Best Startup
At Best Startup UK we track over 130,000 UK startups and over 500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top London based CEO’ operating in the Travel space. If you think a CEO’ is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.co.uk.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Companies House UK, Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
David K. Dingle
Chief Executive Officer , P&O Cruises (UK) of Carnival Cruise Line
David Dingle was appointed CEO of Carnival UK in June 2007. In this capacity, he has full operating responsibility for the UK-based brands P&O Cruises and Cunard, and also is responsible for the UK sales and marketing of Princess Cruises. He is also Chairman of the Carnival plc Management Committee responsible for Carnival Australia. Dingle joined P&O Cruises (UK) in 1978 where, after holding a series of commercial positions, he became managing director in 2000. At the time of the merger of P&O Princess Cruises plc and the Carnival Corporation in April 2003, he became managing director of Carnival UK. Dingle is past chairman of The UK Chamber of Shipping and the European Cruise Council and continues to serve on the boards of both groups. In 2009, he joined the board of the European Community Shipowners Association. He has previously served as a director of the Association of British Travel Agents and The UK Passenger Shipping Association. He is a Younger Brother of Trinity House and was awarded a CBE in the 2009 New Year’s Honours. Dingle attended Jesus College, Cambridge, where he attained a Master of Arts in Classics.
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About Carnival Cruise Line: Carnival Cruise Line offers an online platform that enables travelers to plan and book cruise tours from a range of packages.
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Michael Thamm
Chief Executive Officer , Costa Crociere S.p.A. of Carnival Cruise Line
Michael Thamm has been chief executive officer of Costa Crociere S.p.A. since July 2012. In this capacity, he has full responsibility for the following brands: AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises and Ibero Cruises. He previously served as president of AIDA Cruises from 2004 to 2012 and Senior Vice President Operations of AIDA Cruises from 1993 to 2004. Prior to joining AIDA Cruises, he held various management positions within the cargo shipping division of Deutsche Seereederei (DSR). Thamm, who holds a master’s degree in Economics, is a member of the Executive Committee of the European Cruise Council (ECC), which represents the interests of the world’s most important shipping lines in Europe. He was named North European Cruise Personality of the Year 2011, an award selected by Seatrade and V. Ships. In March 2012, the international cruise associations ECC and Cruise Lines International Association appointed Thamm spokesman for the cruise industry in Germany.
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About Carnival Cruise Line: Carnival Cruise Line offers an online platform that enables travelers to plan and book cruise tours from a range of packages.
Arnold W. Donald
President and Chief Executive Officer of Carnival Cruise Line
Arnold W. Donald has been a director of Carnival Corporation since 2001 and a director of Carnival plc since 2003. Mr. Donald has been President and Chief Executive Officer of Carnival Corporation & plc since July 2013. He is also Principal of AWDPLC LLC, a private investment company. He was President and Chief Executive Officer of The Executive Leadership Council, a professional network of African-American executives of major U.S. companies, from 2010 to June 2012. He previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International from 2006 to 2008. From 2000 to 2005, Mr. Donald was the Chairman of the Board of Merisant Company, a manufacturer and marketer of tabletop sweetener products, including the Equal® and Canderel® brands. From 2000 to 2003, he was also the Chief Executive Officer of Merisant Company. From 1998 to 2000, he was Senior Vice-President of Monsanto Company, a company which develops agricultural products and consumer goods, and President of its nutrition and consumer sector. Prior to that, he was President of Monsanto Company’s agricultural sector. He has been a member of the boards of directors of Bank of America Corporation since January 2013 and Crown Holdings, Inc. since July 1999. He was a member of the board of The Laclede Group, Inc. from January 2003 to January 2014, Oil-Dri Corporation of America from December 1997 to January 2013 and The Scotts Company from March 2000 to January 2009.
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About Carnival Corporation, Carnival Cruise Line: Carnival Cruise Line offers an online platform that enables travelers to plan and book cruise tours from a range of packages.
Stein Kruse
Chief Executive Officer , Holland America Group of Carnival Cruise Line
Stein Kruse has been Chief Executive Officer of the Holland America Group since December 2013. In this capacity, he has full operating responsibility of Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Seabourn and Holland America Princess Alaska Tours. He was president and chief executive officer of Holland America Line from 2004 to November 2013. Kruse joined Holland America Line in 1999 as senior vice president, fleet operations with overall responsibility for all Holland America Line’s operations. Kruse joined Holland America Line from “K” Line America, where he was senior vice president and chief financial officer. He also oversaw financial activities in seven U.S. subsidiary companies for the global Japanese shipping company and served on the company’s board of directors. Prior to that, Kruse held several executive positions in the cruise industry. He was executive vice president and chief operating officer for Radisson Seven Seas Cruises and president and CEO for Seven Seas Cruise Line. He is a former vice chairman of Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) and presently serves as a director on the board of the United States Coast Guard Foundation and on the board of governors of the World Trade Center Seattle. Kruse, a native of Oslo, Norway, holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Purdue University and is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.
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About Carnival Cruise Line: Carnival Cruise Line offers an online platform that enables travelers to plan and book cruise tours from a range of packages.
