Marko Dobrota is a Principal of SRSS with over 25 years of professional experience in the planning, design and project management of a broad range of hospitality, office, residential and mixed-use projects throughout Europe, USA, Asia and Middle East. Marko received his Bachelor of Science degree from University in Ljubljana and his Masters in Architectural degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, U.S.A. in 1991. Over the past 17 years, while living in Singapore, he has developed a special, in-depth experience in Asia, where he has successfully designed and completed many hospitality and high-end residential projects.

With over 27 years of experience in the hospitality industry, Dilip comes with a wealth of experience in operating hotels, in depth local knowledge and the right credentials to take the lead to drive and support Starwood's aggressive expansion plans in the region. Dilip has worked with major Indian hospitality brands like Taj and Oberoi as well as with Intercontinental Hotels Group and Sarova Hotels internationally. He brings with him a global perspective that has been honed through operational and development roles in India, South Pacific, Australia and Africa across luxury and upscale hotel categories. Prior to assuming his new role with Starwood, Dilip was the Chief Executive Officer of Duet India Hotels.

Rummy Anand is presently working as Senior Director Development, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group since October 2010. Prior to joining Carlson, he has held senior positions with Mahindra Holidays & Resorts, InterContinental Hotels Group and Indian Hotels. He brings broad experience in diverse business and cultural environments to Carlson, including 5-years working in international roles, based in Bahrain and Singapore. In the present role, his main focus is to drive the Strategic Growth of Hotel Brands and thereby maximizing the ‘value creation’ for Carlson Rezidor Hotels in South Asia. Rummy has a total experience of more than 30-years, out of which more than 20-years have been with the Hospitality Industry in Sales, Marketing, Development and Advisory Roles. He has a deep understanding of Hotel Industry and believes as a leader who inspires confidence in people. His credentials include Bachelor of Science degree from Delhi University and Post Graduate Diplomas in Sales, Marketing, PR and Advertising.

Navjit Ahluwalia holds the position of Senior Vice President, Hotel Development with Marriott International based in New Delhi, India. He is responsible for the development of Marriott's Bvlgari, Ritz-Carlton, Marriott, Renaissance, Marriott Executive Apartments and Courtyard by Marriott brands in the Indian Sub-Continent. Before joining Marriott International in September 2004, Mr. Ahluwalia worked with HVS for four years in New Delhi and New York, where he held the position of Associate Director and was responsible for performing market studies, hotel valuations and related consulting assignments for investors, lenders and hotel companies. Prior to joining HVS, Mr Ahluwalia spent over 10 years working in hotel operations with the ITC Windsor Manor Sheraton & Towers in Bangalore, the New Delhi Hilton, the Oberoi Group of Hotels, and The Dorchester and Claridges hotels in London. Navjit graduated from St Stephen’s College, Delhi University and holds an MBA in hospitality management from the Institut de Management Hotelier International (IMHI) in Paris.

Brought up in Roorkie, Tyagi graduated as a Civil Engineer from the University Of Pune in 1991. He began his career with New Era Furnishers, an interiors contracting firm, under which he managed the SAARC Conference Centre in Thimphu, Bhutan. Thereafter, he worked with the Park Hotel in Nehru Place, New Delhi and The Times Of India. In April 1995, he joined the Taj Group of Hotels and gained many successful promotions year after year. From Goa to Delhi; from Maldives to Mumbai he undertook many projects of renovation, conversion and building of the Taj properties. Currently working with Starwood Hotels, he is handling over 40 projects and has been a part of launching major brands like Westin, Four Points, Alofts etc to the Indian market.

Anil Sharma graduated from IIT Roorkee in the year 1982 and started his career with Bharadwaj & Associates in the year 1982 and worked with them till 1984. Thereafter, he joined Kabil Associates—a USA based firm and worked with them until 1989. He worked with them on various prestigious projects namely USIS Calcutta, US Chancery Burma, US Consulate & Consular Residence in Lahore. In addition he also worked in the US office of Kabil Associates for 6 months. In the year 1989 he started his own practice of Architecture by the name of ASA (Anil Sharma Associates). His first project in Pune was later on branded as Holiday Inn Pune. It was also awarded "The Best New Hotel of the Year in Asia Pacific Region" by Holiday Inn worldwide. Since then ASA has been involved in various reputed Hotel projects all over India and has designed two projects in Kazakhstan.

