Hotel & Tourism Investment & Development Conference Speaker Faculty

Guest Speakers Include:

• Taleb Rifai, Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations World Tourism Organization, Spain
• Claude Attala, Managing Director, Northcourse Advisory Services, UAE
• Philippe Baretaud, Development Director, Accor Middle East, UAE
• Paul Bell, Managing Director, Aldar Hotels and Hospitality, UAE
• Conrad Bigham, Director, Cushman & Wakefield Hospitality EMEA, UK
• Hala Matar Choufany, Director Middle East, HVS International, UAE
• Dave Evans, Executive Vice President Global Legal Affairs, Group RCI, UK
• Eric Gummers, Senior Partner, Howard Kennedy, UK
• Kenneth L Hatton, Partner, Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal, Belgium
• Tom O’Grady, Head of Real Estate ME, DLA Piper, UAE
• Phil Kasselis, Vice-President Development, Middle East & Africa, Intercontinental Hotel Group, UAE
• Jan Laverty Jones, Former Mayor, Las Vegas, USA
• Tom Sprinkle, Vice President and Principal, SB Architects, USA
• James Lehouiller, President, Dileonardo International, USA
• Gary Lopez, Group Director of Development and Planning, Jumeirah Group, UAE
• Peter MacLeod, Vice President, Fairmont Hotels Real Estate, UAE
• Ivor McBurney, Vice President, Development, Middle East Hilton Hotels, UAE
• Jalil Mekouar, Executive Vice-President, Jones Lang LaSalle MENA, UAE
• Darrell Metzger, CEO, Ruwaad Destinations and IAAPA First Vice Chair, UAE
• Piaras Moriarty, Executive VP, IFA Hotels and Resorts, UAE
• Tarek Nabulsi, Vice President, Elaf Group, Saudi Arabia
• Ananya Narayan, Senior Vice President Global Strategy, Preferred Hotel Group, UAE
• Malcolm Ross, Chief Operating Officer, Seven Tides, UAE
• Alexandre Sogno, Managing Director Asset Management, Global Asset Solution, Indonesia and Singapore
• Rohit Talwar, CEO, Fast Future, UK
• Rod Taylor, Head of Hospitality & Tourism, Europe Arab Bank MENA, UK
• Mihir Thacker, Director Development Middle East & Africa, Intercontinental Hotel Group, UAE
• Nick Turner, Managing Director, RCI Middle East, UAE
• Jose Ventura, Executive Director, Interval International, UAE
• Elie Younes, Senior Director – Acquisitions Development EAME, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, UAE
• Dale P. Young, Vice President & General Manager - Middle East, Marriott Vacation Club International, UAE
• Manfred Ursprunger, CEO, QE2 Enterprises, Nakheel Hotels, UAE
• Lee Tabler, CEO, Tourism Development and Investment Company

Taleb Rifai, Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations World Tourism Organization, Spain

Mr. Taleb Rifai took up his position as Deputy Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in February 2006. From January 2003 to February 2006, Mr. Rifai was the Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Arab States of the International Labour Organization (ILO). Prior to this appointment, Mr. Rifai was in charge of several senior government portfolios as Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Minister of Information and Minister of Planning and International Cooperation in the Government of Jordan. As Minister of Tourism, Mr. Rifai served as Chairman of the Executive Council of the World Tourism Organization (2002-2003). From 1997 to 2000, he was Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Jordan Cement Company, one of the largest public companies in Jordan, and directed the first large scale privatization and restructuring project in Jordan in 1999. In his capacity as Director General of the Investment Promotion Corporation (IPC) in Jordan (1995-1997), Mr. Rifai was actively involved in policy making and developing investment strategies. During 1993-1995, Mr. Rifai headed Jordan’s first Economic Mission to the USA based in Washington DC, promoting trade, investments, and economic relations between the two countries. Mr. Rifai began his career as Professor of Architecture, Planning and Urban Design at the University of Jordan from 1973-1993.  He received his PhD in Urban Design and Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and a Master in Engineering and Architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), Chicago.  He also attained a B.Sc. in Architectural Engineering from the University of Cairo in 1973. Born in 1949, Mr. Rifai is married and has five children.