Gerald R. Cahill
President and Chief Executive Officer, Carnival Cruise Lines of Carnival Cruise Line
Gerald R. Cahill joined Carnival Cruise Lines’ parent company, Carnival Corporation, in 1994 as vice president – finance and in January 1998 was promoted to senior vice president – finance and chief financial officer. In December 2003, Cahill was named executive vice president and chief financial officer for Carnival Corporation & plc. In July 2007, he was appointed to his current position, president and CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines. Before joining Carnival, Cahill spent six years with Safecard Services, Inc., a NYSE-listed company, where he served first as chief financial officer and then as chief operating officer. From 1979 to 1988, Cahill held financial posts at Resorts International, Inc., and, prior to that spent six years with Price Waterhouse. Cahill graduated from the University of Miami, earning his B.B.A. degree in 1973.
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About Carnival Cruise Line: Carnival Cruise Line offers an online platform that enables travelers to plan and book cruise tours from a range of packages.
Ann Sherry
CEO , Carnival Australia of Carnival Cruise Line
Ann Sherry was appointed CEO of Carnival Australia in July 2007 following a diverse career in banking and public sector. Sherry has played a leadership role in the expansion of the Australian cruise industry including the growth of P&O Cruises’ fleet and the Australian customer base across all Carnival brands. Recruited to Westpac in 1994, Sherry commenced a 13-year career with the organization. Her first eight years with Westpac spanned senior leadership roles within the HR and public affairs functions, and working through key acquisitions (including Challenge Bank and Bank of Melbourne). Sherry’s success as Chief Executive Officer of the Bank of Melbourne led to her appointment as Chief Executive of the New Zealand and Pacific banking business. Sherry made a powerful impact in the New Zealand operation, resuscitating the brand in business and retail sectors, as well as turning staff morale around and delivering a real and highly visible Westpac presence in a tightly congested, diverse and participant-rich financial services market. In addition to her business contributions, Sherry instituted some major cultural initiatives at Westpac. In particular, Westpac became an industry leader as a result of the paid maternity-leave policy and the focus on women in business. She has also been instrumental in initiating and delivering an internationally renowned CSR program at Westpac. Sherry was awarded a Cententary Medal in 2003 by the Australian Government and then awarded an Order of Australia in 2004.
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About Carnival Cruise Line: Carnival Cruise Line offers an online platform that enables travelers to plan and book cruise tours from a range of packages.
Timothy Davis
CEO and Co-founder of Butter.co.uk
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About Butter.co.uk, MassChallenge: Butter lets you spread the cost of shopping from any online store with a simple monthly instalment plan. Download the app now!
Nicolas Brusson
Co-Founder and CEO of BlaBlaCar
Prior to becoming Chief Executive Officer in October 2016, Nicolas oversaw BlaBlaCar’s global operations and international growth as Chief Operating Officer since 2011. He led the company’s corporate development, overseeing eight acquisitions, expansion to twenty markets, and three successive rounds of fundraising. Nicolas is a strong advocate of agile structures that allow quick iterations in fast-growing environments. He is also a supporter of autonomous local teams and acqui-hires, a strategy he implemented to expand BlaBlaCar’s footprint on a global scale. Nicolas is a regular speaker at leading international conferences and in the media, where he comments on the European startup scene, innovative growth strategies, and mobility. Prior to joining BlaBlaCar, Nicolas worked for several startups in Silicon Valley during the dotcom boom, before moving on to executive and investor roles, including spending time as a Venture Capitalist at Amadeus Capital Partners in London. He holds an MBA from INSEAD, a Masters in Optics from Ecole Supérieure d’Optique and a Masters in Applied Physics from Paris XI University. Nicolas is also an active angel investor and tweets @nbrusson. Nicolas holds an MBA from INSEAD, an MSc in Optics from the Ecole Superieure d’Optique and an MSc in Applied Physics from Paris XI University.
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About BlaBlaCar, Deliveroo, Doctolib, SIDE Capital, Stripe, Zenaton: BlaBlaCar is a long distance carpooling platform that connects drivers with empty seats and passengers to share travel costs.
Jasper Dykes
Chief Executive Officer & Founder of Fly Now Pay Later
An experienced and highly operational Chief Executive with a successful track record in consumer lending and financial services across US, UK and European markets with specific leadership skills for creating, growing and developing high growth businesses. Approved Person by 2 financial regulators: PRA/FCA & Central Bank of the Republic of Lithuania, with extensive sector experience within alternative payments, consumer lending & debt capital markets having raised in excess of $200m throughout his career to date.
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About Fly Now Pay Later: Fly Now Pay Later is a fintech company that helps consumers split the cost of their travel in monthly installments.
Alexander Limpert
Co-Founder and CEO of GuestReady
Before launching GuestReady, Alex was a Country Managing Director in Taiwan and Philippines at Rocket Internet owned foodpanda, a global food delivery company. Prior to this, he was a management consultant at Oliver Wyman in London, where he advised leading companies across a variety of industries including travel and hospitality. He holds an MSc with Distinction from London School of Economics (LSE) and a BA in Business Administration from University of St.Gallen (HSG). Alex has travelled to more than 50 countries for business and leisure, and therefore understands the needs of the modern business traveller and how any property can be turned into a guest-ready Airbnb home.
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About GuestReady: GuestReady is a platform for real estate management with a focus on short-term rentals.
