Meet our Moderators
O'Shannon Burns
Host And Facilitator, Ochre Consulting
O’Shannon Burns is a researcher and sustainability consultant with more than 15 years’ experience shaping mission-driven businesses and embedding regenerative principles into operations with a focus on climate action, conservation, environmental justice, and sustainable travel and tourism.
She has collaborated with TED Conferences, The World Bank, Disney, the National Geographic Society, Lindblad Expeditions, Regenerative Travel, and dozens of small businesses on sustainability research, strategy and management.
O’Shannon is part of Cornell University’s Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise at the SC Johnson College of Business. She holds a Master’s in Sustainability from Harvard University, a BS in Physical Geography with a focus on Climate Science from Penn State University, and a certification in Training and Facilitation Georgetown University.
Her recent publications include TED’s Leveling Up Company Climate Action and Regenerative Travel’s Climate Action through Regeneration: Unlocking the Power of Nature and Communities through Tourism. She has facilitated conversations on climate action as well as regenerating finance, healthcare, and business. She has shared her work as part of the World Travel and Tourism Council Global Summit, the Business of Conservation Conference, TED Countdown, and the Regenerative Travel Summit.
Previously, she spent a decade as staff at National Geographic collaborating with explorers as they conducted field work, spearheading sustainability initiatives, and operating exploratory educational travel experiences on all seven continents. While there, she created and was then appointed to National Geographic Partners’ first full-time sustainability position, overseeing sustainability for the company’s travel business, and serving as an internal sustainability leader and expert.
Gerald Lebeda
Project, Event & Onsite Meeting Managment, ISUH
Gerard Lebeda currently serves as Secretary/Treasurer of the Board of Directors of the International Society for Urban Health (ISUH). In his role, he is charged with cultivating relationships with convention and visitor bureaus / destinations worldwide in an effort to secure competitive bids for ISUH's annual international conference.
The International Conference on Urban Health (ICUH) attracts between 350 and 500 delegates annually and was most recently held in Marrakesh, Morocco in 2024, and the next conference will be held in Wellington, New Zealand in November 2025.
Meet our Speakers
Alexander Alles
Executive Director, Net Zero Carbon Events
Eva Barahona
Business Development Executive Mice Dep., Granada Conference & Exhibition CentreOver the years, she has attended trade fairs like IBTM and IMEX, as well as participated in ICCA Client/Supplier Workshops (Iberian Chapter and European) as an important part of her association meeting research, the generation of new leads, networking and education.
Prior to this position, she worked several years as teacher of modern languages both in Spain and the UK. On her return to Spain she took a turn after obtaining a Master’s degree in International trade, which opened to her the opportunity to discover the MICE industry, about which she’s been passionate ever since.
Tuya Beyers
International Association Expert for Flanders & BrusselsTuya Beyers is an International Impact & Sustainability Expert at Flanders Convention Bureau, with over 20 years of experience in the global business events industry. She firmly believes that conferences are powerful catalysts for positive societal change — and she helps associations harness that potential through strategic, impact-driven congress design.
Tuya advises international associations on how to generate this lasting, meaningful impact by hosting their congresses in Flanders. She leads the development and implementation of a unique methodology that engages national and international stakeholders throughout the process, ensuring a tailored and results-oriented approach.
Flanders Convention Bureau is founding member of the International Alliance for Impact, a growing initiative that unites destinations, and associations to co-create long-term impact strategies.
Tuya is equally committed to minimizing the negative footprint of the business events industry and has developed a sustainability roadmap with clear sustainability targets and concrete actions towards 2030 by and for the business events sector.
As a speaker, Tuya brings strategic insights, practical tools, and an inspiring vision for how the global events sector can become a force for sustainable transformation.
Guy Bigwood
CEO and Chief Changemaker, GDS-Movement
Rosa M. Cantón
Director Of Business Development, Senior Consultant in Environment & Sustainability, Omawa
Martin Castaño
Regional Vice President of Sales & Distribution Caribbean & Latin America, Marriot InternationalWith a focus on sales distribution strategies, they previously served as Area Director of Sales Distribution for Central (South America) at Marriott. Their background also includes the role of Area Director of Sales & Marketing for Southern (South America), demonstrating their capabilities in regional market oversight.
Earlier in their career, Martin held the position of Regional Director of Sales at Starwood Hotels & Resorts (South America). Prior to that, they were the Area Director of Sales for Starwood Hotels Resorts in Chile, Peru & Uruguay (Argentina). Their tenure at Starwood also included serving as Area Director of Sales Marketing for Starwood Hotels & Resorts & Uruguay (Argentina) and as Director of Sales Marketing for Sheraton Buenos Aires & Park Tower Buenos Aires. Martin's experience also encompasses revenue management, having served as Director of Revenue Management & Marketing Support.
