Travel & Tourism

Experts in the promotion and management of travel experiences, focusing on leisure, business, and cultural exploration

Samantha Pritchard

Samantha Pritchard

Samantha started her career in tourism with Visit Jacksonville CVB, learning the ins and outs of Florida’s hospitality scene before building over a decade of award-winning hotel sales leadership. Now as Area Director of Sales at SpringHill Suites Jacksonville Beach Oceanfront, she’s the go-to pro for turning connections into revenue—and she does it with energy, honesty, and a big dose of fun.

Known online as “Big Sister in a Blazer,” Samantha doesn’t talk at you—she pulls up a chair and talks with you. Her sessions are full of practical, battle-tested strategies for networking, relationship-building, and growing your business. Expect laughs, real-world takeaways, and actionable insights you can use immediately—because she’s been in the trenches and knows what actually works.

Samantha started her career in tourism with Visit Jacksonville CVB, learning the ins and outs of Florida’s hospitality scene before building over a decade of award-winning hotel sales leadership. Now as Area Director of Sales at SpringHill Suites Jac... Show more

Mary Lemmer

Mary Lemmer

Mary Lemmer is a creative impact-driven entrepreneur, consultant, and global speaker helping leaders and companies innovate, navigate change and thrive in an unpredictable world. She is the founder of Improve, and designs and delivers engaging keynotes, offsites, trainings, and conference sessions. She brings two decades of experience as an entrepreneur, author, humorist, and recovering venture capitalist and startup unicorn director. She gave the TED Talk “How improv can improve your leadership and life” and has spoken at The Social Innovation Summit, TED Women, TechCon, The Positive Business Conference, multiple years at the Agile Alliance conference, among speaking and leading interactive and empowering sessions for hundreds of companies around the world. Connect with Mary at www.marylemmer.com and learn more about Improve at www.chooseimprove.com.

Mary Lemmer is a creative impact-driven entrepreneur, consultant, and global speaker helping leaders and companies innovate, navigate change and thrive in an unpredictable world. She is the founder of Improve, and designs and delivers engaging keynot... Show more

Diego Martín

Diego Martín

Con casi 25 años ya de trayectoria profesional, mi inicio en la consultoría me llevó a implementar soluciones tecnológicas en NH Hoteles y a liderar proyectos de software e innovación en gestión empresarial. Posteriormente pasé a cliente final como CIO, donde abordé el reto de modernizar y digitalizar un gran grupo con más de 1500 empleados y 11 sedes. De vuelta en la consultoría, y dentro de la excelencia empresarial y la estrategia de proyectos, adopté la tecnología Low Code para optimizar procesos y talento. Hoy, en SNGULAR, como Business Manager y Microsoft Lead, aplico mi experiencia para desarrollar proyectos que integran BizzApps de Microsoft, facilitando la vida y potenciando negocios con soluciones que lideran la transformación digital.

Con casi 25 años ya de trayectoria profesional, mi inicio en la consultoría me llevó a implementar soluciones tecnológicas en NH Hoteles y a liderar proyectos de software e innovación en gestión empresarial. Posteriormente pasé a cliente final como C... Show more

Greg Oates

Greg Oates

Greg Oates is Director of AI Advocacy for Matador Network, where he helps develop the leading GuideGeek AI chat platform for the travel industry. He is also founder of 2050 City and creator of the 2050 City AI Roadmap, which provides DMO clients a proven framework for implementing AI-first strategy. During the past 15 years, Greg has collaborated with more than 100 tourism and hospitality organizations worldwide to create high-level strategic planning frameworks.

Greg Oates is Director of AI Advocacy for Matador Network, where he helps develop the leading GuideGeek AI chat platform for the travel industry. He is also founder of 2050 City and creator of the 2050 City AI Roadmap, which provides DMO clients a pr... Show more

Sadhana Panthi

Sadhana Panthi

I’m Sadhana Panthi, a Computer Engineering student at Pulchowk Campus with a passion for building tech that creates real impact. I’m currently a vice chair at IEEE WIE, where I actively contribute to empowering students and women in tech through workshops, events, and mentorship. I’ve represented Nepal at Huawei’s Tech4Good in China, been a Harvard WECode Fellow and GitHub Campus Expert, and worked on projects like women’s rights chatbots and AI for maternal health and sustainability.

