Forward Focus Conference Programme - 17 Nov 2022

WELCOME F

Our conference theme this year is Forward Focus which we feel embraces our desire to look forward We know that the journey behind us will require us to occasionally look in our rear view mirror but our focus is definitely forward!

I have shared with you our two year strategy which is entirely focused on the future; building on our existing services and introducing new offerings to strengthen our not for profit model, designed by our Partners

I will say that the future of Focus has never looked as brighter and stronger as we begin our road journey to a fully independent player in the business travel arena

I encourage you today to speak first hand with our Focus Board who you can see outlined below to share any thoughts or feedback

R W A R D F O C U S

There is a saying with motorcycle users which I would like to share with you Lid, can, bin.

To a car driver they are things you find in the kitchen. But to the biker, the first two are objects of desire and great reverence and the last is to be avoided at all costs.

However in Focus, we believe the first two are our TMC Partners and our Focus Suppliers, and the third is where we’d like to leave the past two years as we move forward!

As well as discussing our future plans, we have some truly thought provoking speakers as well as networking with faces old and new available I particularly want to thank our sponsors Travelport, Travelogix, Qatar Airways, Air Canada, United, Lufthansa Group, British Airways and the Midoco Group for their support in putting on the Forward Focus conference

FOCUS BOARD

Abby Penston, CEO, Focus Travel Partnership

Adrian Parkes Cilla Goldberger

Mick Gibbs Nick Scott Mark Colley

Tina Rose

Wendy Walker

A very warm welcome to The National Motorcycle Museum and Conference Centre in between Birmingham and Coventry

NEW NON-STOP DAILY SERVICE FROM LONDON HEATHROW TO MUMBAI

Whether your clients are looking to travel for business, reconnect with family and friends or discover India’s rich cultural heritage, they can now enjoy more options with our new non stop daily, seasonal flights from London Heathrow to Mumbai

Passengers will enjoy award winning service and a choice of three cabin classes, including lie flat

seats in Air Canada’s Signature Class, a spacious Premium Economy Class and enhanced comfort in Economy Class. They can also look forward to Hindi speaking flight attendants, a choice of Indian meals and a selection of Bollywood movies and music.

For more information visit aircanada.com

The best just got seven times better

Your votes mean the world to us

Dear valued trade partner,

We are proud to be the Skytrax ‘Airline of the Year’ 2022 - the only airline awarded for a record seventh time – as well as Best Business Class, Best Airline in the Middle East and Business Class Airline Lounge Dining experience.

Qatar Airways currently flies to more than 150 destinations worldwide, connecting through its Doha hub, Hamad International Airport, currently named the ‘Best Airport in the World” by Skytrax World Airport Awards 2022.

Visit: qatarairways.com/tradeportal

Or contact your dedicated Qatar Airways Sales Representative

16:00

We return with the Midoco Den as we see Tripstax, Air Gateway and Snowfall Travel present, followed by Q&A

After a decade photographing superstars as an editorial photographer in fashion and music, Giles Duley turned his back on glamour to concentrate on helping people. Documenting the work and lives of charities and those they help around the world, Giles travelled to Afghanistan at the height of the conflict Whilst on patrol with the US Army’s 75th Cavalry Regiment, he stepped on an IED. He was severely injured, losing both legs and his left arm and had to spend two months in intensive care. Close to death, twice he pulled through

With stories that are poignant, inspirational and amusing, Giles looks at the enduring nature of the human spirit as well as the passion for his work that helped him overcome challenges. He considers what businesses can learn from the power and importance of telling a story, as well as his own resilience and determination. Sponsored by Air Canada, United and the Lufthansa Group

For those staying over, there is a dinner at the Windmill Village Hotel, in the Pickford Suite Sponsored by Air Canada, United & Lufthansa Group You must have already RSVP'd in order to join this dinner

R W A R D F O C U S

SPEAKERS

STEVE DUNNE, MODERATOR

and agency Steve started as a 16 year old apprentice in the corporate

Steve Dunne is a PR and marketing specialist with over 40 years of experience within

of

then the UK’s second largest company He rose to the rank of Head of Corporate

by the age of 24 Subsequently he went on to head PR and communications at HSBC and then led South African Airways global communications in the mid 1990s Steve has also run four PR and marketing consultancies and was a founder of the UK’s biggest travel and leisure marketing and PR consultancy Brighter Group Steve is also founder and CEO of Digital Drums Ltd, a leading strategy and training company As a trainer Steve is much in demand and has trained organisations