A graduate from the Delhi University, Mr. Koul completed a 3 years Diploma in Hotel Management from the Institute of Hotel Management, Pusa in 1981. He started his career as a Management Trainee with Jaypee Group at their hotels in New Delhi, and subsequently worked with the Hotel Corporation of India, Indotels Hotels Management Services Private Limited, and Tourism Finance Corporation of India (TFCI) in 1990 where he was responsible for appraising more than 200 hotel projects. In 1996 he created a specialized Tourism Consultancy Organisation providing need-based service to new entrants in the hospitality trade under the banner Naaz Hotel Consultants Pvt. Ltd. .

The growth of Pride Group is attributed to Mr. S. P. Jain, Chartered Accountant & Managing Director. Starting from scratch, he has successfully built the Pride Hotel chain across Pan India. Under his Stewardship, the Pride Group today operates Twelve hotels in India. The Pride Hotels, the luxury brand located at Pune, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata & Chandigarh (Panchkula) with an upcoming Hotel at Delhi Aerocity with 385 Rooms of 5 star category providing World Class facility. Under the Pride Biznotel brand, the company operates hotel at Kochi and under Pride Resorts brand at Goa, Jaipur, Alleppy and Kanha. Pride Group operates hotels with a mix of fully owned hotels and under Management Contract. Mr. S. P. Jain over the past two decades has been associated deeply with the Hospitality Sector. He has held the positions of Vice President, Secretary of FHRAI and President of WHRAI. He is recipient of awards viz. “EMERGING INDIA AWARDS”, LONDON 2008, LATE RAI BAHADUR, M. S. OBEROI MEMORIAL AWARD for outstanding contribution to Hospitality Industry and “BEST UPCOMING LUXURY HOTEL” FOR THE “PRIDE HOTEL, AHMEDABAD”. Recently Pride Hotel has won the award “WORLD TRAVEL BRANDS 2013 for “FAST EMERGING 5 STAR LUXURY HOTEL CHAIN IN INDIA”. Mr. S. P. Jain stands fully committed to ensure Pride Group of Hotels expanding from the present 15 Hotels of 2000 Rooms to 30 Hotels with 3000 Rooms, during next five years.

An engineer by profession, Mr. Bansal ventured into the family business of construction in India at the early age of 20. In a span of 25 years he has executed jobs for reputed companies like L&T, ONGC, Essar, Food Corporation of India, Indian Railways and many more. In the 1990’s he diversified into the hospitality sector and set up two hotel projects – one at Surat and the other at Mumbai. He also owned the famous Copper Chimney Restaurants at Mumbai and Surat. After the earthquake in Gujarat, Mr. Bansal set up relief camps and opened his family-owned warehouses for the victims and the Government of Gujarat recognized his dedication. Mr. Bansal moved to the USA in 2001 and acquired various hotels projects in Atlanta. Upon his return to India in 2008, he set up Lords Hotels and Resorts which currently has 23 operating properties and 11 hotels at various stages of completion. Mr. Bansal’s vision is to make Lords a 50 Hotels company by 2015. Mr. Bansal is a “Life Time Member of AAHOA” (Asian American Hotel Owners Association) ATLANTA - USA World’s biggest hotel association having more than 11000 thousand members

Andrew has designed interiors for the world's leading hotel operators, holding senior positions at well-renowned hospitality specialists.After studying Interior Design in London, Andrew became Senior Designer and then Managing Director of regional Interiors group GTD in Hong Kong.He went on to became Senior Project Designer with globally-renowned hospitality specialists Hirsch Bedner Associates in Singapore, designing luxury projects in Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Russia and Thailand. On his return to the UK he worked at Richmond International—a part of the Areen Group—and in 2008 he established Areen Hotel Design, now known as Areen Hospitality. As Head of Hospitality Design, Andrew is involved in all aspects of a project, from conception through to on-site installation.

