The VOILÀ Hotel Rewards Team
Peter Gorla
Vice President & CMO
Peter joined HMC in May of 2004. Along with Mokhtar Ramadan, HMC’s CEO, Gorla founded and is leading the VOILÀ Hotel Rewards business unit. As the company’s senior marketing and product development executive, Peter focuses on bringing value to HMC’s hotel partners through the enhancement of our E-Commerce and CRM products. In addition, he is HMC’s vice president & CMO.
Prior to joining HMC, Peter was the Chief Marketing Officer for Taunovo Bay, a Fijian resort managed by Rosewood Hotels & Resorts. Before Taunovo Bay, Gorla co-founded the successful Internet start-up MUSICVIDEOS.com, which was acquired by LAUNCH.com (now Yahoo! Music) where he served as the Vice President of Product Development. Gorla received a Bachelor of the Arts from University of California at Santa Barbara. Twitter: twitter.com/petergorla | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gorla
Samira Demeis
Vice President Business Development for Europe, Middle East and Africa
Samira originally joined HMC in 2003 as Director of Business Development for the region.
Prior to HMC, Samira’s career was in the Hotel industry and spanned over 19 years in various countries and Senior Management positions. Initially with Best Western Australia in the role of National and International Sales and Marketing Manager, then with Accor in the positions of Director of Sales and Marketing, Executive Assistant Manager and General Manager before moving to Asia. In Asia Samira resided in Korea and China as Director of Business Development / Executive Assistant Manager for the Hilton Group.
Valentina Tang
Vice President, Asia Pacific
Ms. Tang first joined HMC in 2000 as Area Director for the Americas where she was instrumental in the infrastructure development in the region and business expansion in Latin America.
Prior to HMC, Ms. Tang was Director of Sales and Marketing for Le Meridien and the AAA 5-Diamond Sutton Place Hotel Vancouver, and subsequently opening General Manager for Sheraton le Soleil which was rated by J.D. Power and received 2nd place “Best in Brand” service award amongst 200 Sheraton hotels in North America. Ms. Tang has been a lecturer for travel schools, served on the board of directors for Tourism Vancouver, Vancouver Hotel Association and Association of Canadian Travel Agencies (ACTA), and is currently an active member of Skål International.
Alex Barros
Director of Business Development, EMEA & Brazil
In October 2008, Alex joined HMC in London, initially responsible for Business Development as Manager for Central and Northern Europe. In less than a year he was given responsibility for VOILÀ efforts in the EMEA region and Brazil. Barros’ academic and professional background is in advertising, marketing, branding and loyalty. This previous marketing and branding expertise, has aided the development of the current VOILÀ branding and new sales tools. In 2011, Alex successfully opened the Brazilian market by launching VOILÀ with two of the largest and most prestigious Brazilian hotel brands.
Prior to joining HMC, Alex was Senior Account Manager at Touchdown Affinity Marketing, where he worked with MasterCard Continental Europe and MasterCard Europe UK & Nordics. During this period he built and managed brand alliances with over a hundred brands across Europe. He managed partner agencies in the Netherlands, France, Sweden, Italy and Turkey. Before Touchdown, Barros was the marketing manager at GMCOM – Group Maringa Communications – a holding company (Radios and Cinema Chain) and also worked as a marketing consultant. Barros received a Bachelor of Arts and majored in Advertising and Publicity from CESUMAR University – a prestigious university in Parana, Brazil.
Francisco Araujo
Director of Business Development, Latin America
An 18-year loyalty marketing veteran, Francisco joined HMC in 2002 to head the business development in the Latin America and Caribbean regions. He has gained a broad experience in most aspects of loyalty marketing as he has participated in operations, marketing, IT and sales teams which allows him to understand the client needs from a most well-rounded and comprehensive perspective.
He has engineering and restaurateur background and is currently based in Mexico City.
Stephen Joseph
Director of Business Development, Asia Pacific
Stephen joined HMC in June 2009 and has been in the loyalty marketing arena since 1995. Both experienced in Project Management and Business Development, he thrives on building HMC’s portfolio of business partners around Asia Pacific and looks forward to broadening his coverage to other parts of the world.
Stephen studied Hotel Management and spent some time with Intercontinental Hotels Group before moving into account management and then Hotel Loyalty. He finds his operational background a great advantage when talking strategy with hotels and this understanding allows him to offer the attention to detail that is a fundamental part of building any loyalty programme in an increasingly competitive market.
Michelle Sandhu
Account Executive, Asia
Michelle Sandhu joined HMC in February 1998 as Director of Marketing. As HMC grew in Asia, Michelle moved on to become HMC’s Director of Business Development and Marketing Services for Asia. Towards the end of 2009, Michelle was moved to VOILÀ with the expanding growth in Asia Pacific and is the Key Account Executive for the region, involved in setting up, implementation and operations of VOILÀ programs in the region.
Prior to joining HMC, Michelle held several key positions in the hospitality industry including travel trade publications and hotels.
