Illume Conference Agenda & Speakers - Spring/Summer 2022

Agenda

Spring/Summer 2022

3:00 PM IST (GMT+5.30 hrs)

ILLUME 2022 Opening & Welcome

3:05 PM IST (GMT+5.30 hrs)

Keynote: The Affluent Indians & Their Spending Trends in 2022 & Beyond

3:20 PM IST (GMT+5.30 hrs)

Understanding the Affluent Indian Customer in a World Turned Upside Down

4:00 PM IST (GMT+5.30 hrs)

Destination Briefing : Saudi Arabia

What’s New in 2022: News & Latest Developments

4:10 PM IST (GMT+5.30 hrs)

What does the Indian Affluent Traveller Want? Travel Trends for 2022 and Beyond

4:50 PM IST (GMT+5.30 hrs)

The Latest in Lux Experiences & How Brands are Embracing the Brave New World of Travel

4:50 PM IST (GMT+5.30 hrs)

The Latest in Lux Experiences & How Brands are Embracing the Brave New World of Travel

6:10 PM IST (GMT+5.30 hrs)

Selling Travel in the New Normal

Speakers

Sheetal Rastogi is the co-founder of ‘Luxury Tribe’ and Editorial Director of ‘World Travel Magazine’. With over 22 years of experience, she has held leadership & management roles in media, publishing & technology businesses in the United Kingdom, India and Singapore.Sheetal launched World Travel Magazine in Southeast Asia in 2009 and is set to bring a dedicated edition of the luxury publication to India in May 2022. Her passion for travel has inspired her to co-found World Travel Magazine and now Luxury Tribe.She has been Singapore Ambassador and one of the Initiative Member for Global Wellness Day. Sheetal is an Alumni of the University of Strathclyde and Miranda House, University of Delhi.

Manasi Narasimhan is Vice President and Head of Marketing and Communications for Mastercard South Asia. In this role, she is tasked with building and driving the equity of the Mastercard brand across six countries, and continually finding ways of delivering business value to Mastercard’s customers – banks, other financial institutions, merchants, and consumers.She joined Mastercard in October 2017 and is responsible for all advertising, promotions, co-marketing campaigns and all communication both internal (employees) as well as external (all media relations). Her responsibilities include positioning Mastercard as a key supporter and partner of the government’s digital & cashless India initiatives, enhancing the equity of Mastercard, working with the bank and merchant teams on unlocking growth, and finding ways to drive long-term revenue with consumers and customers.Manasi began her career with Hindustan Unilever Limited, where she held several positions in sales and marketing. More recently, she was with the Godrej Group in a leadership role, heading the corporate brand. Manasi holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore and a BA (H) degree in Economics from Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi.

Sharanjit Leyl is an experienced broadcaster who’s spent a quarter of a century with international news channels such as the BBC, Bloomberg Television, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. She anchored from the BBC’s Singapore and London studios for the BBC World News channel and filed reports for radio on the BBC World Service and wrote for BBC News online. She regularly anchored live on location for on breaking stories in the region such as Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, and the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. Singaporean by birth, Sharanjit presented and produced documentaries for the BBC including ‘Singapore at 50’, and ‘Secrets of Singapore’. Noteworthy interviews include the Prime Ministers of Canada, Thailand, Pakistan, and New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia and Singapore, Presidents of the Philippines, the World Bank and the IMF, and chief executives from companies ranging from Microsoft to Walmart. She’s now such a familiar face of business for viewers in Asia that she is regularly invited to moderate high-level debates for the United Nations, the World Bank, the IMF, the ADB, and other NGOs. At the Asian TV Awards in 2017, she was highly commended as the best anchor and won the Best News Programme for ‘Newsday’ for an episode she presented.

