Recordings of the webinars can be found after the biographies for each webinar’s speakers.

Thursday 25th March 2021, 1.00pm - 2.00pm

Motivation and Inspiration

Biography - Marshall Dallas, Chief Executive, EICC

Marshall Dallas joined the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) as Chief Executive in 2014 spearheading a new direction for Scotland’s leading conference venue, and hitting record profit, ahead of schedule, in 2016.  Since 2014, Marshall led the EICC into winning a series of UK and international industry awards, whilst setting out a new vision for the company, which is “to create an environment which inspires ideas that change the world”.  With a variety of enhancements made to the facilities and services in recent years, the EICC is also on target to become one of the most sustainable and accessible conference centres on the international scene.  Under Marshall’s leadership the EICC has recorded sustained growth, resulting in 2019 being its most successful year to date, both in terms of profits and in generating economic impact for the City of Edinburgh. In 2018, Marshall was awarded the Institute of Director Scotland’s (IoD) public sector ‘Director of the Year’ Award. More recently, in September 2020, he received IoD Scotland’s Director of the Year SME Award.

Biography - Roy Brett, Chef Patron, Ondine

Roy Brett is one of the leading figures in Scotland’s food revolution and a real champion of quality seafood. Born and raised in Edinburgh, his CV covers some of the best establishments in Britain including the Savoy Grill in London, The Belvidere in Holland Park, Le Caprice and Rick Stein’s Seafood Restaurant.  In 2009, Roy achieved his lifelong ambition of opening a top seafood restaurant in his home city of Edinburgh Since then, Ondine has achieved critical acclaim and earned Roy a string of awards including Chef of the Year, AA Restaurant of the Year and holds a regular place in the UK list of Top 100 Restaurants. Roy is committed to sustainable seafood and works with only the best suppliers around the country. As a leading industry figure, Roy has advised the Scottish Government on sustainable seafood issues and has represented Scotland at major food and cooking events in Ireland, Abu Dhabi and Singapore.

Thursday 1st April 2021, 1.00pm - 2.00pm

Health and Wellbeing

Biography - Jennifer Kempson - Money, Mindset & Prosperity Educator

Jennifer Kempson is an award-winning UK Finance & Prosperity Money Educator born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland.  Over the past 3 years, her Youtube channel has grown over 70k subscribers with a published book, weekly podcast, courses and digital products all to help others with their money mindset and financial success journey ahead.  She has a background in Engineering working in the IT industry still full time, and when not sharing her passion for smarter personal finance and investing, she can be found enjoying life with her two young boys, husband and 2 cats.

Biography - James Lemon, Founder, Otolo

James is Founder & CEO of Otolo, a mentoring community platform for people passionate about hospitality to realise their potential. Its DNA is grounded in a passion-project to support an industry in crisis, and is now a seed-funded start-up and team of 15, supported by the Innovate UK programme. Blending a ‘LinkedIn for hospitality’ feel, with mentoring-technology behind the scenes, Otolo aims to support a new way for the industry to collaborate, build new skills and recovery stronger and more sustainably. James also continues to lead The Growth Works, a boutique hospitality strategy & innovation consultancy, and has spent over a decade building businesses in hospitality – in hotel chains, hospitality-tech and in start-ups. 

Biography - Gordon McIntyre- Founder, Hospitality Health

Gordon McIntyre has been involved in delivering and managing education and training for over 30 years. A graduate of the Glasgow College of Food Technology, and Glasgow Caledonian University, is now Associate Dean for Hospitality & Tourism at City of Glasgow College. Gordon values training & development opportunities at all levels for staff.  During his time in education, Gordon has continued to have strong links with industry, in the Hospitality, Events and Tourism sector.  The winner of the Catering in Scotland Education Excellence Award in 2016, College Principals prize in 2017, Hospitality Industry Trust, Industry award in 2018. In May 2019, he was presented with a Fellowship at the Scottish Hotel awards for ‘Outstanding contribution to the industry’. At the Glasgow’s Inspiring City Awards in September 2019, Gordon was recognised with a Highly Commended award in the Education category and a CATEY shortlisted finalist in 2020. He is presently the Chair of SQA Events Qualification Steering team, Vice chair of Experience Glasgow, a member of Springboard Scotland advisory board, member of the Scottish Tourism skills group, a committee member and immediate past chair of Scottish Hospitality & Tourism Association. He is also the Chairman of the recently launched Scottish charity Hospitality Health, created to support employers and employees within the vibrant and challenging hospitality industry.

