Anthony Chalhoub - President, MEDFA Joint Chief Executive of the Chalhoub Group
Anthony Chalhoub is currently joint Chief Executive Officer of the Chalhoub Group and General Manager of four luxury brand distribution companies in the region: Habchi & Chalhoub, the Louis Vuitton joint venture, MAC and Fitra.
It was in 1975 that Anthony joined the Group founded and managed by his father, immersing himself in business life by moving to Kuwait where his parents had already been working for several years developing Franco-Kuwaiti relations. He worked hard to promote and gain acceptance from the prominent names in perfumes, high fashion and jewelry.
Mindful of maintaining the image of the brands that placed their trust in him and to keep France's high profile in the Middle East; he has performed all his functions as Overseas Trade Counselor starting in 1991 and took an active part in the "France in Kuwait" exhibitions of 1991, 1994, 1996 and 2004. Steve Brock General Manager, Cadbury Schweppes International Travel Retail
Steve Brock joined CSITR as General Manager in December 2003, responsible for sales and brand development in the global travel retail channel, global P&L as well as the management and development of the global team.
Responding to the dynamic growth of confectionery in the channel, Steve is driving Cadbury Schweppes forward within travel retail. With a new team in place and a revised internal structure, the initial focus is the CSITR product portfolio. Dan Cappell General Manager, General Manager, Abu Dhabi Duty Free
Dan Cappell has experience on both sides of the table having spent 22 years with Nestle SA the last ten as General Manager of Nestle International Travel Retail before moving to the Middle East in 2002 as Deputy Managing Director of Abu Dhabi Duty Free & In Flight catering.
Dan joined Aer Rianta International Middle East in June 2006 as General Manager Operations and is responsible for Group procurement, commercial strategy and development across the region. Dan has returned to Abu Dhabi Duty Free as General Manager earlier this month.
Dan cites playing golf badly, cooking and reading as his main forms of relaxation.
Ramesh Cidambi Ramesh Cidambi is responsible for Information Technology and Logistics at Dubai Duty Free. He has been heading the I.T. department since 1987, and was given the additional responsibility for Logistics from January 1st of 2004. He has helped implement systems ranging from legacy applications to the Oracle 11i e-business suite, and also implemented new technologies at the Point of Sale and other areas of the business. He is currently involved in the design and construction of the new automated Distribution Centre opening in 2007, and is also involved in the on-going improvements to the retail areas in Concourse 1, and in the new retail developments in Concourse 2 and Terminal 3. Terry Daly Divisional Senior Vice President, Service Delivery, Emirates Airline
Terry Daly has been working in the airline industry for 28 years. His background is multi-faceted, ranging from overseas airport, commercial and area management roles, through customer service, sales, marketing and business planning.
He has lived and worked in numerous countries such as the UK, the UAE, China, Egypt, Jordan, Africa, India and the Caribbean. Currently Terry is Divisional Senior Vice President Service Delivery for Dubai-based Emirates Airline, responsible for all aspects of the airline's inflight service which entails onboard customer service, catering and duty free sales. He has had two periods of living in Dubai, one in the 1980s and more recently from 1998 until now. Jose (Chim) Esteban Managing Director, Regent Asia Group
Jose “Chim” Esteban, pioneered the development of duty free retail in the Philippines. During his term in Duty Free Philippines (DFP) from 1987-1992, the company became recipient of several major industry awards, the first Asian operation to win the prestigious Frontier Award. In 1989, DFP was awarded Airport Duty Free Retailer of the Year and in 1991 DFP won the Frontier award for Best Duty Free Marketing Campaign for its “Balikbayan Program”. After his stint at DFP, Chim broke new ground in the experimental freeports of Clark and Subic. His entrepreneurial effort paved way for the rapid development and expansion of retail in the freeport zones. Chim’s work in the trade established his reputation as one of the leading personalities in the duty free industry in Asia. Anouska Forte Deputy Editor, of The Travel Retail Business magazine
Anouska Forte graduated with an honours degree in Law in 1997, working for a firm of solicitors until deciding upon a change of career and joining what was then The
Duty Free Business magazine. Following the management buyout in 2004, she moved towards the editorial side of the business, eventually becoming Deputy Editor as well as maintaining responsibility for all production. She is also one of the founding members of WiT (Women in Travel).
David Freeborn General Manager, Pernod Ricard Gulf
After 10 years in the UK working for L'Oreal, David Freeborn moved to the Gulf in 1997 as Sales and Marketing Manager for a UK Healthcare Co. He joined Seagram in 2000 and now heads up The Groupe Pernod Ricard Gulf operation.
This business covers both duty free and domestic trade channels within the Gulf as well as Sri Lanka, Pakistan and The Maldives.
James Hogan CEO, Etihad Airways
James Hogan was appointed to this position in October 2006, bringing over 25 years of travel industry expertise to the airline.
