Lecturers and Speakers

Short biographies of the speakers, lecturers and other special guests


Professor Robert Maitland is Reader in Tourism and Director of the Centre for Tourism Research at the University of Westminster in London. He is a leading authority on tourism in cities, in particular world cities and national capitals.

The Centre is top-rated by HEFCE for its teaching excellence, and one of only two university departments in the UK to receive the maximum rating in tourism. After reading Economics at the University of Cambridge, Robert gained a Masters degree in Environmental Planning at the University of Nottingham, and later a Masters in Business Administration. He is a Fellow of the Tourism Society and a Chartered Town Planner. He has previously worked on economic policy development and research in local government in London, and was head of research at a management consultancy. Robert is Vice-Chair of the Association for Tourism in Higher Education, and Chair of the international ATLAS City and National Capitals Tourism Research Group. During the last year he has given keynotes and public lectures on city tourism in Porto and in Berlin, edited a journal special issue on capital city tourism, and headed an International Expert Group evaluating Tourism programmes in Lithuanian universities. In 1988 -90 he led a pioneering UK Government funded research project that evaluated the role of tourism in urban regeneration. He has subsequently focused his research on the linked areas of tourism in cities, cultural tourism, and tourism policy, on which he has published extensively and advised government departments and agencies. He is a regular speaker at conferences in the UK, mainland Europe and the USA. Recent major funded research and consultancy projects have included a review of national policy for leisure and tourism for the UK’s Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, an evaluation of the effectiveness of national tourism organizations, and examination of stakeholder perceptions of the marketing activities of VisitBritain. He is an expert adviser on tourism to the UK’s National Audit Office and Office of Science and Technology. Robert’s current research interests focus on tourism and everyday life, and visitors’ role in creating new tourist areas in London and other major cities, and on the development of tourism in national capitals. His book on World Tourism Cities, co-authored with Peter Newman, will be published by Routledge in 2008. He is working on a book on tourism in national capitals to be published in 2009. Chair of the EIAT Scientific Committee.

Professor Rob Davidson is a Senior Lecturer in Business Travel and Tourism at the University of Westminster in London. He joined the University in 1998 , after spending nine years in France teaching at two universities (Lille and Montpellier) and at the ESSEC-Cornell Institute of Management in Paris.

Prior to that, he spent five years as Education and Training Manager with VisitBritain in London. His main areas of expertise are conference and business travel, and over the last ten years he has written widely on these themes. His latest book was published in 2006: Marketing Destinations and Venues for Conferences, Conventions and Business Events, co-written with Tony Rogers of the British Association of Conference Destinations. In addition, he regularly writes articles for the professional business tourism press, including Conference News. Rob also runs his own consultancy business, and has carried out research for a number of major conference organizations in the UK and overseas. He is regularly invited to speak at international conferences on the theme of trends in business tourism. Since 2002, Rob has been employed as business tourism Industry Analyst by Reed Travel Exhibitions, for whom he carries out ongoing research. At EIBTM in Barcelona each year, he launches his annual report on current and future developments in the conference and incentive industry worldwide In February 2005, he was nominated Meetings and Incentive Personality of the Year 2005, at the Meetings & Incentive Travel Awards ceremony in London, in the presence of Her Royal Highness Princess Anne. In 2006, 2007 and 2008, he was named as one of Conference & Incentive Travel magazine’s ‘Power 50’ – the 50 most influential people in the UK conference industry.

Susan Radojević At a very young age, Susan knew she wanted a career that blended her two greatest passions – finance and travel! The Meeting Industry was a logical choice.