Thursday 8th April 2021, 1.00pm - 2.00pm

Preparing for Recovery

Biography - 王伟 Wit Wang, Assistant Director of Rooms, W Suzhou Hotel, Jiangsu, China

Wit has an MSc in management from University of Liverpool. He has over 10 years experience working in luxury hotels in operational departments, including front office, food & beverage and HSKP. He has worked at The Ritz-Carlton, The Luxury Collection, and currently holds the position of Assistant Director of Rooms at W Suzhou Hotel, Jiangsu. He is the author of “A Decade of Pursuing the Dream”, and an experienced hospitality educator and trainer.

Biography - Alicia Denning, Resort Manager, Six Senses Yao Noi, Thailand

Alicia began her journey into hospitality with a traineeship within Starwood Hotels and Resorts. It was during these informative years that she was taught the foundations for exceptional service and found her passion for 5-star hospitality. Her dedication to the industry over the years has rewarded her with roles such as the Resident Manager at the world’s first fashion branded hotel, Palazzo Versace to now working for the inspirational Six Senses Spas and Resorts where she is Resort Manager at their incredible property on the island of Koh Yao Noi in Thailand.

Alicia’s career has enabled her to travel the world, taking in many wonderful locations not just in her homeland of Australia but also in Scotland, Germany, and now Thailand. Along this journey she has received several personal accolades such as the Olive Barnett Award, a prestigious HIT Scotland Scholarship, and a renowned UK Caterer and Hotelkeeper Acorn Award.

Biography - Kate Nicholls - CEO, UKHospitality

Kate Nicholls is CEO of UKHospitality, the powerful voice representing the broad hospitality sector, having previously worked as CEO and Strategic Affairs Director of the ALMR. In January 2020, Kate joined the Mayor of London’s London Food Board, advising the Mayor on food matters directly affecting London. Kate is also Chair of the Tourism Alliance and the Mayor of London’s Night Time Commission. Kate serves as a member of the Events Industry Board, Tourism Industry Council, Cultural Cities Enquiry, London & Partners Members Group, Best Bar None Board and is a trustee at Hospitality Action. After gaining a degree in English and a post-graduate diploma in competition law, Kate worked as a researcher in the House of Commons and European Parliament before joining Whitbread as Government Relations Manager, starting her career in hospitality in 1993. Kate was Director at one of the largest independent public affairs companies, working with a number of hospitality, retail and leisure accounts before establishing her own strategic communications consultancy in 2000. She is a graduate of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge and Kings College London.

Thursday 15th April 2021, 1.00pm - 2.00pm

The Environment

Biography - Andy Pag, Innovative Eco-Adventurer

Andy Pag is the Eco-Adventurer and BBC reporter who spent two years driving around the world in an old school bus he salvaged from a scrap yard, powered by cooking oil, and turned into a home using reclaimed materials. Andy is an engineer and award-winning investigative journalist, but his spirit of adventure led to twelve years of heading up vehicle-based expeditions to remote parts of Africa and the Sahara Desert, until he was inspired to change the elements of his life that were unsustainable, which led him to experiment with alternative ways of powering his overland journeys.  Andy will explore how each experimental eco-adventure has taken him closer to understanding exactly what sustainability really means and ever more clues on how to achieve it.

