Confirmed Speakers
Please see below brief biographies for most of the speakers, panellists and moderators at BTTB Australia 2009. Bio's for remaining panellists will be added soon, as they are confirmed.
Day 1, Thursday 7th May
Chris Heptinstall, Procurement Manager, ELi Lilly Australia
Chris is Procurement Manager Australia for Eli Lilly Australia. He has been in the role for approximately 6 months.
Chris Heptinstall has been a leading exponent of the Procurement industry for over 20 years. He was the Procurement manager for IBM and Goldman Sachs in the UK before moving to Australia in 1995. Since then he has worked for Macquarie Bank, Lend Lease and IAG. He also spent three years with Cyberlynx Procurement Services where he developed many of the category management processes, tools and templates. IAG won the best supplier relationship category with Blue Star in the 2007 inaugural CIPS Excellence Awards and is one of the leaders in the field of sustainable procurement.
Johnny Thorsen, CEO, ConTgo
Johnny Thorsen is co-founder of mobile technology company conTgo (content on the go). He is a veteran in the travel technology industry, with more than 20 years of experience, during which he has held senior positions with companies such as GetThere, Travelport, HRG and CWT.
Ken Pfaffmann, Country Director, Egencia
As the Country Director of Egencia Australia, Ken Pfaffmann oversees business operations for the Australian market including sales, account managment and customer service. With more than 15 years of experience in business planning, customer service and product managment in the travel and technology industries, Pfaffmann has a history of leading fast-growing and innovative organisations.
Elliott Finley, Head of Sales, Egencia Australia
Elliott Finley is Head of Sales for Egencia in Australia. Graduating from Griffith University with a Marketing degree, Elliott began his working career for Sheraton Hotels and Resorts and has worked for for Singtel Optus.
Wayne Borland, Director Programme Management, Carlson Wagonlit Travel Australia
Wayne Borland is the Director of Program Management at Carlson Wagonlit Travel Australia. With over 24 years’ experience in the travel industry he leads his team of travel professionals to assist clients to optimise their travel programmes through identifying successful practices, opportunities for continuous improvement.
Scott Alden, Partner, DLA PhillipsFox
Scott practices in both the private and public sector, on large strategic projects and infrastructure projects, and advises clients in relation to procurement and probity.
Scott has specific expertise in:
• Government infrastructure projects (primarily State)
• General contractual and legislative advice and the tendering process (at all levels of government)
• Government capital and services procurement and
• Infrastructure contracts and performance.
Scott is also highly regarded in the areas of water, public transport infrastructure and IT requirements. He advises on tender processes including drafting reports, methodology documents and tender evaluation, contractual negotiation, legislative advice work and legislative compliance and audit services.
Scott is Chair of the Business Law Committee of the Law Society of NSW as well as a Councillor and is the Immediate Past President of NSW Young Lawyers.
Craig Smith, President, ATMC
Craig Smith is the current President of the Association of Travel Management Companies (ATMC). Founder of independent TMC Travelogic, Smith was instrumental in the successful merger of the Travelogic business with Corporate Travel Management in 2008, creating one of the region’s largest independent travel management companies.
Jayson Frazer, Business Development Manager, Voyager Travel Corporation
Bio to come
Accommodation Panel
Patrick Andrès, SynXis
Patrick Andrès is a veteran of the Asian hospitality technology industry. He is presently spearheading the Asia-Pacific expansion of SynXis, the Sabre Holdings business that provides hotel reservation management, distribution and technology services. Andrès' well-rounded experience includes positions at the hotel level, in hospitality automation and electronic distribution. While based in Hong Kong, he oversaw the North-Asia region of Micros-Fidelio for much of the 1990's. At the time he opened both the Hong Kong and Singapore offices for the growing PMS vendor. Andrès recently served as Director of Business Development for Expedia Travel, focusing on building and implement the Direct-Connect two-way interfaces between central reservation systems and the Expedia family of sites. A graduate of one of Canada’s leading hotel schools, Andrès received his Masters of Business Administration from the University of Ottawa and has been a frequent spokesperson and panelist at industry events throughout the region.