ABBY PENSTON, FOCUS TRAVEL PARTNERSHIP

Abby started her career in the hospitality sector with Pubmaster in 1995, and moved into technical services in 2005 for a FSTE 100 company where she ran merger operational projects and looked after over 274 FTE from field based engineers to Contact Centre personnel where she stayed for 8 years Abby is a qualified lean and Prince 2 manager, these skills led her back into the travel industry working for a TMC as Director of Business Travel in 2013 Since then Abby set up her own strategic consultancy company, before becoming Focus CEO in November 2019 when they became their limited company Abby’s role includes driving the brand, growth and strength of the organisation In 2021 Abby was awarded the Resilience Award by the ITM for her continued contribution to the industry throughout the Covid 19 pandemic

CLAIRE OSBOURNE, TRAVELPORT

Claire has worked within the Travel Industry for more than 25 years in a variety of roles including commercial, marketing, business transformation and project delivery She has been fortunate to work for number of large travel businesses including National Express Group, STA Travel and TUI, in addition to a start ups and small businesses Claire joined Travelport over 10 years ago and has held a number of roles leading teams in their Commercial and Product business units In 2020, she was appointed as the Director of Customer Success for EMEA In 2017, Claire was elected to the Board of AWTE and was delighted to be successfully nominated as Chair at the AGM in 2019, a position she held until April 2022 She remains an ambassador for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Travelport

PETER CARDWELL

Peter is a presenter and Political Editor at TalkRadio A broadcaster for most of his career, he also served as Special Advisor or SpAd in the UK Government for three and a half years including to the current Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak He was appointed by two successive Prime Ministers as Special Advisor to two Northern Ireland Secretaries, a Home Secretary, Housing Secretary and Justice Secretary He advised Prime Ministers Theresa May and Boris Johnson, before speeches and media interviews through the maelstrom of Brexit, the Windrush Affair and two elections, and once lost a housing company £387m in a day by sending a text message!

ADRIAN PARKES, FOCUS TRAVEL PARTNERSHIP

Adrian

corporate

press office

British Telecom,

Communications

as varied as the Prime Minister's Office, the Royal Navy, tourist boards, blue chip plc's, charities, PR consultancies, airlines, hotel groups and retail chains He is a fellow of the PRCA and a Travel Weekly columnist

Parkes joined the Focus Travel Partnership (FTP) in January 2020 as their Non Executive Chairman, bringing with him over 25 years’ of board level and senior management experience in the travel industry Before joining FTP, Adrian spent two years at the helm of the BTA (Business Travel Association) leading both the association and the industry through major changes in legislation, regulation and distribution and working closely with Government, training providers and universities to promote business travel Prior to the BTA, Adrian spent eight years in various board level roles with travel management companies Portman and Clarity Adrian joined the Portman board in 2010 after returning from three years in Abu Dhabi where he was responsible for all sales channels at Etihad Airways Adrian’s previous airline experience was gained with bmi British Midland where he was latterly the airlines Commercial Director Adrian was a late starter in the travel industry following a number of years developing his career in a variety of FMCG sales management roles

R W A R D F O C U S

SIAN SAYWARD, INNTEL

Sian has been with Inntel for over 18 years in various roles, and now has overall responsibility for all of the organisation’s commercial partnerships, business projects and 'People, Talent and Compliance' teams Sian is a creative thinker, dedicated to not only achieving commercial success for Inntel but also to the growth of the Business Travel and Meetings & Events industry as a whole She helps to promote this growth through her role as Governance Director for our industry trade association beam Alongside that, she also sits on many other action groups, steering groups and committees within the industry She is passionate about driving best practice forward and will not hesitate to question the status quo or challenge the norm

MARK COLLEY, SUNWAYS TRAVEL

Following a 16 year career in investment banking and global money markets in the City, Mark formed a hospitality company operating a hotel and restaurant, and went on to win a coveted Michelin Star In 2015, Mark moved to the family owned travel agency, Sunways Travel, which was formed by his father in 1973 and had been run by Mark’s late brother Since taking the helm at Sunways, he has continued to steer the company successfully in both the corporate and leisure travel sectors, developing their technology and digital capabilities, and building upon the already impressive corporate customer base Mark strives to be a driving force in carbon positive travel, and in 2021 he launched Sunways Sustainable Business Travel to enable their customers to calculate and offset the CO2 of their trips this is supported by Sunways’ promise to donate a tree for every flight they take a commitment to the positive impact travel can have on climate change Mark has been a member of the Focus Technology Steering Group since 2016 and was appointed to the Focus Board in February 2022

JAMES BEAGRIE, MEON VALLEY TRAVEL

James

a

of 23, James

before indulging

2002 Meon continues its

by

PAUL BAKER, GLOBAL TRAVEL MANAGEMENT

LEWIS, TRAVELOGIX

has spent his life travelling the world for business and pleasure After founding and building

worldwide Insurance and Emergency Medical Assistance business at the tender age

joined the Board of Aon helping steer the insurance giant through unrivalled growth

his passion for travel

acquiring Meon Valley Travel from First Choice Plc in

relentless growth with an enviable reputation for innovative white label Leisure travel, specialist emergency assistance and repatriation in over 30 countries and award winning corporate travel for SMEs, having gained recognition by the London Stock Exchange as a ‘blue chip of the future’ James is a Non Executive Director of the Advantage Travel Partnership and past Chairman of the Focus Partnership He has both personally and in business won numerous industry accolades underscoring his reputation as a straightforward 'nice guy' with a talent for good business

