On Thursday, May 12 we will gather together in London for the Smart, Safe, Sustainable Summit, and we are thrilled to announce the speakers for the day’s events. We will hear thought-provoking discussions from leaders across industries on the state of smart technology, guest safety and security, and sustainability to further educate ourselves and to advance the sector.
Juliet Kinsman is a London-based journalist, sustainability advocate and broadcaster who has spent three decades sharing stories about the world’s most special experiences and extraordinary changemakers. There’s nothing she loves more than tackling technical topics and make them engaging and expressing what’s complicated and nuanced about climate change science in a way that’s easy to understand, providing actionable advice on how to be greener. The first Sustainability Editor of Condé Nast Traveller, Juliet extols all things eco for The Times through to Sky News and the BBC, speaking in a way that’s relevant to consumers, corporates, luxury lovers and tree huggers.
In 2019, Juliet spent time in Morocco making the documentary ‘Changing Worlds in the Atlas Mountains’ to raise awareness around the importance of educating women in remote rural areas and its role in tackling the climate emergency. Born in Canada, she’s lived in New York, Algeria, Greece, India and Bali, and helps shift perspectives and broaden minds.
Hjörtur Smárason is a place branding expert and communication strategist and has worked for cities, regions and countries in the Arctic, Africa, Asia and Europe on their communications, branding, future visions and crisis strategies. Hjörtur lives currently in Nuuk in Greenland and is the former CEO of Visit Greenland, where he led the restart of tourism post-covid and laid the foundation for the development of Greenland as a leading destination when it comes to sustainability and adventure tourism.
Hjörtur has a degree in anthropology from the University of Iceland, political science from Lund University in Sweden and business and economic development from Copenhagen Business School in Denmark. He has advised companies and governments on their crisis and post-crisis communications following natural catastrophes, pandemics, economic crises and political turmoil. Hjörtur is a keynote speaker, commentator in the media, and book editor.
The three panel discussions will focus on: How Technology Can Help Mobility be Smart, Safe & Sustainable; Imagining Smart, Safe & Sustainable Corporate Housing of the Future; and Redesigning Travel Policy With a Smart, Safe, Sustainable Focus. Learn more about the panels – and what to expect on May 12th – here.
Yuki Watanabe has over 15 years of experience in Human Resources and is currently the Senior Manager of Global Mobility at Delivery Hero, headquartered in Berlin. With a mission to “Always Delivering an Amazing Experience”, Yuki is focused on building Delivery Hero’s talent mobility strategy and operational strength to support fast growing business. Prior to joining Delivery Hero (and moving to Germany), Yuki has held various roles at Gap Inc, Nike, Deloitte and PWC. Yuki is actively involved in the Mobility community, including serving as an ambassador for Global Mobility Journeys as well as a changemaker for Benivo. Yuki was also named as one of the most admired Global Mobility Professional’s in the world for 2021 and 2022.
Louise Worbey has spent over 25 years working in Assignee Services and Global Mobility. Initially in the area of UK and US tax compliance within Deloitte Global Employee Services, Louise was Deloitte UK’s Head of Global Mobility and a member of the Deloitte North West Europe Global Mobility Council until 2019. She then took on a new challenge within professional services and is now Head of Global Mobility for KPMG worldwide, leading KPMG Internationals Global Mobility Central team and Centre of Excellence. This team governs Global Mobility across a network of over 150 firms within the KPMG network worldwide.
Part of the current strategy and approach is to continue a transformation of KPMG Global Mobility begun in 2018 across all areas of policy, technology, process and communications while also driving cultural change for the benefit of KPMG clients, Partners and employees. She has a keen focus on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion within Global Mobility.
Harriet Brennan is the Security Manager for the UK & Ireland at International SOS, responsible for delivering bespoke security services to the region’s diverse client base. Leveraging her expertise and experience, she supports clients at a strategic level with security risk mitigation. In this role, she has conducted numerous incident management exercises, and assisted clients with developing their travel risk related policies and security training. Harriet has worked with multiple organisations to improve their escalation preparedness and response, crafting tailored escalation plans for global management teams, as well as deploying onsite to create tactical plans on the field level.
After joining the Europe Regional Security Centre in July 2016 as a Security Specialist, Harriet has been intimately involved in the management of a multitude of regional escalations, including terror attacks across Europe, political crises in locations such as the DRC and Cameroon, as well as the coordination of evacuations during the acute phase of the Covid-19 pandemic. Harriet has also been involved in numerous deployments across the region, contributing to the development of International SOS’ global accredited provider network and assessment of logistical capabilities and security risks in-country.
Prior to joining International SOS, Harriet served in the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, and holds a postgraduate degree in Politics, Security, and Integration from University College London (UCL).
As Global Head of Travel and Expense at Barclays and a tenured global travel professional, Alison Rogan is accountable for the execution and management of the processes which underpin the Barclays global travel and expense policy, including operational service delivery, sourcing and supplier management, data analytics and the global employee expense and corporate card and virtual card programs as well as the management of cross border compliance and immigration management for short term business travel.
On the Procurement Leadership team, Alison’s remit has expanded in recent years to include the delivery of the payment strategy for the function, which includes creating consistent payment control and governance at scale, providing a frictionless experience and removing manual touch points where possible for colleagues, internal operations and external vendors and the provision and visibility of actionable analytics to support strategic decisions which lead to commercial gains.
As the global Head of Travel & Expense for Astellas Pharma, Sammit Khandeparkar is responsible for companywide transient travel and expense category. High-level responsibilities include setting global business objectives, business plans and strategy for travel and expense, managing day-to-day global business travel operations, managing BAU support, handling change management, managing global and local escalation, global travel payments, travel supplier relation management, managing global travel content in the online booking tool, global training, global intranet content related to travel and crisis management, ISOS, business owner for Concur T&E.
Sammit has over 20 years of experience in business travel/airlines/hotels, holding senior management roles in Dubai, India and Singapore as well as London. Sammit holds a bachelor of hotel facilities/travel and tourism management and catering degree from the Mumbai University.
Jamie Finnie is Head of Travel at NES Fircroft. Jamie joined NES Fircroft in 2013 having spent 10 years in Business Travel with CWT. He is responsible for sourcing and delivering all travel requirements to NES Fircroft and managing a global travel booking and invoicing team. Jamie uses his procurement skills to negotiate the best possible rates for NES Fircroft’ s travel program, as well as using analytical tools to shape and develop buying strategies and travel policies for the group. In his spare time Jamie plays guitar and sings in a Duo and gigs all over the North West of England. He is a keen golfer and loves travelling with his wife and children.
Tracy Figliola is Co-Head of Global HR Operations & Global Immigration / Mobility at Millennium.
Karen O’Brien is the Senior Manager of Global Mobility, EMEA & Greater Asia at BD. Karen has had a career of more than 20 years in Global Mobility spanning a number of industries including consultancy, retail, FMCG, engineering, and of late medical technology. She has worked for AON, Tesco, Diageo, AECOM, and BD.
Within these roles Karen has developed Global Mobility strategy and policy at regional and global levels and has managed high volume and executive moves to destinations all over the world all the while ensuring compliance for both corporates and employees in immigration, tax and social security.
Originally from Co. Kerry in Ireland, she has been living in the UK since 2000.
Priscilla Monticelli is the Global Mobility Director, EMEA, at Publicis Groupe.