Thebe Ikalafeng has been named one of the 100 Most Influential Africans by New African Magazine and worked with over 100 diverse brands in the public and private sector across every region in Africa. He is the founder of Brand Leadership, an award-winning brand and reputation advisory firm, Brand Africa 100: Africa’s Best Brands, the most referenced research and ranking of brands in Africa and Public Sector Excellence, an initiative to research and recognise excellence in the public sector.

A Fellow of the Institute of Directors, he is deputy chairman of South African Tourism and non-executive director of Mercantile Bank Holdings, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and JSE listed Cartrack Group. In a distinguished corporate and consulting career which started in brand management at Colgate Palmolive in New York and concluded as marketing director for Nike for the Africa region, he has won over 75 industry awards globally. He has served on all notable industry bodies, including as the founding deputy chairman of the Brand Council of Southern Africa (2011-2013) and chairman of the Loeries advertising awards (2001-2003), judged major industry awards globally, including the prestigious Red Dot design awards in Germany (2014-2017) and St. Gallen Wings of Excellence in Switzerland (2015-2017).

Widely recognized across Africa, he has co-hosted the CNBC Africa Marketing, Media and Money Show, and has been featured or quoted in respected media such as CNN, BBC, CNBCAfrica, FT, African Business and New African. He writes, speaks and counsels leaders and organizations globally on branding, reputation management and related matters across Africa.

Ikalafeng holds BSc and MBA degrees from Marquette University (USA), completed executive education at Wits Business School and Harvard Business School, and is a Chartered Marketer (SA). A well-travelled adventurer, he has been to over 70 countries globally, summited the highest mountains in Africa (Mt. Kilimanjaro) and Europe (Mt. Elbrus), jumped off the world’s highest bungy (216m) at Bloukrans Bridge (South Africa), travelled to the furthest south point in Africa where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet, in between paragliding, skydiving and other daring adventures around the world.

Recognized for his wide-ranging expertise and accomplishments in the political arena, Honourable Edmund Bartlett has given over thirty-five years of service to Jamaica, working both in the Senate and in the House of Representatives.

Mr. Bartlett was first appointed Minister of Tourism in 2007, serving until December 2011. Prior to this appointment, he already had a solid track record of service as an outstanding legislator in central government in both Chambers of Parliament. While serving in the shadow Cabinet following his first stint as Tourism Minister, Mr. Bartlett traveled the world forging alliances with strategic partners for global initiatives. He returned to the helm of the Ministry of Tourism following his party’s victory in Jamaica’s February 2016 general election.

As one of the world’s leading Tourism Ministers, Mr. Bartlett has represented Jamaica regionally and internationally and currently chairs the Board of Affiliate Members of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). During his first tenure as tourism minister he served as Vice Chairman of the Executive Council of the UNWTO, representing the Americas. He is the first to serve on the executive of both the public and private sector arms of this prestigious organization. Mr. Bartlett has also served on the Council of Ministers for the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) and as Vice Chairman of CTO. This wealth of experience has made him a much sought-after speaker at tourism-related fora.

Mr. Bartlett is an ardent proponent of public private partnerships (PPPS), which he considers essential to the sustainable development of the tourism industry. These alliances span the various sectors, locally and internationally, that make up tourism, including transportation, agriculture and manufacturing. Some of these partnerships have taken the form of foreign direct investment, particularly in the area of accommodation.

Tourism has been positioned by Mr. Bartlett as a catalyst for economic growth and the transformation of communities. He has established five networks (Gastronomy, Shopping, Health and Wellness, Sports and Entertainment, and Knowledge) to fuel growth and initiated the Tourism Linkages Network within the Ministry to strengthen sustainable linkages between tourism and other sectors of the economy.

The region has also benefited from Mr. Bartlett’s innovative thinking, as he views other Caribbean and Latin American destinations not as Jamaica’s competitors but as partners that can use their combined tourism offerings to attract more visitors to experience multi-destination tourism. He has taken bold steps to have this facilitated under a special Memoranda of Understanding between nations in the region.

Mr. Bartlett has copped numerous awards. He was the recipient of the 2016 Caribbean Tourism Minister of Distinction award at the recent African Diaspora World Tourism Awards. He was also awarded Caribbean’s Leading Personality for Outstanding Services to Tourism at the 23rd World Travel Awards in 2016. In 2012, Mr. Bartlett was conferred with the Order of Distinction in the rank of Commander (CD) for outstanding and important services to Jamaica and in 2010, was conferred with the Commander of Number of the Order of Civil Merit of Spain on the order of the King of Spain.