Mr Kasliwal completed his B. Tech (hons) from Delhi College of Engineering where he graduated magna cum laude. He then completed his Masters in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University, California. He worked with Cogent Energy Inc, a building engineering and energy firm in the Bay Area for 4 years before bringing them to India and starting an international joint venture called, Kamal Cogent Energy Pvt Ltd in India. He is LEED AP and LEED Reviewer, also a P.E License holder, a BEE Energy Auditor, GRIHA and ECBC expert recognized by Government of India. His company has offices in Jaipur and Kolkata.

Mr. S P Patki is a passionate architect and this spirit flows over to P G Patki Architects (PGP). Born in Mumbai on May 24, 1962, S P Patki studied at The Doon School, Dehradun, and graduated at Sir J.J. School of Architecture, Mumbai (1984). After his inspirational father and mentor Mr. P G Patki passed away, he took over the reins and has since ably spearheaded PGP.
Mr. Patki recognizes that challenges of the industry have widened the role, scope and responsibilities of architects and architectural companies. He infuses this spirit into PGP and insists that along with design, one needs to be abreast with developmental areas which are an integral part of the field; a key to survival. Patki maintains: “It is not always about superficiality, for even iconic ones can be huge architectural failures. It is a balancing act where detail, character and fundamentals are not compromised, where structure reflects the mark of the individual; the soul behind it!” Indeed, it is values like these that have fetched him accolades from Construction World, CNBC, The Economic Times, Accommodation Times, Society Interiors, Archi Design, Century Ply, EPC World, Well Built Competition, Era Fame Award and other honorary bodies.

Barry is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer with over 40 years of experience in the Building Services Industry. His innovative designs have won a National Engineering Excellence Award for a mixed use development in Queensland, containing a large auditorium. He has lectured on smoke control systems, commissioning, and legionnaires disease/sick building syndrome, as well as assisting in the compilation of the AIRAH Tropical Air Conditioning design manual. He has recently received a patent for a hotel guest room A.C. system which saves 30% energy on a conventional system, and requires no in room maintenance. He compiled a technical design manual and sustainable design guide for all InterContinental Hotel Group brands. Barry was recently involved with Masdar—the world's first zero carbon emission city being constructed in Abu Dhabi

Rajiv brings with him over 25 years of experience in engineering project management, architectural and engineering consulting services, budgeting, cost control, engineering design review, value engineering, systems installation management, scheduling, material procurement for various clients, hotel properties and real estate. Rajiv has extensive experience of managing wide range hospitality projects. He has completed the new construction of over 50 projects around the world. A licensed Professional Engineer in Ontario, Canada and a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers (USA), Rajiv has a B.Sc. degree in Engineering from a Regional Engineering College in India. Rajiv, a native of India, is a Canadian citizen now.

Prem Thakur is the Sr. Design Manager, International Design and Project Management - Architecture and Construction for Marriott International and based in the regional office in Mumbai.
Prem brings with him over 17 years of experience in Project Design & Management, engineering operations, architectural and engineering consulting services, budgeting, cost control, engineering design review, value engineering, systems installation management. He has extensive experience of managing engineering operations of complex properties like Renaissance Mumbai, Grand Hyatt Mumbai, and Oberoi Mumbai. Prem is working on wide range of Marriott Projects across the country.
Prem is an IGBC accredited professional. He is a member of ISHRAE Mumbai and also a Core committee member of IGBC Mumbai chapter and has been instrumental in carrying out initiatives on Green revolution in the region. Prem has a Bachelor of Civil Engineering Degree from Walchand College of Engineering in India.