Louis Tag
Founder / CEO of Passnfly
Louis is a serial-entrepreneur and founder of multiple tech-based start-up companies such as PASSNFLY, Helicopters Worldwide or Fast-Track. A visionary entrepreneur, from Germany, currently residing in London. To those who know him, it’s no surprise that WIRED named him Top100 Entrepreneurs in Europe. Helicopters worldwide (est. 2021) is already today a leading provider for heli-transfers. Users can book on partner sites door-to-door transfers combining heli+limo. WallStreetJournal calls PASSNFLY ”the check-in app for frequent travelers”. Louis says himself, that “My journey in business started with my first tech company at the age of 21, but not every youthful project came to prosper still it gave me what it took, to succeed at innovation.” His most popular initiative is a disruptive travel tech startup – PASSNFLY. “When I see an apparently overdue market gap I ask myself if the solution I envision could be useful on a daily basis and turn out to be a new trend. Airlines ask passengers to check-in themselves – 20+ clicks until the boarding pass. Making check-in a 1-click experience is what I believe to be useful for every of the 8 billion annual air passengers.” PASSNFLY provides what every passenger needs to fly – the boarding pass. Today PASSNFLY automated check-in service is available for most airlines worldwide. Customers are some of the world’s well-known travel brands. Investors and advisers are some of the leading heads from the travel and aviation industry. PASSNFLY provides seamless travel solutions for Passengers, Travel Distributors, Airlines and Airports around the globe. For more info visit http://www.passnfly.com Louis Tag, 37, is originally from Germany, where he studied law. With just 21 years age and while still studying, he built his first company. With his first startup and only 30k investment, he accomplished a 100x return on sales in less than a year. Since then he continues on the entrepreneurial path. When Louis is not working he enjoys running, reading, and golf. He is married to Elizabeth and has a daughter Violetta and a son Peter. The family lives between Munich, Barcelona and London – with Barcelona being their absolute favorite. Specialities: business plan, cash flow, executive management, finance, investments, leadership, travel, positioning, pricing, purchasing, data processing and encryption technologies, telematic infrastructures, accreditation technologies, aeronautical engineering, architecture of informatics and communication systems, research, risk analysis, sales, strategic planning, vision.
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About Helicopters Worldwide, Passnfly: Passnfly is a mobile application that provides users with automated multi-airline flight check-in solutions.
Callum Negus-Fancey
CEO & Founder of Pollen
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About Pollen: Pollen builds, curates, and delivers the best travel experiences.
Ines Djelassi
CEO & Co-Founder of AirBetter
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About AirBetter, Lodgeo: AirBetter provides expertise in all travel and hospitality services.
Shai Weiss
Chief Executive Officer of Virgin Atlantic Airways
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About Gevo, Virgin Atlantic Airways: Virgin Atlantic Airways is a British airline serves over 30 fabulous destinations worldwide.
Tom Valentine
Marketplaces CEO & Co-Founder of Secret Escapes
Secret Escapes has seen explosive growth since its formation in 2010, with turnover forecast to hit £100m in 2014. Tom Valentine, alongside his co-founder and CEO Alex Saint, has catapulted Secret Escapes into a well-known and respected brand in the UK, with a 60% net promoter score and 95% post-stay satisfaction. Much of the company’s success is down to a robust digital and TV acquisition framework, built and managed by Tom, which has allowed the company to confidently spend over £10m annually at a consistent, predictable and positive ROI. This has led to a profitable UK business and huge confidence in international expansion. Tom has scaled the team from less than 30 to over 100 across the UK, Germany, Sweden, Poland and the USA and recently secured GBP39m from Google’s venture arm to fuel global expansion plans.
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About Secret Escapes, Smart Pension: Secret Escapes is a members-only travel club offering discounted rates on luxury hotels and holidays in the UK.
Nena Chaletzos
CEO of Luxtripper
Nena Chaletzos is Co-Founder & CEO at Luxtripper.
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About Luxtripper: Luxtripper is a luxury travel company that operates an online travel booking site which matches users with suitable holiday destinations.
Ben Simpson
Founder & CEO of Easol
Ben Simpson is the Founder & CEO at Easol
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About Easol: The all-in-one platform to manage your experience business, on your terms.
Dana Dunne
CEO of eDreams ODIGEO
Dana Dunne is the CEO of eDreams ODIEGO. Prior to eDreams, Dana Dunne served as CCO at EasyJet Plc., and was in charge of sales (especially online sales), marketing, productivity management and of the customer service center. Before that, he was the CEO of AOl Europe Sarl, a division of AOC LLC. He has a deep experience in high-profile international telecommunication companies, as he has been the president of the main business units at Belgacom and US West, two of the most outstanding telecommunication companies in Europe and in the US.Dana holds an MBA from Wharton Business School and a degree in Economics from Weslevan University. He has a double nationality: American and British. On March 31st 2017, Dunne owned 713. 112 shares in eDreams ODIEGO. Dana Dunne was appointed CEO of eDreams during a shareholder meeting held on the 22nd of July 2015.
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About eDreams ODIGEO: eDreams ODIGEO is one of the world’s largest online travel companies and one of the largest European e-commerce businesses.
