New roles for the industry’s movers and shakers
Singapore Tourism Board
Adrian Kong has been appointed as area director, South Asia (Mumbai) for Singapore Tourism Board (STB). In his new role, Kong will be based in Mumbai and his responsibilities include overseeing STB’s tourism promotion, marketing and developmental efforts in South and West India and Sri Lanka. Kong is well acquainted with the India market, having worked earlier in India between February 2012 and January 2014 as a manager with STB in Mumbai. Prior to his appointment as an area director, he was overseeing STB’s Philippines office for over two years.
ATPI Group
Andrew Waller has joined the ATPI Group’s senior executive team as international director of corporate development, a new role created to support the group’s growth plans. Under this role, Waller will lead a number of special projects and will report directly to the CEO Graham Ramsey. He will be based at ATPI’s London headquarters. Waller joins from Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT), where he held a series of senior positions since joining in 2005, progressing from senior vice president, UK to become president of EMEA and the Global Partners Network in 2012. In February 2016, Waller was appointed executive vice president of global business transformation.
Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau
Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau’s (PHLCVB) president and CEO Julie Coker Graham recently announced the appointment of Svetlana Yazovskikh to the position of executive director of tourism. Yazovskikh has been working at PHLCVB since 2008, most recently as the senior international tourism manager in which she oversaw sales and market activities for PHLCVB’s key overseas visitor markets. She has partnered with other east coast destinations, led international sales missions, worked with local tourism partners and attended hundreds of tourism industry tradeshows over the course of her career, in support of growing overseas international visitation to Philadelphia.
AirAsia India
AirAsia India has appointed Deepak Mahendra as the chief financial officer of the company. Prior to joining AirAsia India, Mahendra was chief – corporate finance and accounts of Tata Power since 2008. A chartered accountant, he brings with him over three decades of experience in the finance function in diverse organisations in India and overseas. He started his career with Tata Steel.
Turkish Airlines
Ibrahim Hakki Guntay took over as the general manager of Turkish Airlines for Western and Southern India. In his role, Guntay is taking charge of Turkish Airlines’ strategic success in this region and is responsible for driving growth and expansion of the company’s market share in India. Prior to moving to Mumbai, Guntay built his career at Turkish Airlines’ hub in Istanbul, starting in 2013 as a marketing and sales specialist. He was engaged in various responsibilities and projects within the airline, including general manager in Niger from 2015-2016.
Swiss International Airlines
Ulrik Svensson, chief financial officer of Deutsche Lufthansa AG has been appointed to the board of directors of Swiss International Air Lines AG. He is the chief financial officer of Deutsche Lufthansa AG since January 2017. From 2006 to 2016, he was the chief executive officer of Melker Schörling AB, wherein Svensson was responsible for the six listed companies within the investment company. From 2000 to 2003, he was the CFO of the British office product provider Esselte. The Swiss board of directors, chaired by Reto Francioni, further comprises Harry Hohmeister, Montie Brewer, Jacques Aigrain and Doris Russi Schurter.
Etihad Airways
Etihad Airways has appointed Germano Rollero as general manager, China. Rollero, who will be based in Beijing, has over 12 years of experience in senior sales management roles for CITS American Express GBT, Air China, Prudential Financial and Italcamel Travel Agency. Etihad Airways operates codeshare flights with China Eastern Airlines, Hainan Airlines and Hong Kong Airlines. Rollero reports to Etihad Airways’ vice president for Asia Pacific and Australia, Lindsay White.
Air Berlin
Thomas Winkelmann has assumed the role of CEO of Air Berlin. Winkelmann began his career in the Lufthansa Group in 1998, where he was initially responsible for its sales organisation in South America and the Caribbean, before assuming the role of vice president of the sales and service organisation for North and South America. From September 2006 until October 2015, Winkelmann was the CEO of Lufthansa’s low-cost subsidiary, Germanwings. Following the announcement of the integration of Germanwings into Eurowings, Winkelmann was appointed CEO of Lufthansa’s Munich hub.
Alila Fort Bishangarh
Alila Hotels & Resorts has announced the appointment of Rachna Mehra as the director of sales for Alila Fort Bishangarh, Jaipur. With experience in sales, Mehra will be responsible for sales and marketing at the 59-room boutique fortress. Mehra was previously head of sales – leisure at Ananda in the Himalayas, where she directed business development for the resort. Her hospitality experience hailed from the Shangri-La in New Delhi, The Oberoi and the Khyber Himalayan Resort.