An Advanced Management Qualification (AMQ) degree holder from School of Business-Bond University, Australia and a Science Graduate from Delhi University, Mr. Suresh Kumar joined ITC Hotels Ltd. as a Management Trainee in 1978.
In a career spanning about three decades, Suresh has held several managerial positions in ITC Welcomgroup’s prestigious hotels commencing his career as General Manager in 1987 at a young age of 29 years. Sheer dedication and strong work ethics and pride in delivering both quality and professionalism soon earned him the portfolio of Vice President for the Southern Region of ITC Hotels Ltd. In April 2005, Suresh Kumar took over as Vice President Operations - ITC Hotels based in Delhi. Since October 2006, he assumed the mantle of President, Fortune Park Hotels Limited, A wholly owned subsidiary of ITC Ltd. Under Mr. Kumar’s dynamic leadership initially as the President, and currently as the Chief Executive Officer, the Company has witnessed a phenomenal growth. Fortune Hotels has been recognized by the industry as one of the fastest growing ‘First Class Full Service Business Hotels Chain’ in the country. Currently Fortune Hotels has 70 Alliance Hotels, with an inventory of close to 5542 Rooms, of which 41 Hotels are operational, and the balance at various stages of development. During the course of this illustrious journey, Mr. Kumar has been awarded a number of accolades, including ‘The Green Hotelier’ award by International Hotels and Restaurants Association (IHRA) in 1996, ‘Safari India Best Hotelier, 2004 & 2009’, ‘PATWA International Young Achievers Award’ in 2008, ‘PATWA International Achiever Award’ in 2010 and 2011. He has been actively involved in shaping the mindset through various forums of CII, Management Associations etc. At present he is a Management Committee Member of Hotel & Restaurant Association of Northern India (HRANI), Executive Committee Member of Hotel Association of India (HAI) and Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI).

Sri. G. Yoganand, Chairman & Managing Director of Manjeera Group of Companies, is a first generation technocrat promoted MANJEERA CONSTRUCTIONS LIMITED in the year 1987 listed on BSE and NSE. He holds a Masters Degree in Structures from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and is a Graduate in Civil Engineering from Osmania University. He also underwent Business Leadership Programme at IIMB. He is also a past President of CREDAI Hyderabad. He has been Honored with the prestigious / GOI’s “National Energy Conservation Award” by Union Minister Mr. Sushil Kumar Shinde for conservation of energy in hotel “Aditya Park Inn” in the year 2006 and the year 2011 (Certificate of Appreciation) from The Ministry of Power, Govt of India , having stood first Energy conservation amongst all the surveyed hotels in the country. The Hotel has received from Department of Tourism, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh “The award for the Excellence” for the best maintained 3 Star Hotel for the year 2008 – 2009 in the Tourism sector Andhra Pradesh.

Graduated from Sir JJ College of Architecture, Mumbai in 1966. Worked with renowned Architectural firm M/s Bajpai Madan Patki Razdan, Mumbai from 1964 -1971 on various projects involving planning, presentation drawings, working drawings and project supervision. Was selected through a competition by East India Hotels (Oberoi Group) to work with M/s Dale Keller, an International Interior Design Consultants in Hongkong for a year. On return he was responsible for the total Interior Design and Development of the Oberoi Sheraton Hotel. The work has focused primarily on the Hospitality sector with a list of reputed clients like Welcome Group, Asian Hotels (Hyatt), Radisson and Corporate offices of Citibank and others. In the Heart care Institutes such as Hinduja Hospital, Asian Heart Medical Centre, Saifee Hospital (all in Mumbai) and Jupiter Hospital in Thane, profile his expertise.

Sohrab Dalal graduated from CEPT, Ahmadabad with honours in 1984. During this period he also worked with Meldrum Burrows and Partners in Sydney for a year, and after graduation with the famous Architect/ Sculptor Satish Gujral, for a year.
In 1985 he founded the firm Atelier 2001, along with Khushroo Kalyanwala and Sonali Bhagwati, which was converted to Spazzio Design in 1993. In 2010 Spazzio was merged with Designplus and he took over as Managing Director of the merged entity.
Sohrab has also been invited as a speaker to various events and some International Seminars like the Cityscape in Dubai and New York. He has also been a member of the Jury panel of many design awards. In 2009 he, along with Wong Chiuman of WOW Designs, Singapore received the award for the “building of the year” from the Singapore Institute of Architects & LEEF Award, London for the Taj Vivanta project in Bangalore.