Susan’s education in international business, psychology and Political Science was followed by occupations in the fashion industry, financial services and hotel management before starting The Peregrine Agency in 199 0. The Peregrine Agency is a global event alignment consultancy. The Agency collaborates with corporate executives to increase event marketing value, decrease event costs and align their meetings and events with their business goals. The Agency’s Strategic Event Alignment (SEA™) process is integrated with event management technology to provide a web based solution. Susan is a member of SITE and MPI, and a Director on the SITE International Board. She is also a regular contributor to trade and business journals such as Meeting & Incentive Travel (M&IT) magazine as well as Maclean’s Magazine and Canadian Business. In addition, 16 she is frequently invited to speak at conferences and industry events. Susan enjoys running, horseback riding, tennis, reading and music. Spending time with her young niece gives her a youthful perspective on life – and keeps her on her toes! Of course, she loves to travel and has been fortunate to visit all four corners. Susan’s dream holiday would be to view this great earth of ours from space and see what else there is out there! Chair of the EIAT Advisory Committee.

Rok Klančnik recently moved from Madrid to Brussels and now runs the Slovenian Tourist Office for Benelux and France.

Rok joined the United Nations - affiliated World Tourism Organization as Chief of Communications in June 2002 and was/is in charge of communications campaigns for the 15th WTO General Assembly in Beijing, the Tourism Enriches project and the transformation of the WTO into a United Nations specialised agency. He has also edited the third edition of the “Shining in the Media Spotlight” handbook and has been involved as Chief and supervisor of the TOURCOM Conference. A native of Slovenia, Rok worked with the Slovenian Tourist Board following its creation in 1996 . As Director of Communications at the Board, he implemented communications campaigns for trade fair representations and at important international events such as the 1998 Expo in Lisbon, the Sydney Olympic Games, the World Cup in South Korea and the first summit between U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Slovenia. As a speaker and organiser, he was involved in conferences and promotional events in some 40 countries in Europe, the Middle East, the United States and Central America, Asia, Africa and Australia. Rok has a university degree in political science and international relations and worked as a journalist for the daily newspaper “Delo” and for the Slovenian Press Agency. He specialised in journalism and communications at the University of Tennessee and has taken part in numerous seminars and courses on communications, journalism, management and marketing in Slovenia and at international institutions as the Council of Europe and such. In his journalistic work, he is former Chief Editor of the “WTO News” and regularly contributes articles to print media on subjects relating to international tourism, public relations, marketing and branding.

Paul Gauger currently holds the position of Director, Regional Press and Public Relations, Americas for VisitBritain based in New York City.

He is responsible for developing and directing the strategic framework for the organizations Media and Public Relations activity and implementing the Film Tourism strategy in Brazil, Canada and the United States. Paul has worked for VisitBritain for five years, previously as Head of Publicity and Destination PR in their London head office from 2003-2005. He was responsible for devising and implementing all international and domestic PR strategies to generate maximum positive editorial coverage of Britain and England as a tourist destination. Before his career with VisitBritain, Paul worked for the Australian Tourism Commission for eight years in PR where he was responsible for all aspects of the organisations Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Media Program, which generated worldwide publicity worth 2 billion dollars. During this period he sat on the board of management for the Sydney Media Centre which was a facility specifically for 5,000 media. Paul went on to become Head of International Media where he was responsible for the global PR network in 30 countries. Paul has just returned from Beijing last month promoting the next summer Olympic Games in London 2012. When not working, his passion is theatre, films, and a constant need to travel.

John Humphreys joined People1st as Travel & Tourism Diploma Development Manager in April 2007, having previously worked for Springboard UK as their education and development manager.

He was a teacher in secondary and tertiary education for 28 years, and was an external verifier, examiner and consultant for a range of leisure, travel and tourism qualifications. Whilst at Springboard John delivered professional development for teachers throughout the UK, and developed a wide range of teaching and careers-based resources for Leisure, Hospitality and Travel and Tourism courses. He was also the UK Director of the Global Travel & Tourism Partnership, and led teacher training workshops in Russia and Hungary. He is a member of the ITT and sits on their Education & Training committee. He is a Board member of the Tourism Society and has been a member for 20 years. 17

Professor Niek Beunders is senior lecturer and consultant of the Chair for Sustainable Tourism Development of NHTV, Breda. He also works as an independent consultant on these issues.

