John joined Aer Rianta in 1977 having worked with two American Multinationals, Bechtel and Merck Inc. He went to Dubai in 1983 as part of the team that set up Dubai Duty Free and stayed on as Deputy General Manager until 1990.
He then joined Aer Rianta International and held the position of Director and General Manager at Moscow Duty Free which was then ARI’s largest business unit. In 1992 he transferred to Bahrain as General Manager of Bahrain Duty Free. The following year he was instrumental in establishing Aer Rianta International Middle East and held the position of Managing Director until he retired in December 2010. During John’s time at ARIME it grew to become the largest international operator in the Middle East with the greatest geographical footprint and turnover just short of one billion US Dollars.
John was instrumental in establishing MEDFA and was elected its first President in 2001. He has spoken at a number of trade conferences including ACI, The Trinity Forum, TFWA Asia Pacific & GATE ONE2ONE and MEDFA.
This special panel session looked at the history of MEDFA and its achievements and development after 10 years, as well as discussing how its role may change in the future.
John Sime, MEDFA President and Vice President Retail Services & General Manager Emirates High Street.
Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice Chairman, Dubai Duty Free
Anthony Chalhoub, Chief Executive, Chalhoub Group
Sarah Branquinho, Business Relations & External Affairs Director, World Duty Free Group & President Designate, ETRC
Sunil Tuli, Managing Director Duty Free, Kingpower Group Hong Kong & President, APTRA
As consumers become more sophisticated and more demanding, duty free & travel retail has to anticipate, tempt and surprise consumers to increase their spend. This session explored ways all stakeholders can challenge existing practices and bring about innovation, at all levels, to engage with consumers in new ways.
Lewis Allen, Director, Portland
David Maddison, Head of Retail Partnerships, Initium Onboard
Steve O’Connor, CEO, Delhi Duty Free
In this research session, findings from TFWA’s global airport travel retail consumer survey provided insights into consumers’ expressed purchasing behaviour and desires, while Counter Intelligence Retail revealed analysis of the behaviour of travel retail consumers gleaned from monitoring their journey through the store.
Peter Mohn, Partner, Mind-set
Garry Stasiulevicuis, Managing Director, Counter Intelligence Retail
With the dynamic growth across the Middle East region, human resources management is a constant challenge. This session will looked at case-studies of best practice from within the region, illustrating some of the initiatives being deployed to ensure excellence in both customer and staff satisfaction.
Gunnar Heinemann, co-owner Gebr. Heinemann
Followed by panel with Rachel Green, Recruitment & Employee Development Manager, Dubai Duty Free & Erik Van der Veen, Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Middle East, Dufry Sharjah
Helena Malfait, Sales Manager, Duty free markets, African & Eastern
Dermot Davitt, The Moodie Report
John Sutcliffe, Consultant Director , Aer Rianta International Middle East
