SPEAKERS

Andy Bailey is founder and head coach at Petra Coach, where he and his team of entrepreneurial business coaches deploy their no B.S. approach to inspire, transform and scale teams and organizations. A serial entrepreneur, Andy started his first company while still in college, which he subsequently built into a multi-year Inc. 500 corporation and successfully sold and exited. Now, he and his team coach audiences and teams toward mastering the same habits he uses to scale himself, his team and his business — and his clients’ (which he calls members) — teams and businesses. Andy is best known for his “No Try Life” approach to personal and professional growth — that is, eliminating the attitude of TRY. Success always boils down to DOING. Further, when your actions are fueled with purpose, alignment and accountability, you’ll succeed more often and with much less drama. He’s also penned several books on business and leadership success, including the Amazon bestseller No Try Only Do: Building a Business on Purpose, Alignment, and Accountability and a more recent book Vitamin B (For Business): Your One-A-Day Supplement for Improvement in Business and Leadership. Andy is a member of Forbes’ Coaches Council, 20+ year member of the Entrepreneurs Organization and serves on Verne Harnish’s Scaleup Leader Council. He and Petra Coach have received notable accolades including Nashville’s Entrepreneur of the Year, Best in Business, Most Admired CEO and multiple inclusions on Inc.’s 500/5,000 list.

Earla Jones joined the American Library Association, in January 2019, as the Director of Conference Services. She was previously with National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO), as the Senior Director, Annual Meeting from 2006-2019. With over twenty years’ experience as a planning professional, producing meetings, conventions, and events, Jones specializes in experiential design and program development.
Throughout her career, Jones has been a member of ASAE, IAEE, NCBMP, PCMA and Association Forum. She is a graduate of the 2010-2012 class of the ASAE Diversity Executive Leadership Program (DELP) and is a former member of the PCMA Education Task Force and serves on the ASAE Meetings & Expositions Professionals Advisory Council.

Kyla Knudson’s career spans leadership roles in hospitality sales and business development in the US and Canada. Prior to her appointment with Teneo, Ms. Knudson was Director of Sales & Marketing at Business Events Canada, overseeing a multi-million sales and marketing platform. She began her career at the Hyatt Regency Vancouver and held sales positions at Hyatt and Hilton. She currently serves on the ASAE Meetings & Expo Council. Kyla Knudson earned a Bachelor of Commerce Degree with a double concentration in Marketing and Tourism & Hospitality Management from the University of Calgary. She resides in Alexandria, Virginia.

Oscar Cerezales, born in Barcelona and based in Singapore, has more than 25 years of experience in this industry. Oscar currently works at MCI Group as Global Executive Vice President. MCI Group is dedicated to empower corporations, associations and governments to activate their employees, channel partners, customers and members. Creating face-to-face, hybrid and digital experiences. With 61 offices, different brands (Dorier being one of them) in 31 countries and 2,500 talents, MCI organizes more than 7,000 events per year. Also, Oscar is chair of the Professional Convention Management Association Advisory Board, Board member of Saceos, founder of MPI Chapters (Meetings Professional International), ex Latam Board member at SITE. Oscar has been a professor at universities in Barcelona, London, and Milan. In addition to collaborating with various industry publications and curates several industry conferences.

Dr Edward Koh leads the Conventions, Meetings & Incentive Travel division of the Singapore Exhibition and Convention Bureau, a group under the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), since 2019. He provides strategic counsel to attract quality association congresses and corporate-driven events to Singapore, maintaining its position as a leading International Convention and Meetings destination. Edward also oversees local industry growth to further entrench Singapore as a business events destination. In his previous appointment, Edward assumed the position of Executive Director, Southeast Asia since January 2015. Edward led the overall operations of STB in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia, Philippines and Brunei. He also oversaw all strategic planning and execution of marketing activities within these markets to champion Singapore as a compelling tourist destination. Prior to that, Edward served as Executive Director for Southeast Asia I and International Group Planning in March 2014 where he led the Division in providing critical policy and planning support for the Regional Offices and working with in-market industry partners to drive tourism growth. He was the Executive Director for Strategy & Planning and Research & Incentives in November 2011, responsible for the provision of economic analysis, consumer insights and market trends to the tourism sector. Edward brings with him a wealth of experience and knowledge of the China market. He previously served as Deputy Regional Director for STB Greater China (2006-2008), where he was responsible for strategic planning and channel development to drive BTMICE traffic from China to Singapore. He subsequently assumed the role as Regional Director for STB Greater China (2008-2011), where he managed and oversaw five Regional Offices: Eastern China, Northern China, Southern China, Western China, and Hong Kong & Macau and provided strategic direction for his team to effectively promote Singapore as a compelling destination and hub for business and travel. Before joining the STB, Edward spent 13 years at the Ministry of Manpower, where he held various positions in its Prosecution Unit, Manpower Policy Department, International Manpower Division and Contact Singapore. His last position was as the Regional Director (Greater China) for Contact Singapore and concurrently the Deputy Director (International Operations), International Manpower Division. He was also the Alternate Lead Negotiator (Movement of Natural Persons), China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (CSFTA) for the period of 2004-2005. Updated as at 27 May 2019 Edward graduated from the National University of Singapore in 1993 with a Bachelor of Science, and Beijing University in 2003 with a second Bachelor's degree (Chinese Language & Literature). He also holds a Master degree in Public Policy & Management (2007) from Tsinghua University, and a doctorate in Hotel & Tourism Management from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, School of Hotel & Tourism Management.