Biography - Gordon Dewar, CEO, Edinburgh Airport

Gordon Dewar took up the post of Chief Executive of Edinburgh Airport in July 2012, with the airport experiencing 63% growth in passengers from 9m to 14.7m passengers in 2019 – a record for any Scottish airport. Rebranding the airport as the place where ‘Scotland meets the world’, Gordon has overseen significant capital investment in capacity, productivity improvements and customer service enhancements that have been recognised through airport and wider business awards in Scotland, the UK and internationally. Gordon has worked tirelessly to steer the airport through the Covid-19 pandemic, ensuring it stayed open throughout and diversifying the approach. Gordon spent 4 years with BAA running Glasgow and Edinburgh airports through periods of extensive investments in terminal capacity and passenger growth from 2007 to 2010.  He then spent 2 years as Chief Executive at Bahrain International Airport creating an independent and profitable business for the first time after a carve out from Government. Gordon has held a number of senior positions with leading transport operators, including commercial, general management and business development roles.  Prior to this he spent 10 years in Transport Consultancy. Gordon is a Board member of the Scottish Tourism Alliance.

Thursday 22nd April 2021, 1.00pm - 2.00pm

Future Trends and Innovations

Biography - Jonathan Humphries, Head of International Hotel Development & Asset Management Specialisations, Glion Institute of Higher Education. Chairman & Co-Founder HoCoSo

Jonathan Humphries heads up the flagship Specializations in International Hotel Development and Finance for both the Bachelors and the Masters Programs at the Glion Institute of Higher Education, Switzerland, currently ranked 2nd in the world by employers. The specializations combine academics, industry experts and partners to create a best-in-class learning experience for the students, resulting in hundreds of graduates obtaining jobs in new fields of consulting, development, asset management, finance and operations. In addition, Jonathan is Chairman and Owner of HoCoSo, heading a team focused on creating new hospitality concepts, resulting in their clients winning industry awards for innovation. He has 25+ years’ experience in industry, consulting and academia. He has an Executive MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, University of Northwestern, Chicago. He is a regular speaker at conferences and events and has his own podcast channel The HoCoSo Conversation and has recently launched The Hospitality Resilience Series.

Biography - Mike Callachan - Director, Hungrrr App and Founder, Snappy Shopper

Mike is a first class honours degree graduate in Computer Science from the University St Andrews. Mike has a proven track record in the eCommerce space, having built one of Scotland’s largest eCommerce consultancies mtc which is based in Dundee and employs over 100 people. Following the successful spin-off of the Hungrrr business Mike is now directly involved in leading the management team in scaling up the business, working with leading hospitality brands such as Holiday Inn, Hilton, Ibis, BrewDog and Subway. Hungrrr now delivers millions of pounds of transactions every month for its clients through contactless Table Ordering, Room Service Ordering, Click and Collect and Home Delivery. The business has had substantial investment to drive forward its technology roadmap and has plans to significantly increase its operations and client base in 2021.

Biography - Sophie Harding, Futures Director, Mindshare UK

Sophie is Futures Director at global multi-award winning, media agency network, Mindshare. She has extensive experience in the media research industry and has worked with a wide range of client categories ranging from grocery and travel, through to automotive and fashion, advising on strategy and applying trends and futures insights to their businesses and marketing plans. Sophie heads up Mindshare UK’s well-established Futures proposition - an extensive consumer facing research programme that consistently monitors the impact of innovations and change happening in the tech, media and marketing space. This includes a yearly trends report and follow up depth studies, covering everything from voice and augmented reality technologies, right through to 5G, the connected home and the future of retail.

Thursday 29th April 2021, 1.00pm - 2.00pm

Motivation and Inspiration

Biography - Penny Power, Founder of Ecademy & Pioneer behind LinkedIn

Penny called herself an 'accidental entrepreneur' for many years. Stepping out of employed work and into the risky world of business ownership was a powerful learning. The catalyst for this was the opportunity Penny saw in 1998 for business people to connect online, creating the world’s first social network for business, pre-dating LinkedIn by 4 years. Named as the 65th Most Influential Entrepreneur of 2019, Penny leads with a culture of open, real and honest contribution to the audiences she speaks to, her intention is always to make people feel stronger and more capable and for them to see the opportunities that lie within their own ability to take personal responsibility and be a ‘leader of their own life and business”. Penny was awarded the OBE in January 2014 for her contribution to entrepreneurship in the social digital sector. Penny is an author of two books, “Know Me Like Me Follow Me” and “Business is Personal” and understands deeply about the need to manage our emotional and mental state and our personal brands in this highly connected and open business world. Penny’s new book shares her own personal journey and explains the way she recovered from ‘being broken’, providing the delegates of events with a heart-warming, highly relevant set of tools and mindset to build the life they want in business.

