Alan Young is a partner at Apical Resource Group, a travel and hospitality technology talent hunting firm.

Alan recently joined the recruiting world by forming Apical in 2008. Prior to Apical, Alan was engaged as an executive for a number of travel and hotel related technology companies such as IBS Software, Hotel Booking Solutions, Newtrade Technologies and Hotel Information Systems (Softbrands).

Alan has also spent a large portion of his career working on boards and committees that focus on the travel and hospitality industry. Most notably, Alan was past chair of the board of directors, Open Travel Alliance.

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Alex writes about travel technology, travel startups, small tour operators and the future structure of the UK travel industry.

He has previously led ecommerce, social media and reservation system projects for airlines, top tour operators and hotel distribution companies in both leisure and business travel sectors. He is the managing director of TourCMS, a web based software-as-a-service reservation system and distribution platform used by many small tour operators worldwide to take online bookings and manage their operations.

He also moderates Small Fish Big Ocean, a community that welcomes small tour operators and niche travel agents to come and discuss travel ecommerce issues. Alex has a computing degree, is passionate about usability, speaks French and still writes and reviews code.

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Charlie Li is the general manager of e-commerce for China Southern Airlines, running e-commerce development and strategy formulation since 2007.

Charlie has 17 years of experience in China’s airline and online travel industry, most recently worked for eLong as the senior director of Air Partner Service Group where he leads the product development and maintains the key supplier relationship with major Chinese and international airlines.

He holds a BA degree from Shandong University in China and an Aviation MBA from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.

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Claude is a consultant and seasoned Travel 2.0 blogger hailing from Marseille, France. Claude started his career in tourism as a technical sales manager for a Marseille-based tour operator.

He then spent six years as a sales executive at Louvre Hotels group, before discovering the tremendous potential of the internet for the marketing of hotels and tourism.

Claude then became the sales and marketing manager for a regional booking engine for the Marseille Chamber of Commerce and DMO’s. He now handles consulting and training for hotels and other DMOs. Claude manages his blog HoteliTour.

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Dennis Schaal is North American editor for Tnooz. He is a freelance journalist who has written about online travel agencies, supplier websites, metasearch, user-generated content and technology for a decade.

Dennis previously filled a variety of roles at Travel Weekly (US), including technology editor, business travel editor and Tech Beat columnist. He was editor of travelweekly.com and sister publication Travel Management Daily. Dennis also wrote the US View column for UK title Travolution for several years.

A passionate blogger and muckraker, Dennis created the Dennis Schaal Blog: Online Travel Riffs and Notes, and serves as a PhoCusWright analyst on leisure travel distribution. He has a BS degree in journalism from Boston University.

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Fred Lalonde is the founder and chief executive of OpenPlaces and also chairman of Tnooz.

Previously, Fred was a vice president at Expedia, running product planning for Hotels and Packages for expedia.com.

At Expedia he also participated in various M&A activities, including the acquisitions of hotels.com, TripAdvisor, and eLong.

Prior to Expedia, Fred co-founded Newtrade Technologies, which grew to become one of the world’s largest connectivity platforms for the hospitality market after it was acquired by Expedia in 2002.

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Jeremy is travel editor for search and social media company iCrossing. He writes and commissions features and blog posts for major UK and US travel companies.

Search term and social media research is used to inform content creation which is written by established travel writers. The result is unique content that’s genuinely useful for readers and ranks well in search engines.

Before joining iCrossing, Jeremy was a freelance travel journalist. His travel writing and travel photos have been published in most UK national newspapers.

He has also written guidebooks, presented for TV and hosted seminars. His personal blog is TravelBlather.

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Kevin May is editor of Tnooz. He joined as a co-founder in August 2009 after spending nearly four years as editor of UK-based business publication Travolution.

Passionate about the business of travel and the internet, Kevin played a major role in establishing Travolution in print, online, events and with an annual awards programme, as well as becoming a regular speaker and moderator at industry events.

Prior to Travolution, Kevin was web editor at Media Week (UK) and also worked in regional newspapers for two years at the Essex Enquirer. He started his career in journalism at the Police Gazette at New Scotland Yard in London.

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Martin Schobert is head of research and development at the Austrian National Tourist Office.

Based in Vienna, Martin has worked at the organisation since 1998 and was chief information officer for ten years.

He is a regular speaker and panellist at travel industry events around Europe and is a specialist in e-tourism marketing and development.

Martin writes two blogs for the Austrian National Tourist Office.

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Norm is a 27-year travel industry veteran with an extensive background in both the corporate and leisure travel markets.