His fields of expertise are: Leisure sciences (trends, consumer behaviour, impacts) and Sustainable Tourism Development of natural and rural areas. Niek has extensive international experience in: the development of text books, educational programmes and training programmes on tourism, sustainable tourism development, rural tourism and leisure consultancy on strategies for sustainable tourism development of rural and protected areas. He has been involved as a consultant Sustainable Tourism Development in the PAN Parks Project since 1998 and is co-author of PAN Parks Principles and Criteria and author of PAN Parks Manual for Sustainable Tourism Development, practical guidelines for the formulation of a Sustainable Tourism Development Strategy (STDS) for Protected Areas and their Regions.

Prof. Dr. Ige Pirnar was born in USA in 196 3. She achieved MBA in 1989 in Bilkent University and PhD in Business Administration in Ankara University in 1998 .

Ige has worked as lecturer in Bilkent University, also has worked as part time lecturer in METU. Held job postings in Bilkent University as: assistant director if School of Tourism and Hotel Management, Vice Chair of Dept. Computer Aided Accounting and Vice Chair of Dept. Commerce and Administration. Now is working as Chair of Department of Tourism Management in Dokuz Eylül University. Ige has 5 books on topics of MICE tourism, TQM in tourism, services quality management, direct marketing and PR in Tourism. Also, works in projects related to tourism education and EU tourism Policies. Also has many articles published and presentations presented in national and international conferences and journals.

Thomas Pavlovic was born on December 2nd 1964 in Alpirsbach, Germany. His education in hotel industry started with diploma of cook and waiter, later he upgraded his knowledge in field of hotel management.

He started his working experience in Scandic By Hilton Hotel in Frankfurt Germany, from 1989 till 1994 , from Management trainee position, through Assistant to the Commercial Manager, to the Food and Beverage Manager. From 1994 to 1997 he was Deputy General Manager in Holiday Inn, Karlsruhe, Germany. In Hotel Lindenhof, Weilburg he was Managing Director from 1997 -1998 , after that in Accor Hotels – Mercure Wetzlar was F&B Manager from 1998 to 2000. Further (2000-2003) he was General Manager in Hotel Chain - Best Western in Rüsselsheim,Germany. From the year of 2003 until 2006 his duty was Managing Director in Q2 Hotelbetriebsgesellschaft mbH, the company that manages hotels from Best Western Chain. Finally, Mr.Pavlovic decided to change the location of his work and to face challenge - in may 2006 he came to Belgrade, Serbia and started to work on preparing the Pre-opening office for Hotel Holiday Inn, Belgrade. On November 16th 2007 Holiday Inn Belgrade finally opened its doors.

Milan Valčić is currently the Director of Six Sigma at The Westin Harbour Castle Hotel in Toronto, Canada. In this role, he is responsible for leading major initiatives and managing complex, large scale projects, resulting in significant financial and customer loyalty gains.

Six Sigma is a business methodology used to achieve both quality improvements in existing processes as well as transformational innovation. During the 14 year career with Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Milan has been in numerous leadership positions, including Director of Outlets; Director of Food & Beverage and Director of Six Sigma at some of the largest and most prestigious Sheraton and Westin hotels in Canada and United States. Leadership in general and development of young leaders and highly capable and cohesive teams in particular, are his passion. Milan has been involved with both formal and informal coaching and mentoring programs designed to develop young managers through personal relationships with experienced leaders. A strong believer in ongoing learning and self-development, he is currently completing Masters of Business Administration studies with the University of Guelph, Canada. Milan Valcic has remained closely connected with Serbia. He currently writes a regular column on management & Leadership for “Turisticki Svet,” and has also written on the topic of leadership for the “Biznis i Finansije” magazine.

Rick Taylor, CEO, The Business Tourism Company Sandton, South Africa. Rick comes from a marketing / advertising background, with 20 years strategic experience in this arena.
His involvement in the Tourism Industry began in 1994 with the purchase of the Hout Bay Hotel in Cape Town, South Africa. From 1998 Rick was a pioneer in the greater Cape Town tourism industry where, as CEO of Cape Metropolitan Tourism he introduced numerous innovative marketing concepts such as Cape Town’s ‘Secret Season’, BestCities.net, Beautiful Bays and Great Wine Capitals of the World. Rick set up South Africa’s first stand alone Convention Bureau, marketing Greater Cape Town as an international meetings destination and positioning the region firmly on the global meetings and incentives map. Through his leadership, Cape Town rose from 51 to 30 on the ICCA list of top international conference and incentive cities in 2000. Furthermore, the Cape Town Convention Bureau won over 80% of all conference bids. In 2004 Rick was appointed to South African Tourism to set up a National Convention Bureau on their behalf. Rick is a popular speaker at international conferences and has sat on a number of National and International Boards in the business tourism arena for example: He currently sits on the International Advisory Board of La Maison de la France. He now runs The Business Tourism Company, an International African based Strategic Planning and Facilitation Tourism Consultancy focused on the Marketing, Management, Development and Training of tourism Destinations and Products within the broader Tourism sector.

Gorazd Cad was born in Ljubljana August 17, 1969 . After finishing Primary and Secondary School he continued his studies at the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana and in 1996 received diploma in geography and history.

Already during the years of study Gorazd began to work as project manager in the Congress and Cultural Centre Cankarjev dom where he was active as head of international congress projects. During his activities as project manager Gorazd was in charge of several international congesses. Furthermore, from 1995 to 2000 he was entrusted with the organization of two Slovenian fairs - INFOS - the largest Computer Fair in the country and KAPITAL – the Fair of Finances. In order to complete his knowledge Gorazd took several advanced language courses and professional classes and successfully concluded the IAPCO - International Seminar for Professional Congress Organizers. In 1998 Gorazd was employed by the Slovenian Association for Project Management where he worked part time as Secretary of the Association. During four years of operation tehy have developed several programmes and implemented project management in Slovenia. Additionally to the regular function in the Association, he is also co-operating in different consulting projects and the editing of the Association’s professional magazine »Slovenian Project Network«. In 2000 Gorazd successfully passed the SLO-CERT Certification Programme and was awarded the internationally recognized diploma of a CPM – Certificated Project Manager of IPMA. I also analysed the 14th World Congress on Project Management according IPMA methodology and standards. Gorazd was also member of several organising comittees and have been conducted IPMA expert seminars.

Miha Kovačić, CEO, Slovenia Convention Bureau, Slovenia. Miha was born in 197 1 in Ljubljana, Slovenia and after finishing secondary school he was introduced to professional training at Forum Hotel Munich for the period of six months.

He furthered his educationa at the University of Applied Sciences in Munich as well and during studies he spent six month at professional course at ADAC Travel office Munich. He has extensive experience in the travel and tourism industry and have spent six month t course at Travel office in California, USA. During vacations Miha working as tour guide all around the world for German speaking groups (USA, Australia, Asia, and Europe. Several years ago Miha introduced concept of Convention Bureau to Slovenia. As Chief of Convention Bureau he has over 60 stakeholders from Slovenia regarded as Convention Bureau partners and together with them he has excellent results in destination development through business tourism concept.

Mady Keup is former head of Business and Conventions (previously London Convention Bureau) with Visit London (previously London Tourist Board) has extensive experience of the international tourism industry.

Prior to her work at Visit London, she held management positions with the British Tourist Authority (now Visit Britain) in London, Madrid, Lisbon and Berlin. She was also Chief Executive of the British-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce in Lisbon. Under Mady’s leadership Visit London won Best Convention Bureau – Incentive Category (UK M+IT Awards) in 2002. Since early 2005, she has contributed to a range of research and strategy formulation consultancy projects for a wide geographical variety of clients, from Scotland to Saudi Arabia. From September 1st, 2008, she will become a permanent lecturer at CERAM Business School at Sophia Antipolis in the South of France. Mady holds an Honors Degree in English Language and Literature, a Chartered Institute of Marketing Diploma and an Open University MBA. She is a member of MPI (Meeting Professionals International) and a former Chair of BACD (British Association of Conference Destinations). She speaks 6 European languages fluently. 19

Ana S. Trbovich, PhD teaches European Integration, Negotiations and Management of Public Administration at the Faculty of Economics, Finance and Administration (FEFA), University of Singidunum, Belgrade, Serbia, and is the Policy Director of USAID Competitiveness Project implemented by Booz Allen Hamilton.