Biography - Alan Halliday, Franchisee, McDonald’s

As a successful businessman, Alan has operated as Regional Director - Scotland of Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd, Divisional Director at Brakes and now running his own business as a McDonald’s Franchisee. Alan Halliday joined HIT in 2001 as a Trustee. He provides HIT Scotland with a unique perspective in addition to his incredible support and insight into our Trust. Alan’s involvement has centred around supporting our Chair, Chief Executive and fellow Trustees with his unrivalled expertise in sales, marketing and business development. Alan became Vice Chair of HIT Scotland in March 2019.

Biography - Chris Wayne-Wills, CEO, Crerar Hotels

Chris has over 25 years experience in senior management positions in the Hotel industry. His career started as a Sales Manager before quickly becoming a General Manager. His wide and varied experience has included large city centre hotels,  resorts with golf & spa businesses and various multi-property leadership roles. His experience in Scotland includes being the General Manager of the Roxburghe Hotel in Edinburgh and Regional Managing Director for Macdonald Hotels. During this time he was also Chief Executive of the Macdonald Aviemore Resort and oversaw a successful extensive investment and repositioning project. As Regional General Manager for QHotels, Chris was responsible for multiple businesses including Slaley Hall in Northumberland and the Westerwood in Cumbernauld. During his time working with QHotels he was also General Manager of The Midland Hotel in Manchester an AA 86% Silver Star hotel which was the highest graded large four star hotel in the UK and the host hotel for the Conservative Party Conference. As Cluster General Manager for Marriott International he oversaw all managed Marriott Hotels in Scotland and the North of England. He was awarded the Marriott International special recognition award for outstanding commitment in 2018. Chris is now CEO of Crerar Hotels, a high quality, privately owned hotel group in Scotland whose purpose is to share the spirit of Scotland throughout all of their hospitality Chris was one of the first recipients of the HIT Scotland Leadership Scholarship in 2008 and attended the General Manager’s Programme at Cornell University. Chris became a HIT Scotland Trustee in 2020.

Biography - Dale MacPhee, General Manager, Waldorf Astoria The Caledonian

Dale MacPhee is probably one of the highest-profile GMs in Scotland. She is in charge of Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh – The Caledonian. However, she began her career over 30 years ago as a front desk hotel receptionist in Canada where she grew up and has since worked in 6 different countries.

Dale who graduated in Political Science at Dalhousie University has worked around Europe for the last twenty-three years and now holds British citizenship, having arrived in the U.K. in 2004 and Scotland in 2013.

She has worked for Hilton Worldwide since joining its luxury division, Waldorf Astoria 11 years ago. This was a significant milestone because she became the first female General Manager within the division.

In between work Dale spends some quality time with her family, ice skating, reading and going for long walks with Buddy her cockapoo!

Our Host - Jennifer Reoch

Jennifer Reoch is a Scottish Television and Radio presenter, best known for being on Heart Radio Drivetime weekdays across Scotland. She has been on your screens on BBC travel show 'Getaways', ITV's 'This Morning' and STV on shows such as 'Live at Five', 'Edinburgh Festival 2018' and the 'Scottish Children’s Lottery'. After graduating with a Law and French degree in 2011 she went on to spend a year as Miss Scotland which allowed her to travel and take part in some incredible challenges including climbing Kilimanjaro and running the London Marathon; as well as going on to proudly represent Scotland on the international stage at Miss World, placing 7th. Jennifer is our regular host for the HIT Talent Conference.

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