As an analyst and consultant for the past 14 years, Norm's focus has been on emerging technologies and how they impact business practices in the travel industry. After senior positions with United Airlines and Sun Microsystems, in 1995, Norm founded Travel Tech Consulting Inc.

Over the last 14 years, TTCI has provided a comprehensive set of technology consulting services to over 100 high tech and travel industry clients. He is also a PhoCusWright analyst.

Norm is the author of numerous publications and articles including: Mobile the Next Platform for Travel (March 2009), Corporate Travel Technologies: Today and Tomorrow (September 2007) and Selling Complex Leisure Travel Online: Focus on Dynamic Packaging Technology (December 2004).

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Siew Hoon Yeoh is the editor-at-large for SHY Ventures and editor/producer of WIT-Web In Travel.

She created and manages the travel insider website The Transit Cafe and also runs WIT - Web In Travel, Asia’s leading travel distribution, marketing and technology conference, and the weekly WIT newsletter.

In 2008, WIT was awarded the Most Innovative Marketing Initiative by the Singapore Tourism Board. Siew Hoon is also an established speaker and facilitator at travel industry conferences and workshops.

She is also is a published author, having written titles including “Truth, Lies & Other Stuff” and “Around Asia in 1 Hr: Tales of Condoms, Chillies & Curries”.

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Stephan Ekbergh is a seasoned travel industry veteran and entrepreneur, having worked and invested in a number of travel companies and digital media businesses.

In 1997 he founded MrJet, Scandinavia's first transactional online travel company, before launching the TravelStart portfolio in 1999 - a business which sells travel in 11 countries and has offices in Sweden and South Africa, where Ekbergh now lives.

Ekbergh is a regular speaker on the travel industry circuit and blogs writes his own blog, Epic Business Life and Love Stories.

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Stephen Joyce has been working as a travel and tourism technology consultant since 1995.

In 2005 Stephen and his company, Sentias Software Corp, began development on Rezgo, a next generation Web 2.0 tour and activity booking engine for SME travel suppliers and tour operators.

Stephen sits on the board of the OpenTravel Alliance and is publisher of the Tips from the T-List books, a series of ground-breaking books and a thriving community that bring together travel industry bloggers from around the world.

He is also past-chairman of the North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce, chair of the Website Subcommittee for Vancouver’s NorthShore Tourism Association, and formerly on the board of directors of the Pacific Club and the COHO Society of the North Shore.

Stephen is a graduate of Capilano University, is a certified commercial pilot, and holds a certificate in IT Management. His personal blog is at Tourism Technology

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Tim Hughes is an online travel industry executive who has been blogging since June 2006 at the Business of Online Travel (the BOOT).

The BOOT covers analysis of online travel industry trends, consumer and company behaviour and broader online/web activity of interest to online travel companies (with a bias towards Tim’s home markets of Asia and Australasia and with the odd post on consuming and loving travel thrown in).

In 2009 the BOOT clocked its 800th post, 100,000th visitor and 200,000th page view.

In his work life he is a vice president at Orbitz Worldwide. Prior to the travel industry Tim was a commercial lawyer and venture capitalist.

Tim’s views are his alone and not necessarily the views of Orbitz or HotelClub.

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Timothy O Neil-Dunne is managing partner at travel consultancy firm, T2Impact. He serves as the lead for the airline, aviation and airport practice.

Timothy was a founding management team member of the Expedia team where he headed the ground transportation and international portfolios, before founding T2Impact in 1998.

He has worked in aviation and travel distribution for more 30 years, including time with Worldspan as head of technology where he managed all of the international technology services from product to infrastructure

He is a permanent advisor to the World Economic Forum and writes on the T2Impact Blog.

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Widely recognized as an interactive travel scholar, Troy Thompson brings an unparalleled background of experience along with a dry sense of humor to Tnooz.

The director of interactive marketing asnd web operations at Visit Denver, Troy is responsible for all things interactive/new media, and how to integrate those projects with traditional media.

Originally from Florida, Troy has been involved with interactive marketing for eleven years, bringing a passion for travel and a flair for creativity to his current position.

He currently lives in Denver with his wife Lesley, their daughter Mia and far too many pets and co-authors the Travel 2.0 Blog.

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Valyn Perini is an experienced travel professional with more than fifteen years in operations, sales and marketing, systems, consulting, and software development in the hospitality and travel industry.

As current executive director of the OpenTravel Alliance in the US, she oversees the operations of the organization, including developing and executing strategies to reach the goal of standardized electronic distribution of travel and traveler information.

Her travel career includes stints with InterContinental, Westin and Swissôtel, with PricewaterhouseCoopers as a travel technology consultant, and as the director of product strategy for Newmarket International.

Originally from Atlanta, Valyn now lives in Boston.

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