Paul Baker is the Sales Director at Global Travel Management Ltd He is responsible for GTM’s new corporate client sales pipeline, and, also the account management of all existing customers too Paul has been with GTM since 2000 and has also sat on the Focus Air Steering Group since its creation 13 years ago Prior to joining GTM he worked for Fleet Street Travel and before that CWT

Chris Lewis is Founder & CEO of business travel data specialists, Travelogix Before launching Travelogix in 2013, Chris amassed 18 years of experience in business travel and travel technology management for various multinationals such as Navigant, American Express and Micros Fidelio Travelogix now provide data management solutions to over 100 TMCs and 2,000 corporations in UK, Europe, North America, Asia, and Oceania

CHRIS

DAVID CHAPPELL, MIDOCO GROUP

Joining the business in August 2020, David’s wealth of knowledge and experience in travel technology infrastructure, systems and services is renowned in the industry He was previously the driving force behind a reimagining of the software architectures of both Fello Travel where he was Director of Technology, and prior to that as Head of Technology at Gray Dawes Group (GDG), a leading UK TMC

DAVID PETROVIC, AIR GATEWAY

JORGE DIAZ, AIR GATEWAY

R W A R D F O C U S

MATHIAS ANDERSSON, TRIPSTAX

Mathias began his career in strategy consulting for the financial, energy and travel industries, where he spent six years During this time he gained valuable insights into the importance of combining a focus on data and facts with a focus on customer needs In 2004 Mathias moved to the travel tech and GDS sector He joined Travelport where he led the business in the Nordic markets for 10 years, followed by further five years as a commercial COO at Travelport owned Hotelzon, a business travel hotel platform Mathias joined TripStax at the end of 2021 in his current role His mission is to build and evolve TripStax’s commercial functions to win, develop and delight customers whilst generating revenue for the business

SCOTT WYLIE, TRIPSTAX

Scott has vast experience of IT and technology in the business travel sector gained over his extensive 30 year career, in roles ranging from Systems Manager and Technical Director, to Group Director of Software Development and CTO Companies Scott has worked for include Seaforths Travel, TelMe Online Ltd, PhoneLink PLC and ATPI Throughout his career, Scott has been responsible for building award winning new applications as well as continuously developing and scaling existing technology solutions His knowledge of all aspects of travel technology is second to none At TripStax, he oversees a large tech team and is responsible for the continued innovative development of the company’s tech proposition

Before joining Air Gateway in 2022, David spent seven years building key distribution channels, B2B solutions, and later also FinTech at Kiwi com, one of the fastest growing travel tech companies in Europe He is now utilizing this experience to accelerate growth and customer adoption at Air Gateway

Jorge is a CEO with technical background and a strong focus on Travel Tech business He founded Air Gateway in early 2016 realizing that the start of the deep airline distribution transformation will create an unprecedented opportunity in the Travel Tech space

RICHARD VINER, SNOWFALL TRAVEL

An

SAM GILLESPIE, UNITED AIRLINES

GILES DUDLEY

Dissatisfied with fashion and celebrity photography, Giles Duley decided to focus on humanitarian issues, travelling to Sudan, Angola and Afghanistan to highlight the issues behind the conflicts In 2011, while on patrol with the US Army, Giles stepped on an IED, losing both legs and an arm His first impulse was to check his eyes and his right arm; with them he could still be a photographer and after months of rehab, he returned to work Giles has since returned to Afghanistan and continues to document those affected by conflict around the world and their inspiring stories

Sam started in the travel industry 30 years ago, in 1991, straight from school, joining as a Youth Trainee at Pickford’s Travel selling holidays in his home town of Exeter in Devon After a few years he moved upstairs into the Business Travel department before in 1997, moving to the bright lights of Swindon, still in Business Travel working for BTI UK Hogg Robinson at the Castrol Oil implant After two years there, in 1999, he moved into account management for the GDS Worldspan and after five years moved to Galileo, now Travelport In 2008 Sam moved to Maidenhead and started a new job at United Airlines, again as an account manager and has been here ever since

experienced business leader, specialising in helping companies

scale, with 15 years’ experience in the travel industry His background includes stints at Egencia, Travel Perk and ATPI among others Passionate for the industry, with a drive to challenge the status quo through introducing disruptive technology to help serve the needs and expectations of the next generation workforce