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.

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.

Prem Thakur is the Sr. Manager – Global Design Asia Pacific for Marriott International and based in the regional office in Mumbai. He is handling various Projects across the sub continent. Prem with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree brings with him over two decades 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. He is a Member of Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors MRICS and an Accredited Professional of IGBC - Indian Green Building Council. He is also a member of ISHRAE Mumbai and was a Core committee member of IGBC Mumbai chapter and has been instrumental in carrying out initiatives.

Rajiv Sharma is Vice President Development for South West Asia and is responsible for driving the strategic distribution of IHG brands through hotel management contract signings, in key locations across the sub-region. Rajiv started his career with IHG in 2004 as Director Development South West Asia and in 2007 was made Associate VP Development for the South West Asia region. In 2011 he assumed the responsibilities of Vice President Development, South West Asia. He has more than 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry with significant expertise in the hotel and tourism development arena, spanning South West Asia and Australia. He has also handled Development roles with Aman Resorts, Accor and Southern Pacific Hotels in the South West Asia region. Rajiv has worked in Australia with Horwath and in the US and Germany in hotel operations. Rajiv holds a Master of Business Administration from the Australian Graduate School of Management, Sydney in addition to a Bachelor of Business Administration from Fort Lauderdale College, Florida. He also holds a Hotel Management Diploma from Dadar Catering College, Mumbai. He is currently based in New Delhi, India.

A post graduate in Business Administration, Dhruva Rathore has been in the hospitality industry for over twenty years. He started his career as a Sales & Marketing management trainee with Indian Hotels Company Limited followed by a stint with ITC Hotels Limited. He subsequently occupied leadership positions in Sales & Marketing at Parkroyal New Delhi and with Indian Hotels Company Limited in New Delhi. He joined Hyatt Hotels & Resorts in February 2005 to set up the sales organisation in India, moved to the Development function in 2008 and is currently Vice President – Development responsible for the Indian subcontinent.

Anil Madhok, an icon of the Indian hospitality industry is unassuming yet aggressive. He has had a meteoric and phenomenal rise. Anil Madhok joined Oberoi Hotels in 1966 and contributed to the Group until 1991. His last assignment was Vice President-Operations for Western and Northern Regions, overseeing the Oberoi Hotels in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Goa and Srinagar as well as Oberoi Flight Services and Oberoi Airport, Services. His tenure with the Oberoi Group included overseas stints at Sri Lanka and Singapore as General Manager, Oberoi. He has been felicitated with the much coveted lifetime achievement award at the Hotelier India Awards 2012 that celebrate excellence in the hospitality industry. The award recognized his enormous experience and expertise in hotel conceptualization & operation. He has also been awarded the HIFI (Hotel Investment Forum India) - Hall of Fame award in 2014. Anil Madhok founded Sarovar Hotels in 1994. The Company has carved a niche in the mid market and budget hotels category in India and continues to be in the forefront in the Indian hospitality arena.

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.

Mandeep has spent over 30 years in the Hospitality Industry. After successful stints with International Hotel Brands such as Choice Hotels, Intercontinental Hotel Group (IHG) and Carlson Residor in General Management positions, he became, in 2001, President of ITC Fortune Park Hotels, part of the USD 8 billion ITC Group. He is credited for having built the Fortune hotels Brand and establishing it as a leading player in the Indian Mid-Scale Hospitality sector growing the business over 100% year on year throughout his term. Post his career with ITC, Mandeep set up joint ventures to own and operate hotels in the Indian upscale sector with the multi-billion dollar Real Estate and Financial services conglomerate, Dawnay Day Group UK, Private Equity Firm Duet International UK and subsequently with Onyx Hospitality, the leading hospitality player in Thailand. Prior to moving to Jones Lang LaSalle India he spent three years in a consulting role as President with TEN Hotels and Hospitality Solutions, a company he founded in 2011 providing end to end solutions to the hospitality Industry. An established Industry leader, Mandeep is respected for his insight into the Indian Hospitality Industry, having won several awards & recognitions for his accomplishments. He is a regular invitee to several Industry forums and a speaker in Seminars & Conferences in India & abroad.