From 2002 to 2006, Dr Trbovich served as Assistant Minister of International Economic Relations in the Government of Serbia, charged with coordinating Serbia’s EU accession process and foreign investment policies. She holds a PhD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, two Masters Degrees (MALD, Fletcher School; MPA, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard) and a BA from Tufts University as a triple-major in Economics, International Relations and French Literature. Dr Trbovich further specialized in the European Union policies at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in France and she speaks several languages. Dr Trbovich is the author of “A Legal Geography of Yugoslavia’s Disintegration” (Oxford University Press, 2008) and articles in the field of Economics, European Integration and Public Sector Management. She is the Director of the Centre for European Integration and Public Administration at FEFA Institute.

Miloš Tucaković, Stanton Chase Belgrade. Miloš graduated from the University of Belgrade with a major in Economics.

He started his career in 1985 as a sports journalist in Politika Newspapers before moving on, in 199 0, as a Training officer for the Hyatt Regency Belgrade - a brand new hotel and one of the first franchises in the former Yugoslavia. From 199 3 until 199 , he worked as the hotel’s Training Manager before being promoted to Personnel Manager and one year later to Director of Human Resources. With more than 18 years of experience in HR and management, Milos is one of the leading experts in the area of human potential and capital. He is also a founder of Belgrade HR Community and a member of the Expert Group for Hotel Industry. As of 2005 he is Partner and Managing Director of Stanton Chase International, one of the leading Global Executive Search Companies.

Ruhet Genc is a director of two different predominant touristic entities and the advisor of some major logistics companies in Turkey.

He is also the Chairman and Associate Professor of International Logistics and Transportation Department at Beykent University in Istanbul. His business and international connections makes him to live and work in three different continents, namely Asia (China, South Korea, Taiwan), Europe (Turkey and Germany) and North America (Canada and USA). By doing so, he is able to look at the tourism and logistics sectors from different angles. He values very much EIAT conferences where he can discover new synergies with the business and academic arena.

Viktorija Bojović was born in Subotica in 1979 . She has lived in Subotica, Podgorica and Novi Sad, where she graduated Faculty of Economics at the University of Novi Sad.

In 2007 she obtained MA (Master of Philosophy) degree at the Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade with the final paper “Public Private Partnership Models with the accent on the Concessions”. Since 2003 she has been employed by Faculty of Economics at the University of Novi Sad as a teaching assistant for the subjects of Microeconomics and Microeconomic models. Her work in progress is a doctoral dissertation titled “Indicators of Sustainable Development and the possibilities of its measurement”. She is the author of numerous research papers in the fields of: University entrepreneurship, high tech entrepreneurship, public private partnerships and sustainability issues.

Branka Miladinović graduated in 2005 from the Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel Management of the Faculty of Natural Sciences in Novi Sad, Serbia, with her final thesis on the Possibilities for development Tourism in Tbilisi, Georgia.

In May 2006 she went to London for further training in hotel industry. She worked in the Dorchester, a 5-star Hotel and a member of The Dorchester Collection of Hotels owned by the Brunei Government. Her responsibilities included Switchboard Operator, Front Desk Agent and Reservations Agent. She was awarded 4 distinct Dorchester Stars for providing exceptional service to guests. In July 2007 she came back to Subotica to take the position of the Front Desk Manager of the Galleria Congress Hotel. During the next six months she worked guiding and training her team with the objective of transferring to them as much skill and knowledge as possible so that they could meet their professional obligations at the reception service. In January 2008 she moved to Belgrade to work for His Royal Highness Crown Prince Alexander II at The Royal Palace as the supervisor of the Household Department. In April she joined the team of the newly-opened Zira Hotel, working as Assistant and later as Front Desk Manager. Her interests include acquiring more knowledge, travelling, meeting new people and learning about the cultures and languages of, e.g. Kenya, Brazil, and England. 20

Ana Ilić, Senior Industry Advisor (Tourism and Film & Production), USAID Competitiveness Project. Ana Ilić was born and grew up in Belgrade.

