Keith Hunter is the Chief Retail Officer for Urban-Air Port Ltd (UAP), a cutting-edge company providing innovative ground infrastructure as a service for Future Air Mobility, and is creating a fresh and ambitious retail and advertising division delivering experiential retail for each UAP, sponsorship opportunities and a comprehensive online collaboration of brand and service partners for the UAP App.
Keith also co-founded Hunter Palmer – Global Retail Solutions, a specialist travel retail and food & beverage consultancy, working collaboratively with airports, airlines, operators and brands.
Previously, as Senior Vice President of Qatar Duty Free for Qatar Airways, Keith spearheaded the Hamad International Airport retail, food & beverage and advertising offer, from inception through to the opening and operation and also served as a board member of the Middle East & Africa Duty Free Association (MEADFA) for 5 years.
Selwyn Grimsley has spent twenty years in customer facing businesses in Europe and Africa, both in the service retail and consumer leisure segments.
He joined Tourvest Duty Free in August 2007, following financial, commercial, operations and general management roles in businesses as diverse as Unilever, Hertz Rent A Car and Ster Kinekor, market leaders in filmed entertainment in Southern Africa.
His vision is to globalise the business by gaining recognition within the industry that TDF provides the most dynamic solution in in – flight retailing to maximize revenue and returns to customers.
Alexander Glos is the CEO of a leading China–based tourism and brand consultancy, market representation and PR firm, with offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. With nearly ten years of business experience in China, eight years living full time in China, having worked with over 50 travel destinations, suppliers, hotels and attractions in developing their China strategy, Glos brings a unique depth of experience and knowledge to the event.
Glos is a former Vice President of Merrill Lynch, Events Director at The Gartner Group, Divisional Director of the ITE Group and COO of eMarketworld Inc. Glos is a graduate of Columbia College and Columbia School of Business Management, a native New Yorker, with a passion for sailing, flying and skiing.
David Freeborn, previously worked in the UK for L’Oreal for ten years before moving to Dubai in 1998. He joined Seagram in 2000 and subsequently set up the Pernod Ricard Gulf business following the Seagram acquisition in 2001. As Managing Director he has responsibility for all the Pernod Ricard sales throughout UAE, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar as well as Sri Lanka and The Maldives. In addition the Pernod Ricard Gulf business also supports operational delivery into India, Bangladesh and Nepal.
Key brands would include Royal Salute, Chivas Regal, Ballantines, The Glenlivet, ABSOLUT, Martell Cognac as well as wines such as Jacobs Creek, Brancott Estate and Campo Viejo.
David Francis, native British, has worked in Gallaher Limited for more than three decades (since 1977). After holding a wide variety of positions in sales and marketing he was appointed National Account Director for the UK market in 2000. He was appointed International Travel Retail Director in 2005.
Following the acquisition of Gallaher by JTI in 2007 he was appointed C&TM Director Western Europe & Middle East Duty Free. In March 2008 he was appointed General Manager WWDF Vice-President.
He is married with two children and lives in Geneva.
He leads the consumer goods, luxury and retail practice.
Cyrille advised leading GCC retailers and brands in apparel, cosmetics, electronics, grocery, dairy and confectionary. Cyrille also has a large experience of agribusiness and of economic policies in the region. Cyrille has lived 8 years in the Middle East.
Before joining Bain, Cyrille worked 6 years in marketing and consulting for IBM Middle East and Cap Gemini.
Cyrille is also part of the leadership team of the French Business Council where he helps French companies exporting in the region.
Cyrille graduated from the University of Cambridge and got a MBA-degree from INSEAD.
Catharina joined MasterCard in February 2007 and holds the position Vice president Global Merchant Development. She is heading up MasterCard’s global corporate program for merchant partners, where she is developing the global solutions and services for companies partnering with MasterCard across the world.
Prior to taking this role, Catharina was responsible for European Merchant Development, heading up a group responsible for developing new business with Pan European partners such as retailers, hotels and airlines. The group was developing payments solutions which enhances customer experience as well as generates cost savings and revenues to the partner (e.g. loyalty solutions, co-brand programs, cost optimization solutions.) In this context she has successfully developed partnerships with retailers like IKEA, the Ahold Group, Ferrari, H&M, Zara as well as airlines Swiss, Turkish and Austrian and SAS, Starwood and Accor hotel groups.
Before joining MasterCard, Catharina worked for Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) where she held positions such as Vice president Commercial strategies, General Manager Belgium and Luxembourg and Director Product Development.
Her engagements ranged from general management, global market strategy development, brand positioning and product development for SAS and Star Alliance. In these roles Catharina built a strong knowledge base of developing customer segmentation and customer value propositions. She has led both B2B and B2C marketing and sales, bringing strategy into implementation on a global level. Catharina led multiple global consumer research and strategy projects for the Star Alliance group.
Catharina is also actively engaged in MasterCard’s partnership with the World Food Program. The World Food Program (WFP) is the world’s largest humanitarian agency active in solving hunger problems worldwide. It has a reach of 100 million people served and an average yearly budget of 4 billion USD. WFP was created in 1961 and is part of the United Nations. MasterCard and WFP are developing Digital Food (i.e. more market based solutions which will leverage new payment tools.)
Catharina Eklöf holds a MBA from Uppsala University in Sweden.
Donald DeSouza, has been with Sharjah International Airport since 1991.
With a Masters in Strategic Planning and International Marketing Strategy, he has been in charge of the Business Development team over the last 10 years, responsible for both Aeronautical and non Aeronautical business aspects at the airport..
In this role, coinciding with the expansion and rennovation of the Terminal Buildings, he has been closely involved in the decision making re the Concession mix and their susequent recruitment and installation.
Earlier this year his role has been broadened when he was mandated with heading the airport’s Commercial Division.
Stefan is responsible for repositioning Giorgio Armani as an Haute Couture global brand by capitalizing on its high notoriety, its femininity and its selectivity, while at the same time boosting Designer’s fragrances such as Viktor & Rolf or Ralph Lauren and recruiting new consumers to the luxury world with Diesel and Cacharel.
Prior to this assignment Stefan Dembinski was the head of L’Oréal Luxe in Poland developing extensive partnerships (eg. Sephora, Douglas…) and establishing new ways of doing business using the power of the supplier’s brand and the power of the distributor to increase the penetration and transformation rate.
He first joined L’Oréal 18 years ago, when he was part of the pioneering team which convinced duty free retailers to enrich their offer with a whole new offer in mass market; first in Europe and Middle East than creating and developing L’Oréal Paris in the Americas. He successfully helped establish L’Oreal Paris as a key brand in skin care and make up, giving retailers a wide portfolio to attract new customers and increase penetration rates.
Bernard is a qualified Certified Public Accountant (CPA) with over 30 years of experience living and working in Ireland, Scotland, Bahrain, Dubai, the Dutch Antilles and the United States.
His career has seen him work in the textile manufacturing, mobile telecommunications, private practice and the travel retail business. Bernard has over 16 years’ experience working in the duty-free industry, having previously worked for Bahrain Duty Free (1998-2001) and for Dubai Duty Free (2001-2007). Bernard returned to Dubai Duty Free in May 2010 to head up the Finance Department as Finance Controller and was named Senior Vice President – Finance (Retail & Leisure) in July 2016.
In addition to his CPA qualification, Bernard holds a Masters in Business Administration and is currently carrying out Doctoral studies in airport retailing. In October 2013, Bernard was elected Chairman of The Irish Business Council in Dubai, a position he held for two years.