Sen is presently the Managing Director of the Tourism Business Intelligence, a company specialized in consultancy services for tourism, hospitality management, investment facilitation and tourism training, for the Vanilla Islands, Africa and Middle Eastern regions.

Mr. Ramsamy is also the Regional Director of the Centre of Excellence for Destinations (CED) based in Montreal, Canada. He has more than 30 years of experience at senior management level in Tourism Development, Destination Marketing, Sustainable Tourism Development and Hospitality Management. He has also served as Resource Person in Tourism for international institutions (United Nations World Tourism Organization, World Bank, International Labor Organization, International Trade Center, Economist Intelligence Unit) and several foreign governments in Africa and the Caribbean Islands. He was previously Director of the Mauritius Tourism Authority. He was also Director of Hospitality Business Development for a major conglomerate in the United Arab Emirates where he was posted for more than 5 years.

Sen holds a bachelor degree in Mathematics from Chennai University and an MBA in services marketing and a post-graduate diploma in Tourism Management from the George Washington University in USA. He also has a post-graduate certificate in Tourism from Sorbonne University in France. He is bilingual, English and French, and has authored several publications on Tourism, Sustainable Development and Destination Marketing. He travels extensively across the world to share his experience, knowledge and thought leadership in tourism and hospitality management.

He has initiated the creation of the Tourism Police in Mauritius, he has chaired the Hotel school of Mauritius for many years and has been instrumental in the creation of the University of Technology Mauritius with a faculty for Tourism and Hospitality Management. Sen’s professional career was recognized by the Energy Globe Award which he had won in 2003 for his outstanding works towards environmental protection and tourism development.

Susanna is co-author of: ‘Enhancing the competitiveness of a wellness tourism destination by coordinating the multiple actor collaboration’ (2017) at the Routledge Handbook of Health Tourism with Telle Tuominen and Daniel Binder. Furthermore, she is a co-author of How to develop a competitive health and well-being destination (2014) with Donna Dvorak and Telle Tuominen.

She holds an M.Soc.Sc in Leisure and Recreation studies and is a doctoral candidate at University of Lapland, majoring in tourism. Her doctoral dissertation will study urban wellbeing destinations. Susanna has been the project coordinator of both the WelDest (2010-2012) and the ILIS project (2008 -2010), financed by EU dealing with issues on health and wellness tourism destination development and spa management.

Susanna is a representative of TUAS at Turku Tourism Academy as well as a board member of The Finnish Society of Tourism Research. At international level she is the 2018 World President at SKAL International (Association of Travel and Tourism professionals, www.skal.org), worlds’ largest not for profit tourism organisation, and a board member of ‘The Code’, The Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism (2016-2019).

With an international remit, Daniela leads the overseas operation, bringing together travel professionals across the globe.

Daniela heads up strategic international business development for Travel Weekly Group and is responsible for creating new international events in Asia, the Middle East and Europe, as well as bringing new clients into the UK market through existing Travel Weekly channels.

She has a demonstrable track record of outstanding achievement within the travel industry and has had great success growing businesses due to her commercial creativity. She has applied her entrepreneurial and interpersonal skills very effectively in large corporate and start-up environments. Fluent in both German and French, she has an extensive network of top-level industry contacts around the globe.

Daniela is also responsible for co-ordinating European PATA chapters, recruiting and retaining members, co-ordinating key events (including the PATA Advocacy dinner) and securing sponsorship.

As Director of the National Travel and Tourism Office at the U.S. Department of Commerce, Ms. Hill is the senior career official with responsibility for travel and tourism for the United States Government and a globally recognized expert in tourism policy and planning.

Her office produces the national statistics on travel and tourism and promotes policies that support the competitiveness of the U.S. travel and tourism industry.

Ms. Hill led the development of the first National Travel and Tourism Strategy for the United States across 12 federal agencies and with the private sector, reflecting her skill in public-private engagement to advance shared objectives.

Ms. Hill also led negotiations to open the market for packaged leisure travel from China to the United States, and she advances U.S. policy in international travel and tourism fora.

Additionally, Ms. Hill directed the first International Tourism Promotion Program for the United States. Based on the platform ‘You’ve Seen the Films, Now Visit the Set’, the award-winning campaign paved the way for the creation of Brand USA, the nation’s first dedicated tourism marketing organization.

She is past Chair of the OECD Tourism Committee, a subject matter expert for the World Economic Forum, and sits on the Advisory Committee of the World Tourism Forum Lucerne.

Prior to her federal service, Ms. Hill was the Film Commissioner at the South Carolina Department of Commerce and Director of Business Development and Policy for the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism.