President and CEO

Lisa Bauer is President and CEO of Starboard Cruise Services; she oversees all operations for Starboard and sister company Onboard Media. Bauer previously held the position of Vice President of Onboard Experience at Delta Airlines, responsible for creating the strategy to elevate the carrier’s onboard customer experience and improve its competitive advantage on the global stage. Prior to joining Delta, Bauer was Executive Vice President of Global Operations and Chief Operating Officer for International Cruise & Excursions, Inc. (ICE), a global travel and leisure company with a worldwide network of innovative travel alliances.

Simon Best has more than 25 years experience in a variety of senior commercial roles. Most recently with Global data experts, The NPD Group, Simon’s expertise in understanding big data, the commercialisation of data and bringing to market data in easy to use and intuitive applications is second to none.

Simon is a well respected travel retail figure with C-level connections across brands and retailers.

Rajiv Bhatia is Advisor Business Development at Maison Peuch & Besse, the family firm in St. Emilion, Bordeaux which dates back to 1904. P&B is a champion of family domains across French terroirs, with an exclusive range of wines for Travel Retail.

A global sales and marketing professional, Rajiv has over 25 years of experience in the premium drinks industry, building international brands across developed and emerging markets in Global Travel Retail and Domestic channels. He joined P&B from William Grant & Sons where, as Regional Sales Director, he was responsible for the Travel Retail business in a number of regions, including the Indian sub-continent, Gulf, Middle East, Africa, Cuba and also Europe. Having established the domestic office for the company in India in 2012, he served as Director on the Board until May 2019.  

Prior to this, he was Regional Director at Inver House Distillers (now part of International Beverage Holdings) and oversaw business across a number of key markets in APAC, including China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

He was elected to the Management Committee of Tax Free World Association (TFWA), to represent the interests of the global Wines & Spirits category over a 16 year period.

As a passionate ambassador for Scotch Whisky in Duty Free and domestic markets, in 2015, Rajiv was made a “Master of the Quaich” in recognition of his considerable contribution to the industry.

Executive Managing Director - Travel Retail

Simon leads both the Travel Retail and Consultancy divisions at Harper Dennis Hobbs.  Harper Dennis Hobbs are Europe’s largest independent retail advisory company specialising in advising some of the world’s leading retailers.  The Travel Retail division passionately champions the travel channel by advising a diverse range of over 40 retailers across the globe on the development and implementation of their travel retail strategies. Their forward-thinking work with airports and train stations on their commercial strategies covers food and beverage and retail, has helped them create some of the best airport experiences in the world.

An internationally recognised travel retail authority, Simon has so far enjoyed a 20 year career in travel retail working for and with the world's leading brands and airports.

He has held senior management roles with the former British Airports Authority (BAA) and most recently with Heathrow Airport where he was responsible for the luxury retail portfolio.  During his 8 years with Heathrow, he led the transformation of the luxury offer into the world class proposition it is today. Simon was instrumental in influencing a number of luxury brands to first consider airport retailing, from Prada and Tiffany and in particular Louis Vuitton to choose Heathrow Terminal 5 as its first foray into European airport retailing.  At Heathrow Simon lead the development of the Personal Shopping and online Heathrow Boutique marketplace.

Prior to joining HDH in 2017, Simon led the Travel Retail and International business at the British luxury brand Smythson.

With a truly global perspective, Simon and his team travel extensively, visiting over 60 airports a year and have built an intimate understanding of the unique and complex environment that is travel retail.

A regular speaker at conferences, Simon excels in sharing his passionate for the industry and championing change.  In 2019, Simon was chosen for his global expertise to become a judge at The Frontier Awards at the Tax Free World Exhibition in Cannes, which are one of the most prestigious award ceremony’s within the travel retail industry.

Managing Partner 

Account Director

Chief Operating Officer

Ramesh Cidambi is the Chief Operating Officer of Dubai Duty Free and is responsible for all aspects of the company's operation, reporting to the Executive Vice Chairman & CEO.

His responsibilities include both the retail and leisure business of Dubai Duty Free.

Prior to his promotion to his current role, Ramesh has held a variety of senior positions in the company with responsibility for areas such as Information Technology, Logistics, retail development in both Dubai Airport's covering over 40,000 square metres of retail space and the Dubai Duty Free Leisure business through the Jumeirah Creekside Hotel and The Irish Village Bar and Restaurant (in three locations). He has been with Dubai Duty Free for over thirty years, during which time it has grown to be one of the world's largest airport retailers in a single location with sales of US$2.029 billion in 2019.

He also maintains his links with the domestic retail market through the chairmanship of the Merchants Advisory Board and as a board member of Dubai's Retail Business Group. His primary leisure interests are sailing (with his wife Alpana) and the practice of Iyengar Yoga. 

Global Project Director

With a strong focus on the Travel Retail sector, Duncan oversees a talented Team of designers and Project Mangers delivering high quality projects across the Globe. Duncan is also part of Concourse’s big drive into the World of Sustainability and is leading the charge of delivering Circular, Sustainable and Eco-Friendly Branded environments and fixtures.

Director of Consumer Products & Services 

Tanja Dik has been working for Royal Schiphol Group since 2015. In her role as Director of Consumer Products & Services, she is responsible for all passenger oriented commercial and experience activities, including retail, food and beverage, commercial services, parking, premium services and media. Her strategy is based on an integrated customer journey with a focus on market, technical and digital developments giving way to new possibilities. Before coming to Schiphol, she worked for Stage Entertainment for over 16 years in the capacity of Managing Director, The Netherlands, and International Venue Director, among other positions. She started her career at MeesPierson (Corporate Banking) before being appointed as Head of Treasury at Martinair Holland. After graduating from the Hotelschool, The Hague, she obtained a Master’s degree in Business Administration and Clinical Psychology. Tanja is a member of the Supervisory Board of the joint venture between the training institutes De Baak and NCOI Group, and in recent years, she has served both as a member and as the head of the Audit Committee of the Supervisory Board of HEMA — a Dutch department store chain.

Project Manager 

Camila Estrada works with various global key accounts from the travel and travel retail industry, with a focus on the methodology and analysis stages – benefiting from her strong background in research methodology.

She holds a Masters degree in Public Opinion and Survey Methodology from the University of Neuchâtel, as well as a degree in Sociology from the Catholic University of Uruguay. She previously worked for a Latin-American market research agency before moving to Switzerland. 

Camila speaks fluent Spanish, English and French.

CEO, North Asia

With over a decade of experience in travel retail, Eudes Fabre is responsible for developing Lagardère Travel Retail’s airport shopping and dining footprint in North Asia. Starting with Lagardère’s first travel essentials shops in Shanghai Hongqiao airport, he has built the company into the leading international player in China travel retail with airport and railway concessions including duty-free, luxury, specialty, travel essentials and food & beverage.

Prior his current role, Eudes held various positions in finance and business development in the Asia Pacific region. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the London Business School. 

Chief Business Officer

Ambroise is a graduate of HEC Paris. He joined the group in 1993 in various financial positions in France and North America, before becoming CFO of retail operations in North America. In 2000, he returned to France where he held positions in Business Development, Supply Chain, Purchasing, Marketing and Innovation in the global duty free division before becoming CEO in 2011. He has been Chief Business Officer since 2017. Ambroise has a keen interest in music, from classical to rap.

Corporate Affairs Director

As Corporate Affairs Director for Mars Wrigley ITR, Maud is a dedicated corporate affairs expert in Travel Retail Confectionery. With Mars Wrigley ITR, she champions sustainability and is a catalyst for ITR specific, purpose-led initiatives.

Acting with purpose for sustainability, Mars is constantly innovating to drive positive change for people and the planet. Since launching its Sustainable in a Generation Plan in 2017 with an initial $1 billion investment, Mars has made progress to curb our environmental impact, meaningfully improve lives in the workplaces, supply chains and communities where we work, and help billions of people and their pets lead healthier, happier lives today and into the future.

Maud has extensive experience in corporate affairs and communications, over 8 years of which she has spent at Mars in various roles, including global business communications lead for Mars Food and as head of corporate affairs in The Netherlands. Before joining Mars, Maud held various international senior communications roles in businesses including Jacobs Douwe Egberts, DLL Group and Lewis PR.

Deputy Director Ancillary - Head of Retail

Head of Custom Analytics

Thorsten Hartmann is the head of custom analytics at the IWSR. Thorsten leads the IWSR’s custom analytics team, providing clients with data, insights and strategic advice to help them define, refine and build their global business strategies.

Thorsten has an extensive background in FMCG consultancy and beverage industry market research. Previous roles include director of consulting for GlobalData (formerly Canadean), as well as consulting roles at IMES Consulting/ManSci.

Head of Marketing for GTR

Rachel assumed her current position of Head of Marketing for GTR at Distell International in 2019 following a stint in a global role focused on Distell’s flagship brand - Amarula. Working alongside Luke Maga, Distell GTR’s Managing Director, Rachel has helped to define and shape the strategy for travel retail, drawing on the wealth of consumer knowledge and insights she has gained from a career in brand management at the likes of Treasury Wine Estates, KP Snacks, Britvic and LEGO.  

Her passion for sustainability issues was ignited early in her career when, in a number of domestic and digital focused roles, she tracked the early shift in consumer mindset towards environmental concerns. Working subsequently on Amarula – a brand with sustainability at its core – Rachel was able to gain a deeper understanding of this space which she has sought to apply in travel retail – an industry she quickly realised was lagging behind domestic markets in terms of its response to consumer sentiment.

In her role in GTR, Rachel has spearheaded a number of sustainability initiatives, steering Amarula towards more sustainable secondary packaging and ensuring marketing activations are carbon neutral and built using environmentally friendly materials. She is also now turning her attention to implementing a plastic-free policy on secondary items, with the first step in this journey being a shift towards use of biodegradable materials for all of Distell’s brands.

CEO

Named CEO of Heinemann Americas, Inc. in May 2016, Nadine Heubel leads international travel retailer Gebr. Heinemann’s successful foray into the Americas both on land and at sea. Under her management, the company has secured and expanded relationships with some of the world’s largest cruise lines, including Carnival, Princess, and MSC, and has nearly doubled in size since 2018. Fluent in three languages, Heubel is a veteran retail executive with direct experience in virtually all aspects of the industry. Heubel holds a BBA from the Graduate School of Business Administration in Zurich.

Business Development & Partnership Director

Richard joined MAG in 1996 and as Business Development & Partnership Director of MAGO has accountability for creating new digital propositions unlocking value for MAG Airports alongside expanding MAGO’s global reach through the delivery of commercial product and services unlocking premium profit for others. Prior to his current role, Richard was VP Product Development for MAGO which included the development of Manchester Airport’s Private Terminal, transforming the guest journey through the development of a purpose built standalone facility providing an end to end uncompromising experience including baggage facilitation, bespoke lounges, discreet security and seamless private transfer to the aircraft.

Previously Richard has held a variety of roles within the MAG Commercial and Retail businesses; from developing long term strategy, category management, to multi million pound in-terminal commercial transformation schemes and leading the retail operation across the Group ensuring service levels and trading opportunities are maximised across all three airports handling in excess of 60m passengers.

As part of this remit Richard provided leadership for the retail operational transformation at London Stansted supporting MAG’s ambitious growth aspirations.

An experienced Airport Professional, he is a founding member of the MAGO leadership team responsible for the integration of digital solutions back into the Airports, partnering with a range of commercial operators delivering a connected end to end journey. He has also held Director roles on industry bodies including The UK Travel Retail Forum.

Richard enjoys sport, particularly running, cycling and swimming and often competes in Triathlon events around the country.

Founder, Owner & CEO

Derek Hughes is a retail business leader and visionary who has assisted with the growth and development of Retail projects globally.

His expertise spans retail, strategic management, creative marketing, brand building, training and consultancy.

He is an excellent communicator with resilience, drive, passion and energy to excel in leadership and growth of successful global retail business's.

He has a proven track record in identifying global market trends and new markets which led to significant growth in sales and market share.

He founded and developed the Institute of International Retail (iir) and co-founded the Duty-Free world Council Academy (DFWCA) in Conjunction with the Tax Free World Association (TFWA) 

Partner

Keith co-founded Hunter Palmer - Global Retail Solutions to help fill the void he felt existed in the travel retail marketplace: access to a consultancy that offers practical retail solutions on the ground, in person, at any stage of development, enabling the doers as much as the thinkers.

Growing up as an expat, he started work on the shop floor in the UK aged 18 and has gained over 25 years’ experience in retail. Keith has always believed in the importance of getting your hands dirty and understanding the day-to-day issues. He looks to combine the best of old-school values with exciting new opportunities in his Retail Directorship roles at home and abroad.

Most recently, as Senior Vice President of Qatar Duty Free for Qatar Airways, Keith spearheaded the Hamad International Airport retail project, designing the strategy and mix and all elements of development, through to the opening and operation of HIA in May 2014, a world-class multi-billion-dollar international hub, with over 40,000 sqm of retail and F&B space. Also responsible for the In-Flight retail, concessions and the airport advertising programme (IMS), he directed the launch of multiple new home-grown concepts and, outside the airport, outlets in hotels and at the seaport.

Under his leadership, Qatar Duty Free was ranked fifth in the world by SKYTRAX after less than two years in operation at Hamad International Airport and won Global Travel Retailer three years in a row.

With a consistent track record in delivering year-on-year profit growth, Keith is a seasoned negotiator and specialises in making retail successful and exciting.

Keith has served as a board member of the Middle East & Africa Duty Free Association (MEADFA) for 5 years, has spoken widely at industry conferences and has participated in international delegations at the highest level.

Prior to joining Qatar Airways in 2008, Keith was a retail consultant for Bourne Leisure group and worked for Alpha Airports Group as Regional Manager for UK South.

It is fortunate, or perhaps inevitable, that he works in the field he is in, as he has a bad case of wanderlust and enjoys exploring and experiencing the world, with a strong appreciation for comedy, a love of fitness and a respect for the importance of family life.

Founder & CEO

Simon Kemp produces the widely acclaimed Global Digital Reports series, and is a renowned thought leader in digital marketing. Every year, millions of people in more than 230 countries read his marketing books, guides, and reports.

Simon is the founder and CEO of Kepios, a management consultancy, and chief analyst at DataReportal. He’s also a non-executive director and advisory board member for a number of the world’s most progressive marketing services

organisations.

Simon has helped to define brand and marketing strategies for many of the world’s most admired companies, including Unilever, Google, Coca-Cola, Nestlé, and Diageo, and he continues to advise the world’s top marketers and investors on the latest trends in global digital behaviours. In addition to consulting work, Simon runs regular briefings, workshops, and seminars for clients across the globe, and regularly delivers guest lectures for top universities and organisations such as Google Squared and Hyper Island.

Prior to starting Kepios and DataReportal, Simon was Regional Managing Partner for We Are Social in Asia, before which he worked at BBH, Universal McCann, Starcom Mediavest, and Accenture. Outside of work, Simon is a music producer and DJ, and also runs the Singapore Whisky Society.

You can find Simon all across the internet as eskimon.

Managing Director

Hannes founded his own company Travel Retail Cooperation in 2016 where he successfully develops and accelerates the business of existing and new brands in Global Travel Retail. He has more than 20 years of experience and most of them in GTR. Hannes has held Senior roles at both Gebr. Heinemann and Beiersdorf. Prior to joining the GTR sector, Hannes worked in FMCG, Retail and Consulting.

Hannes was born in Austria and has a degree in International Economics from Innsbruck University and, when not travelling, lives in Hamburg.

Vice President, Global Travel Retail

Sebastien Levi is Vice President of Global Travel Retail at Moroccanoil. He oversees the fast-growing Travel Retail division in the company, across sub-distribution channels and regions. He works closely with Travel Retail operators to strengthen and develop Moroccanoil in this strategic channel for the brand.

Prior to joining Moroccanoil, Sebastien held various roles in Travel Retail for more than 15 years in the Cosmetics sector, with responsibilities for the Europe region, then the Americas for L’OREAL, before handling Europe and Asia at Moroccanoil for Travel Retail. 

Head of Retail

Andrew Machin first burst onto the travel retail scene 5 years ago and brings an infectious enthusiasm and innovative mind, always striving to better his clients offering. Andrew has an impressive track record of delivering the impossible for clients across the globe, speaks his mind and never settles for less than perfect.

Recently Andrew’s in-depth knowledge and understanding of the marketplace has come into sharp focus none more clearly than being one of the influencers behind TRMarketplace. Andrew had initially started working on the innovative digital offering back in February of this year, teaming up with TRBusiness to deliver this exciting digital event.

Andrew is a well-respected figure in the travel retail community and plays an integral role for Bluedog Productions and their continued growth.

She holds a Master of Science in Management, with specialisation in Marketing, from the prestigious HEC Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland. Anna previously worked on various Marketing projects for different communication agencies in Germany. Anna is of Italian origin; she also speaks English, German and Spanish.

Peter earned a PHD in Business Psychology from the University of Göttingen, Germany in 1994. He has lived and worked in six countries and speaks German, English, Swedish and Dutch.

General Manager

Tom Moroney has been working in the travel retail industry for the last 6 years after studying Management with Entrepreneurship at Southampton University. After 2 years working as part of the brand management team at Caroline South Associates which looked after the Shiseido Group’s UK TR operations, Tom was involved in the setting up of The Retail Academy and has been General Manager since its inception in 2016. The Retail Academy provides recruitment, training and staffing solutions to the main CSA operation as well as driving standards to ensure retail excellence.

Tom is a keen sportsman, playing golf regularly and football as a goalkeeper for a team in London where he has lived for the past 3 years.

Global Account Director

An Oxford graduate with a background in brand consultancy, supply chain management and procurement, Kelly has always appreciate the power of brands and consumer centricity. Having joined gategroup in June 2008, her roles have varied from Product Development to Account Management and Director as well as Business Development. She is passionate about connecting the dots, so that with a holistic overview change and innovation can be identified, optimised and then seamlessly implemented.

Chief Executive Officer

Hoj Parmar is CEO at Nuwave Channel Partners. The company is a manufacturer, marketer and supplier of quality travel retail products from Bitmore, Armor, Studio 19 & Wavez.

Nuwave CP supplies stylish and innovative consumer technology, gadgets and accessories to the travel retail market through its four in-house brands. They are Bitmore (travel essentials and gadgets), Studio 19 London (premium audio products), Armor London (wallets, bags and accessories with RFID-blocking technology as standard) and Wavez (beach toys).

Nuwave brands are now retailed on 50+ airlines including Emirates, Virgin Atlantic, Etihad Airways, Norwegian, easyJet and Ryanair.

Building on this, the company is now seeking to expand with airport ground stores, ferry, cruise and train station listings with its 95% exclusive to travel retail range. With sustainability as part of the company's core mantra, its aim is to become the ‘go-to’ gadget and travel essentials brand for those consumers looking for something easily accessible, reliable and with a focus on design and high-quality manufacturing.

Managing Director, TRT: Digital & AI Joint Venture - Gate Group & Black Swan

David is the Managing Director of TRT, a joint venture between gategroup and Black Swan Data focused on developing digital and AI products for the travel retail industry.  Before TRT, David spent a career in digital consulting, including the leadership of two of the UK’s largest digital agencies, Razorfish and Cognizant, where he worked with a range of brands including Unilever, Samsung, McDonald’s and Audi.

David was born and educated in New Zealand, and lives in London with his wife and two children.

Managing Director Global Travel Retail

Jan Pasold joined Ritter Sport  in 2017, when he was given the task to build a global Travel Retail organisation to support the internationalisation process of the brand.

Prior to Ritter Sport Jan gained a great deal of experience in his 10 years with JTI World Wide Duty Free, where he held different positions in Sales, Trade Marketing and Business Development with increasing responsibility over the years.

Before joining the Duty Free & Travel Retail industry Jan founded a Record Store in Ljubljana/Slovenia selling Vinyl’s and DJ Equipment and established a small distribution business. Jan began his career with Reemtsma in 1998 where he completed his apprenticeship as an industrial clerk and continued with the company working in the German Domestic Market.

Senior Partner

Stephen Peng is one of the most preeminent lawyers in China in cross-border investment and international trade. Mr. Peng is the first Chinese counsel defending China in WTO hearings and he represents China in the negotiation of digital economy/e-commerce in the WTO and in the negotiation of bilateral investment treaty with the EU. Mr. Peng actively participated in the enactment of China’s foreign investment law and overseas investment regulations. He is also advisor to the newly established Department of Pilot Free Trade Zone and Free Trade Port under China’s Ministry of Commerce.