I’m Sadhana Panthi, a Computer Engineering student at Pulchowk Campus with a passion for building tech that creates real impact. I’m currently a vice chair at IEEE WIE, where I actively contribute to empowering students and women in tech through work... Show more

Tushar Shah

Tushar Shah

Tushar Kumar Shah is a Software Development Engineer at Websmiths in Mohali, where he builds scalable full-stack applications using modern technologies such as TypeScript, Next.js, Fastify, Node.js, and cloud platforms. He recently completed his B.E. in Computer Science and Engineering from Chandigarh University.

Beyond professional work, he is a Co-organizer at Google Developer Groups Cloud Chandigarh, where he drives developer community growth through events, technical sessions, and creative content. He has also been recognized as a Top 25 coder among 114k participants in Amazon Hack-On 2024. Tushar is passionate about building impactful software, mentoring peers, and exploring cloud and AI-driven solutions.

Tushar Kumar Shah is a Software Development Engineer at Websmiths in Mohali, where he builds scalable full-stack applications using modern technologies such as TypeScript, Next.js, Fastify, Node.js, and cloud platforms. He recently completed his B.E.... Show more

Scott Schult

Scott Schult

Scott Schult is Vice President of Destination Strategy at Tiki and a former DMO Chief Marketing Officer who has spent more than two decades on the destination side of the table. At Tiki, he develops partnerships and product innovation that connect destinations with high-intent travelers through AI-powered media, and has been instrumental in bringing Envoy — Tiki's proprietary AI chat ad unit — to DMOs, including Visit Tampa Bay and other leading destinations.

Scott Schult is Vice President of Destination Strategy at Tiki and a former DMO Chief Marketing Officer who has spent more than two decades on the destination side of the table. At Tiki, he develops partnerships and product innovation that connect de... Show more

Sachin Raja

Sachin Raja

Sachin is a Senior Software Engineer who spends his days wrangling Golang, AWS, Kubernetes, and the occasional Friday deployment he immediately regrets. He’s built and scaled backend systems for teams that like their platforms fast, reliable, and (mostly) drama-free.

Over the years, he’s worked on everything from multi-tenant migrations and CI/CD pipelines that actually behave, to backend services that don’t wake him up at 3 AM. He loves clean architecture, simple solutions to messy problems, and developers who write good commit messages.

When Sachin isn't deep in code, you’ll find him experimenting with side projects, helping teammates level up, or trying (and failing) to keep his local dev environment perfectly organized.

Sachin is a Senior Software Engineer who spends his days wrangling Golang, AWS, Kubernetes, and the occasional Friday deployment he immediately regrets. He’s built and scaled backend systems for teams that like their platforms fast, reliable, and (mo... Show more

Emeline Parizel

Emeline Parizel

Ingénieure de formation et sensible à l'art, à l'économie du don et au changement climatique, je déploie mes compétences en pilotage de projets numériques depuis 10 ans.

A travers mes projets et mon engagement associatif auprès de la Fresque du Climat, la Fresque du Numérique, Quelques Femmes du Numérique, Latitudes, ou encore en tant qu'organisatrice de conférences TEDx, j'essaie d'œuvrer pour un numérique plus responsable.
Je crois au numérique qui rassemble et qui crée du lien.

Je suis vélotaffeuse et adepte du voyage à vélo. Sur des circuits courts, et aussi sur des circuits un peu longs. Genre, Paris – Athènes. 4 000 km à vélo, en 40 jours.