Steve Domin
CEO & co-founder of Duffel
Steve Domin is the co-founder and CEO of Duffel. Prior to co-founding Duffel, Steve served as the head of platform engineering at GoCardless.
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About Duffel: Duffel provides an online platform that allows users to search, book, and manage flights from multiple airlines.
Zack Sabban
Co-Founder and CEO of Festicket
While he was a student and later a banker in NYC and London, Zacharie traveled the world to fulfill his passion for live music. He attended countless festivals and concerts around the world where he realized the need for better access to information. His creativity, social network, and his amazing experience of music festivals are a competitive advantage for the growth of Festicket. Zacharie supervises all the operations and development of the company.
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About Festicket: Festicket is a marketplace to discover and book music festival tickets, accommodation, transfers and extras.
Blake Reddy
Founder and CEO of easyGuide
As a Sir Stelios Scholar, Blake graduated from Cass Business School in 2012 with a Masters in Banking and International Finance. Blake spent the next 6-years building an investment management firm in London before taking on a new venture with Sir Stelios with the objective of creating an end-to-end customer journey across the tourism industry.
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About easyGuide: Discover and book tickets to top attractions, activities, experiences, tours and theatre shows in your favourite locations around the world!
Aaron Gowell
Co-Founder and CEO of SilverRail Technologies
Aaron Gowell, Company Founder and CEO, SilverRail Technologies Prior to founding SilverRail in 2009, Aaron built one of the largest travel technology and distribution companies in the US: National Leisure Group (NLG), a $1 Billion ecommerce leader in vacations & cruise. NLG pioneered several early online travel technologies including the cruise industry’s first online booking platform and one of the first dynamic packaging systems. Previously, Aaron honed his survival skills in US Army’s 82nd Airborne and at global management consultancy Bain & Company. Aaron was also a founding member of General Catalyst Partners, a leading venture capital firm in Boston where he was most recently an Entrepreneur in Residence.
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About SilverRail Technologies: SilverRail offers best-in-class technical solutions that help railways and travel distributors easily connect with each other.
Manoj Ganapathy
Founder & CEO of SalesTrip
Proven entrepreneur solving real world business problems using technology. Previously built and sold Invoice IT to Salesforce.
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About SalesTrip: Expense management and travel booking system on Salesforce. Better track and justify expense spend with SalesTrip.
Amer Hasan
CEO of minicabit
Amer Hasan is Founder & CEO at minicabit.
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About minicabit: Smart marketplace to connect customers & business with all types of cab service providers of today and those in the mobility future
Raphael Chow
Co-founder and CEO of Wevat
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About Wevat: Wevat is the best way to get your tax back on shopping in the UK.
Jacob Wedderburn-Day
Co-Founder & CEO of Stasher
Entrepreneur, co-founder & CEO of Stasher.com. Studied at Oxford & UCL. Passionate about startups, economics, the sharing economy, game theory and football.
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About Stasher, Treepoints: Stasher is the world’s first luggage storage network.
Sam Ryan
Co-Founder & CEO of Zeelo
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About Zeelo: Zeelo is the smart bus platform for organizations, providing flexible turn-key, plug-in and SaaS transportation programs.
Philipp Mintchin
Co-Founder & CEO of Splyt
CEO & Founder of Splyt
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About Splyt: Splyt is a B2B mobility marketplace that connects institutional supply and demand for ground-based transport.
Azmat Yusuf
Founder / CEO of Citymapper
Mr. Azmat Yusuf is a Founder at Citymapper Limited.Yusuf previously worked at Google, as well as in the venture capital and equities fields for international banks. He started the app in 2011 as a guide for Londoners to navigate the city’s bus network. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in both Electrical Engineering and Economics and received his MBA from INSEAD in 2009.
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About Citymapper: Citymapper is a transport app for cities.
Adrian Melrose
Co Founder & CEO of Inn Style Ltd
Adrian is a South African born Chartered Accountant who qualified at Deloitte. He is currently the co-founder, seed-investor and executive chairman of Inn Style Ltd, a startup that provides a cloud based admin and booking solution to owner managed accommodation owners.
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About Inn Style Ltd: Inn Style is an intelligent, easy-to-use property management system for hotels, inns, B&Bs and self-catering properties.
CEO & Co-Founder of Trafi
Martynas Gudonavičius is CEO and co-founder of Trafi. Joining the company at an early stage, Martynas has since then spearheaded global expansion and focused on the commercial side of the business. Before joining Trafi, Martynas was Head of Emerging Markets at InMobi, the world’s largest independent mobile ad network and tech platform. Previous to that, Martynas acted as Sales Director for Central and Eastern Europe for Adform.
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About Trafi: Trafi is a mobility-as-a-service platform for shared transportation solutions, helping cities and corporates to reach their goals.
Constantin Bjerke
CEO and Founder of Crane.tv
Based in the UK for 10 years, Constantin Bjerke is a Founder and CEO of TheCrane.tv, the first online video magazine with emphasis on contemporary culture. Constantin started his career working in TV and film production and was involved in Emotional Brand Building at an Omnicom agency. He has worked with a host of international clients including FIFA World Cup, Mercedes Benz, Laureus World Sports Awards, Orascom, Deutsche Telekom and Pro7Sat1. In the past, he also worked in Finance across various positions at companies including UBS, Lazard and most recently, Citigroup in London and Madrid. Constantin holds a Diplôme de Grande Ecole and a Master’s from ESCP-EAP.