Mr. Peng has been ranked as Band 1 lawyer more than 10 consecutive years in international trade by Chambers & Partners and he has also been ranked as leading lawyer in the corporate and M&A areas by international legal rating agencies such as ALB, IFLR 1000 and Legal 500.

Managing Director

James Prescott is Managing Director of Harding, the Flemingo International-owned, cruise retail concessionaire headquartered in the UK. A highly experienced travel retail executive James joined Harding from Bahrain, where he played a key role as Aer Rianta International-Middle East General Manager Operations. Before then he was World Duty Free Head of Category – Liquor, Tobacco, Food, Tax Free and Luxury Goods, and earlier Whyte & Mackay Global Travel Retail Director.

Moyra Race is a dynamic Buying Consultant utilising years of global buying experience to help both buyers and brands to understand the buyers mindset.

She was most recently Global Head of Category, Watches, Jewellery and Sunglasses for Dufry Group, WDFG, Nuance and Allders.

Moyra has strategic skills in negotiation, category management, and brand relationships delivering positive outcomes.

Using real life experience, she provides a detailed insight into Travel Retail assisting brands to develop a specific ‘Travel Retail’ strategy ensuring improved visibility and profitability.

Digital and Marketing Director

Åsa Råd Vaher is the Director of Digital and Marketing at Gateretail and based in Stockholm, Sweden. She is an expert in the field of consumer experience, e-commerce and digital transformation. Before Gateretail she was part of driving huge pre order success with Nordic based inflight retailer Inflight Service who she joined in 2005. Previous to this she drove digital transformation in retail within FMCG, food packaging industry, with brands including ICA, Hemköpskedjan, Coop.

With over 15 years in digital and airline retail Åsa is uniquely positioned to meet the new needs of passengers, through new technology, omni channel marketing and relevant value propositions.

Åsa holds a bachelor degree in Business Administration and is an alumnus of Stockholm University, Sweden. She is also trained and holds multiple certificates in Marketing, Consumer insights and AI from Hyper Island, Stockholm and Bergh’s School of Communication, Stockholm.

Founder & Managing Director

Vimal Rai, Founder & Managing Director of TRACE Consulting, is a veteran travel “practitioner”. Having lived and worked in 8 cities and travelled to countless others, Vimal is driven by the pursuit of Customer Excellence within the travel, retail and aviation ecosystem. He led an enviable career across multiple aviation business units including passenger and cargo sales and operations, customer service, inflight products and services, inflight content and connectivity, travel retail and most recently, brand, product and services marketing.

Vimal has also invested in and mentored multiple travel tech startups who are out to redefine how travel providers attract, engage and retain customers. Increasingly recognised today for his engaging B2B social media content, Vimal is able to “join the dots” across the travel ecosystem strategically and in an agnostic manner, in the process redefining how sales, marketing, operations, customer experience and human resources need to combine effectively in the modern, rapidly-evolving digital, socially-connected era.

He now lives in Singapore with his wife and 2 daughters. He has spoken at multiple aviation conferences and webinars on topics such as customer experience, marketing and passenger and crew operations and is currently engaged with multiple technology enablers, airports and airlines on various transformation initiatives related to the recovery of air travel post-COVID-19.

Vice President of Global and Travel Retail Sales

Rob Robertaccio is the Vice President of Global and Travel Retail Sales at E. Gluck Corporation, a leading manufacturer of fashion watch brands for over 60 years. With more than 20 years of experience in both U.S. and international sales, general management, and high level customer relations in the fashion watch industry, Rob’s current brand responsibilities include Anne Klein, Armitron and Torgoen to name a few. 

After earning his Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Hobart College, he started his career in the buying office at Macy’s and later at Saks Fifth Avenue, before transitioning into his wholesale watch career.  Rob has been with E. Gluck Corporation since 2002.

Founder & Managing Director

Ahn Sang Joon is a travel retail expert in Asia and the publisher of ‘Center4Duty-Free’, which is the only duty-free market insights review covering trends in Korea and North-East Asia. He also manages a brand agency, which represents prominent European and US brands for the duty-free market.