Sanjay Dhingra graduated from School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi in the year 1990. He started his career with Architect Sudhir Vohra and worked with him as an ARCHITECT till March 1994 and as an ASSOCIATE ARCHITECT till December 1996, on a wide range and scale of projects with varied degree of involvement. Nature of projects of having been associated with, included various outlets of NIRULA’S chain of Restaurants and other Restaurants’ Interiors; Building and Interior Design of a 40 room Hotel; Bank Branch and Departmental Store Interiors; Residential and Commercial Building Designs; Conceptual Proposal of a Highway Resort; Plotted Residential Estate for senior executives; Industrial Kitchen Planning and Equipment Design; Property Evaluation and Cost Estimation assignments. He was also involved with the Interiors’ of Littlewoods departmental stores in Bangalore and Hyderabad. In the year 1997, he started his own practice of Architecture/ Interior Design/ Project Management by the name M/s SDC (Sanjay Dhingra Consultants). From 1997 till 2000, he had rendered Interior Design Consultancy and Project Management & Site Coordination Services for Domino’s & McDonald’s outlets across India. High point of his career includes Refurbishment of Public areas at Taj Mahal Hotel, Mansingh Road, New Delhi for providing Interior Coordination Assistance in the year 2000. He had also rendered Interior Design Consultancy services for Barista Bars at Chennai and Bangalore in the year 2001.

An architect by training, Suneet Paul is the editor-in-chief of the noted Indian magazine Architecture+Design. He has been involved in teaching at the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, and has been on the panel of various college juries and an adjudicator for national awards in the profession. Suneet Paul has himself been instrumental in the establishment of one of the most prestigious Indian awards—Architecture +Design and CERA Awards- which have witnessed eleven cycles. He has contributed professional articles to a number of magazines and newspapers and been a participant in seminars and conferences on diverse themes in the field. His creativity has also been witnessed in the form of a book of short stories and occasion delving into painting as a hobby.

Cyril JACOB heads the international project development firm ASCENTIS, which has been operating in the region for the past ten years and has built an extensive track-record in the hospitality segment. By combining world-class project management standards with strong local execution capabilities, ASCENTIS brings end-to-end project solutions to the marketplace from design & build construction to integrated development services and ultimately deliver exceptional value for projects and clients’ businesses.

With almost 30 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 Sarovar 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. A graduate in Economics from Delhi University, Dilip holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Hotel Management from the Oberoi Center for Learning and Development. He has also done an Executive MBA program for IHG General Manager’s with the Poon Kam Kai School of Business at the Hong Kong University. Dilip is based out of the Starwood Regional Office in Gurgaon. He is a a voracious reader and an avid golfer.

Barry is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer with nearly 45 years’ experience in the Building Services Industry. He has extensive experience of working across the world. He 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. This was responsible for the 2007 CIBSE International Achievement award, with the judges commenting on how these guides simplified Hotel services design to reduce both capital and operating costs, and presented the information in a way in which it could easily be understood by Engineers whose first language was not English. Barry was recently involved with Masdar – the world’s first zero carbon emission city being constructed in Abu Dhabi. Barry is the Principal at ADG International, Consulting Engineers, and has been located in Delhi since 2011.

Sr. Vice President of Projects and Development with over twentynine years of experience in Architectural space layout planning, project management, engineering design review, systems installation management, procurement and production planning of all segments of project. Has successfully completed many hospitality, industrial, retail and institutional projects in USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh. With extensive experience in Hospitality Industry, I have completed renovation or new construction of over 45 major hotel projects around the world and another 40 currently under design and construction in Asia, Middle East and Africa. Regularly speak and or participate in a panel discussion for various hospitality conventions, real estate conference and design meets notable are Sleeper magazine events, Marcus events, Hotelier, AIPD, WAF, etc. Canadian citizen with Life Visa for India.

Murad Ismail, AIA(SL) a Chartered Architect, is a Director for ATS Consultants (Pvt) Ltd and Partner at MICD Associates and is currently involved in projects in Sri Lanka and Maldives, mainly in leisure related projects. Murad has been an architect for the 250 acre golf course at the Waters Edge and 150 acre golf course in Trincomalee; many resorts and hotels for Sri Lanka hotels and resorts operators; 200 community and personal residential projects in Sri Lanka and India. Murad has also designed the 4 Seasons Landaa Giraavaru Resort in Maldives which was voted as one of the 10 Hottest Designer Hotels by Home Journal magazine Hong Kong. He has also been voted as one of the ten captains of business for 2013 by the LMD Magazine.