Martin's educational background includes a Certification of Advanced Marketing from Cornell University, complemented by studies at Colegio Nacional de San Isidro and St. Andrew's Scots School / Escuela Escocesa San Andres.
Carolina Cárdenas Paiz
Environmental Technician & program coordinator "Sustainable Events", University of GranadaEnvironmental Management Technician at the University of Granada since 2006.
PhD in Environmental Science and Technology (2005) and BSc in Environmental Sciences (2000), both from the University of Granada.
Coordinator of the Sustainable Events Program at the University of Granada, promoting the integration of sustainability criteria into institutional events and initiatives.
Extnsive teaching experience, having served as an instructor in over 25 specialized training courses on topics such as waste management, circular economy, environmental management systems, environmental education, volunteering, and public engagement.
Active member of various multidisciplinary networks and working groups focused on environmental sustainability.
Laetitia Delzenne
Senior Adviser Event Strategy, UITP-International Association of Public TransportIs a passionate for events with over a decade of experience in the association field. Since joining the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) in 2010, she has held several pivotal roles, currently serving as the Senior Advisor for Events Strategy. In this capacity, she leads the strategic direction of UITP's global events, including the flagship UITP Summit, and oversees the association's broader event portfolio.
Laetitia actively participates in industry discussions, contributing her insights to panels and forums, and various advisory groups.
Prior to her tenure at UITP, Laetitia contributed to numerous temporary art projects and Biennales worldwide, enriching her expertise in large-scale event management and cross-cultural collaboration.
She pursued her education in both France and Australia. Before relocating to Oslo, Norway, in 2022, Laetitia resided in Brussels for several years.
Erica Fawer
Group Sustainability Director, MCI-Group
Erica Fawer began her career at mci group in 1997 as an events project manager. At the same time, she took on the role of “Sustainability Champion” for the Geneva agency, ensuring the implementation of the group’s sustainable development strategy at the local level.
In 2018, she was appointed Group Sustainability Director, in charge of defining and implementing the group’s sustainability strategy. She is also responsible for overseeing and communicating the company's sustainability performance and coordinating the onboarding and training programmes.
Erica became a Certified Sustainability Practitioner through the Center for Sustainability Excellence in 2019, holds a Sustainable Events Professional Certificate (SEPC) and obtained the Communicating for Influence and Impact certification from the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL).
She is also a member of the Food and Food Waste Task Force with the Net Zero Carbon Event Initiative and helped develop the Food and Food Waste Guidelines.
Klara Ferdová
Teresa Garcia Lopez Mezquita
Marketing Director & Sustainability Advocate, MovviendoPersonally committed to climate action, Teresa champions Movviendo’s efforts to make tourism more sustainable through green mobility, wellness experiences, and environmentally responsible event planning.
Eva Garde
Director, Granada Convention BureauEva is the Director of Granada Convention Bureau, she is graduated in Tourism and has a degree in Translation and Interpretation. She pursued postgraduate studies and gained her first professional experiences during six years in England and France.
Before returning to "her" Granada, she travelled for a year and a half through India, Nepal, and Southeast Asia where she collaborated with the Missionaries of Charity founded by Mother Teresa, an experience she considers "the best master's degree in human and personal development that one can undertake."
After 14 years at the Granada Congress Centre, she joined the newly created Granada Convention Bureau in 2014, a project that she currently leads and develops with passion by involving both public institutions and entrepreneurs. She believes that together we achieve more.
She is a regular speaker at national and international forums, teaches in some master's programs and at the University of Granada, is a member and actively participates in various national and international MICE associations and is currently the Deputy Chair of the ICCA Iberian Chapter.
Benjamin Lephilibert
CEO, LightBlue
Benjamin is e is the Founder of LightBlue, a UN-Awarded tech and consultancy working since 2012 on food waste prevention across Asia, Europe, the Indian Ocean and the US with hotel groups, restaurants, government agencies, event organisers and international organizations.
He designed the awarded FIT Food Waste Monitoring Tech, is the co-founder of The Pledge on Food Waste international certification system, and a guest-lecturer in culinary and business schools.
He has trained more than 5000 culinary professionals and implemented 150 food waste prevention projects in 30+ countries.
Connie Lau
Director of Operations and Projects, World Chef Association
Connie was born in Hong Kong and has lived and worked in Hong Kong, England, Poland, Japan, Switzerland and France. She has spent the last 10 years as a project manager in the engineering and nuclear industry handling multi-millions dollars international projects.
