PROGRAMME

Dave Keating is an American-European journalist based in Brussels. He is the Brussels correspondent for France 24 and writes for the New Statesman, Energy Monitor, Euractiv and IP Quarterly.

Previously he was the editor of EuropeanVoice.com, a side publication of The Economist. He is ranked as the number one EU politics social media influencer by ZN Consulting and the third most influential EU observer in 2020 and 2021. In addition to his work in Brussels since 2010, Dave has also worked as a journalist in New York, Chicago, Washington, London, Paris, Prague and Berlin.

Before arriving in Brussels in 2010, Dave covered the boardrooms of London, the halls of the US Congress in Washington, the cafes of Paris, the politics of Prague, the courtrooms of Chicago and the streets of New York City. He has also covered climate policy in Berlin.

Dave previously covered US politics in Washington and draws comparisons between the American federal system and the European Union. He is well-known in Brussels not only for his reporting but also his conference moderation.

As a broadcast journalist, Dave has worked as a correspondent reporter, a live in-studio analyst, a line producer, a newsmagazine show producer and a segment producer for live news panels.

Originally from the New York City area, Dave holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from New York University in film/television and European history. He also holds a Masters of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Dr Maria P. Neira has been directing the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health at the World Health Organization (Geneva, Switzerland) since September 2005. Throughout her tenure and up until now she has led and advised on policy and management in key areas of environmental health.

Prior to that she served as Under-Secretary of Health and President of the Spanish Food Safety Agency. From 1993-1998 she was Coordinator of the Global Task Force on Cholera Control.

Dr Neira began her career as a medical coordinator working with refugees in El Salvador and Honduras for Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders). She then spent several years working in different African countries during armed conflicts.

Born in the city of Oviedo, Asturias, Dr Neira is a Spanish national, a medical doctor by training and specialized in Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases; and Public Health:

Among many distinctions, she has been awarded the Médaille de l’Ordre national du Mérite by the Government of France and received an ”Extraordinary Woman“ award by HM Queen Letizia of Spain. In early 2019, she was nominated among the top 100 policy influencers in health and climate change.

Guillaume serves as a General Counsel and Company Secretary at eDreams ODIGEO (eDreams, Opodo, Travellink, Liligo). Guillaume has been a General Counsel of eDreams ODIGEO since April 2016.

Guillaume is also member of the Board of the European association of online travel distributors and GDSs ”EU Travel Tech“ and served as Chairman of this association between 2019 and 2021.

Prior to joining eDreams ODIGEO, Guillaume worked as a Partner lawyer at the Paris and Brussels Bar with a practice focused in e-commerce, Tourism law, European law and IP/IT litigation.

Further to his native French, Guillaume speaks English and Spanish.

Anna Kofoed has recently been appointed Executive Vice President, EMEA Travel Sellers, where she is responsible for Amadeus business with travel sellers in the EMEA region, both leisure and business. Anna and her teams bring the Amadeus mission to life − powering great journeys through technology, delivering on the needs of the wide array of travel sellers in her region, which encompasses over 118 countries and 40 languages.

Anna is Danish and holds an International MBA from Copenhagen Business School, specializing in intercultural management. She joined Amadeus in 2001 and has held various management roles across functions and disciplines from marketing to strategy, commercial, and business planning. Before being appointed Executive Vice President, EMEA Travel Sellers she has held the roles of Head of Travel Content Sourcing, as well as Senior Vice President of Retail Travel Agencies.

María Jesús López Solás is responsible for sales, network development, and alliances for Spain’s flag carrier Iberia Airlines. She plans the map of Iberia destinations and develops strategic alliances with other airlines, while seeking to increase revenues by devising commercial strategies, and through revenue management, digital business, sales, distribution, and ancillary activities. She is a member of the boards of Iberia, IAG Loyalty, and Iberia Cards. Previously she served as Customers and Loyalty Manager, and Network Development Manager.

Before joining Iberia, she worked in Chile and in Brazil, holding several positions in the airline LATAM, also in network planning, route management, and commercial strategy. She also worked with Endeavor as a business consultant for Latin American entrepreneurs

She began her career as a strategic consultant with the Boston Consulting Group, designing and implementing transformation strategies and projects for companies in the financial, consumer goods, telecommunications, and energy sectors.