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Claude Attala, Managing Director, Northcourse Advisory Services, UAE

Prior to joining NorthCourse, Claude was heading the Planning & Operations at the Qatar Tourism Authority, where he was responsible for the licensing framework for the hospitality sector and drafting the classification systems for hotels and tour operators. He was also head of the business development team, assisting potential investors and developers with tourism-related projects in Qatar. Prior to this Claude worked in various senior roles with Rezidor SAS, Intercontinental Hotels, Meridien Hotels & Resorts and Sheraton. Claude has worked on several key projects in the Middle East; the following is an overview of some of recent projects that he has been involved with: The implementation plan of the Master Tourism plan for the State of Qatar Nomination file of the Khor Al Adaid area in Qatar for the inclusion on the UNESCO natural world heritage list Framework for licensing and regulation of the Tourism sector for the state of Qatar Implementation plan for the Classification of Hotels and Serviced Apartments in the State of Qatar Business case for the Joint venture between Northcourse and Qatari Diar for sales leisure real estate solutions related to Qatari Diar’s mixed used developments Design development brief, concept recommendation of four hotels within a mega-mixed used resort project planned  in Al Ain Sales implementation plan for a timeshare development in Mecca, Saudi Arabia Design development brief and financial analysis of mixed use a resort in Dubailand Negotiated and secured hotel management agreements for various projects in the United Arab Emirates Identified and negotiated hotel operator management agreements for luxury mixed used    resort development in Morocco. Market research, site analysis and development brief  for a major real estate developer of the Greater Cairo district, Egypt Market Research and feasibility study to analysis Fractional Shared Ownership for the Jumierah Golf Estates development in Dubai

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Philippe Baretaud, Development Director, Accor Middle East, UAE

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Paul Bell, Managing Director, Aldar Hotels and Hospitality, UAE

Paul Bell is the Chief Operating Officer of Aldar Hotels and Hospitality Group. In this role Paul is based at Aldar corporate headquarters in Abu Dhabi and heads a team which has responsibility for all of Aldar’s hotel and hospitality related investments. Aldar is one of the UAE’s largest integrated real estate development companies with over 25 million square metres of mixed use projects currently under development including YAS Island (which includes a Ferrari branded attraction and a race track which will host the 2009 Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Grand Prix), Al Raha Beach (an 8.5 kilometre mixed use waterfront development) and Central Market projects in Abu Dhabi. Prior to his current position Paul was VP of Business Development EMEA for InterContinental Hotels Group and has held a number of senior development roles in 2 spells with IHG.  In the late 1990s Paul led the development of Stannifer/ Somerston’s hotel business in the UK and served as Managing Director from 2000 to 2004. Paul has considerable brand development and management experience gained within UK and EMEA roles with leading global brand owners and has in the past been the Finance Director and an Executive Board Member of the British Franchise Association. Paul is married with 2 grown up children and his interests include football, current affairs and contemporary music.

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Conrad Bigham, Director, Cushman & Wakefield Hospitality EMEA, UK

Conrad Bigham joined Cushman & Wakefield Hospitality, EMEA in 2007, based in London. His particular expertise centres upon providing Investment and Debt Advisory services to investors in the hotel industry. Together with acquiring and selling hotels for clients, he has also advised on a wide variety of  cross border strategic funding requirements ranging from the UK to Kazakhstan. These assignments have included advising a Spanish hotel group on debt funding, a UK hotel developer on development finance requirements and a Middle Eastern investor in relation to acquiring and financing a European hotel portfolio.

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Hala Matar Choufany, Director Middle East, HVS International, UAE

Hala Matar Choufany is a Director with HVS International and is responsible for the firm's valuation and consulting work in the Middle East and Egypt. She initially joined HVS London in 2005, moved to HVS Shanghai in September 2006 where she helped grow HVS Shanghai office and business in the Asia region. She relocated to Dubai in September 2007 and looks after HVS interests in the Middle East. Before joining HVS International, Hala had four years of operational and managerial hotel industry experience. She lectured at Notre Dame University in Lebanon on International Travel and Tourism. Hala holds an MPhil from Leeds University, UK, an MBA from IMHI (Essec-Cornell) University, Paris, France and a BA in Hospitality Management from Notre Dame University, Lebanon. Since joining HVS, she has worked on several mid and large scale mixed use developments and conducted numerous valuations, feasibility studies, operator search, return on investment and market studies in Europe, Middle East and Asia.

