More than 250 delegates participated in the 2007 FFP events,
which
took place in Vancouver, Canada from 27 February - 1 March 2007, Co-
Hosted by American Express.
Delegates from more than 60 different
airlines from around the world participated in the 3rd annual FFP
Conference, 27 - 28 February, clearly strengthening its position as
the airline industry's premier loyalty marketing conference. For the
first time, delegates from hotels, rental cars, credit card companies
and banks joined their airline colleagues for the "FFP Partnership
Conference" on 1 March 2007 to discuss profitable loyalty
partnerships.
One highlight of the 2007 FFP events was the first
annual "FFP Innovation Awards" for which airline loyalty managers
recognized the best in their field. Qatar Airways took the FFP Gold
Award and Air Canada's AeroPlan took the FFP Silver. In addition to
unmatched networking with the travel loyalty marketing industry,
other highlights of FFP included keynote presentations from senior
executives from AeroPlan, Alaska Airlines, American Express, Delta
Air Lines, and Lufthansa.
FFP 2008 will take place in March 2008 in
Istanbul, Turkey, Co-Hosted by HITIT Computer Services.
Chairman: David Radford, Training Consultant at Global Flight has extensive experience in customer acquisition, retention and development which has included being directly involved in the development, implementation and review of loyalty programmes in the airline, retail, telecoms and B2B sectors. Following a career in the airline and direct marketing agency businesses, he was a Director of Air Miles in the UK for four years before becoming a customer loyalty consultant and trainer in 1996. Since then, he’s also been conducting regular loyalty training courses on behalf of IATA. He is now in charge of the training segment at Global Flight.
Keynote Presenter: Robert Wilsher, As Head of International Partnerships at American Express, Rob has responsibility for American Express's Consumer Card Partnerships outside the United States, as well as the International Travel Sector partnerships within Amex's Membership Rewards Programme. Rob joined American Express in 1990 and has held a variety of senior management positions across the Company within the Consumer Card business, Merchant business and Finance. This experience, which included the launch and management of the British Airways cobrand in the UK, provides him with unique insight into unlocking the full potential of FFP/Card partnerships. He holds an MBA from City University Business School in London, and is a qualified Chartered Accountant.
Presenter: Adriana Toledo, Loyalty Programs Director for the Americas Division of Sol Meliá Hotels and Resorts is a rising star in the hospitality industry. She gained comprehensive experience in F&B and Room management at the Inter-Continental Stephen F Austin , Beau Rivage Neuchatel, and as F&B Manager at Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach. Adriana joined Sol Meliá in 2004 to run loyalty programs for north and central America and was soon promoted to run Loyalty Programs for the Americas in 2005. Adriana graduated with honors from Ecole Hotelier de Glion in Switzerland in 2002.
Presenter:Sandy Martin is the Manager of Express Programs and Renter Rewards for Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group. She was promoted to manager in 2005 and has been with the company since 2003. Her responsibilities include researching, developing, and implementing operational and marketing strategies to increase express program participation, profit and loyalty. She holds a Master’s of Science from OklahomaStateUniversity and is currently pursuing a PhD in Educational Psychology with emphasis in Organizational Behavior.
Presenter: Bruce Kerr, As Chief Client Officer for the AIR MILES Reward Program, Bruce Kerr is a recognized leader in the theory and application of loyalty, customer experience and partnership marketing strategies that change customer behavior. Bruce oversees relationship management of more than 100 AIR MILES sponsors as well as the organization’s client services and business development groups. Prior to joining the AIR MILES Reward Program in 1995, Bruce spent ten years as head of Relationship Management and Business Development at CompuSearch, a direct marketing services company that represents companies in the retail, financial services, automotive, and consumer packaged goods industries. Bruce is an active member of the Retail Council of Canada, and the National Retail Federation where he has held Board of Director positions and served on numerous sub-committees. He holds a degree from Seneca College.
Panel Moderator: Jay Sorensen, President of Ideaworks is an experienced management professional with 19 years experience in product, partnership and marketing development. At Midwest Airlines (formerly Midwest Express) he had responsibilities for marketing, sales, customer service, product development, operations, planning, financial analysis and budgeting. Jay has started guest loyalty programs and co-branded credit cards, developed products in the service sector, improved the delivery of customer service and has started companies in the travel and tourism industry. During his career Jay has worked on product or partnership development programs with corporations such as: Amtrak, Baymont Inns and Suites, Diners Club, E & J Gallo Winery, MCI Telecommunications, Marcus Hotels & Resorts, National Car Rental, Northwest Airlines, Pepsi-Cola, TransBrasil Airlines and Virgin Atlantic Airways.
Panelist: Debbie Sievert, manager of partner sales and marketing for the Avis Budget Group, oversees the airline and hotel sales and marketing efforts for both Avis and Budget. She has more than 20 years of sales experience and has served as regional sales manager and national account manager for Avis. Prior to joining Avis, Sievert served as account executive at Advertising Specialties and Promotions in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Sievert holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Marquette University. She resides in Atlanta with her husband and daughter.
Panelist: Marc Jurgens is Marketing Director at Travelling Connect, a worldwide provider of loyalty services for mobile operators. Customers of Travelling Connect include major mobile groups such as T-Mobile, Orange and Orascom. Loyalty program partners of Travelling Connect include Hilton, Air France / KLM and Malaysia Airlines. Marc was educated educated as a lawyer (Leiden University, Netherlands) and started his career in 1993 at Monitor Company, a US-based strategy consulting firm. After three years at Monitor Company, he attended business school at INSEAD (Fontainebleau, France). After completing his MBA, he worked at O2 Netherlands BV, at the time the second provider of fixed and mobile telecommunications services in the Netherlands, where he was responsible for the business unit Carrier Services. Marc was one of the co-founders of Travelling Connect joining the company in 2004.
Panelist:Jason Adessky - Manager Velocity Operations, Virgin Blue
Panelist:Craig Cunningham - Vice President Business & Lesiure Marketing, Accor (N. America)
Discussion Leader:Jill Hewes, Account Executive - Global Airline Partnerships, Delta Air Lines
Discussion Leader: Wee-Kee Ng, Director Loyalty & Partnership Marketing at Shangri-La is based in the Hong Kong corporate office, Wee-Kee is responsible for the group's overall loyalty and partnership marketing strategy. Key responsibilities include developing profitable relationships with the key customers, increasing the Shangri-La business share for each member and utilising partnerships to drive awareness and incremental business. Wee-Kee has 18 years experience in airline and loyalty marketing in both client and agency environments, with extensive experience in developing airline and global loyalty programmes. Before joining the Shangri-La group, he was the manager, non-air partnership and development, of Cathay Pacific Loyalty Programmes. He also has wide-ranging marketing and management experience in Singapore, where he was one of the founding management team and directed service operations and programme development for Passages at Asia Frequent Flyer Pte. Ltd and the consulting services of The Lacek Group Worldwide. Previously, he worked for Singapore Airlines in Singapore, Taipei, San Francisco and in the UK.