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About Crane.tv: Crane.tv is a contemporary-culture video magazine, focusing on arts, design, style, food and travel around the world.
Ryan McElroy
CEO & Co-Founder of Travel Agency Tribes
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About FunAdvice, Travel Agency Tribes: Saas For Travel Agencies in North America
Alex Rainey
CEO of Pluto
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About Pluto: Pluto helps travel lovers discover inspiration, plan their trips and connect with like-minded people. It’s like Pinterest, but for travel.
Samuel Rason
Co-Founder and CEO of Viva City
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About Viva City: Viva City offers guest experience, discovery, and analytics software to help businesses thrive with the Chinese Inbound market.
Andy Owen-Jones
Co-Founder and CEO of bd4travel
Andy is bd4travel’s CEO and co-Founder. He oversees business development and the overall growth strategy. Before founding bd4travel, Andy was the CEO at leading German leisure specialist TravelTainment, which he joined after 10 years at Amadeus. Prior to that, Andy held positions at several international businesses such as British Airways, Deloitte Consulting, and Virgin Atlantic.
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About bd4travel: Bd4travel provides IT solutions to assist firms in targeting and segmenting their customer base.
Daniel Holden
Chief Executive Officer of Trust Payments
Daniel is responsible for all financial and commercial aspects of the UC Group. He previously held senior positions at Deloitte and Capita, and was involved in a number of venture capital-backed companies.
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About Emerging Payments Association, Trust Payments: Trust Payments is a global unified payments group for global pay-in, pay-out and customer journey technologies.
Marcus Greenwood
Co-founder & CEO of Ubio
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About Ubio: Ubio provide direct booking capabilities for travel metasearch websites and apps.
Mark Datta
Co-founder & CEO of Tab
Mark worked in the finance industry, and at travel and fintech startups. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School. His favourite countries are Argentina, Cuba and Japan, and his off-the-beaten-path tip is to visit Fatehpur Sikri in India.
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About Tab: We’re revolutionising the way travellers discover, plan and book a trip.
Doron Meyassed
Co-Founder & CEO of Plum Guide
In 2008 Doron founded Promise Communities (now C Space): a company specializing in solving brand, innovation and insight challenges through mass online collaboration. In eight years, he grew it into a 140+ person leading innovation agency delivering programs for the likes of Twitter, Spotify, Samsung, British Airways, Hilton, EE, and Diageo. Having sold the business to Omnicom, Doron now lives and breathes travel. Having moved country every few years and having a total undetectable accent, no one is really sure where Doron is from. He is also into some seriously bizarre music no one can quite understand, but that won’t stop him trying to explain.
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About Plum Guide: Plum Guide is the definitive list of the world’s best vacation rentals.
Craig Unsworth
Chief Executive Officer of Upgrade Pack
Craig is CEO and Founder of Upgrade Pack, the closed marketplace for airline and hotel upgrades. He has 16 years’ experience adding value to companies through the creation of proprietary technology and innovation. His core strength is building product teams, and new products, that add to the company’s valuation. He has consistently delivered this within corporate, agency, startup and consultancy environments – resulting in MBO, private equity, trade sale, and capital market (AIM IPO) exits. Craig was Chair of ad:tech London from 2012 to 2016, and a Member of its Advisory Board. He is an Advocate for Tech London Advocates (TLA); and served on the Executive Committee of BIMA (British Interactive Media Association), leading the Technology and Inclusion committee groups. He is London-based but has worked globally for the past decade.
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About Upgrade Pack: Upgrade Pack is your key to a better hotel room or airplane seat.
Edward Orr
Co-founder & CEO of Mr & Mrs Smith
Co-founder and CEO Edward Orr has been working in investment banking, and managing companies in their early stage for more than 10 years. As a result he has had to stay in many hotels across five different continents – and generally, he doesn’t like them. This makes him qualified not only to look after the finances of Mr & Mrs Smith but also to have penned one of the team reviews – and he can confirm that Mr & Mrs Smith hotels really are special enough to be a treat, even for the most jaded corporate traveller.
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About Mr & Mrs Smith, SubTv: Mr & Mrs Smith is a hand-picked collection of the most special boutique hotels in the world.
Hira Virdee
Founder and CEO of Lumi Space
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About Lumi Space: Lumi provide precise positioning for satellites and space debris, using laser ranging.
Christopher Moon
CEO & CTO of Tribe Travel
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About Tribe Travel: Tribe Travel is a marketplace and club for youth travelers.
Randel Darby
CEO of AirPortr
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About AirPortr: AirPortr is a Software and Service company developing and delivering innovative baggage services for passengers, airlines and airports.
Jean Michel Petit
Co-founder and CEO of VizEat
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About EatWith, VizEat: VizEat is a European startup that operates a “social dining platform.
