Sales Leader Forum

Bob Anderson is President/Owner of Star Performance, Inc., and a contributing author to the HSMAI Certified Hotel Sales Leader Certification (CHSL). In 2015, HSMAI selected him as one of the Top 25 Extraordinary Minds in Hospitality Sales, Marketing, and Revenue Management. He is currently a member of the HSMAI Sales Advisory Board.

The International Hospitality Institute recently selected and awarded Bob as a Global Top 15 Trainer in Hospitality for 2021.

Bob has been married for over 39 years and has three wonderful children and three grandchildren. He likes to read, work out, and watch hockey…Go Minnesota Wild!!!!!

Matt Carrier serves as the Senior Vice President, Federal Affairs, Policy, and Research for AHLA. In this role, Matt leads the federal advocacy team as well as the hotel industry’s policy and research agenda to meet members’ needs today and in the future. Prior to AHLA, Matt spent nearly a decade across the hotel distribution and revenue strategy space, most recently overseeing price guarantee and rate parity programs at Marriott International.

Kimberly Furlong, Chief Commercial Officer for Atrium Hospitality, is responsible for developing the company’s sales and revenue management platforms, as well as overseeing and directing the revenue generation and marketing strategies across all operating departments for Atrium Hospitality. Kimberly has over 25 years of experience in the hotel industry, concentrating in sales, marketing, and revenue management at the hotel, regional, and senior leadership levels. Prior to joining Atrium, Kimberly spent three years with TPG Hotels & Resorts as Vice President of Revenue Management. Prior to TPG Hospitality, she held various executive and senior revenue management and sales and marketing positions with Hersha Hospitality and Lodgian, Inc., both publicly traded hotel companies. She is a member of the Marriott North America Distribution Strategy and Bonvoy Advisory Council, Marriott Full Service Sales and Marketing Advisory Council, and Hilton’s Distribution Advisory Council. She recently served as the Chair of the IHG Owner’s Association, Distribution and Digital Committee.

Allison Handy, Executive Vice President of Commercial for Aimbridge Hospitality, is responsible for driving the commercial performance for Aimbridge’s US and Canadian hotels, leading the Sales, Revenue Strategy, Marketing, and Ecommerce teams. Her leadership optimizes our expertise to deliver exceptional results for our owners.

Allison joined Aimbridge in December 2021 through the acquisition of Prism Hotels & Resorts, where she spent 15 years, most recently as a partner overseeing Sales, Marketing, and Revenue Optimization. She also spearheaded marketing and public relations initiatives to promote Prism and secure new management contracts.

Prior to Prism, Allison held various sales roles at Interstate Hotels & Resorts and MeriStar Hotels & Resorts across northern and southern California for nearly a decade.

Allison is actively involved with HSMAI, currently serving on the Americas Board and previously on the Sales Advisory Board. She also helped launch the Rising Sales Leaders program. In 2018, she was named one of HSMAI’s Top 25 Most Extraordinary Minds and in 2024, one of Hotel Management’s Influential Women in Hospitality.

Allison holds a degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in entrepreneurial studies from the University of Southern California. She also gained international experience through the University of Pittsburgh’s Semester at Sea Program, studying in South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia.

A 25 year veteran of the hospitality industry, Chris Hardy has served in leadership roles at hotel, regional, and corporate levels with global brands including Hilton, Marriott, and Wyndham. He is active in industry organizations including HSMAI and has contributed to articles and content for industry publications. He received a B.S. in Hospitality Management from Keuka College and holds certifications from HSMAI and Cornell University.

Chris currently serves as Vice President for Commercial Strategy at Parks Hospitality Group where he focuses on team member development as well as developing strategies that drive top line revenue, increase market share and profitability.

Celeste Headlee is an internationally recognized journalist and radio host, professional speaker and author of bestselling book We Need To Talk: How To Have Conversations That Matter, Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving, Speaking of Race: Why Everyone Needs to Talk About Racism and How to Do It, and You’re Cute When You’re Mad: Simple Steps for Confronting Sexism. Her TEDx Talk, 10 Ways to Have a Better Conversation, has been viewed over 34 million times. Close to 50,000 talks have been given at 10,000 events since the TED program launched in 2009, and Celeste’s talk is one of the 10 most-watched talks posted on TED’s homepage.