Ms. López Solás holds a degree in business administration and management from ICADE at Spain’s Universidad Pontificia de Comillas, and she earned an MBA from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Juan Antonio joined IATA in 2006 where he was responsible for overall customer experience of 35 thousand participants in the European region.

Today Juan Antonio is Director FDS Operations, leading, developing and monitoring IATAs Financial Distribution Operational Services worldwide.

Responsible for the overall global strategy and direction to IATA’s Agency Programme in the areas of Settlement (including passenger and Cargo, ICCS and Clearing House), Airline and Agency global Participation, SIS Invoicing, Risk Management, Customer Engagement, Process Improvement, and ISS Governance endeavours. Accountable for the achievement of settlement System demanding goals, while safely managing over $380 billion of industry funds.

He oversees and provides sponsorship to operational multimillion-dollar IATA projects and in charge of the department’s comprehensive strategy and negotiations with 3rd party providers.

Juan Antonio holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from IE Business School and an Advanced Management Programme in Air Transport from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore in addition to an Aviation Science and Technology degree with an Economics Minor from Western Michigan University. Prior to joining IATA Juan Antonio held different positions in Amadeus and United Airlines.

Educational background: Master of Law, University of Copenhagen, 1990.

Previous positions: SAS permanent representative to STAR Alliance HR, Training and Internal communication Board (1196-2002), Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS): Corporate Secretary, Personnel Director, Training Director (1991-2002), Danish medical Supplies Co. Simonsen and Weel: Personnel Manager (1990-1991), Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), Ramp agent from 1985 also including part time work as a SAS Quality Management consultant ((1983-89), SAS ramp services, ramp agent (1981-82), Kilroy Travels (then: DIS Rejser) and American Express Travel: Travel Counsellor (1977-83).

Additional responsibilities & pro bono work: Board member, ECTAA (2002 − present day), Board member, Chairman or Vice Chairman of the Music festival ”Musik I Lejet“ (2014 − present day), President, ECTAA (Europe) (2014 − 2016), Chair, WTAAA (World Travel Agents Associations Alliance) (2012 − 2014), Member of the Experience Economy-committee of the Danish employers Confederation (2007- present day), Deputy director & since 2011 director of World Travel Agents Associations Alliance (WTAAA), representing ECTAA (2006 − present day), Vice President of ECTAA, and chairman of the ECTAA Air Matters Committee (2005 − 2010), Member of the EU commission’s TSG (Tourism Sustainability Group), as a private sector representative (2004 − 2013), Member of the advisory board of the Danish Trade and Services association (2004 − 2007), Member of the Danish travel arbitration board oversight committee (2002 − present day), Board Member, Danish Travel Guarantee Fund (2002 − present day), Board Member of the Swedish Travel Academy (”TRAC“) (1998 − 2003), Member of ”Rosenborggruppen“, a network of HRD Vice Presidents under the auspices of Center for Ledelse − ”Danish Center for Leadership“ (1997 − 2008), Member (from 1998 also Board Member) of ASTD (American Society for Training and Development)’s Benchmarking Forum (1996 − 2002), Chairman of the Board of the private school ”Ingrid Jespersens Gymnasieskole“, in Copenhagen (1995 − 2009), Manager of SAS’ (Telephone) Crisis Management Team Denmark (1993 − 2002).

Dave Keating is an American-European journalist based in Brussels. He is the Brussels correspondent for France 24 and writes for the New Statesman, Energy Monitor, Euractiv and IP Quarterly.

Previously he was the editor of EuropeanVoice.com, a side publication of The Economist. He is ranked as the number one EU politics social media influencer by ZN Consulting and the third most influential EU observer in 2020 and 2021. In addition to his work in Brussels since 2010, Dave has also worked as a journalist in New York, Chicago, Washington, London, Paris, Prague and Berlin.

Before arriving in Brussels in 2010, Dave covered the boardrooms of London, the halls of the US Congress in Washington, the cafes of Paris, the politics of Prague, the courtrooms of Chicago and the streets of New York City. He has also covered climate policy in Berlin.

Dave previously covered US politics in Washington and draws comparisons between the American federal system and the European Union. He is well-known in Brussels not only for his reporting but also his conference moderation.

