EDITION 2022:
Talent & Tech

CEO, German Hotel Association Political economist Markus Luthe is CEO of the German Hotel Association since 2005. Besides his general lobbying and networking tasks as representative of the hospitality industry in Germany he signs especially responsible for quality, digitization and distribution issues. On behalf of the German Hotel and Restaurant Association he is responsible for the German Hotel Classification and since 2021 he serves as President of the European Hotelstars Union, too.

General Manager, Hotel PACAI, Lithuania Ruta has over 19 years of experience in the hospitality industry. 8 years were dedicated to creating excellent customer service in Olympic Entertainment Group. And the last 10 years Ruta is managing hotels. She has experience of managing 2 stars, 3 stars and 5 stars properties. At the moment Ruta is leading 5 star boutique hotel PACAI by Design Hotels.

Finnish professional basketball coach. Among many titles, he has been the Head coach of Finland (1992–1997 & 2004–2021) and Germany (1997–2003) national teams. During his presentations, he talks about the winning team- feelings and intuition as resources and well as control versus confidence in the business culture and management
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CEO, Benchmarking Alliance Johan is a seasoned presenter of market data and trends. With a mixed background including positions in the property and finance sectors he tries to find new perspectives on how markets and sectors perform. Having analysed a number of upturns and downturns in the market over the years, both in real time and in hindsight, he will present a broad analysis of the current market situation and discuss what we can expect going forward.

Business Development Manager at Kerten Hospitality Theo is heading the company’s development in Europe and overlooking the Global Development Team. An honours graduate of the Hospitality University Les Roches Marbella, Theo has been instrumental in the growth of the Group’s pipeline and the business development task-force in the organization.Theo has been recognised with the Young Leader Award by ISHC and has previously been named in the most promising 30Under30 Young leaders in the industry.

Director of Estonian Tourist Board, Enterprise Estonia, KredEx

Consultant & Advisor, MRP Hotels

CEO, Five Moments AB, Stockholms Avici Arena, Friends Arena catering Five Moments AB, Previously known as Operakällaren AT, is the exclusive supplier of catering and conference services to Swedens National Football Arena - Friends Arena. Beginning in March 2015 they have been responsible for the catering services in the Friends Arenas hospitality and event areas.

Co-Founder, NBHF Maarika Honkonen has 30 years of working experience with international business strategy, sales and marketing management in diverse sales, service and production companies (Statoil/Circle-K; Reval Hotels; Baltika Grupp; SEB Life and Insruance, ERGO Insurance Grupp, Port of Tallinn. She is presently engaged in Supervisory Board Member at Port of Tallinn and Hospitality Education development in Baltic Region. She is also Co-Founder of NBHF.

General Manager, Hotel Valdemars Riga managed by Accor, Latvia Janis is a passionate hotelier with over 25 years of international experience. His credits include President of Latvian Hotel and Restaurant Association and President of Hotel Stars Union at HOTREC. Currently, Janis is the CEO and Founder at Hospitality Consulting and Advisory company titled Hotel Dog and the General Manager at Hotel Valdemars Riga managed by Accor.

NOA CHEF’S HALL and NOA restaurant

General Manager Nordics/Baltics, Deliverect In Deliverect, the leading SaaS solution that simplifies online order management for restaurants, Carsten leads a fast growing team across commercial, technical, and customer support functions, helping thousands of large and small restaurants across the globe thrive and grow.

Business Development Director, BHRS and Co-Founder, NBHF Katrin Vellesalu has been active in the tourism and hospitality business for nearly 28 years, starting with the establishment of the first Tallinn City Tourist Information Center and moving on to become a specialist in the inbound tourism department of travel agency Estravel. Katrinil has managed the sales department of different hotels in Tallinn. Since 2000, Katrin has managed Baltic Hospitality and Retail Systems.

Senior Lecturer, Hotel Management School Maastricht, Netherlands Geoff is a trainer in creativity and innovation and public speaker on his topics. He is a visiting professor at Flagstaff Northern Arizona University (2006), Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences in Helsinki (2008) and Institut Paul Bocuse in Lyon (2020). He has written several book chapters on innovation, imagineering and design in hospitality and co-authored a book on organizational concepts.

Private Banking Strategist, SEB Peeter has over 20 years of experience in banking and asset management industry. Currently he works as a private banking strategist in SEB Estonia where he is responsible for managing investment portfolios and relevant client communication. Peeter is known for his straightforward approach and tongue-in-cheek humour and is therefore a welcome guest to state his views in the Estonian media.

Managing Director, Hellon Helsinki, Finland Laura has been working at the innovation agency Hellon for the past 10 years. Hellon supports its partners in designing and implementing unique customer experiences and in strengthening the customer loyalty. Hellon has offices in Helsinki and in London, employing currently +40 multidisciplinary specialists. The topic of Laura's presentation is about understanding customer data when designing differentiating customer experiences.

Partnerships Lead, Pej Jean-Jacques is from Malmö, Sweden but calls London home. Passionate about the Hospitality Industry and a discerning professional, Jean-Jacques specializes in Partnerships, Operations & Commercial Management. At Pej, he leads the Partnerships effort to find B2B partnerships that drive tangible ROI in the Food & Beverage segment.

Co-Founder, Dinnerbooking We are a passionate team that strives to create the best possible booking solutions for restaurants and their guests. At DinnerBooking, you are part of a professional community of successful and ambitious restaurants.

Chef & Co-Founder, Fotografiska Tallinn With my vision – to inspire a more conscious way of sensing the world – in Fotografiska we are paying attention to what we eat and drink and trying to guide people towards more sustainable habits. The soul of our food is Peeter Pihel, a sustainable restaurant advocate with a varied career in Pädaste, Fäviken Magasinet, Fulgurance.

Director of Sales and Business Development, Central and Eastern Europe, D-EDGE Hospitality Solutions Gregor started his career in the hotel tech industry as a key account manager for RateTiger in London. Then he relocated to Krakow to serve as a Senior Customer Support Manager. Today, after 10 years with D-Edge as a Managing Director he is responsible for growing the team and portfolio across Central and Eastern Europe, including the Baltics and Finland.