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.
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.
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.
Stuart has been with HMC since 2001. Initially in the roll of Corporate Controller
for the HMC group of companies based in Newport Beach, California, Stuart has been
in Asia Pacific since February 2004. He was promoted to General Manager for Asia
Pacific in November 2005 with responsibility for all operations, business development
and support functions in the region. Stuart was promoted to Senior Vice President
and Managing Director Asia Pacific in August 2007. Stuart is a Certified General
Accountant and has over 14 years of management, finance and accounting experience.
Before joining
VOILÀ Hotel Rewards, Kool held the position of Executive Vice President with Carlson
Marketing in Asia Pacific. During his six-year tenure, Kool was instrumental in
Carlson Marketing’s entry into China, and also led Carlson’s large scale involvement
in the Beijing 2008 Olympics and Shanghai World Expo 2010, supporting many of the
world’s leading sponsor brands such as Kodak and UPS with their hospitality programs.
As Carlson’s Global Airline expert, Kool was responsible for leading the agency’s
global airline vertical, supporting ten of the world’s leading frequent flyer programs
in the areas of strategy, data mining, marketing communications, operations and
IT. As the lead in Asia Pacific for Carlson’s Strategic Account Management project,
Kool also leveraged Carlson’s global leading position in the marketing (Carlson
Marketing), travel (Carlson Wagonlit Travel), and hospitality industries (Regent
hotels, Radisson hotels, Park Plaza among others) to the benefit of Carlson’s client
base.
Before joining Carlson in 2002, Kool was in charge of the development of KLM
Royal Dutch Airlines’ frequent flyer programme, ‘Flying Dutchman’, while working
for the Dutch airline in Amsterdam. Kool is a graduate of the Carlson School of
Management Executive Leadership Program at the University of Minnesota, as well
as an Alumnus from INSEAD University and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
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.
Carmen joined HMC in 1992 as a trainee manager just after graduating from the University
of Barcelona with a B.A. degree in Marketing. From 1993 until 1995 she served as
Program Manager in several Latin American Countries. In 1995 Carmen was promoted
to the position of Director of Operations for Latin America and was instrumental
in HMC’s growth in the region. In 1997 Carmen transferred back to Europe to start
operations in Italy. Since then she was promoted in 1999 to the position of Director
of Operations Southern Europe. In 2001 she was promoted to the position of Vice
President Europe and General Manager Southern Europe. In 2005 Carmen was directly
involved in the successful launch of HMC Portugal.
Prior to his current position in Europe, Mr. Griffiths has served as the
Vice President of Operations for the Asia Pacific Region for a total of five and
a half years in two tenures coupled with a two year stint in the same capacity in
the Middle East based in Dubai. Mr. Griffiths has been with the Company a total
of 15 years, originally helping in the Company’s growth throughout Western and Eastern
Europe.
Prior to joining HMC, Mr. Griffiths spent six years with Thomson Travel,
the U.K.’s largest tour operator, where he served as both an Overseas Regional Manager
based in Southern Europe as well as a Sales Development and Training Manager based
in their London Corporate office. Mr. Griffiths holds a B.A. from Liverpool University
and a Post Graduate Certificate in Education Leeds Polytechnic.
Ms. Hu has served as the Worldwide Operations Controller over the last four years
and as the Corporate Treasurer since the beginning of 2005. Ms. Hu has been with
the Company a total of eight years in Finance and Accounting. Prior to joining HMC,
Ms. Hu spent three years with Starbase Corporation, a software company, where she
served as an Assistant Controller. Ms. Hu holds a MPA from University of Texas at
Austin.
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.
Mr. Gorla joined HMC in May of 2004. 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, Peter is
also responsible for Strategy, E-Commerce and Mobile Marketing for
VOILÀ Hotel Rewards.
Prior
to joining HMC, Mr. Gorla was the Chief Marketing Officer for Taunovo Bay, a Fijian
resort to be managed by Rosewood Hotels & Resorts. Before Taunovo Bay, Peter co-founded
the successful Internet start-up MUSICVIDEOS.com, which was acquired by LAUNCH.com
(now Yahoo! Music) where Mr. Gorla served as the Vice President of Product Development.
Mr. Gorla received a Bachelor of the Arts from University of California at Santa
Barbara.