She loves culinary art and travelled around the world to learn different cuisines in different countries. From 2010, she organised catering services in Switzerland for 200-400 people in different events and in 2014 she founded a charity, cooking4charity.org, where she also taught cooking classes with the goal to collect donations for the orphans around the world.
In 2015, following her passion for cooking, she moved from Switzerland to Paris, to study culinary art at the prestigious Ferrandi Paris school.
Mia Magazin
Director of Events and Sales WindEuropeA hands-on leader, Mia's strengths lie in designing and executing high-impact events from major annual conventions to targeted seminars that spotlight innovation and policy developments in wind energy . Colleagues describe her as passionate, energetic, and unfazed by challenges someone who consistently brings fresh ideas and keeps things running smoothly even at scale .
Monica Molina
Accessibility Consultant & Professor, DEI ExpertStewart Moore
CEO, EarthCheckOne of the Asia Pacific’s most experienced planning and management
consultants. He has over 30 years of experience in a wide range of disciplines
from business and strategic planning, policy development, tourism destination
management and marketing, sustainability, risk management and corporate and
social responsibility.
Leandry Moreno
Programme Officer Statistics Department, UNTourism
Ms. Leandry Moreno is a UN professional with extensive experience in tourism statistics. Since joining UN Tourism’s Statistics, Standards, and Data Department in 2012, she has played a key role in the development of the statistical framework for measuring the sustainability of tourism and in the implementation and promotion of global tourism statistical standards. She currently leads the Standards area of the department, overseeing international efforts such as the ESG framework for Tourism Businesses.
With also a strong background in statistical capacity development, Leandry has contributed to initiatives at both national and regional levels and actively participates in international expert groups. She holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University Management School of Poitiers, France, and speaks three languages.
Manuel Ortega García
Head of Golf & MICE Segment, Turismo AndaluzHead of the Golf
& MICE Segment at Turismo Andaluz, part of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture
& Sport of the Regional Government of Andalusia. Based in Málaga, he leads
the promotion of Andalusia’s golf and business tourism offerings at major
international events such as IBTM (Barcelona), IMEX (Frankfurt, Las Vegas), and
others.
Teresa Suso
OMAWA Delegate of AndalusiaHolds a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Sciences, with in-depth expertise in sustainability applied to tourism and event management. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Management and a Master’s in Occupational Risk Prevention, covering the three specializations: Occupational Safety, Industrial Hygiene, and Ergonomics & Applied Psychosociology.
She currently serves as the Regional Delegate for Andalusia at Omawa, where she leads projects focused on ecological transition, circular economy, and sustainable tourism. She has extensive experience in the implementation, assessment, and auditing of management systems, and is a qualified auditor for ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, and ISO 50001 standards.
Teresa is also trained in EMAS environmental management systems and in the calculation and verification of Carbon Footprint, both for organizations and sustainable events, in accordance with standards such as ISO 14064 and the Spanish National Carbon Footprint Registry.
In the field of sustainable event management, she specializes in the application of ISO 20121, developing strategies to design and deliver events with a responsible approach, minimizing environmental impact while maximizing social and economic value.
She collaborates with public and private entities in the tourism and cultural sectors, integrating sustainability criteria, legal compliance, and ESG reporting. She is currently training to become a certified auditor under the Spanish National Security Scheme (ENS), expanding her skills into information security management for organizations and digital events.
Gustavo Staufert
General Director, Convention Bureau of GuadalajaraMr. Staufert graduated as a Certified Public Accountant from the University of Tepeyac. In addition, he received his Master's Degree in Hotel Finance and Tourism Marketing through Cornell's Distance Learning Program.
He has developed his professional career in the hotel industry over 27 years, during which he worked mainly at Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG), spanning five countries and seven cities throughout Mexico. In 2000, he was appointed General Manager, a role he would hold for 14 years as both General Manager and Regional Director. The Intercontinental Hotels Group chain presented him with the Torchbearer Award for Best Hotel in Latin America in 2005. On two separate occasions, in 2008 and 2012, he was named General Manager of the Year by the IHG. In 2014, he became the Director of the Visitors and Convention Bureau of Guadalajara, where he continues to date.
Currently, he holds the positions of Technical Secretary of the Tourism Trust of the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area, General Director of the Guadalajara-Guadalajara brand, Secretary of the Mexican Meetings Industry Council, as well as consisting of 1 of the 12 board members of the BestCities Global Alliance.
Stay tuned for more confirmed speakers!