As a broadcast journalist, Dave has worked as a correspondent reporter, a live in-studio analyst, a line producer, a newsmagazine show producer and a segment producer for live news panels.

Originally from the New York City area, Dave holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from New York University in film/television and European history. He also holds a Masters of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

ICCA is the global association leader for the international meetings industry and specialises in the international association meetings sector, offering unrivalled data, education, communication channels, and business development and networking opportunities.

Managing over 500 members, Tamara started working for ICCA in the midst of the COVID crisis- quickly adapting to new formats and business models, as well as providing knowledge content and education to her members and collaborating with other regions within ICCA, to create new hybrid platforms.

Tamara also leads the global partner and sponsor opportunities at ICCA, always searching for new ideas and creative ways to incorporate business development.

Tamara previously worked for Expo Tel Aviv- the international convention center, managing large scale local and international events, as well as managing the international sales and marketing and leading the way to international meetings industry for the venue.

Federico Bonaudi is Head of Facilitation, Parliamentary Affairs and Regional Airports at ACI EUROPE − the association of European airports. Immediately prior to joining ACI EUROPE, Federico worked at the AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD) where he was Project Manager. He has extensive experience in air transport and international and European affairs, having worked in a number of positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Uruguay.

Federico holds a BA in International Relations from the Universidad de la República in Uruguay and an MA from the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Uruguay.

A Belgian and Uruguayan national, Federico speaks fluent English, French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.

Christian Boutin is Managing Director of Amadeus Spain and Portugal and Senior Vice-president for Western Europe since October 2019.

At Amadeus, he previously served as General Manager of Amadeus Travel IMS. In the latter role he led the integration of the inventory management provider into the Amadeus group, and has established a new customer service and commercial organization to support tour operators globally.

Boutin joined Amadeus in 2006, where he has held different positions, based in the Madrid headquarters, Market Management for the MEA Region, head of global Travel Agency Marketing, and the Commercial Operations for the Corporate segment on a global scale.

He has extensive professional experience in the commercial and strategic field, both nationally and internationally. Before joining Amadeus IT Group, he worked at L’Oréal, Día, Dvdgo.com, Lanetro and Warner Bros Entertainment.

Christian Boutin, of Spanish and French nationality, holds a Bachelor of Science with a specialty in General Management from Boston College and an MBA from IE Business School.

Javier Gándara, president of the Airline Association (ALA) and recently appointed easyJet general manager for southern Europe.. Before joining easyJet, Javier worked as a Senior Manager Operations for Spain and Portugal in the international company FedEX from 2000. In 2007 he was named Operations Manager by easyJet in Spain, which was his job until the 1st of May of 2011, when he became easyJet Country Manager for Spain and Portugal.

He graduated in aeronautical engineering from the UPM (Polytechnic University of Madrid), he is also a graduate in Business Administration and Management from the UNED and has an Executive MBA from the IE Business School, as well as a Postgraduate Certificate in Air Transport Management by the City University of London.

He is the author of the book ”Revolution in the Skies: keys to the success of low-cost airlines“, edited by ITAérea Editorial.

Javier Gándara is married and has two children.

Suzanne has over a decade of experience in the travel risk management industry. In her current role, she is the Commercial & Communications Director at Riskline, a world-class travel risk intelligence company in operation since 2007. Suzanne also serves as the Vice-Chair for the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) Canada’s Risk Committee, is a professional member of the Women in International Security (WIIS) organisation, and has previous experience in intelligence geopolitical assessment and policy institutes advocating on diplomacy and security issues.

She holds an MSc in International Security and Global Governance from Birkbeck, University of London, and a double bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Economics from the University of King’s College in Canada. An expert in global travel intelligence and safety issues, she has pioneered and led several Duty of Care projects that ensure diverse corporate traveller inclusivity, and strongly believes we are most innovative through collective collaboration.

Rafael Murillo is Corporate Senior Manager of Iberia Cards (owned by Iberia Airways, Santander Bank, IAG). Payment Institution that issues cobranded credit cards linked to Iberia Airlines and Iberia Plus Program for Consumer, Business, Corporate and Lodge Cards.

He has a degree in Law and Economics, Master in Business Administration and Master in European Law. Oppositions to Judge and Prosecutor.

From 1997 to 1999 he worked at the European Marketing Department in Brussels and Paris for Petrofina and TOTAL oil Companies.

