Tourism Management Institute (TMI)

Speakers

Confirmed speakers to date include:

Alex Bainbridge, Tour CMS

Andrew Bateman, TMI President

Ben Travers, Stephens Scown solicitors

Dr Alessandro Inversini, Bournemouth University

Dr Phillip Alford, Bournemouth University         

Emma Gray, Marketing Birmingham

Jason Yip, Newcastle Gateshead Initiative

Jude Leitch, Northumbria Tourism

Kathryn Bell, University College Birmingham

Kathryn Bullock, Face Marketing

Lydia Stone, English Riviera & Stuart Devlin, E-Strategy

Neil McCollum, TMI Vice-President

Sarah Mathews, Tripadvisor

Stuart Devlin, E-Strategy

Alex Bainbridge - CEO TourCMS and Tnooz writer.  Alex founded and runs TourCMS a tours & activity distribution system used by over 150 local activity providers in the UK. One TourCMS client project is GO Activities from GO Outdoors, aggregating outdoor activity providers nationally. He also writes for industry publication Tnooz and is noisy on Twitter @alexbainbridge
Andrew Bateman is Tourism Manager for Hampshire County Council and current TMI President. A degree in geography from Swansea University and postgraduate diploma in tourism from Strathclyde University has been followed with a career in tourism, including consultancy, event management, and the diving industry. Andrew gained an MBA in 2005 and is a keen mountain biker and sailor.
Ben Travers heads up the Stephen Scown’s Intellectual Property and IT Law team, advising clients on the legal aspects of reputation management, brand protection, accreditation schemes, online legal compliance and dealing with consumers.
Alessandro Inversini is lecturer of Marketing and Media Communication at Bournemouth University (School of Tourism). Alessandro holds a PhD in Communication Science from the Università della Svizzera italiana (2010), where he served also as executive director of webatelier.net. Before being appointed as lecturer at Bournemouth University Alessandro was also managing director of the Tessin Regional Competence Centre for Technologies in Tourism.  Alessandro’s research interests are where communication, tourism and new media overlap, ranging from design to evaluation of tourism websites, from online communication to branding and reputation, from eCommerce to eLearning.
Dr Philip Alford is a Senior Lecturer in Online Marketing and Director of the Digital Hub in the School of Tourism at Bournemouth University. The Hub offers a range of services that assist organisations in developing and measuring online customer engagement. Dr Alford is also a visiting professor at Essec Business School, France and at the Management Center Innsbruck, Austria.
Emma Gray, Director of Marketing Service for Marketing Birmingham Ltd. Responsible for the organisation's marketing functions (i) Visit Birmingham - leisure tourism; (ii) Meet Birmingham - business tourism; (iii) Business Birmingham - inward investment and (iv) corporate marketing.  Emma is a CIM chartered marketing and communications professional with a proven track record of developing innovative strategy and leading teams to realise successful through-the-line campaigns targeting national and international markets.
Jason Yip is the Digital Marketing Manager for NewcatleGateshead Initiative and has recently been shortlisted for The Economist Change Ambassador award in the technology category for ‘Digitising the DMO’.  Jason has worked in the tourism industry for the past eight years in high profile roles covering online marketing and technology which started at One North East; highlighted by the winning of the best public sector website for www.visitnortheastengland.com in 2008. Currently Jason leads the Digital team at NewcastleGateshead Initiative where they are working on exciting new projects that involve collaborations with Sky Television and an interactive social media map called Geordieland.
Jude has extensive international marketing experience and has won a number of major awards including UK Marketing Manager of the Year for her work at The Gate in Newcastle. Originally from the North East, Jude spent much of her childhood in New Zealand where she gained formal marketing qualifications. She has subsequently worked in both countries in a number of commercial and tourism marketing roles.
Kathryn Bell specialises in tourism social media marketing having spent time working for two UK tour operators in successful marketing departments. Kathryn pioneered the use of social media in both companies, delivering successful results. Alongside this Kathryn managed marketing campaigns with football club, Wolverhampton Wanderers FC. Kathryn lectures in a mixture of marketing and tourism related modules to undergraduate students at University College Birmingham and also teaches in Hong Kong.
Kathryn is an entrepreneurial ecommerce and social media expert who set up Face Marketing, one of the most innovative relationship marketing agencies in the UK travel industry, to help travel companies get the best out of social media. Kathryn has completed a range of challenging change, e-marketing and customer strategy projects for clients.
Lydia Stone is the Senior Marketing Executive for the ERTC and co-ordinates the destination marketing activities of the company. As well as overall English Riviera promotion, Lydia specialises in marketing the five key sub brands identified in the Turning the Tide for Tourism in Torbay Strategy: Agatha Christie, English Riviera Global Geopark, Maritime Leisure, Events and Festivals and Business Tourism. She is also actively involved in numerous aspects of PR and major events including the Agatha Christie Festival. Lydia holds a Chartered Insitute of Marketing Professional Diploma in Tourism Marketing.
Neil McCollum works for English Heritage as the General Manager for Dover Castle, one of the top ten visitor attractions in the South East. Prior to crossing over to the visitor attraction sector Neil spent nearly twenty years in Destination Management, managing teams in Thanet, Canterbury and Greenwich and delivering a number of successful commercial projects. Neil is currently the Head of Policy and Advocacy for TMI.
Sarah Mathews was born and raised in Hong Kong and completed her education in the UK. Sarah returned to Hong Kong to work in an education consultancy for 15 years and has been back in UK since 2006. Sarah has spent the past six years working for the Hong Kong Tourism Board and Tourism Flanders in the UK. She joined TripAdvisor as a Destination Marketing Sales Manager in August 2012 and now covers UK, Ireland, Turkey, Greece, India, Sri Lanka, Sub Saharan Africa and several key European destinations. Sarah has great knowledge and experience in the Tourism Board field and brings a wealth of knowledge and international experience with her.
Stuart Devlin is an highly experienced digital strategist with over 16 years in online marketing, working with both UK and international brands. An expert in online tactics that enable businesses to truly benefit from their digital engagement. Combining creative, technical and commercial expertise to improve online visibility and ultimately a return on investment. A passionate up-to-date digital marketer who gets to the core quickly and understands on-line marketing from a consumer point of view
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