CHICAGO (February 11, 2013) – Hotel Technology Next Generation (HTNG) confirmed an engaging set of speakers for its annual North American Conference, to be held in Atlanta, Georgia from February 26 to 28. Keynote speakers at the conference will include Bob Friday, CTO of the Wireless Networking Group for Cisco Systems, co-presenting with MGM Resorts International Vice President of Technology Strategy, John Bollen, on strategic advantages of Wi-Fi. A second keynote will feature Bill Briggs, Global Deloitte Digital Lead and Deputy CTO of Deloitte Consulting. Bill will review the findings of Deloitte's Annual Technology Trends report with a focus on how to apply those learnings to the hospitality marketplace.

Additional sessions will cover topics such as understanding how to manage technology for guests with differing needs; evolving changes in core hotel systems; new Wi-Fi standards for identification, authentication, and pairing mobile devices; and use of HTNG workgroup products.

A special session will highlight the first public presentation of a comprehensive new payment card security framework for the hospitality industry. Security experts from more than a dozen hotel companies have collaborated over the past 18 months to produce this framework, which holds the promise of removing hotel systems from the scope of PCI requirements entirely. Participating hotel companies have reported that some of their system providers are already working on new products and services defined by the framework, and one leading PCI security consultant described a key element of the framework as a "brilliant" concept that could have usefulness far beyond the hospitality industry.

Speakers will include:

  • Ken Barnes – VP of IT, White Lodging Services
  • John Bell – Enterprise Architect, Marriott International
  • Mark Bayerkohler – Security Consultant, Trustwave
  • John Burns – President, Hospitality Technology Consulting Peter Engel - CTO, Marcus Hotels & Resorts
  • Peter Engel – CTO, Marcus Hotels & Resorts
  • Vineet Gupta – Executive VP & CIO, Fairmont Raffles Hotels International
  • Tim Harvey – CEO & President, Core Ideas, LLC (former Executive VP & CIO, Hilton Worldwide)
  • Dan Kornick – SVP & CIO, Wyndham Hotel Group
  • Christian Palomino – IT Operations Networks & Security Director, Meliá Hotels International
  • Jim Peterson – Senior Vice President, Enterprise Architecture, Marriott International
  • Anand Rao – CIO, Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts
  • Sukhvinder Singh – SVP & CIO, Host Hotels & Resorts
  • Franklin Tallah – Senior Professional Services Consultant, Verizon Business
  • Todd Thompson – Former CIO, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide
  • Rohit Verma – Professor, Service Operations Management & Executive Director, Center for Hospitality Research, Cornell University School of Hotel Administration
  • Yvette Vincent – Director of Information Systems, Delaware North Companies

HTNG working group members will provide short, business-oriented updates of ongoing HTNG work. Additional speakers covering these efforts will include:

  • Eric Eichensehr – CTO, The SmarTV Company
  • David Heckaman – Vice President-IT, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group
  • Dayna Kully – Co-Founder, 5thGenWireless
  • Mark Jarman – President, GuestWare
  • Garrett Mathieu – VP, Development & Technical Services, Senate Hospitality Group
  • Vanessa Ogle – President/CEO,Enseo
  • Akhtar Rashid – Senior Software Developer, Agilysys
  • Philipp A. Roosli – CTO, Inncom International
  • Neil Schubert – Vice President of IT Strategy, Marriott International
  • Richard Wagner – Director of Emerging Technologies, Marriott International
  • Todd Wood – VP of Technology, The Americas and Global Applications, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group

HTNG's conferences are recognized for their relevance to both technical and business executives, their non-commercial nature, unparalleled networking and low cost. For a complete list of sessions and speakers, visit the North American Conference Agenda page.

While the 1.5-day conference is a highlight of the week and targets general hotel management and technology executives, other meetings include working sessions for HTNG forums and working groups on February 25 and 26 as well as a popular hoteliers-only IT Leaders' Roundtable on the afternoon of February 28. The roundtable is for senior hotel IT executives to gather and compare notes around critical issues; vendors cannot attend this session.

Attendance at HTNG conference itself is open to anyone employed by a hospitality company. Technology providers, consultants and other industry participants who are current HTNG members are also welcome. For more information or to register, visit the home page of the North American Conference Week.

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About Hospitality Technology Next Generation (HTNG)

Part of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), HTNG the premier technology solutions association in the hospitality industry, HTNG serves members from hospitality companies, technology vendors to hospitality, consultants, media and academic experts. HTNG's members participate in focused workgroups to bring to market open solution sets addressing specific business problems. HTNG fosters the selection and adoption of existing open standards and also develops new open standards to meet the needs of the global hospitality industry.

Currently more than 400 corporate and individual members from across this spectrum, including world leading hospitality companies and technology vendors, are active HTNG participants. HTNG's Board of Governors, consisting of 22 top IT leaders from hospitality companies around the world, itself has technology responsible for over 3 million guest rooms and world-leading venues. HTNG publishes workgroup proceedings, drafts and specifications for all HTNG members as soon as they are created, encouraging rapid and broad adoption. HTNG releases specifications into the public domain as soon as they are ratified by the workgroups.

Tami Craig
HTNG | Communications Manager
+1 847 303.5560 x204
HTNG

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