Luis Araújo is the President of Turismo de Portugal (Portuguese National Tourism Authority) since February 2016. He is also President of ETC − European Travel Commission since September 2020 and President of NEST − Tourism Innovation Center in Portugal.

He has a degree in Law.

Board Member at Group Pestana responsible for the Hispanic America hotels operations Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia and Cuba. He was also Head of Development for the same Continent and Head of Sustainability since the creation of the department in 2009.

From 2001 to 2005 he worked for the Brazilian branch of the company where he was successively Board’s Associate for New Projects in Brazil, Board Member and Vice President for the Group Pestana in South America, with responsibility for New Business Development and Area Operations.

He served the Portuguese Government as Head of the Cabinet of the Portuguese Secretary of State for Tourism between 2005 and 2007.

Simón Pedro Barceló Vadell was born in Palma de Mallorca in 1966 (Balearic Islands/Spain), is married and has three children. He obtained his Law Degree from the University of the Balearic Islands.

After being a Senator for Mallorca from 1989 and 1993, he began working in his family’s company.

Barceló Group in 1993. Currently, he is Co-Chairman of the Board that manages the family’s group of businesses.

Between November 2008 and November 2010 he was President of the Spanish Family Business Institute.

From September 2014 until July 2018 he was President of the Balearic Agrupación de Cadenas Hoteleras (a local Hotel Chain Association).

Responsibilities: Alessandro Braga is Affinity’s Global Vice President of Travel, with a mandate to support Aon’s initiatives in the Travel Insurance space globally: geographical expansion, international and cross-regional partnerships, M&A, development of capabilities and travel intelligence.

Experience: Prior to joining Aon, Alessandro was Head of Strategic Sales (Insurance) at Expedia, based out of London and Seattle, where he led Expedia’s global travel insurance RFP across 18 countries and brands (Expedia, Ebookers, Orbitz, Hotwire, Homeaway, Egencia etc.). Prior to that, he was based in Paris, working for Allianz Global Assistance global travel headquarter and then Europe Assistance Holding (Generali Group), in various travel insurance related leadership roles, responsible for multi-regional business development and large account management. His experience includes travel insurance product design and distribution in the Airlines, Tour Operators, Travel Agents, OTAs, Cruises industries across the globe.

Education: Alessandro studied Litterature & Public Relations in the Catholic University of Milan, Italy

Andy first joined CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association) in 2006 after many years in the travel industry, including as a travel agent. Andy re-launched CLIA’s travel agent programme in the UK and later extended it to European countries, during which time agent and cruise line membership reached record levels.

CLIA now offers a multi-layered programme that encompasses blended learning to recognise different learning styles. Last year Andy was recognised by Travel Weekly UK for his outstanding contribution to the UK travel industry, and in 2021 was promoted to Managing Director.

Alfonso Paredes is the Senior Vice President Worldwide at Expedia Partner Solutions (EPS), a B2B partnership brand of Expedia Group. Alfonso leads the sales and management team for commercial partnerships worldwide.

Having first joined Expedia as a Senior Revenue Manager in 2002, Alfonso now has more than 15 years’ experience of successful business development across Europe, USA and Latin America. In 2004, he left Expedia and worked at Fexco, IATA and Bookassist before returning to EPS. Alfonso lead several successful global teams at EPS and he was appointed Senior Vice President of Commercial partnerships in 2018.

Alfonso graduated from Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne in 2000 and received an Executive MBA from the Instituto de Empresa in 2005. He is an Athletic de Bilbao and Real Madrid supporter and loves American and French culture.

Dave Keating is an American-European journalist based in Brussels. He is the Brussels correspondent for France 24 and writes for the New Statesman, Energy Monitor, Euractiv and IP Quarterly.

Previously he was the editor of EuropeanVoice.com, a side publication of The Economist. He is ranked as the number one EU politics social media influencer by ZN Consulting and the third most influential EU observer in 2020 and 2021. In addition to his work in Brussels since 2010, Dave has also worked as a journalist in New York, Chicago, Washington, London, Paris, Prague and Berlin.

Before arriving in Brussels in 2010, Dave covered the boardrooms of London, the halls of the US Congress in Washington, the cafes of Paris, the politics of Prague, the courtrooms of Chicago and the streets of New York City. He has also covered climate policy in Berlin.