Hubert Viriot
CEO of Yotel
Hubert Viriot joined YOTEL in May 2014 to roll out an aggressive growth strategy targeting key city centres and international airports in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America. Prior to his appointment as the CEO of YOTEL, Hubert was CEO of Raimon Land PLC, a leading real estate developer listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). During his four-year tenure in Thailand, Hubert orchestrated the successful turnaround of Raimon Land and increased the company’s development portfolio from USD200M to USD1.1Bn. Raimon Land’s stock was one of the top 5 performing stocks on the SET and incorporated in the SET 100 Index.Previously, Hubert spent four years as Vice President of Investments & Acquisitions with IFA Hotels & Resorts, YOTEL’s parent company, and five years with HVS, a global consulting firm focused on the hospitality, tourism and real estate industries. Hubert has a BS degree in International Management from the University of Wales and a BS degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management from the Glion Hotel School in Switzerland.
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About Yotel: Yotel offers affordable hotels with elements of luxury in smart spaces.
James Osmond
Chief Executive Officer of Triptease
James is a highly experienced marketeer who has worked across a wide array of industries: from technology, to retail, financial services, hospitality and wellbeing. He learnt the ropes as brand manager at Unilever and went on to co-found a global marketing strategy consultancy, Clear, which sold to M&C Saatchi just five years later. James now leads Triptease’s HQ in London, where he leads the company from
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About Triptease: Triptease is a travel SaaS company that empowers hotels to recapture guest relationships and increase direct bookings.
Joss Kent
CEO of andBeyond
&Beyond, one of Africa’s leading safari companies, has announced the appointment of Joss Kent as its Chief Executive Officer. Kent was previously global CEO of Abercrombie & Kent (A&K), heading up their 61 international offices. Prior to joining the safari industry in a leadership capacity, Joss Kent trained at the Royal Military Academy (Sandhurst) and served in the British armed forces. He then worked as a business analyst, graduated with a Harvard MBA and spent three years as a management consultant with Bain & Co in the USA and UK. “It was extremely important for us to select a CEO who had both hard-nosed commercial experience and a deep understanding of the luxury safari business in order to drive our vision for growth and market leadership,” said Mark Getty, Joint Chairman of &Beyond. “Joss Kent possesses those crucial qualities and, very importantly, shares our commitment to building an iconic brand that makes a positive difference to conservation of land, wildlife and communities,” he added.
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About andBeyond: andBeyond is one of the world’s leading luxury experiential travel companies.
Wahab Ahmad
CEO and Founder of TimeAway
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About PenAndWeb, TimeAway: Enriching family holidays, tried and tested by like minded mums
Sabina Alexandra
EA to CEO & Corporate PR of onefinestay
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About onefinestay: Onefinestay give people a new way to experience a place staying in the finest homes in their favorite cities.
Nishul Saperia
CEO and Founder of Beachfix
Co-Founder of $5bn financial services firm Markit, launching multiple products across London and New York. Currently launching www.beachfix.co.
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About Beachfix: BeachFix helps you find and plan your next beach holiday.
Dori Stein
CEO of Fornova
Dori Stein is CEO at Fornova.
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About Fornova, Goldenfeeds: Fornova empowers hotels to optimise revenue and distribution while reducing costs and improving forecasting.
Nicolas Huss
Chief Executive Officer of Hotelbeds
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About Hotelbeds: Hotelbeds is a travel technology company that operates a hotel distribution platform.
Anthony Leyens
CEO of Absolute Publishing Limited
Accomplished Senior Executive with a high degree of business development and a wide range of leadership skills with a proven track record of start up launch, strategic planning and sales direction in the key areas of travel, leisure and media related businesses. Leading Customer Publishing Group specialising in travel, sports, consumer, b2b, spa and direct response online and offline publishing and based in the City of London. Over four divisions we publish over 24 titles which represents over 70+ issues which are either sold on the news-stand or have a controlled circulation and are available online to very specific targeted audiences. Using state-of-the art production techniques, we can create anything from glossy monthly magazines and one-off publications to direct response material, e-magazines and directories. With highly experienced in-house editorial, design, sales and production teams, we can manage every stage of a project, from conception to publication, to produce stylish and engaging online, offline and application magazines that will create response and call to action. Publications include: ABTA, ASTA, National Geographic Traveller, Spa Secrets, Classic Sports Series (World Cup Football, Champions League, EURO 2012, Formula One, Rugby World Cup, The Six Nations, Best of British Sports Review of the Year, The Open and Ryder Cup) Welcome to London and a wide selection of tabloid supplements inserted in The Mail on Sunday and Guardian Newspaper. Lastly, we publish a variety of tailor made customer publications on behalf of many Blue-Chip, FTSE 100/PLC Companies.
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About Absolute Publishing Limited, Transamerica: Absolute Publishing Ltd is a content provider specializing in high quality trave
David Scowsill
President & CEO of World Travel & Tourism Council
Prior to joining World Travel & Tourism Council as President & CEO in November 2010, David worked for 6 years in private equity and venture capital, completing deals in technology and travel sectors. David was CEO of Opodo, pan-European online travel company from 2002 to 2004, building the business from start up to a €500mn transaction turnover, before it was sold to Amadeus. He joined the board of Hilton International in 1997 as senior VP sales, marketing and IT, leading the brand re-unification programme between the two Hilton shareholder companies.
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About World Travel & Tourism Council: World Travel & Tourism Council works to raise awareness of Travel & Tourism as one of the world’s largest industries.