Ahn has been heavily involved in the dramatic development of the Korean duty-free industry over the last decade in his role as Commercial Director at Incheon Airport. During his time at Incheon, the airport received many awards and recognition for its duty free operations. Incheon was the first airport globally to reach USD 2 billion in sales.

Ahn has experience both in-house at airports and at the head of his own consultancy, leading the commercial planning, development and management of various travel retail categories in the airport environment.

In addition to his publishing role, Ahn is currently establishing a brand distribution company in Shanghai to help brands in the dynamic Chinese market.

Founder & CEO

Caroline South is a veteran of nearly 35 years in the travel retail industry and is the creator of Caroline South Associates, a UK company founded in 1991 with a mission to “nurture and develop” premium beauty brands in travel retail. She started the business in a bedroom with an Amstrad computer on a garden table and today, nearly 30 years on Caroline South Associates is a best in class perfume and cosmetics agency which represents 20 fragrance, skincare and cosmetics brands, claiming a 10% share of beauty within Heathrow and in other airports and ferries throughout the UK and Ireland.

In 2017 Caroline South set up the Retail Academy alongside CSA, to raise standards on the shop floor for the company’s brands. The Academy is committed to providing first class training and development to their team of beauty consultants, which it achieves by combining personal training alongside an innovative app, which can be used by both CSA staff members and it’s brands.

Married to husband Peter for 32 years, Caroline is the proud mother to two grown up boys, Tom 27 who recently became GM of CSA and Ben 21, who lives in Los Angeles and is just finishing a three year degree at film school. A keen horse rider, yoga enthusiast and frustrated golfer, who proudly completed the London Marathon in 2010 for Bowel Cancer and has just achieved a personal ambition to be cast in a walk on role in son Ben’s latest movie.

Global Head of Marketing for Global Travel Retail

Ed joined Beam Suntory in 2018 as Global Head of Marketing for Global Travel Retail. Based in Madrid Spain, Ed is responsible for the execution of Beam Suntory’s stand out global travel retail marketing strategy – connecting, engaging and converting customers around the world.

Prior to joining Beam Suntory, Ed was International Head of Digital at Zoetis (previously Pfizer Animal Health) where he successfully ran a global team covering the full gambit of digital including: ecommerce, marketing automation, web, social, mobile and internal digital transformation. 

A proven marketing and digital transformation leader, Ed has experience across the globe including New York, Asia and Europe. He is also an established thought leader within the industry, guest lecturing at NYU, the Global CMO Summit, Dreamforce with Facebook, Forrester global forums plus many top tier Marketing, Digital and Pharmaceutical conferences.

Category Marketing Manager

Irina Tarabanko has led Mondelez World Travel Retail’s marketing team since August 2016.

Irina has been passionate about marketing since she was a teenager. She holds a High Degree Diploma in Commerce & Marketing from the Russian State University of Trade and Economics in Moscow. She has 17 years diverse marketing & advertising experience gained through both in-house and agency roles in brand and trade marketing. She has worked with premium, mainstream as well as economy brands across 5 different FMCG product categories in both developing and developed countries.

After 7 years spent in various marketing roles at SABMiller, Irina joined Mondelēz International in 2012 to manage the global snacking powerhouse’s major biscuits brands first in Russia and then in EEMEA region (Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa) before moving to her current role.

Founder & CEO

Mark Taylor has spent the last two decades of his life supporting organisations in the creation of successful and sustainable strategies.  He has achieved this by developing their teams to meet the challenges of ever increasing global competition.

Working with multi billion dollar clients, from Asia to the US and from Russia to the Middle East, his honest and incisive style creates challenging but rewarding environments in which to learn. 

He has held positions up to and including board level.

With an unusual background in Sales, Marketing, Manufacturing plus Retail Buying and Merchandising, it gives him a unique perspective which can help teams develop a defensible competitive edge.  He has managed businesses with turnovers in excess of $350 million and in the last decade has helped put over $1 billion on the bottom line of global manufacturers and retailers.  

Mark has previously developed and delivered leadership, strategy, sales, negotiation, and commercial excellence events for Whirlpool, Pfizer, Nestle, Expedia, Trivago, General Mills, JTI, Constellation Brands, Northern Foods, Kerry Group, Beam, John Frieda, Dunnhumby, Danone, P&G and many other multi billion dollar operations.  Some events achieve an ROI of over 3000% PA.  