Esther Pisonero
Account Executive, Spain
In January 2010, Esther joined VOILÀ in Spain. Esther’s academic and professional background was in hotels, Quality & Standards and also Human Resources. That previous experience skills on Quality & Standards and Customer Service in Hotels, has contributed significantly to the development of the current VOILÀ program. Prior to joining HMC, Esther managed Quality & Standard department in the four-star Husa President Park hotel of 300 rooms in Belgium for three years. Before Brussels, Pisonero was free-lancer consultant in Latin America for Enterprises, helping to develop skills and enhance careers.
Ana Patricia Bueno Netto
Account Executive, Brazil
Ana Patricia has been with VOILÀ since the South American market was first opened in Brazil in 2010. Based in Curitiba, Brazil, she speaks four languages: Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and English.
Prior to VOILÀ she spent 10 years in Marketing and Sales in the auto industry in Brazil. During that time, she was the regional account manager for BOSCH, where she managed over 130 customer accounts in a highly competitive industry. She also worked for Dana, the world’s largest auto parts manufacturer, where she created an ambitious campaign for a new product, pushing the product to no. 3 in the market in 6 months from launch. Ana Patricia studied Business Management at Gloucestershire University in the UK and Hotel and Tourism Management from Centro Europeu in Curitiba.
Richard Cawker
Vice President of Finance
Richard Cawker joined HMC in October 1997 originally based at the Corporate Headquarters, California he later moved to Europe to help manage the rapid growth in the EMEA region.
Prior to joining HMC Richard worked for Chantrey Vellacott, Chartered Accountants in London as a Senior Manager where HMC were amongst his client portfolio. Richard is an Associate Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. He also has a BSc Hons from Lancaster University.
Khaled Aboudan
Chief Technology Officer
As part of HMC’s senior management team, Khaled Aboudan is responsible for the technical direction, software development and technical assets of HMC. Khaled has been with HMC for 7 years. During this time, he has built the company’s enterprise software foundation and moved the company to modern web-based application architectures. Today, HMC’s business relies on this foundation which is made up of core software business components in addition to sophisticated array of web, application and database servers.
Prior to joining HMC, Khaled had worked for several consulting firms and software development houses in North America and the Middle East. Khaled holds a master degree in Electrical Engineering and Digital Signal Processing from the California State University in Long Beach, CA and a bachelor degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California in Irvine, CA. Khaled is Sun Java Certified Programmer and Architect.
Abed Chawa
Chief Information Officer
Abed joined HMC in 1990. He was one of the key people who built HMC’s IT Department to what it is today. Over the years, the IT department has grown from 3 staff members to over 20 IT professionals around the world. Abed is an 18 year veteran who had his hand in all major projects and contracts including non IT initiatives. During his time at HMC, Abed has earned extensive experience in all diverse and extensive IT disciplines and has been highly regarded for his creativity, commitment, professionalism and leadership. As part of HMC’s global management team, Abed Chawa is responsible for the IT Department infrastructure including hardware, software and personnel worldwide. In addition, he manages the company’s most important asset: the database.
Abed is a graduate of Northern Arizona University, USA in the field of Computer Information Systems. He had lived in the USA for 17 years and has travelled extensively around the world which gave him excellent international exposure to different cultures around the globe. He speaks and writes Arabic and English fluently. Now, and for the past 7 years, he is based in Dubai.
Hospitality Marketing Concepts’ Executives
VOILÀ is operated by Hospitality Marketing Concepts (HMC), a company with established expertise in loyalty programmes for major hotel chains and independent properties since 1988. HMC’s offices span more than 50 countries in regions across the globe.
Mokhtar Ramadan
President & Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Ramadan, co-founder, is responsible for the overall leadership, direction and development of the Company. Prior to founding HMC, Mr. Ramadan served as Regional Director of Sales and Marketing for Compaq Computer GmbH from 1987 to 1988. Mr. Ramadan received a degree in Business Administration & Electronic Engineering and an MBA.
Marwan Ramadan
Senior Vice President and President of EMEA
Mr. Ramadan, co-founder, has served as Senior Vice President for Europe, Middle East and Africa since 1997. From 1994 to 1996, Mr. Ramadan served as the Company’s Group Vice President, Americas. From 1988 to 1993, Mr. Ramadan led the Company’s international expansion efforts, initially targeting Canada and Europe. Mr. Ramadan holds a Masters of Economics.
Fadi Ramadan
Senior Vice President and President of Americas
Mr. Ramadan, co-founder, is responsible for the day-to-day management and strategic direction of the Company. Prior to his promotion to Senior Vice President in 2000, Mr. Ramadan served as the Group Vice President for the Americas (1997 to 2000), Group Vice President for EMEA (1992 to 1996), and Vice President of Operations (1988 to 1991). Prior to joining HMC, Mr. Ramadan worked for a predecessor company, serving as Manager of Sales and then as Director of Operations worldwide.
For more information regarding Hospitality Marketing Concepts and it’s executives, please see the company’s website.