Dave previously covered US politics in Washington and draws comparisons between the American federal system and the European Union. He is well-known in Brussels not only for his reporting but also his conference moderation.

As a broadcast journalist, Dave has worked as a correspondent reporter, a live in-studio analyst, a line producer, a newsmagazine show producer and a segment producer for live news panels.

Originally from the New York City area, Dave holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from New York University in film/television and European history. He also holds a Masters of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Lawyer, graduated from the Universidad Externado of Colombia.

She started her professional life as general manager of the Travel Agency Casa del Turismo. In 2004, she became Vice-president of the ANATO´s National Board of Members. Therefore, since 2006 to 2010, she assumed the chairmanship of the Board of Members. In 2010, she was designated as the ANATO´s Executive President.

She has worked in creation of national and international partnerships, been part of OMT´s board of members as a regional Vice-president for Americas.

She also, in 2012, supported the creation of Folatur , organization of which she is currently Vice-president. Additionally, she is a member of the World Alliance of Travel Agents Associations (WTAAA), in representation of Folatur.

Otto de Vries is the CEO of ASATA (Association of Southern African Travel Agents), past Chairman of the World Travel Agents Association Alliance (WTAAA) and a Board member of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA).

He has been active in the travel industry for 32 years, 22 of those in senior management roles in the inbound, retail and wholesale sectors. He is a WTAAA delegate to the IATA Passenger Agency Global Joint Council (PAPGJC) and currently Chairs the WTAAA Air Committee. Through the Council he has participated on a number of committees and working groups, including the steering group on NDC Thought Leadership, the Transparency in Payment Advisory Group, the IATA ADM Working Group, the Risk Management Working Group and the Airline Distribution Advisory Forum.

During Covid-19 pandemic Otto has actively lobbied for the safe re-opening of travel, both domestically and internationally; including involvement in the development of health protocols and marketing strategies in South Africa, the role out of digital vaccination certifications and participation in the global Travel Again project, whose mission it is to unite the global travel industry in order to restore consumer and corporate confidence in traveling and encourage responsible government policy globally.

Juan Jesús García Sánchez works as Director of Industry Affairs Europe at Amadeus IT. In his current position, he is leading relevant Amadeus strategic initiatives undertaken with industry and regulatory bodies such as the European Commission, European Parliament and Travel & Technology Trade Associations. He is currently the Chairman of eu travel tech (European Travel Technology Association). He also represents Amadeus before relevant Transport and Tourism organizations such as United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and OECD and contributes to the definition of programs and public policies to foster tourism, digitization and economic growth:

Juan complements his professional background with relevant academic activities. He gained his PhD by Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid with a research thesis about ”Strategies of Spanish Tourism companies via mobile“. He is also a member of the Tourism Committee at AECA (Asociación Española de Contabilidad y Administración de Empresas).

Gabriele Milani, national director of FTO, young and innovative association that represents the entire chain of organized tourism and sees among its members numerous reference companies of the Italian Travel market.

Gabriele graduated from University of Pisa with an MSc in Economics and commenced his career as a senior auditor with Arthur Andersen. He then spent 14 years with Autogrill Spa, the Italian-based multinational catering company operating at airports, motorways and railway stations, where he held the roles of CFO, Sales Director and Chief Central Operations Officer.

Gabriele then joined Expo 2015 Milano, where he was the food and beverage Manager. More recently, Gabriele has held the role of Real Estate and Facility Manager at Casa Milan, the HQ, offices, museum and destination building of AC Milan. Other roles include CFO and Board Member for an Italian architectural structure company and General Manager for a start-up company operating as a guarantee fund within the Italian tourism market.

Gabriele has been contributing support and expertise as part of Russell Partnership Collection team working to ensure Expo 2020 Dubai plan and deliver an exceptional culinary experience.

Gabriele’s experience in key positions within diverse business sectors, from finance to operations, has allowed him to increase the strategic vision of the processes and those transferable skills necessary to navigate complex businesses.

Commercial Engineer from the Faculty of Economic and Business Sciences of the University of Chile.

Extensive experience in the financial industry, holding managerial positions in the commercial, financial and international areas of financial institutions, and Director of subsidiaries of Grupo and Banco Security.