Manoj Adlakha is a veteran of American Express and a highly respected leader with over 30 years of experience. As the CEO of American Express Banking Corp. India. Manoj is responsible for developing the growth strategy and creating an incisive vision to progress next horizon opportunities, including doubling down American Express’ leadership position in the premium segment.Manoj directly leads the India Consumer Business and Brand & Marketing function with responsibility for 800+ colleagues across 15 geographies in India. As the Country Manager, he also provides leadership oversight to the India Commercial, Merchant & Network businesses.Manoj has spent nearly 27 years with American Express in two phases. In the first 15 years, he held positions of increased responsibility in Risk Operations; Strategic Planning for the JAPA region based out of Tokyo; CFO for American Express India & then Head of Sales & Marketing – Consumer Cards, Personal Loans & Wealth Management. He left American Express in 2005 to pursue external opportunities, first as an entrepreneur and then in banking and financial services in India and Singapore. He re-joined American Express in March 2009 from Visa International Singapore, to lead the Global Commercial business followed by Consumer Cards and Merchant businesses in India.Manoj has several internal & external accolades to his credit including the American Express Chairman’s Award in 2004 and the President’s Hall of Fame Award in 2016. He was recognized as ‘India’s Most Trusted CEO’ by World Consulting & Research Corporation (WCRC) in 2017. Manoj featured at #6 in the Top 100 leaders in Indian Luxury 2020 by LuxeBook and has been recognized as the Industry’s No. 1 Gamechanger in 2020 in the category of Business by Herald Global and ERTC Media.

Author of the book ‘The Incredible Indian Luxury Bazaar’, Gupta, recognized as the ‘Luxury retail icon of the year 2012’ by Asia retail congress, has won several awards across India, SEA, and GCC regions. Featured in ‘India’s top 100 most influential men of luxury for 7 consecutive years 2012 to 2019 in a row, he has also been on the panel of jury members for ‘Luxury Lifestyle Awards, Asia. Additionally, Gupta has been acknowledged as the ‘Most Influential Retail professional & Retail leader across Asia – GCC and Africa: 2016, 2017 & 2018’ by Asia Retail Congress.Having been featured in Forbes Luxury Trend Report 2012 as one of the Industry Leaders, he has also been widely recognized as a luxury expert by CNBC, CNN, NDTV Profit, Business India, Economic Times to name a few. He helped not only bring but establish luxury brands like Versace, Versace Home, Versace Collection, Corneliani, John Smedley, Tween Damat ADV, Arredo Classic, etc in India. He has now been mandated by a plethora of Luxury brands across fashion, lifestyle, home, interior & residences, etc for their India entry strategy. A regular speaker at most Luxury Forums, Fondazione Altagama has also recognized his contribution to the growth of the Italian luxury industry by his pioneering efforts in India.

Post his stint at KPMG, Anas Rahman Junaid graduated from the University of Oxford in 2011, post which he was working with the Financial Services Authority, United Kingdom. Anas met Rupert Hoogewerf, the founder of Hurun Global in 2012, through Oxford University and the duo thought it was the right time to speak about wealth creation in India as they saw India booming. Since then, Hurun India has been in the pursuit to celebrate the stories of India’s transparent wealth creation, innovation, and philanthropy. Anas believes passionately about contributing to the ecosystem of Indian entrepreneurship and in the possible domination of Indian and Chinese economies in the 21st century. Making most of the unique opportunity of playing a meaningful role between these two economies, he co-founded Hurun India. During the course of the last 10 years after the inception of Hurun in India, he has emerged as the spokesperson for Indian wealth creation. He believes that wealth creation is a fantastic thing and transparent wealth creation deserves respect and inspires others. He is also an active angel investor and an avid collector of the works of upcoming Indian artists. Through the various lists, his mission is to inspire exciting new wealth creation in the country (The Rich Lists), encourage thousands of crores of philanthropic activity (The Philanthropy Lists), increase appreciation of Indian art (through Hurun Art Lists), and more.

As International Market Manager – India & Subcontinent at Saudi Tourism Authority, Meshaal plays a key role in in supporting trade marketing activity in the region, from campaign development to execution. He works closely with travel trade partners across the region, from OTAs to TOs to drive awareness about Saudi’s core destination offer amongst key target audiences and to ensure activity is in line with STA’s strategy and mission.

Award-winning, versatile & well-known broadcaster, journalist, moderator (and musician) spanning three decades of current affairs, arts, business, and documentary presenting, reporting, and producing for the BBC. Moderator of numerous around the world from Brazil to Bulgaria in travel and the arts including UNWTO, WTTC, Cheltenham Literary Festival, and the Hay Literary Festival over the last 20 years.