Tilak Selviah is the Director and Chief Operating Officer of Leisure Sector for Browns Investments PLC, which encompasses 4 running hotels of nearly 400 rooms along with 2 large international hotel projects of 575 rooms opening in 2016/2017 and 5 new projects in the Maldives of 600 rooms. Tilak has nearly 25 years of experience in Senior Management positions in blue chip companies, all relating to Hotels and Leisure Management. Prior to joining Browns Investments PLC, he was the Director/General Manager of Eden Resort & Spa. He has also been the Executive Director of Operations and Administration for Aitken Spence Hotels.

After graduating from Institute of Hotel Management, Bhopal in 1994, he joined the renowned Ambassador Group of hotels as a Trainee Management Chef and gradually he was became the head of the Sky Chef division as Master Chef. Later on he moved to Suman Motels into Corporate Planning and was instrumental in the opening of resorts and motels. After a successful tenure in hotels, Rajatjoined a consulting firm specialising in food service design. He promoted HPG consulting in 1999, and today it's a well-known Consulting Company specialising in food service design, laundry design and facility planning for hospitality projects. HPG Consulting has already associated with projects for international brands like Hilton, Marriott, IHG, Accor, Starwood, Langham Hotels, Dusit International, Millennium Group, Taj Hotels, besides the local hotel groups in India.

With over 34 years of experience in the hospitality industry, Rattan Keswani is the Deputy Managing Director of Lemon Tree Group. He is also the Chairman of Carnation Hotels Pvt. Ltd. (A joint venture between Lemon Tree Hotels and Rattan Keswani). Prior to joining Lemon Tree Hotels, he was associated with Trident Hotels (part of The Oberoi Group) as President from April 2008 till April 2012. Rattan was responsible for ten Trident Hotels in India. In addition, he oversaw Maidens Hotel, Delhi and Clarkes Hotel, Shimla. He has worked across various Oberoi Hotels & Resorts in India and overseas. An alumnus of the Oberoi Centre for Learning and Development, Rattan started his career with The Oberoi Mumbai in 1983, as the Assistant Front Office Manager. Apart from a brief tenure with Holiday Inns Worldwide, Mr. Keswani had two tenures with The Oberoi Group, the last till the middle of April 2012. Rattan holds a Bachelors Degree in Commerce. Married with two children – a son and a daughter, Rattan is an avid reader and enjoys travel, movies, and sports – with tennis and cricket being his keen interests.

Mr. B.M. Gupta is presently working as Executive with Tourism Finance Corporation India Limited, New Delhi, did his Masters in Commerce from Delhi School of Economics, DelhiUniversity and M.B.A.(Finance) from Delhi University. Mr. Gupta started his career in 1976 as a banker with Union Bank of India and later on joined Oriental Bank of Commerce in 1980 as a probationary Officer and was posted in the Credit Admn. Department at the Head Office of Oriental Bank as Loans Officer in 1981. Mr. Gupta became part of the Bank’s Core Team also conducted Training Programmes for Senior and Junior Officers of the Bank on Credit Analysis/ Appraisal/ Follow-up. Mr. Gupta joined Tourism Finance Corporation of India Ltd. (TFCI) in June 1993 – in Senior Management Cadre and was made in-charge of Projects appraisal, Investments and Rehabilitation Department for difficult cases.

Reema Diwan Associate Director with Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels & Resorts Pte. Ltd. She leads Design for all the 9 brands of Starwood hotels & resorts across south Asia region. Her creative passion provide basis for her work. Excels at taking over and turning around some of the conversion projects into design lead hotels. She has channelized ultra-Luxury brands like St Regis, W Hotel and upper-scale brand like Aloft & Four Points by Sheraton in Indian market . With 16 Years of progressive experience she has proven track record of designing award winning hotels. While traveling she likes to explore emerging trends which are basis of her design inspiration.