President of the Chilean Association of Tourism Companies ”ACHET“ for the last 17 years. This union entity represents the travel agencies and Tour Operators of Chile.

Executive President and founding partner of the company Travel Security, which in Chile is the leading travel agency in the corporate business area and has a solid position in the luxury travel segment and has the exclusive Amex GBT franchise for Chile and Peru.

President of the Latin American Tourism Forum ”FOLATUR“, which brings together the main trade associations of travel agencies and tour operators in the region.

Director of the World Alliance of Travel Agents Associations”WTAAA“.

In his trade union position, he has played a leading role in creating the conditions for the existence of a competitive air market and where the independent distribution channel, made up of travel agencies and tour operators, can compete on ”equal terms“ with the companies. airlines that have a dominant position in the market and those represented by IATA.

Promoter of Viajes Dos, recently acquired by W2M, where Carlos Garrido joined as Director of Business Development and Institutional Relations, a position he currently occupies.

In 1986 he promoted and participated in the launch of VIAJES ECO, from where the commercialization of the Navarra Air Lines was managed and the travel portal viajarabajoprecio.com was launched.

Since 1990 he led the generational changeover of the VIAJES EXCELSIOR family business, which his father founded in 1960.

At the institutional level, he is currently the president of CEAV (Spanish Confederation of Travel Agencies) and vice-president of the Mesa de Turismo Tourism Board), vice-president of ICTE (Institute of Spanish Tourism Quality), member of the Executive Committee and of the CEOE Tourism Council, member of CONESTUR (State Council of Tourism), member of the Executive Committee of FITUR and member of the advisor board of Japan.

In the past, I have also held positions of responsibility as president of UNAV (National Union of Travel Agencies), vice president of GEBTA (Guild of European Business Travel Agents), vice president of AEDAVE, president of AJE (Association of Young Entrepreneurs) and member of the Council Director and of the Tourism Commission of CEIM (Independent Business Confederation of Madrid) and of the Madrid Chamber of Commerce.

Additionally, it participates as a promoter partner and advisor in other projects in the tourism sector www.spainheritagenetwork.com, www.goletacervantes.es and www.greenfeeb2b.com.

Educational background: Master of Law, University of Copenhagen, 1990.

Previous positions: SAS permanent representative to STAR Alliance HR, Training and Internal communication Board (1196-2002), Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS): Corporate Secretary, Personnel Director, Training Director (1991-2002), Danish medical Supplies Co. Simonsen and Weel: Personnel Manager (1990-1991), Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), Ramp agent from 1985 also including part time work as a SAS Quality Management consultant ((1983-89), SAS ramp services, ramp agent (1981-82), Kilroy Travels (then: DIS Rejser) and American Express Travel: Travel Counsellor (1977-83).

Additional responsibilities & pro bono work: Board member, ECTAA (2002 − present day), Board member, Chairman or Vice Chairman of the Music festival ”Musik I Lejet“ (2014 − present day), President, ECTAA (Europe) (2014 − 2016), Chair, WTAAA (World Travel Agents Associations Alliance) (2012 − 2014), Member of the Experience Economy-committee of the Danish employers Confederation (2007- present day), Deputy director & since 2011 director of World Travel Agents Associations Alliance (WTAAA), representing ECTAA (2006 − present day), Vice President of ECTAA, and chairman of the ECTAA Air Matters Committee (2005 − 2010), Member of the EU commission’s TSG (Tourism Sustainability Group), as a private sector representative (2004 − 2013), Member of the advisory board of the Danish Trade and Services association (2004 − 2007), Member of the Danish travel arbitration board oversight committee (2002 − present day), Board Member, Danish Travel Guarantee Fund (2002 − present day), Board Member of the Swedish Travel Academy (”TRAC“) (1998 − 2003), Member of ”Rosenborggruppen“, a network of HRD Vice Presidents under the auspices of Center for Ledelse − ”Danish Center for Leadership“ (1997 − 2008), Member (from 1998 also Board Member) of ASTD (American Society for Training and Development)’s Benchmarking Forum (1996 − 2002), Chairman of the Board of the private school ”Ingrid Jespersens Gymnasieskole“, in Copenhagen (1995 − 2009), Manager of SAS’ (Telephone) Crisis Management Team Denmark (1993 − 2002).