In addition to this he is an accomplished author and his critically acclaimed books about retailing have been used as a template of success for new breeds of commercial enterprises which are competing in a digital world.

Senior Vice President, Hotel Operations

Frank Weber joined Virgin Voyages in April, 2015.  As Senior Vice President – Hotel Operations, Frank is driving an Epic Sea Change by leading the operational planning and management of all hotel administration areas, entertainment, food and beverage, guest services, casino, retail and wellness/spa operations across the Virgin Voyages fleet of Lady Ships.  His priority is to create innovative dining, entertainment and operational concepts and infrastructure that are distinctly Virgin, and deliver the brilliant Sailor experience for the brand.

With more than 25 years of cruise line hospitality experience, before joining Virgin Voyages Frank was Vice President, Production Development at Norwegian Cruise Line.  In this role, he oversaw concept and program development for all hotel services and venues for a fleet of 13 ships.  He was responsible for driving innovation across dining and entertainment areas and introduced many new exclusive dining and entertainment concepts and partnerships to improve guest experience, guest satisfaction and market position.

Frank also spent 10 years as Vice President, Food and Beverage at Royal Caribbean International where he led the global food and beverage operations.  He designed, developed and managed industry leading F&B concepts, programs and products to drive revenue and increase guest satisfaction.  He was a key creative driver of the industry changing Oasis of the Seas.  Frank delivered many ‘firsts’ in his time with Royal Caribbean, including the first fully licensed Starbucks at sea, other significant brand partnership programs and farm-to-table concepts.

He has won numerous hospitality and cruise industry awards for operational excellence, innovation and commitment to quality for his innovative designs, partnerships and programs.

Originally from Germany, Frank now resides in Miami with his wife, Molly, and he is a proud Grandfather.  Frank is passionate about food and travel, and spends a large chunk of his life cooking, and exploring bar and restaurant concepts around the world.  He is a keen biker and loves road trips on his Harley Davidson Road King Classic.

Deputy Editor

With more than 10 years’ journalistic experience, Barras-Hill has held senior editorial positions across a variety of B2B publications covering the international luxury goods markets, finance, public realm and built environment sectors. Formerly, he was Managing Editor of African Review of Business & Technology.

Prior to that he was Business and Finance Editor and Acting Editor for Frontier magazine, playing a pivotal role in enhancing its business coverage across channels, in addition to re-launching the Frontier Buyers’ Guide (formerly Frontier Brands).

He has a BA (Hons) in History and Anthropology and a NCTJ preliminary certificate in newspaper journalism.

Events & CSR Head

Michael Barrett joined TRBusiness in September 2019 to head up the media company's Events and CSR. Prior to this role Michael was Events and CSR Director at The Moodie Davitt Report. Before joining the trade media, he worked with the regional and global trade associations: APTRA, where he spent 8 years as Executive Director, and TFWA as Conference and Research Director between 2006 and 2013.

Michael began his career at European news network, Euronews, in journalism then marketing, and has experience in internet advertising and fundraising for international NGOs.

Senior Editor

Andrew graduated with a BA in Journalism from Middlesex University, and began his journalistic career at the Jewish Chronicle newspaper in London where he spearheaded the publication’s coverage of the 2005 Jewish Olympics in Israel.

In 2007 he moved to Duty Free News International (DFNI) and he progressed to become Deputy Editor.He has represented DFNI globally at various industry events, including the TFWA Cannes and Singapore shows, developed and maintained an extensive contacts list and helped drive the title’s online/print coverage and events portfolio. He joined the TRBusiness team in February 2018.

Editorial Director

Charlotte Turner is Editorial Director at TRBusiness and a member of the company's board of directors. She is a degree-educated journalist with over twelve years of experience in B2B and B2C magazine publishing and joined TRBusiness in 2011 from Frontier magazine where she was Assistant Editor.

Before entering travel retail, Turner built a solid foundation in journalism as a writer and International Content Coordinator for Bauer Media and a reporter for Sheengate Publishing. She has a BA in English with Creative Writing and an MA in Creative and Professional Writing. Turner became the Managing Editor at TRBusiness in April 2015.