Mr Hogan joined from Gulf Air, where he was responsible for the Project Falcon programme, repositioning the business on a commercial platform.
Prior to joining Gulf Air in 2002, Mr Hogan had been Chief Executive of the Tesna consortium, created with the aim of acquiring Ansett Airlines from administration.
Mr Hogan has held a number of senior operational and commercial positions within the airline industry including VP, Marketing & Sales, Europe, Middle East and Africa at Hertz, Worldwide Sales Director at the Granada Group and Chief Operating Officer at bmi British Midland. Richard Isaac Retail & Development Manager, ADDF
With a long and distinguished career in retail in the UK, Richard first came to the Gulf Region in 1997 with the renowned British retailer Debenhams plc.
Charged with setting up and managing the groups’ first international department store in Bahrain (franchised through MH Alshaya), the success of the Bahraini operation soon led to Richard taking responsibility for the launch of similar projects in Dubai, UAE and Doha, Qatar.
Recruited by Abu Dhabi Duty Free in 2004, Richard is responsible for the smooth running and day-to-day operations across each terminal at the Middle East’s second-largest travel retailer by turnover.
He currently oversees a dedicated team now in excess of 400 employees. Martin Moodie Editor and Publisher, The Moodie Report
Martin Moodie is the founder and Managing Director of Moodie International, a UK-based media company which he created in 2002. He is also the Editor and Publisher of The Moodie Report, the acclaimed travel retail intelligence service published in web, e-newsletter and print form. Since its launch in September 2002 The Moodie Report has become the industry’s most widely-read and respected media – and its fastest-growing commercially. A New Zealander, Martin emigrated to England in 1987 and worked for 13 years at prominent print publisher Raven Fox as Editor of DFNI – and from 1996 to 2002 as Managing Director.
Doug Newhouse Doug Newhouse is the founding Editorial Director of The Travel Retail Business, the industry’s leading monthly trade magazine serving the duty free and travel retail industry. He is also the Editor of the leading daily travel retail internet news service www.trend-news.com - a joint venture between «The Business» and the industry’s renowned global analysts, Generation Databank. He has written about this industry for the past 29 years, contributed to numerous publications and film media, and spoken at many industry conferences over the years, including many organised by TFWA, MEDFA, APTRA, ACI Europe and ACI World.
Frank O'Connell Frank O’Connell, President, ETRC, holds a Masters degree in Business Administration from the University of Stirling and is a graduate of the Marketing Institute of Ireland. He has acquired over 15 years of experience in the advertising business while holding several Art and Creative Director positions before joining Aer Rianta in 1979. Mr O’Connell is a member of the Board of Aer Rianta International and of the Supervisory Board of Flughafen Düsseldorf GmbH. Mr O’Connell is President of the Paris based European Travel Retail Council (ETRC) and represents Europe on the Duty Free World Council, is co-author of the book “European Airport Retailing, Growth Strategies for the next Millennium” and has written extensively on airport retailing. Tim Rycroft Director of Corporate Relations, Diageo Global Travel & Middle East
Tim Rycroft is responsible for media relations, employee engagement, government relations and promoting responsible drinking across Diageo’s global Travel Retail business and its Middle East geographic hub.
Tim joined Diageo in March 2003, first as Government Affairs Director and then Corporate Relations Director for Diageo Great Britain. In 2006 he became Director of Public Policy for Diageo (Europe) and he joined GTME in October 2007.
Prior to his career with Diageo, Tim held a variety of posts in corporate communications: as a communications consultant for Lowe Bell/Bell Pottinger, Head of Corporate Affairs for UK retail pharmacy giant Boots and as a Special (Political) Adviser to both the UK Minister without Portfolio and Secretary of State for Health. He also spent six months on secondment as Head of Public Affairs for the BBC. Shaun Smith Managing Director, shaunsmith+co
Over the last decade, Shaun has been a key catalyst in expanding management focus from the tactical issues of customer service to the much wider and strategic issue of customer experience. He has developed some of the latest thinking and practice around this subject, helping organisations world-wide to create a compelling customer experience that achieves brand differentiation and long term customer loyalty. John Sutcliffe Managing Director,
Aer Rianta International Middle East
Having worked for two American Multinationals, Merck, Sharp and Dohme, and Bechtel Incorporated, John Sutcliffe joined Aer Rianta in 1977 and held the position of Senior Internal Auditor when appointed to the team, which travelled to Dubai in 1983 to establish Dubai Duty Free. In 1984, he resigned from Aer Rianta and took up the offer to remain in Dubai as Deputy General Manager of Dubai Duty Free. Paul Topping Managing Director, Alpha Asia
Operating from Alpha Asia head quarters in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Paul oversees the Duty Free operations in the region namely in India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Nepal.
Paul has over 20 years experience in travel retail and has been active in the industry lobbying on behalf of tobacco and other retail areas. He is also a board member of APTRA (Asia Pacific Travel Retail Association). | 
