2.30pm – 3.00pm

Welcome Coffee & Registration

3.00pm – 3.30pm

Chairman:

– Ian Young, Head of Loyalty Account Management, Comarch

Airline Case Study:  Maximising acquisition & engagement in non traditional channels

– Tom Botts, President, Flex Pay in conversation with client airline

3.30pm – 4.00pm

State of the Union Address 2026:   Where are co-brands and travel reward cards heading to?

– Bill Hanifin, CEO, Wise Marketer Group

4.00pm – 5.00pm

The Famous Ai Events Lions’ Den:  Innovative product pitches

Back by popular demand, the Lions’ Den new products and service pitching contest returns to the Co-brand and Travel Rewards conference.  The session is for innovative start-ups (or brand new products from estasblished players) to pitch for 5 minutes each, and then take 5 minutes of questions from our experienced judges. Judges will choose a Best Product, while the audience will choose Best Pitch.

Ringmaster and Lions (Judges)

– Michael Smith, Board Director, Ai Events (Ringmaster)

– Steve Mathwig, Senior Manager Loyalty Program Engagement, Best Western Hotels
– Peter Schinasi, Loyalty Director USA Canada Mexico, Air France KLM
– Sinead Archer, Commercial Director, Head for Points
– Ainsely Escobar, Senior Manager Co-brand Credit Card, Allegiant Air

Pitchers

HeyMax
Silo Markets

Please drop Michael Smith an email if you would like to pitch your product/service at the 2026 event!

5.00pm – 7.00pm

8.30am – 8.50am

Registration and Networking

8.50am – 9.00am

Welcome from the Chair – Opening Remarks

– Ian Young, Loyalty Expert & Consultant

9.00am – 9.25am

Points, partners & profit

– Scott McCartney, Co-host Airlines Confidential Podcast in conversation with 
– Bob Daly, former Managing Director Global Cobrand, United Airlines 

9.25am – 9.50am

9.50am – 10.15am

10.15am – 10.45am

Networking and Coffee Break

10.45am – 11.15am

Airline Co-brand Case Study:  Moving from frequent flyers to frequent spenders

– Kim Hoffman, VP Merchant Marketing, ClarityPay and Airline Client (invited)

11.15am – 11.40am

With ten co-brands in your wallet – why will your members add yours?

– Pedro Silva, CEO & Co-founder, Alviere (invited)

11.40am – 12.30pm

Panel Session: Have we reached peak premiumisation or is the race for airport lounge space  to win travellers loyalty just starting?

Moderator & Panellists

– Jeremy Dalkoff, VP Partnerships Americas, Collinson International
– Amyn Jivani, SVP Partnerships & Business Development, Netspend (invited)
– David Feldman, Head of Loyalty, Rove

12.30pm – 2.00pm

Lunch & Networking

2.00pm – 2.30pm

The impact Agentic AI will have on your loyalty program:  Practical insights for co-brand managers

– Chris Staab, Co-Founder, Loyalty Security Alliance in conversastion with
– Vito Petruzzelli, Head of Fraud Strategy, Pipl

2.30pm – 3.00pm

Why the best card teams are buying less media

– Katya Nieburg-Wheeler, Executive Director, deluxe

3.00pm – 3.30pm

Redeem First, earn back later:  Lessons from partnering with co-brands in Asia Pacific

– Joe Lu, CEO, HeyMax

3.30pm – 4.00pm

Coffee Break & Networking

4.00pm – 5.00pm

Closing Panel Session: What impact will AI & Agentic Payments have on co-brands?   Help or hindrance?

Moderator
– Michael Smith, Board Director, Ai Events

Speakers & Panellists

To be announced

5.00pm – 6.00pm

Networking Reception

—————————————————–