Ingénieure de formation et sensible à l'art, à l'économie du don et au changement climatique, je déploie mes compétences en pilotage de projets numériques depuis 10 ans. A travers mes projets et mon engagement associatif auprès de la Fresque du Cl... Show more

Shyam Guptha

Shyam Guptha

Shyam is a highly motivated and results-oriented platform engineer with a passion for building and scaling robust infrastructure solutions. He has 18 years of experience in software development and a deep understanding of Kubernetes, Service Mesh, Cloud Engineering, SRE. Shyam has a proven track record of success in:

• Container Orchestration as a Service for managing Hybrid K8s Clusters
• IaaS provisioning accelerator
• DevOps - Pipeline implementations for IaaS stack applications

Shyam is a highly motivated and results-oriented platform engineer with a passion for building and scaling robust infrastructure solutions. He has 18 years of experience in software development and a deep understanding of Kubernetes, Service Mesh, Cl... Show more

Tanushree Mehra

Tanushree Mehra

Data geek, love to travel!

Data geek, love to travel! Show more

Nour El Houda

Nour El Houda

I am a speaker focused on personal growth, inner peace, and emotional freedom. My talks explore how life changes when you question old beliefs, reconnect with your true self, and choose growth instead of fear. I share real experiences and ideas that help people feel calmer, more confident, and more free in their own life.

I am a speaker focused on personal growth, inner peace, and emotional freedom. My talks explore how life changes when you question old beliefs, reconnect with your true self, and choose growth instead of fear. I share real experiences and ideas that ... Show more

Rahul Kulkarni

Rahul Kulkarni

An accomplished IT Sr. RTE / Scrum Master, SAFe Agilist, Servant leader and Program / Project management professional with several years’ direct experience in the area of Information Technology involving Agile-Scrum delivery, Program / Project Management, Requirement Analysis, Software Design, Development, Implementation and Application Support. Responsible for Project management methodology, building of Governance, PMO processes and IT service areas. Participated closely in the detail level SDLC phases, certified in Agile methodology and deliverables over several project lifecycles. Successful industry track record of driving collaborative efforts across multiple organizations in Fortune 100 companies. Strong analytical, managerial, technical, Interpersonal & Problem-Solving and decision-making skills with proven leadership ability and excellent academic credentials. Well conversant with large size ($5+ Mil. budget) enterprise application development and Infrastructure projects of complex nature.
Expert level IT domain knowledge of Airlines, Telecommunications, Manufacturing, E-Commerce, Bill Pay / Finance, FinTech, Utility Industries.
An MBA, PMP, CSM, PMI-ACP, ICP-ACC, ITIL, CMQ/OE, SAFe - Safe Agilist, RTE, AWS CCP and Six Sigma certified project management professional with quality of deliverables as focus area.

An accomplished IT Sr. RTE / Scrum Master, SAFe Agilist, Servant leader and Program / Project management professional with several years’ direct experience in the area of Information Technology involving Agile-Scrum delivery, Program / Project Manage... Show more

Sai Teja Battula

Sai Teja Battula

Sai Teja Battula is an accomplished Full Stack Software Engineer with 9 years of experience in designing, developing, and optimizing web applications. Based in McKinney, Texas, he currently serves as Assistant Vice President at Citi Bank, where he specializes in integrating AI solutions to enhance application workflows and optimize code performance.
With expertise spanning both front-end and back-end technologies, Sai is proficient in React, Angular, Vue.js, Node.js, Python, and Java. His technical repertoire includes building RESTful APIs, microservices architecture, and implementing AI and machine learning algorithms to drive data-driven insights and enhance functionality.
At Citi Bank, Sai has developed web applications using Angular 17 and High charts, created a business admin portal with React, and optimized real-time dashboards for internal applications. He's skilled in AWS services integration, having worked with S3, EC2, CloudFront, Lambda, CloudWatch, and AppSync to create high-performance, scalable solutions.
Previously, at AT&T, Sai led the migration of legacy applications from Angular 1.4 to Angular 7 and developed responsive UI components using Adobe Experience Manager. During his tenure at Verizon, he implemented state management libraries like Redux and created reusable UI components using Stencil.js while maintaining Storybook environments to improve collaboration between design and development teams.
Sai holds a Master's in Computer Science from Virginia International University (University of Fairfax) and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University. He is SAFe Agile4 certified.
Beyond his technical expertise, Sai is passionate about leveraging AI tools to improve user experiences, automate processes, and build scalable solutions. He excels in collaborating with cross-functional teams in Agile environments and consistently exceeds expectations by completing high-priority tasks with accuracy and efficiency.
Sai's community involvement includes volunteer work in shelters and disaster relief efforts. His project experience includes Techslate, an online education platform he developed to enable students from various countries to attend lectures remotely, bridging geographical gaps in educational access.