Can Köseoğlu
CEO of Erasmusinn
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About Erasmusinn: Erasmusinn is a housing platform that helps students find off campus housing and make reservations online.
Tiff Burns
Founder / CEO of LuckyTrip
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About LuckyTrip: LuckyTrip is a travel inspiration app that lets you find a trip in one tap.
Anna Frankowska
CEO & Co-Founder of Nightset
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About Nightset: Nightset is a nightlife marketplace that connects people, venues, and brands on one platform globally.
Rafael Jorda Siquier
Founder and CEO of Open Cosmos
As CEO and co-founder, Rafael leads the Open Cosmos team. From leading the team to deliver the first satellite mission within eight months, to managing the expanding team and range of customers today, Rafael has overseen the overall company strategy and directed its execution, all while working towards the original mission of democratizing access to space. After studying aerospace engineering at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Barcelona and completing an MBA, Rafael has worked at large corporations, such as Airbus Defence and Space, as well as small, innovative space start-ups. His desire to make space more accessible led him to develop Open Cosmos while at the prestigious Entrepreneur First incubator program in July 2015. For his work leading Open Cosmos, Rafael has been recognized most recently as Entrepreneur of the Year 2018 by EuroConsult.
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About Open Cosmos: Open Cosmos provides simple and affordable space missions.
Rebecca Fielding
CEO of Travel Unwrapped
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About Travel Unwrapped: Travel Unwrapped Group create the most personal journeys in the world.
Vanessa Boz
founder, CEO of moodAway
Vanessa Boz Founder, CEO – moodAway Ltd
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About BozAround, moodAway: Picture your next trip moodAway is an early-stage startup built to help people visualise their trips.
Tarun Sainani
CEO & Founder of World Around Me
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About World Around Me, WT InfoTech: World Around Me is a local discovery app to help searching local places & services – on the phone camera with augmented reality – anywhere.
Thomas Ableman
Founder & CEO of Snap
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About Freewheeling, Snap: Snap is a technology marketplace that aggregates and fulfils travel demand
William Berry
Founder and CEO of cabs.com
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About cabs.com: cabs.com provides taxi services, airport transfers, executive cars, and tailored travel services.
Claire Trachet
Founder & CEO of wOndary
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About wOndary: Connecting all your travel dots – save, organise and share everything travel.
Matthew Fox
CEO and Co-Founder of Snaptrip
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About Snaptrip: Snaptrip is a marketplace for people to discover the best last minute cottage holiday deals in the UK.
yaniv barak
CEO & Founder of Vacationship
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About Vacationship: The only travel meeting app that connects locals and tourists for exciting vacation experiences.
yaniv barak
CEO & Founder of Vacationship
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About Vacationship: The only travel meeting app that connects locals and tourists for exciting vacation experiences.
James Lemon
Founder & CEO of The Growth Works
James is a leading start-up and travel consultant helping a wide portfolio of start-ups and scale-ups to solve their growth challenges. As Founder and CEO of The Growth Works, he leads flexible, ad hoc teams to provide fast and scalable support to clients. He also supports a number of short-term rental and travel accommodation actors as a Partner at AJL Consulting. Prior to that, as COO of Hostmaker throughout 2018, he put in practice his expertise in strategy & performance built over 10+ years in senior positions at Fortune-500 hotel giant IHG and traveltech company Travelport.
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About Intercontinental Hotels Group, The Growth Works: London-based boutique growth consultancy specialised in helping start-ups and scale-ups to solve their growth challenges sustainably.
Reto Bolliger
CEO & Co-founder of Follow Alice
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About Follow Alice: We make adventure travel a truly holistic and personal client experience by blending technology with human interaction.
David Dean
CEO of DeanDhawan
David is an ambitious and resourceful futurist. His work on DeanDhawan’s proprietary propulsion system has led them to develop a full-scale aircraft that was previously not thought possible. David is a frank and impartial figure who has proven to be diligent with his research and designs and continuously seeks to expand his knowledge and that of those around him.
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About DeanDhawan: We are merging what we know from automotive and what we desire from aerospace. A to B is just about to get a whole lot more exciting.
Olam Sule
CEO of Jetsetter Jobs
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About Jetsetter Jobs: Jetsetter Jobs helps young travellers and professionals find their dream job abroad.
Henry Dowding
CEO/Founder of Hang
Henry Dowding is the 18-year-old Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Hang.
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About Hang: Hang is real-time meeting space booking platform that’s redefining how people meet.
Merilee Karr
Founder & CEO of UnderTheDoormat
Merilee has travelled the world to over 60 countries – and feels at home in many of its major cities. A strategist, property management and partnership expert formerly working for a global energy company, she has always been inspired by authentic and memorable travel experiences. When she’s not feeding her own wanderlust, she loves hiking, cycling, skiing and taking part in the occasional triathlon. Merilee has a passion for changing the world. 12 years working for Shell and being able to observe different cultures around the globe, gave birth to her desire to actually start making a difference in the way things are done. Combining her drive for initiating change with her love of travelling, Merilee realised the potential for tourists to experience a new destination like a local while allowing homeowners to earn extra income with piece of mind through the growing sharing economy.
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About UnderTheDoormat: Our mission is to redefine the future of accommodation.