Renae Trimble, Accor Hospitality
As the Director of Corporate Sales for Australia’s most pervasive and present hotel network – Accor Hospitality - Renae Trimble plays a crucial role in negotiating, advising and managing the professional accommodation needs and strategies for the countries leading corporations.
An experienced sales and marketing director, Ms Trimble has previously worked with recognised international and domestic hotel networks, and serviced apartment product, prior to her Accor appointment in June 2008.
In her role as Director of Sales & Marketing and Revenue Management for corporate hotel, the Marriot North Ryde, Ms Trimble was responsible for the new Sydney hotel’s pre-opening team of six people, a key position that helped establish her on the international hotel sales and marketing scene.
At Rydges Hotels Ms Trimble gained a breadth of experienced in domestic hotel networks with a dual role that saw her oversee Rydges National Sales Team, but a portfolio of 12 hotels located within the New South Wales and ACT as Regional Director of Business Development.
Rounding out her accommodation network experience, Ms Trimble then moved to Fraser Suites Hospitality as Director of Sales and Marketing, assisting the worldwide leader in serviced apartments and residences for short, medium and long term stays in its new build interests and Sydney business.
Russell Spurrell, Quest Apartments
Russell is the National Sales Manager for the Quest Serviced Apartment Group. He joined the Group in July 2004 to develop Quest’s Top Key Accounts in the Mining, Petroleum, Finance and Insurance Industries and has risen to manage the Account Management team for the Australian operation of the Quest Group, which has 100 properties currently.
In his role at Quest Serviced Apartments, Russell directly manages some of Quest’s most important Corporate Accounts, the Account Management Team, the Central Reservations Department and is responsible for writing the Account Management and client retention strategies for the network. Russell is also involved in strategic site selection of new locations to develop and grow the number of Quest properties in the Group. During his time with Quest, the group has added 45 new properties in Aus and NZ and has seen a double digit increase annually in new corporate clients received as the trend towards Serviced Apartment Accommodation increases for their short, medium or long term accommodation requirements.
Mark Pollard, Constellation Hotel Group
Bio to come
Day 2, Friday 8th May
Airline Panellists TBC
Jo OBrien, CEO, Tramada
Jo has more than 25 years of experience across almost every aspect of the Australian travel industry. Prior to joining Tramada she was General Manager Australia, for ZUJI, a joint venture between Travelocity, Qantas and other regional airlines. Jo has also managed one of Australia’s largest travel groups, Jetset, with responsibility for a network of over 500 agents. Complementing these strong leadership skills, Jo brings significant technology experience to Tramada, having conceived and led Jetset’s integrated internet strategy, and managed its IT department with a complex data network.
Benjamin Weinmann, Manager of Supply & eCommerce, The Lido Group
Originally from Country South Australia, Benjamin started working within the hospitality Industry 20 years ago. His background is within operations, employed as a Chef for many years working his way up to food and beverage Manager. From the years 2000 to 2004 he owned and operated an Event Management and Catering Company based in South Australia with Key events and venues such as Oakbank Race Carnival, Tour Down Under and Beaumont House Function Centre.
Benjamin has lived and worked in Sydney since 2005 working with Hotel Chains such as Tourism Hotel and Leisure, Federal Hotels International and Rendezvous Hotels and Resorts in Business Development and DOS roles. In August 2008 he moved out of hotels into Procurement with The Lido Group, with a brief move to South East Asia this year as DOS for Hilton Hotels, but was invited to return to Australia in April to The Lido Group with an increased role of both Procurement and eCommerce. His focus for the next 12 months is to continue the enhancement of their existing tools and the development and rollout of new products.
Tony O’Connor, Principal, Butler Caroye
Tony O'Connor is the founder and Managing Director of Butler Caroye, the region's foremost independent travel management consultancy and travel buyers' advocate. He specialises in travel procurement, internal process improvement, and supply chain management, taking a holistic value-based approach.
Prudence Jacobson, Director Procurement and Workplace Services, Unisys Asia Pacific
Prudence Jacobson is the Director, Procurement and Workplace Services for Unisys Asia Pacific. She has helped make telecommuting and flexible work practices a key part of the Unisys strategy. Prudence also heads the Greening Unisys initiative designed to find ways to make Unisys operations in Australia and New Zealand more environmentally sustainable.
Closing Panel TBC
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