Pritish Shah, after exploring the world, opened his little black book and started off A Travel Duet, curating remarkable, bespoke travel experiences for couples around the globe. Changing the way you travel, one trip at a time!

Loveleen Arun has had diversified experience in the hotel and travel industry. She started her career with the Taj Group of Hotels, which was followed by three years tenure at The Imperial in New Delhi and finally she moved to Bangalore with Cox & Kings, where she was Area Manager for South India. She co-founded Panache in 2001. She has diligently reinvented herself over the years to remain relevant in the very fast-changing travel industry. Her strong points are immensely intimate & first-hand destination knowledge and long-term bonds & relationships with industry colleagues around the world. She travels frequently and keeps herself up to date with the latest trends in the global Luxury Travel Industry by attending major cutting-edge events. Recognized by several global networks like Traveller Made, she is one of the premier Luxury Travel advisors in India today.

Taruna has a passion for exploring the world and seeking unique and authentic experiences; which led to the founding of her experiential travel company with a strong network of luxury travel designers and curators worldwide. She believes working within diverse setups allows us to celebrate our common drivers: curiosity, the need to give back, and an unabashed passion to learn something new. Taruna was bestowed with the award of ‘Exceptional Women of Excellence creating a better world for all’ by the Women’s Economic Forum.

A noted pioneer and thought leader in luxury and responsible tourism, Doris now takes on the Commercial leadership at COMO Hotels to drive sales, marketing and digital innovations in the ultra-luxury arena.

Marion Walsh-Hedouin, an Irish national, has resided in Thailand for the last 15 years and is responsible for Public Relations and Communications for Minor Hotels. Minor Hotels is a hotel owner, operator, and investor, currently with more than 530 properties in operation across 56 countries. The 20-year industry veteran oversees the development and execution of Minor Hotels’ strategic media relations, communications, and brand awareness enhancement activities across all core brands.Since joining Minor Hotel Group in 2006, Marion has implemented a number of measures to increase brand awareness and market share for the hotel group across global markets. During this time, she has overseen the communications strategy for the launch and integration of numerous hotels and brands as the group expanded through organic growth and key strategic acquisitions.Prior to joining Minor Hotels and moving to Thailand, she held a leadership role with InterContinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong and began her hospitality and public relations career in Monaco with famed Chef, Alain Ducasse.

Marketing professional with 20 years of experience, Charlotte Morin’s expertise lies in formulating successful brand strategies and experiences. She carved her niche in luxury marketing during her tenure at LVMH in the Americas and now spearheads brand excellence at Capella Hotel Group. Morin’s emphasis on experiential value elevated Capella Hotels and Resorts to becoming the No. 2 Best Hotel Brand in the World in the Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards for 2021 and 2022, consecutively. Morin also contributed to creating the Patina Hotels & Resorts brand with its first property opening brilliantly in the Maldives last May despite the pandemic.

Parthip Thyagarajan is the CEO of WeddingSutra.com, India’s first wedding website. Set up over 20 years ago (in March 2000), WeddingSutra’s platforms and IP’s target both B2C and B2B audiences.While WeddingSutra is the to-go guide and the source of daily inspiration for the wedding industry, Parthip’s personal traits, values, and interests have contributed to his vast and immense network and over a thousand creative entrepreneurs and hospitality professionals look forward to being a part of his curated events and knowledge-sharing sessions.Thyagarajan began his career as a youth journalist (with the Sunday Observer) when he was 18 years old while pursuing graduation at the Sydenham College of Commerce & Economics. After his MBA from the Management Development Institute (MDI), he joined The Times of India group, post which he co-founded WeddingSutra.com

With experience of over 18 years in the hospitality industry and 8 years of experience designing and crafting more than 350 weddings, Ekta has created a niche for herself as a person who delivers over and above what she has promised. She brings a fresh, unique approach to the event industry with her passion and dedication.

An accomplished entrepreneur, Bhavnesh has the experience of working closely with international and national celebrities with practiced ease and has managed some of the most reputed weddings in recent years. Bhavnesh brings art and creativity to the table that has helped him craft one-of-a-kind wedding themes and entertainment performances.