In her 20-year career in public radio, Celeste has been the Executive Producer of On Second Thought at Georgia Public Broadcasting and anchored programs including Tell Me More, Talk of the Nation, Here and Now, All Things Considered, 1A, and Weekend Edition. She also served as co-host of the national morning news show, The Takeaway, from PRI and WNYC, and anchored presidential coverage in 2012 for PBS World Channel. Celeste is a regular guest host on NPR and American Public Media, serves as an advisory board member for ProCon.org and The Listen First Project, and received the 2019 Media Changemaker Award.

She is the host of “Women Amplified,” a podcast from the Conferences for Women, the largest network of women’s conferences in the nation, drawing more than 50,000 people to its annual events.

Celeste is also the president and CEO of Headway DEI, a non-profit that works to bring racial justice and equity to journalism and media through targeted training and interventions, and she serves on the board of the National Center for Race Amity. Celeste is the granddaughter of composer William Grant Still, known as the Dean of Black American Composers and she is a trained operatic soprano. She lives in the DC area with her rescue dog, Samus Aran.

Lori Kiel, CHDM, SVP, Revenue Management for Pyramid Global Hospitality is a thought leader in our industry, pushing the Commercial Strategy discipline and philosophies forward through her work with HSMAI and Kessler Collection.

Lori has over 33 years of experience in the Hospitality Industry and has worked in various positions throughout her career, from 20 years in operations to 13 years above property. Her roles have spanned the ranks of Rooms Division, GM, Regional Revenue, Corporate Director, and now Chief Commercial Officer. Lori’s analytical skills and passion for commercial strategy offer a unique combination of talent perfectly paired with her leadership. Additionally, Lori has worked with all major brands, soft brands, and independent hotels.

Lori has earned degrees in Hospitality Management and Leadership. Lori’s passion for continued enrichment has found its home with HSMAI, where she serves on the Sales Advisory Board, is Co-Chair of the Commercial Excellence Workgroup, is Chair of HSMAI’s Foundation Board, and sits on the Americas Board. Lori is the author of LinkedIn’s Commercial Strategy Evolution newsletter and actively speaks on panels, podcasts, and keynotes throughout industry events.

Eric Kreins is Assistant Managing Director, Sales for Hilton Worldwide Sales, and chair of HSMAI’s Sales Advisory Board.

Jamie Malloy, CHSL is the Executive Director of Sales for Bellagio and is celebrating her 25th year in Hotel Sales. She specializes in elevating the guest experience and cultivating a work environment that allows people to thrive and grow. She is credited for her creativity and passion for learning. She sits on the HSMAI Sales Advisory Board and is a past President of the Las Vegas Hospitality Association. Jamie thrives on connection and building relationships. She teaches and practices yoga and believes how you live your life on that mat translates to how you live your life off the mat.

Sofya McIntosh is a seasoned hospitality professional with 25 years of experience in both hotel operations as well as technology sales leadership with a proven track record of delivering strong results. Sofya has a deep knowledge of revenue management, business intelligence and profit optimization solutions and services in the hospitality industry. Sofya acts as a strategist and relationship builder, working with current and potential customers to assess their business needs, market conditions, and industry trends to help them maximize their revenues and profitability.

Prior to joining ComOps, Sofya worked with several leading business intelligence/revenue optimization firms including TravelClick, Rainmaker, Oracle, Hotel Effectiveness and Kalibri Labs

Sofya holds a BS in Business Law from Moscow Academy of Economics and Law and enjoys traveling, cooking, taking salsa lessons and spending time with her two daughters.

Del Ross is an expert in the travel & lodging industry with a focus on revenue generation, distribution channel management, customer loyalty and lifecycle management, digital marketing and e-commerce. He supports engagements in the hotel, airline, car rental, cruise, wholesale, agency, technology suppliers and other categories.