Sai Teja Battula is an accomplished Full Stack Software Engineer with 9 years of experience in designing, developing, and optimizing web applications. Based in McKinney, Texas, he currently serves as Assistant Vice President at Citi Bank, where he sp... Show more

Georg Gamsjäger

Georg Gamsjäger

Georg Gamsjäger works as IT architect for business intelligence and datawarehouse at Sana IT Services GmbH. He has more than 5 years of business intelligence and datawarehouse experience in health care and more than 10 years of experience and deep understanding of Microsoft server technologies, especially Microsoft SQL Server. Previously, he was also a trainer for Microsoft server technologies and spokesman for various conferences.

Georg Gamsjäger works as IT architect for business intelligence and datawarehouse at Sana IT Services GmbH. He has more than 5 years of business intelligence and datawarehouse experience in health care and more than 10 years of experience and deep un... Show more

Claudia Scheffler-Perrone

Claudia Scheffler-Perrone

Claudia Scheffler-Perrone is an award-winning communication expert, bestselling author, and founder of a leadership and communication coaching company. For more than 25 years, she has supported CEOs, high performers, and entrepreneurs in strengthening their leadership, navigating change, and building strong personal brands.
Her work focuses on bridging the gap between strategic leadership, clear communication, and real-world business challenges. Claudia empowers executives to communicate complex topics, including digital transformation and AI, in a transparent, confident, and relatable way. She combines deep expertise in business development, strategic communication, and personal branding to help leaders position themselves as credible voices in times of change.

Claudia Scheffler-Perrone is an award-winning communication expert, bestselling author, and founder of a leadership and communication coaching company. For more than 25 years, she has supported CEOs, high performers, and entrepreneurs in strengthenin... Show more

Carlos Jiménez

Carlos Jiménez

Automation Engineer and Software Developer with over 12 years of experience, specialised in Android since 2019. Skilled in building scalable, testable, and maintainable software using modern architectures and clean code principles. Committed to quality and collaboration, and passionate about mentoring and continuous improvement.

Automation Engineer and Software Developer with over 12 years of experience, specialised in Android since 2019. Skilled in building scalable, testable, and maintainable software using modern architectures and clean code principles. Committed to quali... Show more

Jeff Bradford

Jeff Bradford

Jeff Bradford is the founder and CEO at Bradford Technologies. His company has been serving appraisers for 38 years.
Jeff has been recognized by the CRN as a Valuation Visionary and a Tech All Star by the MBA. Most recently, he was recognized by the NAA with the President’s Award and voted Mentor of the Year in 2025 by the Appraisal Buzz community.
He has earned three Masters degrees. Has worked at companies such as Apple and Structural Dynamics Research Corporation and in his spare time, he enjoys adventure travel with his daughter Whitney. They have dog sledded at the North Pole, visited Antarctica and climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro among other adventures around the world.

Jeff Bradford is the founder and CEO at Bradford Technologies. His company has been serving appraisers for 38 years. Jeff has been recognized by the CRN as a Valuation Visionary and a Tech All Star by the MBA. Most recently, he was recognized by th... Show more

Richard K Niner

Richard K Niner

Canine furry and fursuiter from Toronto. Organizer of the Furnal Equinox "Tour De Fur" public fursuit walk since 2017.

Canine furry and fursuiter from Toronto. Organizer of the Furnal Equinox "Tour De Fur" public fursuit walk since 2017. Show more

Faraz Babar

Faraz Babar

Passionate software developer focused on modern, cloud native, distributed systems.