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Dave Evans, Executive Vice President Global Legal Affairs, Group RCI, UK

David Evans, Group RCI Vice President, heads the Government Relations Program for Wyndham Worldwide Corporate Services. He serves as Chair of Wyndham’s internal Government Relations Council and is responsible for coordinating federal, state and international government relations efforts for the government relations executives at Group RCI, Wyndham Hotel Group, and Wyndham Vacation Ownership.  David has spent the last five years in the Group’s legal department advising business clients on government relations, regulatory compliance, real estate and timeshare regulation. Prior to joining Group RCI, David served as Senior Legislative and Corporate Counsel to the American Resort Development Association (ARDA), and held various state government positions with the Florida House of Representatives, the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

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Eric Gummers, Senior Partner, Howard Kennedy, UK

Partner Eric Gummers joined Howard Kennedy in September 2003 from Amhurst Brown Colombotti as part of the merger between the two firms. Eric is a corporate partner with 22 years´ experience. His expertise includes mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, shareholder agreements and commercial contracts. A high proportion of his work is international. Eric is recognised for his specialised work in the hotel and leisure sector, particularly membership clubs, loyalty programmes, fractional, shared ownership and condo-hotels. Eric is consistently rated in the top tier for his work in the hospitality and leisure sectors by both Chambers and Legal 500. He is a fluent French speaker and a graduate from Cambridge University. Eric is also a committee member of City of London lawyers commercial law sub-committee

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Tom O’Grady, Head of Real Estate ME, DLA Piper, UAE

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Jan Laverty Jones, Former Mayor, Las Vegas, USA

Jan L. Jones is Senior Vice President of Communications and Government Relations for Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. In that capacity, she oversees all worldwide government affairs, corporate communications, community relations and corporate-social responsibility programs for the $9 billion corporation. Prior to joining Harrah’s in November 1999, Jones served two terms as Mayor of the City of Las Vegas.  She was the city’s first woman chief executive, and among the most popular mayors in its history, having won reelection in 1995 by a 72 percent margin. While in office, Jones presided over an unprecedented period of economic, social and cultural expansion, one in which the city’s population increased 66 percent, making Las Vegas the fastest-growing major metropolitan area in America throughout much of the 1990s. As mayor, Jones spearheaded a massive growth and redevelopment effort in the city’s once-neglected downtown neighborhood. She played a pivotal role in conceiving, and promoting investment in, the $70 million Fremont Street Experience; she also worked to secure a new County and Government Center, a $170 million regional Justice Center, a $90 million Federal Courthouse, and numerous other capital projects. Her focus on building cooperative, mutually beneficial public/private sector partnerships led Inc. magazine to name Las Vegas the No. 1 city in the country for entrepreneurs, while Fortune ranked the city second in the nation on its list of Best Places in America in which to do business.

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Tom Sprinkle, Vice President and Principal, SB Architects, USA

Tom brings over 20 years of experience to his role as principal of SB Architects, nearly all of them in San Francisco.  In those two decades, he has worked on over 200 projects, working with some of the most iconic firms in the architectural profession. As one of the firm’s design directors, Tom is responsible for overseeing the design of all projects within the firm, as well as leading the design effort on particular projects. His extensive experience with a range of projects in all parts of the world gives him the ability to effectively lead the design of large-scale projects in a variety of settings, with a particular emphasis on projects in dense, urban settings.

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James Lehouiller, President, Dileonardo International, USA

James Lehouiller is President of DiLeonardo International, one of the world’s largest and most respected interior architectural design firms and universally recognised for its achievements and innovations in the hospitality and leisure industry. James joined DiLeonardo in 1994. His keen business acumen and management skills, which have been greatly responsible for the firm’s remarkable growth over the past decade, led to his appointment as President in 2006. He began his business career as a successful institutional trader with Sanford Bernstein, one of New York’s leading boutique investment firms. After joining DiLeonardo in 1994, he started working in the firm&rsqu