Sample of Regular Speakers

Madeleine Anderson

Over her years in the industry, working in loyalty for the likes of British Airways, Madeleine has built a stellar reputation.  Her expertise covers not just loyalty, but the likes of co-brand cards developed and launched for numerous airline clients as well as areas such as partnership development.

She has used that up close industry insight over the past few years to develop all of Ai Events conferences by using her contacts to bring numerous speakers to share their insights with delegates.

Along with industry experts like Jay Sorensen (author of the famous Ancillary Revenue Guide) Madeleine has brought other leading figures from the airline and travel industry along to our events:

• Catriona Larritt, Chief Customer Officer, JetStar
• Christina Heggie, Investment Principal, jetBlue Ventures
• Susy Napitupula, Senior Manager, Garuda Indonesia
• James Marshall, VP, Expedia
• Karen Drumbrell, Head of Loyalty Operations, Virgin Atlantic

What all these industry experts share is front line experience of the issues and challenges facing airlines and the travel industry.  Not only do they share their insights with the audience from the stage but they actively participate in event networking, giving delegates a chance to get “up close and personal” to learn first hand.

Frank Reeuwijk

KLM is one of the oldest continually flying airlines in the world.  And it is a pioneer of many firsts over that time and Frank has contributed to those in many ways.  From ecommerce to strategic partnerships to innovation and business to business experience.

For the past few years he has been a leading expert in financial services partnerships and has attended many Ai Events and shared his co-brand card experience.
An engaging speaker and panellist he has contributed to our Co-Brand and Travel Rewards Conference as well as the Co-Brand track at Mega Event.

His experience is global and covers not just the Dutch home market of KLM but a number of other countries around the world.  These insights are shared during panel sessions and as a judge in the famous “Lions’ Den”.  This is the Ai Events product pitching competition where Frank has acted as a judge.  He is no stranger to innovation himself and although his latest product is still under wraps, once the current COVID situation is over, that exciting innovation will be revealed to the world.  Hopefully at an Ai Event!

Gary Leff

One of the airline industry’s true legends!  Gary is a well known blogger – and well known not just for his blog, but for the depth of his knowledge and his passion for the subject.  An engaging and captivating speaker, he has been an active participant at Ai Events over the years.

He has numerous claims to fame, not just his association with the Freddie Awards where he is the Chairman of the Nomination Committee, but also for his blog View From the Wing which is the comprehensive guide to everything for frequent flyers.

With a background like this it is perhaps not surprising that Gary is a walking encyclopedia of knowledge.  In one debate session on the topic of whether airline co-brand cards were better than bank reward cards, he was happy to take either side of the issue!  And he would have won the audience over whichever side he took.

Rob Maclean

Anyone, like Rob, who has run a Frequent Flyer Program (in his case at Canadian Plus) knows all the issues and challenges of making it a success.  Especially when it comes to managing all the partnerships that are needed to make a great program.

But Rob wasn’t just content with that.  He took those insights and created the business that is now the stock market listed company that is Points.com.  This is a business that makes running partnerships a breeze.  Letting program managers getting on with delivering for their members without all the headaches of the likes of managing IT with partners.  If you have ever run, or been involved with a loyalty program, you will know that is not a simple task but one which Rob and his team at Points do very successfully.

Those insights from airlines and programs around the world that Rob and his colleagues have shared at Ai Events.  First hand, practical information that program managers can use as soon as they get back to their day jobs after a conference!

Tobias Wieloch

Europol is the European Union’s law enforcement agency with a remit to take on, amongst other things, international crime.  You might be wondering why he would be speaking at an Ai Event?  Well, Tobias is one of the experts at Europol on credit card and loyalty fraud.  He’s part of the Cybercrime Centre and as our world becomes increasingly digital he has a huge amount of expertise that he has been able to share with event delegates.

Both topics are extremely important for airlines and travel companies.  Credit card fraud can mean eat away at margins and Tobias has shared with the Airline and Travel Payment Summit delegates about this issue.  This has covered the likes of the “Days of Action” where law enforcement officers around the world take co-ordinated action at airports.

His presentations have shared what those days have actions have uncovered.  You’ll find plenty on the like of IATA’s website about these, but, at an event he’s able to share even more.  Especially during the coffee breaks!

Loyalty Security, another event run by Ai, is another place where Tobias and his colleagues have shared what is happening on the Dark Web.  What is taking place there, in terms of stolen account credentials (and the fraudsters may be selling your own personal miles or points online!) has been an eye-opener for our delegates!

Lance Blockley

Ai’s speakers are based across the world and Lance has brought the Australian view to a number of conferences in recent years.  Not just as the Chairman of Ai’s APAC events, but also as a speaker in his own right.

Not only is Lance a superb event Chairman, helping delegates get the most from our APAC events, but he is also an expert in payments and loyalty.  Over the years he has worked with the likes of Qantas on their co-brand cards, in-depth knowledge which he has shared at events and, no doubt, of great use to delegates after they left the conference.

His consulting business, The Initiatives Group is based in Sydney, Australia and along with his colleagues he has also hosted a number of Ai workshops.  Topics have ranged from Travel Tech start-ups to blockchain and loyalty.

Rob McDonald

International Airlines Group (IAG) is at the forefront of loyalty.  The airlines that go to make up IAG, from Iberia to Aer Lingus and British Airways, have come together to form IAG Loyalty.  A smart strategic move which has Rob as their Global Loyalty Director.

His career covers not only airlines, but also hotels and retails giving him a superb overview of the issues and challenges of running loyalty programs.  Those first hand learnings are the ones that he has spoken about at Ai’s Events over the years.

Another expert judge, in the Ai Lions’ Den, he has grilled pitching companies on how their products might make it to market.  With such an extensive background and working for one of the most innovative airline loyalty groups he certainly knows his stuff!