Ashish Jakhanwala is the Founder & CEO of SAMHI Hotels, one of India’s fastest growing hotel ownership company. Sponsored by Sam Zell led Equity International and GTI Capital Group, SAMHI’s ownership portfolio includes 23 hotels with 3,500 rooms across five international brands. Seven of these hotels are already operational and the Company expects to have minimum of 11 hotels open by end of 2014.
SAMHI has financial partnership with Marriott International and Accor Hotels and is committed to build a strong, high growth and economically resilient business by investing in and developing products & brands such as Formule-1 & Fairfield by Marriott alongside its upscale portfolio.
Prior to founding SAMHI, Ashish was part of the team responsible for developing the Accor and InterGlobe hotel portfolio in India consisting of over 25 hotel assets with a total value of over USD1.0 billion including the development of Ibis India platform, flagship Sofitel hotel in Mumbai and the multi brand (Ibis & Novotel-Pullman) development at Delhi International Airport. Prior to Accor, Ashish worked with Pannell Kerr Forster, part of PKF Global network and a recognized name in hotel consulting.

Rahul Kumar is Principal Architect at of one of India’s most respected and the leading Hospitality design Architectural firm - Rajinder Kumar Associates (RKA). RKA has been selected & awarded by Construction World Magazine as one of the Top Ten Architects in India, thrice in the last 6 years.
Over the last 35 years RKA has designed several prestigious and landmark projects in the country including the first Ritz Carlton property at Bengaluru, the new Westin at Chennai, Taj Vivanta at Gurgaon, and one of the world's largest ‘platinium rated green’ hotel,- the ITC Royal Gardenia in Bengaluru. Some of RKA’s well-recognized designs include The Grand Hyatt Hotel, Crown Plaza Hotel, Radisson Hotel and The Imperial Hotel in New Delhi, the new Claridges ( now vivanta) Hotel in Surajkund, the India Expo Trade & Convention Centre and HCL Technology Campus in Greater Noida, GMR Novotel at Hyderabad Airport, the Ibis Hotels at Delhi Airport and in Gurgaon, Pune and Mumbai and the new Tech-Mahindra Software Campus at Pune. RKA is currently involved in 4 hotel and 3 commercial sites at the DIAL Hospitality District at New Delhi. Currently Kumar is involved in the design of a luxury hotel at Muscat Airport in Oman, Holiday Inn Hotels in Chennai and Bengaluru, and Vivanta Hotels by Taj in Amritsar & Dwarka.

Vivek Bhalla is Co-founder of CASAM Hospitality, an asset management and consulting firm providing customized solutions to maximize the long-term value of hospitality assets. Prior to this Mr.Bhalla was Senior Director of Operations – South Asia with Starwood Hotels and Resorts and was responsible for the Pre-Opening and Operations of the groups 40+ hotels in India and South Asia.
He has also held senior management roles in Sales and Marketing as Director of Revenue Management for Asia Pacific for Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Corporate Revenue Manager Hyatt International hotels and Revenue Manager – S.E.Asia for Hyatt International Hotels.

Babul has more than 25 years of experience in Real Estate space with Kuljian Corporation, Tata/Taj , GE Capital and Duet . He has been in leadership position for many years and has evolved innovative implementation strategies for seamless delivery of multiple Projects in tandem .
He was instrumental for managing and delivering on several landmark Greenfield Developments successfully across various verticals including hospitality, commercial, industrial and infrastructure. Babul has significant exposure in delivering Projects Internationally as well in US, UK, Poland, Romania , Philippines etc . He strongly believes in International Quality and Local Affinity. He has managed to get the best out of the Project stakeholders by way of a 360 degree collaborative effort. He empowers his talented Team and leverages their collective intellectual capital for impactful delivery of complex projects.
Apart from his formal Training in Indian Institute of Technology , Kharagpur and Indian Institute of Management , Calcutta , he has done several Leadership Program seeded out of Croton Ville , US.

Raj Rana is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, South Asia. Raj started his hotel career in India and went overseas in 1991. After working in various senior executive positions in Europe and U.S.A, Raj returned full circle to India in April of this year. Previously Raj was head of Radisson Franchised Operations, for Carlson based at the company’s world headquarters in Minneapolis. His broad spectrum experience includes brand growth and expansion, opening hotels, managing brand conversions and ensuring profitable business operations. Raj did his Hotel Management from Institute of Hotel Management, Pusa, New Delhi and MBA from New York.

