Over the years Margaret has held a number of directorships and currently sits on the Tourism Strategy Implementation Group as appointed by the Minister of Arts, Sports and Tourism. She lives with her husband on their Blackcurrant farm in Co Wexford. Understanding the needs of agriculture and food production together with her knowledge of the tourism industry led Margaret to developing a strong food tourism proposition for the island of Ireland. In November 2006 Good Food Ireland was founded.

He is an authority and key proponent of direct and alternative marketing and product creation in the travel and tourism industry with over 40 years in-depth "hands on" experience at every level.

In the travel industry since the 1970’s, for the last 12 years, Valere has specialised in the ethical development and marketing of sustainable tourism projects. Projects have included tourism developments in Africa, USA, UK and Eastern Europe for clients as diverse as the European Union, the World Bank, the Department for International Development and local and international travel and tourism entrepreneurs. Valere is also advisor to a number of travel-oriented enterprises who wish to get greener AND more profitable

Following 4 years as Director of Finance and Operations with a then start up; Globoforce, Ciaran joined ebookers in January 2005 as Managing Director of ebookers.ie, Ireland leading Online Travel Agent. In May 2006 this position was extended to Managing Director of ebookers UK and Ireland.

Jess Butcher’s passion for both online and ‘rain-making’ started with her first graduate position as an analyst and then consultant with the bespoke consultancy wing of Forrester Research. During this training she spent a very informative 18 months investigating the ‘burn rate’ of high profile, listed European dotcoms (c.1999-2001) and seeing them successively burn out before eventually losing her own job when the burst bubble saw cash for consultancy dry up! (FYI – Lastminute the only travel man still standing from those heady days)…

Since then Jess moved into business development at strategic research consultancy, FreshMinds and then on to 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment to oversee new channel business development. More recently she returned to her dotcom roots and was instrumental, as part of the management team, in the launch of Pigsback.com, the most successful Irish community website into the UK market.

In her spare time, Jess enjoys ‘testing’ the isango travel experiences (most recently in Florence, ‘segway-ing’ around the city), good dining, good wine and good company.

Key Personnel Profile

Gabrielle Alam – Eyes2Market UK Ltd.
Corporate Hotel Sales experience; Revenue Management, Electronic Revenue and connectivity; excellent contacts within long haul tour operators
Meetings / Incentive Contacts; Strategic thinker, Implementation of marketing disciplines. Campaign management and implementation

18 years in travel industry:
MA Degree in Marketing and Mass Communications; Chartered Institute of Marketing, London 1991

Regional Sales Director EMEA, ANA Hotels Japan client since 2003

A sales and marketing expert with particular strength in the corporate and M.I.C.E sector offers a broad based travel industry and hotel experience.

In addition to 15 years in Senior Commercial Management, including Regional Director Sales and Marketing for an international chain of hotels.
Gabrielle has built upon her degree in Marketing and developed her interest in electronic distribution, revenue maximisation, and E-commerce.
Success stories:
Unique Jamaica
The Eyes2market team was appointed in 2005 by Emerging Markets to manage the funded project Unique Jamaica. This project consists of 72 small Jamaican tourism entities including 5 star resorts and Eco-Lodges and its aim is to drive adventure travellers to www.uniquejamaica.com . This project put in place strategies to help small business entities compete with large all-inclusive resorts to the benefits of local economy and communities.
Key focus was the consumer and UK’ travel industry distribution channels.

ACCOR Hotels International
Gabrielle Alam was employed by Accor Hotels for over 6 years before establishing Eyes2market.
In 2005 Accor Leisure Division outsourced its communication assignments for all Accor brands to Eyes2market and we achieved a 10% increase in media and promotional exposure across English speaking markets.

Life Resorts, Vietnam www.life-resorts.com
Unusual chain of 6 hotels in Vietnam; Eyes2market team increased tour operators’ market share by 5%

Vice President Corporate Development – Great Hotels of the World Corporate Development, Brand development, Electronic Revenue
– 1 year assignment
Corporate Sales Manager – Cendant Hotels, Parsippany, USA 1 year project
Leisure Sales Director UK, Accor Hotels International - 6 years
Lauda Air, Qatar Airways, Globepost Travel (now Last Minute.com) 6 years
Life Resorts Vietnam – Account Director – 1 year

His marketing career began in brand management with Irish Distillers, followed by a period as a Director with Irish International Advertising. Following an eight year stint as Marketing Manager for lagers with Guinness Ireland, Brian assumed a Marketing Director role with the company, covering Malaysia and Africa. Brian served as Managing Director for McCann-Erickson advertising agency from 1997-2001 and then moved to his current role as Managing Partner ( Ireland ) for Agency Assessments International, where he advises leading marketers on the agency selection process.

Sascha, a senior partner of StellantPartners is in the position as a consultant. Prior to establishing StellantPartners, Sascha was CEO of WorldRes, having been appointed by the Board to take the company through the final six months of a complicated and difficult sales process.

Currently Carlton manage 7 four hotels under lease and/or management contract, the properties are located nationwide.

Paul Carey is a graduate of Shannon Collage of Hotel Management and Cornell University in New York. With over 25 years international management experience in the hotel and hospitality industry, working in Hotel Management in Switzerland, USA and the UK.

Paul is a founding partner and shareholder of the Carlton Hotel Group the Irish Hotel Brand formed in 2004 to manage 4 star hotels in the Irish market place under the Carlton brand.

Odhran began his career under the stewardship of Gerry O’Connor (R.I.P.) at the Blarney Park Hotel before spending time in America where he worked with Royal Caribbean and was involved in the hospitality for the first U.S. Tennis Open at Flushing Meadows. Odhran also spent time on board the QE II and has worked at various times with Fáilte Ireland.

On his return to Ireland over 9 years ago Odhran was employed as General Manager at the Stand House Hotel and oversaw the development and opening of Killashee House Hotel and Villa Spa in Kildare. He remained here until his appointment as Resort General Manager at Mount Wolseley Hotel Spa & Country Club in Tullow last September.

He has worked within Hilton as a F&B Manager, Project Manager, Director of Human Resources and Director of Operations in Germany, Denmark and Trinidad. He is currently Hotel Manager of the Hilton Dublin Airport where he has been for the last 2 years and is an Assessor for Hiltons Management Trainee assessment centres. Prior to working with Hilton he worked for Starwood and Steigenberger Hotel Group in Germany. Peter is a Guest lecturer at the DIT and a Director of the Board of Northside Partnership.

Then recruited by Diageo and worked there for 17 years as a Marketing manager and in Global innovation. Joined Tourism Ireland in 2002 as Head of Marketing Communications with responsibility for global Branding and Advertising.

He is responsible for the strategic direction and implementation of Regulatory Standards and Quality Assurance initiatives within the tourism industry, including the Optimus and EFQM frameworks and systems. He holds a PhD from the University of Surrey, and MSc in Management from Trinity College, Dublin. Tony is also Chairman of the Ireland Poland Business Association and co-author of the book “Managing Quality in Tourism”.

Steven Rice is a graduate and post-graduate of the Queen's University of Belfast, and is currently the Head of Marketing and Business Development for ebookers.ie, Ireland's leading online travel agent. He has over ten years experience in the fields of marketing and advertising - mostly in the online arena - and has held senior positions in News International and BT Openworld, both in Ireland and the UK.