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Panel Biographies

Panel Facilitator:

Andy Boyce – MD –Travology Ltd.

Andy Boyce has worked in the travel industry for 18 years and is Managing Director of travel technology consultancy Travology Limited. Andy starting his travel career overseas for Owners Abroad and worked in various senior roles before returning to the UK working for Thomas Cook where he managed several large scale IT projects using all of his unique skills and knowledge of business processes and technology.In 2002 Andy formed Travology Limited to help travel companies find and implement new technology. Since its formation, Andy has been instrumental in successfully helping travel companies of all sizes to select, procure and implement reservations and selling systems, dynamic packaging solutions, content management, CRM, finance and resort systems as well as travel websites and e-commerce solutions.Travology has a prestigious list of customers including many of the leading travel companies in the UK who it is proud to have helped with their technology requirements.  

From Travel Business:

Manuel Mascarenhas - Managing Director - Wendy Wu Tours

Manuel Mascarenhas is managing director of China specialist tour operator, Wendy Wu Tours.  Manuel has over 30 years of experience in the travel industry, holding a variety of high profile roles at companies such as British Airways, Thomson and Thomas Cook Signature. Most recently he was sales director at Kuoni.

John McEwan – Chief Executive, Advantage
Chairman , ABTA

John McEwan is chief executive of the UK’s largest travel agency consortium, Advantage, Specialists in Travel, with around 800 retail outlets throughout the UK. John’s career started in Thomas Cook and during a 30 year spell there he undertook a wide range of roles including Vice President Americas, Managing Director UK and Managing Director, International encompassing Africa, Middle East and Asia-Pacific. He then went on to become MD of Lunn Poly and was also a member of the executive board of TUI UK.John was elected as chairman of ABTA in June 2009. John also chairs the Travel and Tourism Diploma programme, which is being introduced for 14 – 19 year olds.

Maria Whiteman – Chief Executive Officer, Directline holidays 

From the Technology Side:

John Lambe - Chief Technology Officer, OpenJaw Technologies
Chair of the OpenTravel™ Board of Directors

John is an internationally recognised expert on travel ecommerce and travel distribution technology.  His vision and expertise extends into some of the world’s leading travel companies. He has an in depth knowledge of issues involved in travel supplier integration, airline ancillary sales, dynamic packaging and ecommerce strategies. He is a regular speaker at global travel technology conferences and is cited in various industry publications on topics such as online selling, travel distribution trends and strategies, and industry standardisation.

John leads OpenJaw’s technical strategy and product management functions in developing high performance ecommerce and distribution solutions for leading travel companies including airlines, tour operators, online travel agencies, hotel chains, global distribution systems and destination marketing organisations. His considerable practical expertise in the implementation of XML specifications in ecommerce and travel distribution platforms has been crucial in the development of OpenJaw’s innovative product portfolio which is now deployed worldwide.

As Chair of the OpenTravel™ Alliance, the XML specifications body for the travel industry, John works to create and promote a standards based approach to travel distribution. John has actively participated in OpenTravel for many years, particularly in the Airline, Data Content & Best Practices and Architecture areas.

After graduating with a degree in Electronic Engineering from Dublin City University, John initially developed airport and travel agency systems for Westinghouse Canada. Before co-founding OpenJaw Technologies, John held the position of Director of Architecture with Datalex.

Tim Russell – Managing Director, Amadeus UK & Ireland

Tim took up his new role in the UK in August 2009.  He is responsible for defining and implementing the Amadeus Group’s financial, commercial, sales, product and technical strategies in the UK and Ireland. Prior to this, Tim was Managing Director for Amadeus Australia and New Zealand, based in Sydney.  And before that he was the Director of Market Management for Amadeus Asia Pacific based in Bangkok. Fluent in Spanish, Tim has lived in the US, Spain, Thailand, Singapore and Australia.

Humphrey Sheil - Chief Technology Officer, Comtec (Europe) Ltd.

Humphrey leads the product management team responsible for implementing Comtec's integrated functional and technical strategy. Formerly Chief Architect with Cedar Open Accounts and with a background specialising in enterprise architecture and integration software in the US and Europe, he holds a M.Sc. and B.Sc. (First Class Honours) in Computer Science from University College Dublin.

Bharat Patel -  Commercial Director, CodeGen

Bharat will be ‘in attendance’ for one-to-one questions – along with the panelists -  at end of session. He brings 26 years of Travel and Tour Operation experience to this role having built and run his own family business. Bharat vision and knowledge of growing trends within the travel sector has played a strong role in the development of TravelBoxCodeGen,s global travel product over the last few years.         Bharat will be ‘in attendance’ for one-to-one questions – along with the panelists -  at end of session. He brings 26 years of Travel and Tour Operation experience to this role having built and run his own family business. Bharat vision and knowledge of growing trends within the travel sector has played a strong role in the development of TravelBoxCodeGen,s global travel product over the last few years.