Neha Seth Arora is a hospitality expert with over 10 years of experience in designing dream weddings. As part of her diverse portfolio, she has designed weddings for some of the most influential HNI families in India and overseas. Neha is also the Director of the Global Wedding Academy by Wizcraft MIME which has trained over 200 students aspiring to become wedding planners.

Hemant Mediratta is a consummate global luxury hotelier with over 30 years of experience in the hospitality business. He is regarded as an agent of change who has built high performing teams and helped brands unlock their true potential. He has created strategy based organisations , scaling up across global markets and leaving an impactful footprint. Being a passionate believer in the India story, he has worked relentlessly towards the growth of Indian tourism.Recently, Hemant completed an outstanding and fulfilling 16-year tenure with The Oberoi Group, where his last position was Senior Vice President Sales. His previous roles span successful terms in senior positions at globally acclaimed hotel groups like Hyatt International, IHG and Park Hotels. He currently is the Chief Advisor for Leela Palace Hotels and Resorts and Founder of One Rep Global – a leading Sales, Marketing and PR advisory for ultra luxury and luxury hospitality and travel brands. He also serves on the governing board of Responsible Tourism Society of India. Hemant is also an active angel investor and invests in early-stage luxury and travel startups as well as mentors founders on product-market-fit, talent hiring and retention and the founder mindset.

Having spent more than twenty four years in Asia, this captivating continent never ceases to amaze Christine. In 1999, having successfully led the expansion for a satellite office of an acclaimed Singapore organization in Bali, Indonesia, Christine was appointed the Director of Sales & Marketing at Chiva‐Som, Thailand, in 2001 ‐ 2005. This enriching environment is where Christine prompted the conception of an independent business venture that would fuse her former experience and expertise. She was keen on providing personal marketing strategies for truly extraordinary travel destinations. As a result, Heavens Portfolio was launched in July 2005 in Singapore and quickly grew to be the leader in Hotel and destination representation in Asia with 17 satellite offices where 42 team members are currently providing their expertise to a portfolio of 40 hotels amongst them are Cheval Blanc, Armani, Belmond, Oetker, Chiva-Som and many more iconic hotels.

As the Chief Executive Officer at THRS, Yeishan Goel brings with him a decade of experience in navigating the waters of the hospitality landscape in India. Since founding the company in 2011, Yeishan has closely overseen operations and client servicing to ensure high ROI for clients. His expertise in luxury hotel brands, sales and marketing, travel trade engagement, and brand development stems from his passion for the evolving travel and hospitality industry.Under the banner of THRS and supported by a team of stalwart professionals, Yeishan has partnered with blue-chip luxury tourism brands worldwide. He drives innovation for clients through cross-industry collaborative partnerships and spearheads the developmental efforts of the brand, the most recent one being expanding to international waters and setting up the THRS brand in the GCC. In the past, he has consulted with prestigious companies like Dell Perot Systems, McKinsey & Co, American Express, and Wipro Limited.

MEDIA PARTNER

Agenda

Sheetal Rastogi

Manasi Narasimhan

Sharanjit Leyl

Manoj Adlakha

Abhay Gupta

Anas Rahman Junaid

Meshaal M. Qureshi

Rajan Datar

Pritish Shah

Lovleen Multani Arun

Taruna Seth

Sharanjit Leyl

Doris Goh

Marion Walsh

Charlotte Morin

Parthip Thyagarajan

Ekta Saigal Lulla

Bhavnesh Sawhney

Neha Seth Arora

Rajan Datar

Hemant Mediratta

Christine Galle‐Luczak

Yeishan Goel

Speakers

Sheetal Rastogi

Manasi Narasimhan

Sharanjit Leyl

Manoj Adlakha

Abhay Gupta

Anas Rahman Junaid

Meshaal M. Qureshi

Rajan Datar

Pritish Shah

Lovleen Multani Arun

Taruna Seth

Doris Goh

Marion Walsh

Charlotte Morin

Parthip Thyagarajan

Ekta Saigal Lulla

Bhavnesh Sawhney

Neha Seth Arora

Hemant Mediratta

Christine Galle‐Luczak

Yeishan Goel