El Kwang is the Founder and Chief Explorer of UNTANGLED, a business events creative agency and BEA - a digital platform that inspires conversations. With over 20 years of experience working across the hospitality and business event industries, El’s passion is creating an environment for cross-cultural learning. El’s company has worked with major organisations in Asia Pacific including Gucci Asia Pacific, Accor Asia Pacific and Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau. His vision for engaging content development in experiential events has delivered success outcomes in his capacity as the co-chairperson of the SITE Global Conference Bangkok 2019, the chief content strategist for Thailand Incentive & Meeting Exchange 2019 and most recently, the chief experience designer for Asia Business Meet 2019 held in Singapore. El is currently one of the international board of directors representing the Asia Pacific region for the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE), a global organisation headquartered in USA, with 3,000 passionate members.

Mike Lee is the Vice President of Sales for Marina Bay Sands. His role is focused on enhancing aspects of the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Expositions (MICE), Business and Leisure Tourism segments at Marina Bay Sands, with a primary focus on revenue responsibility. He joined Marina Bay Sands in November 2010. Mr Lee has over 35 years of hotel marketing, sales and developmental experience behind him. For the last two decades, he has held senior management roles, working in many hotels and resorts such as Americana Hotels, Resorts International and Wyndham Hotels. Mr Lee was also the President of his own Franchising and Hotel development companies prior to joining Marina Bay Sands. Mr Lee attended St. Bonaventure University in Olean, N.Y. and Georgetown University in Washington D.C.

Genevieve joined Marina Bay Sands in September 2009 and in her current role as Assistant Director of Sales, she leads the team that handles all Association Meeting (AM) requirements within the integrated resort’s Sales department. Together with her team, Genevieve work closely with local associations and the Singapore Tourism Board to bid for international events to take place in Singapore and at Marina Bay Sands. Part of this process includes ‘matchmaking’ local associations from similar industries with that of their international counterparts and to jointly organise these highlevel events at our integrated resort. This requires a deep understanding of various industry associations and their needs, so as to offer them a tailored solution at Marina Bay Sands.

James has 25 years’ experience in event organisation and major venue management. He began as a conference organiser for UK-based Water Research Centre organising national and international events then made a move into venue management, joining Wembley Stadium Ltd as an event manager across Wembley’s Stadium, Arena and Conference & Exhibition Centre venues, managing international conferences and exhibitions, concerts for artists such as Madonna and Michael Jackson and also the FA Cup. After 3 years he moved into a commercial role, focusing on the exhibition and conference side of the business. Subsequent roles included London Arena as Sales & Marketing Director then Hilton International as Director of Hilton Direct. He is now responsible for the Sales & Marketing Strategy for the Conference & Events Division of ExCeL London which has become globally recognised in the congress and convention industry As a venue owned by Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company (ADNEC), he is also responsible for helping to promote ADNEC to international event planners to host their events in the Middle East region.

Jared Loftus has been an entrepreneur his entire life. Whether in the world of associations, education, or apparel, he's always had an eye out for what's coming next. He disrupted his own brick and mortar business in 2010 by selling it to focus on e-commerce. A year later, Forbes named him College Football's Biggest Entrepreneur. In 2014, states around the country made a massive shift in secondary education accountability by making the ACT mandatory for all juniors. Three years later, he was helping lead the fastest growing ACT test prep company, and the organization was on the Inc 500 list twice. Today, Jared brings that same level of disruption to associations by bringing artificial intelligence within reach, allowing organizations to personalize their interactions with all members. The world of technology is moving faster and faster, but Jared will show us why now is not the time to get overwhelmed, but instead to dive in head first in order to find out how this new technology can re-shape member engagement.

Ari is unstoppable, every day is an opportunity, every idea inspires her, every new conversation is music to her ears. In word association games, when someone says “Arianna”, people say “ass-kicker!” and “eats chickpeas from a can!”. Her pet peeve is walking slower than a jog, and her guilty pleasure is slow internet connections because she’s permitted to stop moving.