With almost seven years of MEP design work experience, Kunal Chaudhari joined UCA back in 2009 as a Mechanical & Automation Engineer. Apart from having study and work experience in Ontario Canada, Kunal is also a published author with two titles under his wing. UCA being a twenty seven year old MEP consulting organization gave him the right stage to get well integrated with Real Estate Development. Over the years, MEP consulting assignments have taken him to various parts of India and rest of the world. In a fairly short span of time, many successful projects have been designed, handled and handed over by Mr. Chaudhari in various building genres - Data Centers, IT/ITES, Labs, Retail, Hospitals, Hotels and more. Kunal has been trying to involve young engineers to participate in building services engineering through platforms provided by ASHRAE & LEED, having personally trained over a dozen engineering graduates. Currently, he is leading his team toward a green and bright future using cutting edge technology and innovative engineering solutions, including Computation Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Energy Modelling, BIM and several other engineering tools.

David Tokiwa is the Founder and Managing Director of DBTA International Pte Ltd. A third generation Japanese-Canadian, he took up Bachelor of Applied Arts in Interior Design in Ryerson University in Canada. Soon after graduation he set foot to Singapore where he started his career in Interior Design and the rest is history. To date, Mr. Tokiwa has won several awards for the unique designs he passionately executes which the latest is being recognized in London’s International Hotel Awards in association with Rolls-Royce Motor Cars via the latest property he designed, Sayaji Hotel Kolhapur being awarded as the Best Large Hotel in India and Rolls-Royce Five Star Standard Hotel. He continues to build his legacy by imparting the knowledge and passion to the younger generation of Designers in order to assure continuity of “making people’s dreams a reality” …

Prof. Chitra is a Post Graduate Education in Dispute resolution with emphasis on Adjudication and Mediation. Professional Graduate in Architecture and Quantity surveying and Building. Professional experience encompasses fields of Architecture, Quantity surveying and for Project Management, International construction Management, Dispute resolution, construction auditing, risk management and value management. Prof. Chitra is the Principal Partner in Private practice in Sri-Lanka that carries out consultancies in Project management, cost Monitoring and Management of buildings, contract administration, construction audits., preparation of due diligence reports on buildings, dispute Resolution and medication. Her Work experience also encompasses working as the Professor of Building Economics, Head of department, Dean, Faculty of Architecture, University of Moratuwa Sri-Lanka and currently as the emeritus professor of the Department of Building Economics and the academic advisor to Colombo School of Construction Technology.

Lek Bunnag holds degrees in Masters of Architecture in Urban Design, Harvard University, USA Master of Architecture, University of Manitoba, Canada Bachelor of Architecture, Silpakorn University, Thailand. He is the Founder and Managing Director of Bunnag Architects was also a Senior Lecturer in Architecture at the National University of Singapore and was appointed Honorary Lecturer at the University of Hong Kong. Having gained extensive and diverse experience from his own practice in Hong Kong which he started in 1988 and with his long standing interest in South East Asian Art Architecture and its Cultural Heritage he returned to Thailand in 1990 and started to focus his practice in design which involves Cultural Heritage. The a+d and Spectrum Foundation of India bestowed on him in 2011 the Golden Award for Excellence in architecture 2010 in 2012 he was conferred an Honorary Doctorate Degree by Slipakorn University. Thailand and was designed a National Artist of Thailand in the field of Aarchitecture.

Prim Jitcharoongphorn is the Managing Director of Allied Metals and a food enthusiast. Prim has played an instrumental role in building the brand through continual development of effective and environmental friendly professional kitchen design and procurement. Prim is a self-confessed foodie and a passionate leader. She befriends with the world’s top chefs and hoteliers, and explores cuisine of all flavors and decrees. Prim is a member of the elite Chaîne des Rôtisseurs—an international association that brings together amateur and professional gastronomes to encourage culinary arts and the pleasure of fine dining. Prim has been a member of Yong President Organization (YPO) Thailand Chapter since 2007 and served as Chapter Chair from 2014 to 2015. Prim is a Founding Member of YPO ASEAN United and currently serves as Integration Officer for the Chapter.

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. Suresh Kumar took over as Vice President Operations - ITC Hotels from In April 2005 till Since October 2006, Currently Mr. Kumar is Managing Director of Fortune Park Hotels Limited which has 85 Alliance Hotels across 62 cities in India, with an inventory of close to 7000 Rooms, In his current role, Mr. Kumar also oversees the WelcomHeritage Hotels division. 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. At present he is a Management Committee Member of Hotel & Restaurant Association of Northern India (HRANI), Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI) and Executive Committee Member of Hotel Association of India (HAI).