Matti Fruhman
Co Founder & CEO of Azooki
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About Azooki, Unbound Global: Azooki helps you book & discover amazing things to do in South East Asia’s most enchanting destinations
Gregory Geny
Co-Founder & CEO of BeRightBack
Gregory is the Founder & CEO of BeRightBack, the world’s first travel subscription service billed as the ‘Netflix for Travel’ by The Telegraph. BRB is an early stage travel start up whose mission is to remove all the hassle for travellers by delivering 3 surprise trips per year to Europe, with flights and hotel included, for a fixed monthly cost. The company was voted by Skift as one of the ‘Top 25 Startups to Watch in 2019’, was featured on the CNBC documentary ‘The Edge’ about the ‘Future of Travel’ and made it to the final of the PITCH competition at Web Summit in 2019. Originally from France, Greg has spent the last 17 years building and growing start-ups in a range of dynamic industries including Sports & Fitness, Media / Publishing, Music Publishing, Financial Services, Fintech, Education and has spent over 10 years in Travel tech.
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About BeRightBack: The world’s first fixed price travel subscription service.
Nour Mouakke
Founder & CEO of Wizme
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About Wizme: Wizme makes meetings and events management magical through superior ease of use and smart technologies.
Stephen Chan
CEO of YourCar
Stephen graduated from Imperial College London with a masters degree in engineering. He has had experience working as a financial advisor with KPMG in London, advising multinational corporations and investment funds on merger and acquisitions. It is also during his time in Europe when he experienced the freedom and flexibility offered by carsharing services and since moving back to Hong Kong, he has put together a team and developed the necessary infrastructure and technology to offer a similar service in Hong Kong.
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About YourCar: YourCar originated from the many carsharing concepts and real life examples from around the world.
Mauricio Villamizar
CEO of Pop & Rest
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About Pop & Rest: Our platform connects local workers and travellers with sleep & meditation pods. Book by the hour to recharge
Richard Sinclair
CEO of Sno
Founder and entrepreneur building SNO to win the World Snow Awards in its third winter. Passion for Customer experience born of producing flagship consumer journalism programme “Watchdog”, and love of Travel fed while running BBC “Holiday”. Love of technology indulged while making “Tomorrows World” and building SNO. Talent for Editorial judgement and devotion to excellence ingrained over a decade making factual programmes for the world’s leading broadcaster.
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About Sno: SNO is the UK’s fastest growing travel company.
Rashide Carvalho
Founder and CEO of Whipgo
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About Whipgo: Whipgo.com is a platform where you can rent vehicles in seconds without the hassle of rental agreements and documents.
Tim Elder
Co-founder & CEO of Fromigo
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About Fromigo: Fromigo is a marketplace of authentic experiences by local people.
Gordon Hamilton
Founder & CEO of Torszo
Gordon Hamilton developed the concept for the Torsorest, or mini flight bed He was inspired, firstly, by years of observing international travelers struggle during the one part of their journey when they should have reasonably expected to sleep (…in the seated and passive part of their journey). And, finally, by the personal focus that one 24 hour coach journey to ski in the Italian Dolomites can bring. In 2012 Gordon completed the acquisition of the global IP for the Torsorest, setting the scene for the introduction of a standalone version of the product to the market. This will be the first step towards the longer term objective of integrating the torsorest into the multi-billion dollar hand-luggage market. Previously, Gordon has enjoyed a successful 22 year international career spanning shipping & logistics in the UK, Canada and USA. He was deputy MD and Chief Accountant within the P&O group, and held a variety of senior management roles with Canadian Pacific, leading the implementation and global role out of a number of groundbreaking projects. Gordon’s educational background is in Pure Maths, Natural Philosophy and Accountancy at Glasgow University and Caledonia University.
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About Torszo: Torszo designs, develops, and commercializes the Torsorest mini flight bed.
Sara Brunelli
CEO of BidToTrip
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About BidToTrip: BidToTrip is an auction site for luxury hotels and other travel items.
Andrey Kalinchuk
CEO and Founder of QuestHunter
Andrey Kalinchuk is the CEO and founder of Quest Hunter.
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About QuestHunter: QuestHunter is a marketplace for discovery and booking of escape rooms
Elliott Grant
Founder & CEO of HOOF
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About HOOF: HOOF is an innovative travel and location app which allows users to store, share and log their travels and experiences.
Darren Burn
CEO of TravelGay.com
A former ITV News journalist, Darren Burn founded OutOfOffice.com in 2016 – the world’s luxury LGBT travel company. In 2018, Darren led the team that successfully acquired TravelGay.com, the world’s most visited LGBT travel website.
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About OutOfOffice.com, TravelGay.com: The world’s most visited LGBT travel website.
Itay Levin
Chief Executive Officer of Ask a Local
Highly motivated, Itay Levin is an experienced project manager and business analyst with a strong technical background.
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About Ask a Local: Ask a Local provides a mobile app that specializes in bringing a personal approach to the industry of travel.
Itay Levin
Chief Executive Officer of Ask a Local
Highly motivated, Itay Levin is an experienced project manager and business analyst with a strong technical background.
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About Ask a Local: Ask a Local provides a mobile app that specializes in bringing a personal approach to the industry of travel.
