GSF 2016:

Hailing from Dublin, Catherine has over 22 years’ experience in advertising and media working with Channel 4, TV3, The Star Newspaper Group alongside key leadership roles with IPG Mediabrands in Qatar, Sydney and Dublin, Mindshare, PHD and Starcom – she is now Travel Client Partner for Facebook. She holds a Masters in Strategic Management from Michael Smurfit School of Business, UCD and a Degree in International Business and Languages. Catherine is passionate about brands in the new digital age and learning to surf!

Joined Hamburg Airport in 2004 after almost 10 years in the Shopping Center Management Business for companies like the Rewe Handelsgroup and Jones Lang LaSalle in Germany, right from the start of the newly inaugurated Center Management Department which is responsible for the Commercial Revenues and Development at Hamburg Airport. 

Since April 2011 as Commercial Director leading a team of 30 with regard to Retail. F&B, Offices, Cargo, Parking and Advertising and comprising roughly one third of the total turnover of Hamburg Airport, which ranks 5th in Germany passenger wise.

In addition to this CEO of Hamburg Airport Daughter Company SecuServe Aviation Security and Services GmbH with more than 80 employees responsible for the operational management of the parking spaces at Hamburg Airport, Boarding Pass control before security and luggage cart management.

As a married father of a Daugher and a Son enjoys his spare time preferably at the Beaches of the Baltic Sea windsurfing and playing Basketball or Soccer (not only familywise).

Brigitte Wolf, Director Retail with Miles & More, is a 36 year veteran within the Lufthansa Group. Throughout her career she has gained a vast international market and cultural knowledge. Before joining theleading frequent flyer and awards programme in Europe, Wolf started with Lufthansa as a ticket agent in 1980 in Chicago and subsequently assumed various positions as Sales Promotion Manager, and SalesManager in Chicago, Detroit and New York. In 1998 she was transferred to Frankfurt to head the Global Travel Agency Key Account Team. In 2000 she transferred to Thomas Cook Germany as Head of Sales for the 9 Tour Operators and the Airline Condor. With her transfer to LSG Sky Chefs in 2004 as Vice President Sales & Services Germany, Central Europe & Sub Sahara she broadened her experience in the catering subsidiary. In April 2011 she joined Lufthansa World Shop as Director Sales & Marketing Today, as Director Retail, she is responsible for the Procurement, Supply Chain Management and Sales for the Retail Channels Mail Order, 9 Airport Shops in Germany and Airline Shopping at Miles & More.

Rene van der Laan is Director of the Global Practice for Customer Intelligence at SAS. He is working in the enterprise software industry since 1997. Rene likes to work with people, especially motivating a team of professionals to take their roles and initiatives to the next level. Prior to joining SAS in 2010, Rene worked for software companies: Hyperion, E.piphany and Unica. In his role in SAS he runs an international team of highly motivated and experienced Marketing Business Advisors and Solutions Architects.

His love for analytics drove him into the arms of SAS, where he supports strategic, international accounts with his expertise and passion for the Customer Intelligence solutions from SAS. When Rene is not evangelizing for SAS, you can find him at home with his wife and their 4 kids or at the golf course.

Kay Niehaus, Business Director Germany at Value Retail, has more than 25 years of premium experience in retail, wholesale, brand marketing, consumer marketing and online business. During the course of his career he has acquired in-depth business expertise in Europe, the USA and Asia. He has a strong knowledge in dealing with luxury consumer goods, lifestyle- and mass market products. Before joining Value Retail in October 2015, Kay Niehaus has been working for well-known international companies like Puma, Esprit, Dan Pearlman, Tommy Hilfiger and Polo Ralph Lauren. In his position at Value Retail he runs, as one of two Business Leaders, two Luxury Outlet Shopping Centers in Germany, Wertheim Village and Ingolstadt Village, with more than 100 team members. He is focusing on Retail, Operations, Marketing, Digital, PR and Brand Communications.

Kian is the CEO and Founder of AOE, one of the leading global Omnichannel eCommerce  and Digital Transformation experts within the Open Source space. He is a regular speaker at many global conferences, and an active community member in many popular Open Source communities. For the past 15 years his company AOE has assisted global Fortune 1000 companies with their Digital Transformation and Omnichannel eCommerce strategies.

David Klemm has more than 20 years of experience in the payment industry. As a trained banker, he started his career in Network Operations at Deutsche Bank AG, later easycash GmbH, and was a director at the payment terminal manufacturer REA Card. In 2010, David Klemm joined the German Mastercard Acceptance team and is now Head of Acceptance Development Germany.

Tom Breckwoldt oversees commercial activity for TripAdvisor for Business, managing TripAdvisor’s Business Listings and TripConnect product in the German, Austrian and Swiss markets. Breckwoldt acts as principal liaison for the hospitality industry throughout the region. This service allows hoteliers direct access to TripAdvisor’s millions of monthly visitors through its subscription based Business Listings offer. 

Stephan Uhrenbacher is founder and CEO of FLIO, the global airport app. Flio was launched in 2015 and is currently on a stellar growth curve with lots of positive press reviews. Previously, Stephan founded Qype which he built into Europe’s largest local review web site, first as CEO and then on the board of directors until Qype was acquired by Yelp in 2012. He founded several other companies such as short term lettings platform 9flats.com and Germany’s leading eco market place avocadostore.de. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Stephan held several top management positions at well known internet companies such as lastminute.com and bild.de.

Eli Fel is Partner and Managing Director of Travel Blue Germany in continental Europe. Travel Blue is the world leader travel-accessories brand selling in over 100 countries world-wide. Eli heads the business on the German speaking markets, Eastern-Europe and CIS.

Eli has conducted research and published on retailers´ transformations and challenges for over a decade. His research topics vary from Efficient Consumer Response (ECR), to mobile commerce and location based services (LBS). He graduated in Business Administration from the University of Hamburg and was granted his PhD. In Business Administration from the University of Latvia in 2009. Eli is the Founder and Honorary Chairman on the Global Shopping Forum. The forum places the traveler in the center of interest focusing on shopping behavior and the decision-making process online and offline at different stages of the journey.  It is the business-, network- and community platform for Retailers, Shopping Malls, Brands, Duty-Free operators, Tax-Free operators, Travel Agencies, Hotels, IT- & Marketing agencies just to name few of the Retail and Travel Retail Ecosystem.