Passionate software developer focused on modern, cloud native, distributed systems. Show more

Shafaq Kazmi

Shafaq Kazmi

Shafaq is a Senior Software Engineer with over 15 years of experience building scalable, user-focused web applications across diverse industries.

She specializes in modern JavaScript ecosystems, crafting high-performance frontends while understanding the backend systems that support them. Her work sits at the intersection of architecture, user experience, and emerging technology, with a strong focus on building systems that scale without losing clarity. In recent years, Shafaq has been exploring how AI can live inside the frontend, integrating tools and models such as OpenAI and Gemini APIs to create smarter, more responsive user experiences — without sacrificing performance or control.

She holds a postgraduate degree in Computer Science and is endlessly curious about new cultures, ideas, and technologies, drawing inspiration from each to approach problems with fresh perspective and creativity.

Shafaq is a Senior Software Engineer with over 15 years of experience building scalable, user-focused web applications across diverse industries. She specializes in modern JavaScript ecosystems, crafting high-performance frontends while understand... Show more

Nyla Pollard

Nyla Pollard

Nyla Pollard is the Founder & CEO of Ballin AI, a sports technology company building the world’s first AI-powered recruiting intelligence platform for basketball.

A former Division I point guard at William & Mary, Nyla experienced firsthand how much recruiting success depends on exposure and fit—not just talent. That insight led her to build Ballin AI: a platform that analyzes game film, evaluates player performance, and helps coaches recruit using data.

Under her leadership, Ballin AI has partnered with Division I programs, professional organizations, and major grassroots circuits, including Nike, and has attracted nearly $1M investments from firms such as Slauson & Co., Oregon Sports Angels, and FBomb Angels.

Nyla speaks on startups, sports technology, leadership, and the future of talent evaluation, as well as on building purpose-driven companies in high-performance environments. She is known for blending faith, discipline, and execution — teaching audiences how to build with conviction, resilience, and long-term vision.

Nyla Pollard is the Founder & CEO of Ballin AI, a sports technology company building the world’s first AI-powered recruiting intelligence platform for basketball. A former Division I point guard at William & Mary, Nyla experienced firsthand how mu... Show more

Alain Chiasson

Alain Chiasson

Alain Chiasson, is part of a DevSecOps team that has built and manages The Hashicorp Vault Enterprise system, drawing on 3 decades of "having seen it all" - helping system integrator, infrastructure owners and
software developers secure their applications.

Alain Chiasson, is part of a DevSecOps team that has built and manages The Hashicorp Vault Enterprise system, drawing on 3 decades of "having seen it all" - helping system integrator, infrastructure owners and software developers secure their appli... Show more

Wayne Sebbens

Wayne Sebbens

Having started his coding journey by porting Z80 BASIC programs onto calculators, and making LEGO robots dance, Wayne is an experienced .NET developer of more than 10 years, and branching into DevOps and Azure infrastructure.

While Wayne has a keen interest in all manner of technology, including games and gadgets, he is also involved in historical fencing and sword-fighting with Historical European Martial Arts clubs around Brisbane, Australia.

Having started his coding journey by porting Z80 BASIC programs onto calculators, and making LEGO robots dance, Wayne is an experienced .NET developer of more than 10 years, and branching into DevOps and Azure infrastructure. While Wayne has a kee... Show more

Hari P

Hari P

An AI Engineer with expertise in LangChain, LlamaIndex and SLMs with 70+ GitHub repositories and actively turning ideas into Open Source Projects. And 2.6 Years of working experience in the field of AI.

An AI Engineer with expertise in LangChain, LlamaIndex and SLMs with 70+ GitHub repositories and actively turning ideas into Open Source Projects. And 2.6 Years of working experience in the field of AI. Show more

Andrew Flip

Andrew Flip

Hi, I’m Andrew Flip, a digital marketer with a strong passion for emerging technologies and innovation. I currently help promote Generative AI Development Services, connecting businesses with intelligent AI solutions designed to improve automation, efficiency, and long-term digital growth.

