Tom has more than 18 years of progressively responsible experience managing successful travel retail businesses, predominately in the Middle East and also in Eastern Europe. He has been leading the Muscat Duty Free team since 2008.

Among his significant previous positions, Tom served as General Manager of Dufry Belgrade Serbia, Operations Manager of Beirut Duty Free Lebanon, Operations Manager of Kuwait Duty Free and has held senior retail roles in Pakistan, Bahrain and Russia all within the ARI group. He is a driven strategic thinker with great customer focus and team leading abilities.

Tom is a graduate of Stirling University Scotland, having been awarded an MBA in International Retailing.

Lewis joined Portland in May 2006 as Director of Environments and has over 20 years of design consultancy experience working for leading creative agencies in Europe and the U.S. He has a comprehensive track record of leading multi-disciplinary creative teams to design and deliver branded experiences for retail and leisure environments, communication graphics and exhibition spaces.

Lewis has developed a particular expertise in defining, designing and implementing strategic re-alignments for major brands across a broad range of consumer sectors and design disciplines. Currently he is leading a series of key projects for Diageo’s Global Travel Retail Team. He has also led projects for Larnaca Duty Free (Cyprus), Aeroports de Paris, Luxottica, Westfield (UK), Ajmal (UAE) and Shoppers’ Stop department stores in India. Lewis was also involved in projects for The Nuance Group at Bangalore and Hyderabad airports in India.

Lewis is an avid writer of articles for key retail and marketing publications. He is a regular speaker at industry events and always relishes the opportunity to challenge and debate the burning topics of the day!

Nima presents BBC World’s weekly business and finance programme, Middle East Business Report (MEBR) and was part of the team that set up the programme. She has reported, produced and presented programmes for Al Jazeera and Dubai’s Business Channel as well as BBC World.

Before joining MEBR, Nima was a regular guest on BBC Radio 4’s Four Corners addressing Arab issues, and a guest on BBC World’s Dateline London as a regional expert.

Nima is regarded as an opinion leader and in this capacity is approached by think-tanks, the corporate world and government organisations for her insight. She is also invited to give talks as well as participate in off-the-record discussions about the region.

Nima provides consultancy and media training to government institutions and the private sector. She has written opinion pieces for Forbes Arabia and has taught media courses at Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates as a visiting lecturer.

Gary Chapman (ACA – New Zealand)  has been a key member of the management team for over two decades.

In his current role – President (Group Services & dnata), Emirates Group – he is responsible for the global operations of dnata, the leading air services provider with businesses in 38 countries worldwide as well as a number of other associated company businesses within the Emirates Group. He is also responsible for the support functions of the Emirates Group (Finance, IT, Human Resources, Medical Services, Legal, Insurance, Performance Development).

Gary is Chairman of Maritime and Mercantile International LLC and dnata Singapore Pte Ltd, and a member of the board of directors for Emirates Flight Catering Co. LLC, Emirates CAE Flight Training, Premier Travel Inn Gulf LLC and dnata’s overseas ground handling operations.

Prior to joining the Emirates Group in 1989 Gary spent 12 years with a prominent Arab trading concern involved in construction and the provision of support services to the oil industry. His assignment postings included the Sultanate of Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Paris and Houston.

Erik was born in Rotterdam in 1966 and graduated Business Economics in 1989 at the Erasmus University. He accumulated huge commercial strategic experience during positions at companies as Foot Locker, Levi Strauss and Asics, as well on retail as on the wholesale part of the business. Erik moved into travel retail with Dufry Eurasia, based in Sharjah U.A.E., in June 2007. At present time, Erik is leading Dufry’s operations in the Middle East, India and Asia Pacific, where his main focus has been, is and will be, people. It is all about people. Erik believes that if you are able to keep your people productive and happy, you will go a long way!