From 2018 until the successful sale of the company to the Alpine Software Group in 2022, Del served as the Chief Revenue Officer of Hotel Effectiveness, a labor management SaaS company which served 20% of US hotels across every brand and all major management companies. From 2001-2013 he served as the head of sales and marketing for IHG Americas where he was accountable for delivering over $11 billion in hotel revenues for more than 3,600 properties annually. Del built the direct e-commerce channel for the company to over $2.5 billion in four years, created and managed the company’s highly successful vacation ownership business, Holiday Inn Club Vacations, and developed a mid-market corporate sales program which produced more than $150 million in incremental revenues within its first year.

Previously, Del was the founder and CEO of venture-backed startup, Nexchange Corporation, where he served retail and media companies with a syndicated e-commerce and performance-marketing technology solution reaching over 55% of the North American Internet audience. He also served as a Financial Officer at MBNA America, the world’s leading credit card bank where he was a graduate of the management development program.

In addition to his consulting work, Del serves on the boards of directors or advisors for several early-stage technology companies serving various consumer and financial industries. He is a real estate investor with hotel properties in the United States. Del also holds multiple US patents in the field of marketing technology and e-commerce.

Aran Ryan is Director of Industry Studies at Tourism Economics where he helps owners, operators, and destinations understand the impact of tourism industry trends. He focuses on industry-specific analysis and forecasting, as well as strategy and policy analysis.

Aran has over 25 years of consulting experience applying analytics, forecasting, project management, research, and financial analysis skills to support client decision-making. Prior to joining Tourism Economics, he was a Director in the Hospitality & Leisure consulting practice at PwC.

Emma Scher is a dedicated data strategist with a passion for the hospitality industry. Currently, Emma is the Senior Lead of Customer Success on the AI Products at ZS Associates where she partners with restaurant, airline, and hotel companies to deploy AI solutions supporting personalization, experimentation, optimization, and use of generative AI. Prior to her time with ZS, Emma gained extensive experience working with several industries to improve the usability of data and to deploy new solutions. This experience includes managing revenue strategy with MGM Resorts International and leading a technical analytics team for Aristocrat Gaming. Emma holds a Bachelors in Science from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration where she focused her studies on analytics and data science.

Dan Surette is chief sales officer at Omni Hotels & Resorts where he leads the charge on the brand’s sales strategy. Appointed to the role in 2019, Surette is responsible for creating and driving innovative sales, communications and business development strategies to increase awareness, capture market share and build revenue for the brand.

Surette joined Omni in August 2017 as vice president of sales where he overhauled Omni’s sales compensation model, developed a new group marketing campaign and inspired sales teams through promotional and recognition programs. In 2018, he was promoted to senior vice president of sales & marketing at Omni.

With more than 30 years of experience in the industry and 20 years of senior-level sales leadership experience, Surette worked at Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. for more than 15 years, most recently as vice president of North American sales and field marketing. Surette previously worked with Hyatt Hotels Corporation for more than a decade, serving in various sales and marketing roles of increasing responsibility.

Surette attended Johnson & Wales University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in hospitality management. He has been a member of several leading professional organizations over the years including Meeting Professionals International (MPI), Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) and Hotel Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI). Surette presently holds a position on the HSMAI Americas Board and was recently appointed as a new member of the U.S. Travel’s Governance Committee.

He is the 2024 recipient of HSMAI’s Career Achievement Award in Sales!

Check back a little closer to the event for more speaker details!

Finalize Your Sales Leader Forum Partner Position

Return your completed commitment form to Elise Rhinehart at elise.rhinehart@hsmai.org

All Partners Receive These Benefits:

• Wi-Fi & electric at exhibit display
• Pre- & post-event registration lists (no email addresses)
• A physical copy of the attendee list including emails provided onsite
• Logo & company profile in event app
• Logo recognition in event marketing
• On-site recognition
• Option to share educational content with attendees
• Option to add a la carte activations for additional fee