ICHARM

Capt. Martin Drake is a commercial aviation pilot and the Chairman of both the British Air Line Pilots’ Association and the European Cockpit Association Security Committees. He is a long serving member of the IFALPA Security committee and addresses the security concerns of more than 40,000 European professional pilots and sits on both the Stakeholders’ advisory group for aviation security to the EU commission and the European Civil Aviation conference security forum.

Martin sits on the UK National Aviation security Committee and the NASC Executive, a body that influences other UK governmental aviation security agencies. In these roles, he advances pilots’ views with the anti-terrorist and security agencies, as well as advising on the strategies that may be considered when police and airports are faced with security situations. He also advises on the hazards that RPAS and lasers represent to conventional aviation assets.

Capt. Drake is in current flying practice as a British Airways B747 captain based at London Heathrow, having also flown the B737 series, the Twin Otter for the British Antarctic Survey, and various GA aircraft. He also has military service as a reservist in the UK Territorial Army. Prior to beginning his aviation career Capt. Drake was a police officer and at present sits as a Magistrate in the lower court system in the UK.

Dr Andy Kemp is the Group Sales & Marketing Director of Bidvest Foodservice (Bidfood). Andy is known to many across the Foodservice sector not just for his role as Group Sales and Marketing Director of Bidvest Foodservice (Bidfood), but for his voluntary and charity work where he works tirelessly with the Industry’s two charities; Springboard and Hospitality Action (as well as many other charitable organizations’), focusing his energy around key issues such as holiday hunger, nutrition in youth as well as generation Y skills, future talent, careers and mentoring.

An experienced marketer and sales director, Andy’s career has seen him launch or relaunch many of the consumers favourite brands here in the UK and become an ambassador for Hospitality both inside Bidvest Foodservice (Bidfood) and outside – promoting the Industry as a whole to international audiences.

Andy’s passion for best practice, diversity, talent and skills development, and customer service, alongside his commitment to nutrition, health and wellness, has played no mean in shaping the future of Hospitality in the years to come. One of his proudest moments was being awarded a Fellowship of the Institute of Hospitality for ‘Services to Hospitality’ in 2004.

James Lemon, with the professional role of Global Strategy Lead, Channels & Distribution at IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) and the Founder and CEO at The Growth Works, is a leading consultant helping a wide portfolio of start-ups and scale-ups to solve their growth challenges. He also supports a number of short-term rental and travel accommodation actors as a Partner at AJL Consulting.

James has been the COO of Hostmaker, a home-sharing business that merges interior design and property management with hotel-like yield management guest experience, services and technology, he grew the customer base to over 2,000 homes, delivering 3x growth in stays and revenues in 6 months, to 6,000 stays and £4m revenues monthly, expanding the geographical footprint of the company from 5 to 9 European and Asian cities.

Prior to Hostmaker, James led as VP the Commercial Strategy for Travelport, a travel technology business with a global footprint, processing hundreds of millions of bookings each year – connecting travellers and travel agencies with providers of travel like airlines and hotel chains. He has also been the Director of Global Strategy for 5 years at Intercontinental Hotels Group.

He has studied Politics and Sociology in the University of Warwick and he is an Associate Member in the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).

John Ludlow is Chief Executive Officer at AIRMIC (Association of Insurance and Risk Managers) where has been a Director since 2012. Prior to his appointment John was a Director of the IRM and a Senior Advisor in Risk Management and Hospitality.

Previously, he was SVP and Head of Global Risk Management at InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) where he established a successful track record with 15 years in risk management leadership roles, overseeing Corporate Risk Management, Hotel Safety and Security and Risk Financing. This was preceded by 15 years of senior operational leadership roles in hotels, restaurants and pubs. He is a Certified Fellow of the Institute of Risk Management and visiting fellow at a number of universities and hospitality management colleges.

Dr Tony Matharu is the Founder and Managing Director of Grange Hotels and Founder and Chairman of Blue Orchid Hotels. A graduate in Law and Economics, he has always been a hotelier and his contribution to the sector has been honoured with the “Hotelier of the Year” award. A former winner of “Best Small Hotel Company” (Business Travel Awards), he has recently founded London’s latest luxury independent hotel chain: Blue Orchid Hotels under his Integrity International Group. He has received a “Special Recognition Award” for his “Contribution to London’s Success” and a “Technology and Innovation Award” (2014). He is also the Founder of Global Hospitality Services, an international hospitality consultancy, a Board Member of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Chairman of the Asian Business Association.