Hi, I’m Andrew Flip, a digital marketer with a strong passion for emerging technologies and innovation. I currently help promote Generative AI Development Services, connecting businesses with intelligent AI solutions designed to improve automation, e... Show more

Samantha Ridgway de Lory

Samantha Ridgway de Lory

Samantha is a visionary who bridges the gap between ancient wisdom, modern medicine, and artificial intelligence. As the founder of Manifesting Desires, she specializes in "Human Architecture"—optimizing the physical and digital environments where we live and work. Uniquely, she is a pioneer in "Persona Engineering," having developed proprietary frameworks to architect Custom AI Agents that mimic human empathy and intuition. She teaches leaders how to build "teams of teammates" that include both humans and AI, fostering a symbiotic relationship between biological and digital consciousness to solve complex health and business challenges.

Samantha is a visionary who bridges the gap between ancient wisdom, modern medicine, and artificial intelligence. As the founder of Manifesting Desires, she specializes in "Human Architecture"—optimizing the physical and digital environments where we... Show more

Krzysztof Korzela

Krzysztof Korzela

Krzysztof Korzela, Senior Solution Architect at Red Hat, supporting customers in their digital transformation through cloud-native solutions and DevSecOps practices. Brings over 20 years of experience in IT infrastructure across banking, telecom, and public sectors. Holds certifications including RHCA, CKA, and AWS Solutions Architect – and many more. Passionate about continuous learning and staying up to date with evolving technologies.
In his free time, he enjoys being active with his family and constantly expands his smart home to create more time for what matters most.

Krzysztof Korzela, Senior Solution Architect at Red Hat, supporting customers in their digital transformation through cloud-native solutions and DevSecOps practices. Brings over 20 years of experience in IT infrastructure across banking, telecom, and... Show more

Leyonce Baha

Leyonce Baha

Je m’appelle Leyonce Baha. Je suis entrepreneur, spécialiste en marketing et communication, ainsi qu’agent publicitaire. Je suis CEO des ETs ZOE, fondatrice de VoiceTPOT Empower, et leader principal de VoiceTPOT TV Média.

Ma carrière se concentre sur le marketing digital, les nouvelles technologies et la communication, avec un accent particulier sur la puissance transformatrice de l’intelligence artificielle. Mon objectif est de stimuler la croissance économique mondiale tout en promouvant l’éducation et la transformation sociale, notamment chez la jeunesse.

Je m’appelle Leyonce Baha. Je suis entrepreneur, spécialiste en marketing et communication, ainsi qu’agent publicitaire. Je suis CEO des ETs ZOE, fondatrice de VoiceTPOT Empower, et leader principal de VoiceTPOT TV Média. Ma carrière se concentre ... Show more

S. David Ramirez

S. David Ramirez

S. David Ramirez, CFEE, is an award-winning marketing technologist based in San Antonio, Texas. He is the founder and principal consultant of SDMRamirez, LLC, a micro-agency serving events, entrepreneurs, and ecosystems across North America. He is a subject matter expert, speaking about marketing and technology at top-tier conferences like Adweek Magazine's Social Media Week North America, the Hospitality and Finance Technology Professionals conference, and the Meeting Professionals International World Education Summit. He serves on the faculty for the National Event Management School and the Texas Event Management Institute. He is a board member of the International Festivals and Events Association Foundation. Mostly, he's a nerd; talk to him about anime, craft beer, and science fiction.

S. David Ramirez, CFEE, is an award-winning marketing technologist based in San Antonio, Texas. He is the founder and principal consultant of SDMRamirez, LLC, a micro-agency serving events, entrepreneurs, and ecosystems across North America. He is a ... Show more

Please note that Sessionize is not responsible for the accuracy or validity of the data provided by speakers.

Join Speakers Directory

Join our Speakers Directory today and amplify your reach! Showcase your expertise to a global audience hungry for your insights. Let your voice be heard!

Create Profile