Jeremias Rodriguez is a seasoned Meeting Planner Executive with over 20 years’ experience in planning large and small events for associations, PCOs and DMCs, domestically and internationally. Jeremias leads the Congress and Meetings department at the World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) where he provides organization-wide leadership, strategic guidance and direction relating to the effective planning and execution of WFH events, in-person and virtual, as well as other educational and informational meetings world-wide. Previous to the WFH, Jeremias was at the International Airports Association where he ran the Events department and he has previously held various management roles at leading Canadian, US and Mexican PCOs and DMCs including Tropical Incentives, Terramar Destinations, Amstar and Altima Concept.

As an event planner for 20 years, it is Beth’s job to be a project manager, experience designer, content curator, storyteller, motivator, leader, behind-the-scenes cheerleader, logistics director, contract negotiator, researcher, trend analyzer, innovator, visionary, partner, builder, thinker, problem-solver, entrepreneur, and customer service specialist, sometimes all within the space of a single day.
She’s been a Certified Meeting Planner since 2008. A Certified Association Executive since 2016. And served as chair of the ASAE Meeting & Exposition Council from 2016 – 2018. In 2019 she was named one of BizBash’s 1000 Most Influential People in Events. She authors a blog full of event planning tips called Otter Talk. And she currently lives in New Jersey with her wife, stepchildren, and two dogs.

As a professional event planner, Brooke has planned small meetings to global affairs, coordinating with international partners across the globe and most its continents. She honed her experience design chops by assessing and planning B2B events—challenging herself to devise ways to transform the ordinary into something truly extraordinary—irrespective of sector or industry.
When Brooke isn’t finding ways to make your next event rise far above the expected, chances are she’s hard at work planning her next hiking trip, having backpacked through the Peruvian ruins of Machu Picchu and a healthy quantity of our national parks.

Lenka Žlebková has been involved in congress tourism since 2008, when she was elected as a member of the Board of Directors and later in 2010 was also appointed as a director of the Prague Convention Bureau. During her career in this organization she managed with her team to move Prague on the ICCA database of world destinations from 19th to 10th place. She also won Prague’s candidacy for the prestigious congress of the International Congress Association ICCA, which took place in 2017 in PCC and lists among the TOP best-rated congresses in the 57 years of history of this organization. Since 2016, she has joined the PCC as a Sales and Marketing Director and at the same time she became the Vice–Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Prague Convention Bureau. She successfully contributed to revenue growth, rebranding and modernization of the Prague Congress Centre. Besides work, she devotes her life to her 3 sons and her husband. She loves music, dancing and singing.

Ailynn has more than 20 years of successful track record in hospitality sales & marketing leadership role within 5 star luxury hotels and convention centers, managing several geographical and multi-cultural environments. She has successfully led and manages sales, marketing, catering and revenue management teams particularly in hotel opening, rebranding and repositioning. In her current role as VP of Sales, at Marina Bay Sands, Ailynn is responsible for leading her team in business development focusing on meetings and convention business for Association and Corporate market. A great advocate in the area of Sustainability and CSR, Ailynn is an active member of various social enterprise, volunteers at numerous non-profit organizations as mentor, fundraiser, lead planner and volunteer. She has championed numerous green initiatives within her company and a key member of the Sustainability Committee in Marina Bay Sands. Ailynn played a pivotal role in the organization’s successful effort in attaining the ISO 20121 accreditation. Her focus on driving impact and inspiring change has won her the Adelson Citizenship Award – Sands Cares Hero of the Year in 2019.

Nichapa Yoswee has demonstrated her strategic vision as a savvy and tenacious professional in the Business Events industry for over 30 years. Her adaptable but precise acumen has seen her contribute to high-level policy-making, establishing her as an industry thought leader, and earning her achievements like the President Asia Pacific Award for outstanding performance when she was Managing Director at Reed Tradex Co., Ltd. Today, she contributes her experience and strategy as Senior Vice President - Business to Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau (TCEB). Taking a pro-active approach, she helps co-create business opportunities to win bids and attract events to Thailand, especially those in 10 key industries of Thailand 4.0 policy, highlighting return on investment and return on time in Thailand that can redefine success and meet shifting global business demands. For over 7 years, she has been a creator and key success driver of progressive and effective programs that have supported growth in the MICE industry, such as MICE Capabilities, professional development and accreditation like Thailand MICE Venue Standard, and sustainability programs like “farm to function” and “food waste prevention”. Her analytical yet daring methods makes her a sought-after strategist in the Business Events community, while her determination to redefine the industry has her taking on advisory roles for many global associations, like UFI and DMAI.