Tony combines his passion for hospitality with philanthropy, sport and community engagement; as London Chairman of Lord’s Taverners, Vice President of Oracle Head & Neck Cancer Research Trust, Chairman of Integrity International Trust; and a Director of the London Business Improvement District - renamed “Bee London”. He holds various board and other positions in the Arts and Sport – including as a Patron of a London Film Festival.

A recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Letters and a Fellow of ESCP Europe Business School, Tony is a regular advisor and commentator on entrepreneurship, business, hospitality and philanthropy.

Dr Meenal Sachdev is the Head of Sustainability of Shiva Hotels and the Director of Shiva Foundation, a corporate foundation that aims to tackle and prevent human trafficking and modern slavery in the UK, which she co-founded in 2012 with her husband.

Having worked closely with ICHARM on the COMBAT project, the Foundation developed a ‘Stop Slavery Blueprint’, which was piloted and rolled out across all Shiva Hotels properties and has been credited as best practice by various anti-slavery organisations. The Blueprint helps provide hotels with practical measures to address modern slavery.

In 2015, Meenal was elected as the first Indian woman Councillor for Hertsmere Borough Council. In this role, she has been instrumental in laying the foundation for the establishment of the Hertfordshire Modern Slavery Partnership in May 2017, which Shiva Foundation now coordinates.

On top of her work in the UK, Meenal has also sought to support causes close to her heart in India. She co-founded the youth leadership NGO, Connect India, directing it for over 10 years. The aim of the organisation was to design and implement leadership and service-based programmes for young British Indians. Through Connect India and as a strategic adviser to the family foundation, GMSP Foundation, Meenal has worked on various rural and urban projects in India with a focus on women’s empowerment, education and human rights.

Dr Bert 'Bow-Thai' van Walbeek has been a hotelier for 45 years and marketer of tourism for 35 years, a motivator and a 'master of disaster' for 25 years and a lecturer for 15 years.

While working for Sheraton hotels in Egypt he had to face the marketing opportunities of the Gulf Crisis and developed the "Back to Normal" concepts. In Thailand May 1992 he tackled the opportunities of another major crisis and initiated TAT’s 'The World, Our Guest'- campaign.

In 2003 he wrote a PATA information brochure on Risk & Crisis Management: “Expect the unexpected“. As a taskforce member he supported destinations in need, like Bali and Chengdu. Recently he coordinated the PATA Nepal Tourism Rapid Recovery Task Force, bringing volunteer resources together to produce the campaign "Nepal, back on top of the world".

His company, The Winning Edge, is presently handling Crisis Prevention and Recovery Management projects in Bahrain, China, Dubai, Mauritius, Chinese Taipei and, of course, Thailand. These assignments are mainly tourism industries related, but also cover various other industries like banking and financial services’ operations, bottling, transportation and water supply.

He lectures on this topic at the College of Innovation of Thammasat University and the Mae Fah Luang University in Chiang Rai and is a celebrated guest lecturer at universities in China, Dubai, Germany, Macao, Malaysia, the Netherlands, South Africa, Chinese Taipei and the United Kingdom.

Kim Ann Williamson, MBE, is a Senior Operational Business Manager for Crown Prosecution Service Cymru/Wales and Chair of the UK Modern Slavery Training Delivery Group with a career in the Civil Service spanning over 35 years.

Her international work includes leading the Wales/Albania ‘Task and Finish’ Group and working with the Home Office Modern Slavery Unit International Team on their work with ‘Source Countries’. Kim Ann collaborates with Council of Europe GRETA Experts, the International Centre for Migration Policy Development and the Office for Security and Co-operation in Europe to share the good practice she has developed in Wales.

Kim Ann is an approved subject matter expert by the International Centre for Migration and Policy Development in human trafficking and slavery having made presentations and delivered workshops at conferences and events in Albania.

In recognition of the work on the Modern Slavery agenda, Kim Ann was identified to be one of the 2018 Annual Top 100 Corporate Modern Slavery Influencers in the UK by MSA4 Construction.

In the Queens Birthday Honours 2018 Kim Ann was made a Member of the British Empire for her contribution to Law and Order for combatting modern slavery, human trafficking and Female Genital Mutilation.