As an exchange student, she completed her high school in Atlanta, US, and upon return to Serbia she graduated from the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Law. Ms. Ilić has extensive experience in working as a journalist for daily newspapers, monthly magazines, radio and television covering media and entertainment, primarily film, satellite television and internet as the new media. In 2000, she started working as PR/corporate communications manager in telecommunications (EUnet ISP, Telekom Srpske in Banja Luka and Mobtel) where her team was awarded Best Corporate Communications in 2004, by Serbian PR Society. Ana Ilić is a member of Booz Allen Hamilton’s team in Serbia since 2005 when she served as a Tourism Sector Lead in USAIDfunded Serbian Enterprise Development Program, and afterwards in USAID Competitiveness Project.

Bojan Zečević was born in 1964 and obtained PhD at the University of Belgrade – Faculty of Economics where he finished graduate and postgraduate studies.

During his studies at the Faculty of Economics in 1995 Bojan went to Universita’ Ca’Foscari in Venice to for specialization program and the following year he attended Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, Institute for Tourism and Leisure Studies. In 2004 he was at Purdue University, as a visiting scholar, granted by Fulbright Scholar Program. Bojan’s key qualifications are Tourism Destination Management and Tourism Marketing. From 1996 – 1999 he was CEO of Belgrade Tourist Office. He was Serbian team leader in developing Tourism Strategy of Serbia in 2006 in consortium with Horwath Consulting Zagreb and Faculty of Economics Belgrade. Apart from this project Bojan worked on many others mainly focusing on destination development. In 2006, along with a group of Serbian meetings industry professionals, he initiated creation of Serbian Convention Bureau with a support of USAID. At present Bojan is assistant professor at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Belgrade, a member of a Board of directors of National Tourism Organization of Serbia, and program director at the Centre for Tourism Research and Studies. He is married and a father of four kids.

Milan Ćulić graduated at the University of Novi Sad with the work “Technology and Organizational chart of the Savoy Hotel in London” and decided to further studies at the University of Westminster on the on the course MA Tourism Management.

The crown of his studies was his dissertation thesis “Crises management and recovery of Serbia in terms of promoting business tourism, conferences and exhibitions as a vehicle of future economic development” which in February 2007, MPI Foundation Youth Award Judging Panel have awarded as winner for the best dissertation project in Europe. During final year at the University of Westminster, Milan was sponsored by the MPI – the World’s largest association of meetings professionals in the conference industry. He attended PEC-E in Davos, Switzerland and “Future Leaders Forum” at IMEX in Frankfurt. Another field Milan is passionate about is human resources in the industry whereas in June 2006 he was invited to the 2nd International TEMPUS Conference in Thessalonica, Greece to speak with the paper “Student internships – chance or illusion”. From June 2007 Milan serves as member of the “Kitchen Cabinet” – advisory and inspirational board of Mr. Bruce MacMillan, President and CEO at MPI - Worlds largest global network of meeting professionals. One of his accolades was in November 2007 when he was named “Global 30 under 30”– panel of young people under 30 years who “shape and influence world’s meetings and convention industry” by the Meetings Professionals Magazine. In April 2008 Milan was awarded as one of 204 honored citizens of Serbia and in that light he received Special Status Passport from the Government of Serbia. Milan spoke at the International Tourism Conference in Cavtat presenting paper titled “The Role of Congress Industry in Recovery and Economic Development of Large Cites in Serbia”. He also spoke at the International Summer School organized by the Faculty of Economy in Nis presenting paper „How Triumphant Leaders Create the Future - best practices for hiring and retaining top talent as well as building World-Class Company”. He is currently executive director at the Centre for Tourism Research and Studies in Novi Sad, Serbia.