Naveen Jain is a veteran hotelier known for his enthusiasm for work and passion for excellence carrying more than three decades of experience in the Indian hospitality industry across investment, treasury, corporate finance, operations finance, project execution and general management.
After having worked with Oberoi Hotels for 25 years, Naveen joined Duet India Hotels in 2008 and presently heads the organisation as President of the company. Under Naveen’s leadership, Duet has grown as an institutional player in a short span of time. It has been able to leverage on the high credibility of its investors and has access to funding pipeline at a reasonable interest rate. Duet also introduced Holiday Inn Express brand in India in joint venture with InterContinental Hotels Group.
Naveen is a Commerce graduate from Sri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University and a Chartered Accountant associated with various industry forums. He was also the Chairman of the CFO World, a forum created for Senior Finance Professionals in the industry.

Mr. Jain obtained B Sc Engg (Mech) degree in 1967 from Dayal Bagh Engineering College Agra affiliated to Agra University, U.P (India) and MCIBSE (London), C.ng (London). He has worked as a lecturer in Mechanical Engineering College for five years from august 1967 to July 1972. He has made official trips to UK and Italy for various projects meetings, discussions at design, development and execution stage with various international clients, architects, consultants and contractors. During this period, he also became the member of ASHRAE on 31st August 1980 (American Society of Heating Refrigeration & Air-conditioning Engineers) & CIBSE (Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers), London. In March 1984, he came back to India and in April 1984 started his independent consultancy practice under the name & style of “Sanelac Consultants” as proprietary firm. He has been presented with RASHTRIYA RATTAN AWARD and PRIDE OF INDIA AWARD for his outstanding individual achievements & distinguished services to the Nation.

Ashish Rakheja has work experience of over twenty years and expertise includes design & coordination of multi-disciplinary engineering activities. He heads the large team of AECOM engineers and has hands-on working experience for number of projects all over India. He has worked on writing codes & standards with various Governmental agencies like : Panel member - revision of National Building Code (NBC) on HVAC System, Panel member - new chapter on Sustainability in National Building Code of India, Member Core committee & Chairman- Sub committee (HVAC system) for BEE- IGBC initiative on developing guidelines for Green Data Centres, and alternate member - panel for revision of ducting system set-up by Bureau of Indian Standard. He is the person, who has handled design activities of services for design of Thirty Four LEED Platinum rated green building projects in India. He is spearheading the green building movement in India in capacity of role as Chairman, Technical Committee of Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) and certified LEED India Trainer. He also heads the sustainability division at AECOM India.
He is acknowledged as a seasoned consulting engineer with vast design experience of all types of projects including IT Campus, Hotels, Hospitals, Industrial, Institutional, Commercial and Airport buildings.

Electrical Engineer with more than 20 years of experience in Project / Design Management for Fire Life Safety including Active & Passive Fire Protection Measures.
Deft in swiftly ramping up projects in close co-ordination with project stake holders like Architects, Structure engineers, system-wide consultants, owner/owner’s representatives & other external agencies, ensuring On- Time deliverables and handing over the projects upon successful completion to end user for beneficial use. Well versed in managing & motivating teams with extensive exposure of developing procedures, quality standards & operational policies for business excellence.
An effective communicator with excellent relationship building & interpersonal skills. Strong analytical, problem solving & organizational abilities.

Mr. Amit Ghosal is an Architect-Planner with over 30 years of wide and varied Professional Experience and has considerable experience in Planning, Design and Execution of Urban-scale projects of national eminence. His basic strengths are to conceive and visualize large-scale projects in the Urban and Regional context while integrating the nuances of planning and design with economically viable and appropriate infra-structure services. His areas of interest and specialization are of “Energy Efficient Buildings”, responsive to local climate, renewable energy applications in Architectural Design and Planning principles incorporating waste-recycling, rain-water harvesting, aquifer-recharge, economics in the lay-out of services, landscaping and other applications towards “Sustainable-Development”.