Kaushik Vardharajan, a global veteran worked with HVS for 13 years, his last held designation was Partner and Managing Director, Asia Pacific from Managing Director, South Asia. During his tenure, Vardharajan performed more than 1,500 market studies, feasibility analyses, and valuations in North America and South Asia, with a specific focus on large mixed-use projects and portfolio valuations. His role was to oversee HVS’s growth in Southeast Asia and China from the Singapore office. He is a Member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and sits on its Valuation Board for the region, which is responsible for establishing professional standards for property valuations. Kaushik is currently working with Hilton Worldwide as Vice President-Development for India.

Sanjika is a product of D S Senanayake College, Colombo where he excelled in Debating and Basketball which he still pursues with passion. Married to a Pediatric Consultant he is the father of 3 children. Mr. Perera a graduate in Marketing from The Chartered Institute of Marketing UK & has been a member of the institute since 1984. He was awarded the Fellowship of the Institute in 2010 and has been involved with CIM Sri Lanka contributing towards the development of the marketing profession. He was actively involved as a Management Committee Member, Board Member and Office Bearer of the Institute over the years prior to his appointment as the Chairman. Sanjika left for UK in 2008 to assume the duties of The Director – UK & Ireland for Sri Lanka Tourism. During his tenure, Sri Lanka Tourism UK office was selected as one of the top ten Overseas Tourism Offices in the UK for 2 consecutive years by the prestigious Travel & Trade Gazette (TTG) UK. Mr. Perera’s career spans over 20 years with the last 10 years being in Leadership Roles. Sanjika is presently employed as the Director of Business Development and Projects at Serendib Leisure Management Ltd (subsidiary of Hemas Group)

Anika Wijesuirya is a Director of East West Properties PLC. In her present role, she oversees the design and development of a 200 key Marriott Resort & Spa in Weligama Bay, Sri Lanka, which is due to commence operations in July 2016. Her knowledge and experience extends to all facets of hotel development from an owners perspective. She has previously served on the board of the Ceylon Continental Hotel, Sri Lanka’s first 5 Star hotel property. Anika holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) from Durham University, UK.

He followed undergraduate studies at the IPT Katubedde, 1961-1963 (now Moratuwa University, Sri Lanka). And post graduate studies at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, 1966-1968. He worked closely with the distinguished architect Geoffrey Bawa, his mentor and Ulrik Plesner at ER&B (1962-1978); at MKA Ltd (1980-1997). He is in solo architectural private practice since 1997. His work has been published internationally in over fourteen text books and many journals including CASA VOGUE, August 1993 (Italy) which featured his first house by a lagoon. This much published unique tropical house was included among the 1000 significant buildings in a compendium of WORLD ARCHITECTURE, A CRITICAL MOSAIC, (1900-2000) published by the China Architecture and Building Press endorsed by the International Union of Architects. NEW DIRECTIONS IN TROPICAL ASIAN ARCHITECTURE (Pessaro 2005) featured three of his projects. His Lagoon House has been included in the PHAIDON ATLAS OF 20th CENTURY WORLD ARCHITECTURE (2012) covering an international selection of buildings from 1900 – 2000. DOMUS (Sri Lanka, August-September 2015) featured his work. He is the author of ‘CREATING SIMPLICITY (Vijitha Yapa, 2009) and ‘TIMELESS HOUSES, (limited edition 2014). He is a visiting lecturer and an examiner at the schools of architecture in Sri Lanka. In 2013 the Sri Lanka Institute of Architects honoured him with a lifetime award for excellence in architecture.

“Subhash Jalabhay, Mauritian Citizen, is a Founder member and chairman of SLP Holding. He has been in the Hospitality industry since 1994, starting in Mauritius and Seychelles, offering Design and Built of MEP Engineering services. Through Sri-Lanka (EME Solutions Lanka Pvt Ltd) , Maldives (EME Solutions Maldives Pvt Ltd) and India (EME Design Services Pvt Ltd) , SLP / EME is committed to promote and offer MEP Engineering services with an Art, since MEP Engineering is the “ invisible work” amongst the top feel good factors to the guest’s appreciation of today’s Hospitality – A Good shower, Comfortable HVAC, and Good connectivity come altogether with, if not ahead of , the guests’ experience of vital services offered by any Hotel. “