Burkhard Kieker has been Chief Executive Officer of Berlin Tourismus & Kongress GmbH, operating under the trade name visitBerlin, since 1 January 2009. He is responsible for marketing Berlin worldwide as tourism and congress destination as well as maintaining the brand Berlin.

In his career to date, he held positions in the German industry with Deutsche Lufthansa AG and headed the Aviation Marketing of Berlin Airports. As journalist, he worked for RIAS Berlin, the weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT in Hamburg, and the television channel Deutsche Welle. Burkhard Kieker completed the International Executive Program (IEP) at INSEAD Business School.

Asbjørn Overgaard took up the position as CEO in Copenhagen Capacity on 1 June 2020 being at the forefront of attracting and retaining foreign companies and talents, with the aim of creating growth and development in Greater Copenhagen. Throughout his career, Asbjørn has worked in both private companies and public organizations and close to the political decision-making process. Asbjørn has a long experience from positions as Director of Danish Shipping, a number of positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including Private Secretary to the Minister of Trade and Investment, Deputy Ambassador and Deputy Director of Invest in Denmark.

Patricia Yates has been the CEO of Visit Britain since April 2022. Patricia has been with the national tourism agency since 2005 and was previously its Director of Strategy & Communications. She is responsible for research, tourism affairs and communications. Patricia started her career as a journalist including a long period editing Holiday Which? She also launched and edited the Which? Guide to Hotels for many years. Patricia is the Chair of TIER – the Tourism Industry Emergency Response group - which coordinates the tourism industry messaging at times of crisis.

Øyvind Såtvedt is the managing director of Oslo Region Alliance, which consists of the City of Oslo and 64 neighbouring municipalities. The Oslo Region Alliance organizes campaigns to attract international investors and talent to the Oslo Region, and was together with Oslo Business Region awarded the City Nation Place “Place Brand of the Year” award in 2015. Øyvind is a political scientist, has worked as consultant and researcher, and was chief of staff for Oslo’s Governing Mayor from 2000 to 2007. He lives in Oslo with his wife and two children.

Rachel Ferguson is VISIT PHILADELPHIA’s chief innovation and global diversity officer. In this role, she is charged with helping to grow the leisure tourism segment by identifying and leading marketing programs focused on multicultural and multigenerational travelers and new geographic markets. Ferguson leads the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion program, communications and revenue-generating partnerships.

Under Ferguson’s leadership, the organization launched award-winning campaigns to attract Latinx travelers (Filadelfia — You Gotta Feel It), LGBTQ audiences (Philadelphia Pioneers on the Road to Stonewall), women (City of Sisterly Love) and African American travelers ( Love + Grit podcast).

In 2021, Ferguson led VISIT PHILADELPHIA’s partnership with Wawa Welcome America and the African American Museum in Philadelphia to make the commemoration of Juneteenth part of the city’s annual Independence Day festival. And she played an integral role in the formation of the company’s Diversity Fellowship Program, designed to increase the number of diverse professionals in the hospitality industry.

Prior to joining VISIT PHILADELPHIA, Ferguson worked as a communications executive at CBS New York for seven years, serving on the steering committee for the CBS Corporation Diversity Council and creating the inaugural Sisters for the Cure brunch in New York City to address health disparities impacting African American women as related to breast cancer.

Ferguson is currently a campaign ambassador for “Our Community. Our Health,” a joint initiative of Independence Blue Cross and The Philadelphia Tribune to improve the health of the African American community in the Philadelphia region. She was named one of the Philadelphia Business Journal’s “2021 Women of Achievement,” received The Philadelphia Tribune’s “2021 Most Influential African Americans” award and was one of the Tribune’s “2020 Women of Achievement” recipients.

Ferguson has served on the board of directors of the Susan G. Komen Foundation and the Communications Advisory Committee of the U.S. Travel Association. She is a graduate of Penn State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in public relations, advertising and applied communication.

Jos Vranken (1967) has been NBTC’s Managing Director since 1 September 2007.

NBTC is the Dutch national destination management organisation, responsible for the development, branding and marketing of the Netherlands as a destination.

After graduating from the Breda University of Applied Sciences, Jos Vranken started his professional career in 1990 at the former Netherlands Board of Tourism (NBT). In 1996, having held various positions, he joined Stayokay, the Dutch hostel chain, as its Sales & Marketing Manager and member of the Management Team.

In 1999, he moved to London to head up NBTC’s UK & Ireland office. Soon after, his role was extended to Regional director for the Nordic countries. Following a five-year tenure in London, Jos Vranken returned to NBTC head office to take on the role of International Marketing Director and joined the Management Team.

Early 2005, Jos Vranken accepted a new challenge at the contract catering company Avenance Nederland (which has since become part of Compass Group), where he fulfilled the position of Commercial Director and was a member of the Board.

On 1 September 2007, Jos Vranken re-joined NBTC as its Managing Director.

He is a member of the Dutch Hospitality Association and the Validation Committee for the development of a Professional Doctorate in Leisure, Tourism & Hospitality. He also holds a non-executive role in the Supervisory Board of the Dutch Football Association (KNVB) and the Economic Board West Holland.

Astrid is the Director of Marketing Drenthe, a destination marketing organization for Drenthe, a province in the North East of the Netherlands. She has more than 30 years of experience in tourism, marketing and communication, and public-private partnerships and has worked for several Dutch destination marketing organizations. She did this for both regions and cities in various positions in which she was responsible for marketing policy and strategic relationship management.

Since 2019, Cor is the  CEO of Utrecht Marketing, the destination Marketing Organisation of the city of Utrecht. Utrecht Marketing is devoted to visitor marketing and to promoting the cultural offerings of Utrecht. We additionally fulfil a broader role by helping to attract (international) talent and by supporting new enterprise. We stimulate Utrecht citizens’ pride in the city and region, and pursue a more strategic role with respect to themes such as inclusivity, sustainability, and the right balance between growth and liveability.

Cor has more than 30 years experience in marketing & communications positions in higher education: last 9 years at Utrecht University as Director of Regional

Co-operation and Strategic Alliances, and director Communications & Marketing for Utrecht University, one of Europe’s leading research universities. In this position he was one of the founder fathers of Utrecht Marketing, founded in 2016.

Prior to Utrecht University, he worked in the field of Communication & Marketing for several universities: University of Groningen, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and HU Utrecht University of Applied Sciences.

From 2013 untill 2019 he also served as President of the Business Peloton Utrecht (BPU). The BPU initiated and supports Utrecht's ambition of becoming the first city in the world to host all the major world cycling tours: the Giro d’Italia (2010), the Tour de France (2015) and the Vuelta a España in 2022.

Liina Maria is the Member of the Board in Enterprise Estonia responsible for all the international services the government agency offers: tourism, attracting talent and foreign investments, export but also promoting Estonian digital nation and our first in the world e-residency programme. As all of the services are very much dependent on strong nation brand then as a keen brand enthusiast and proud Estonian Liina Maria is actively also involved in Estonian brand developments. Previously Liina Maria has been the Director of Estonian Tourist Board, promoter of digital society of Estonia, CEO of a film studio project and has long-term experience in banking.

Anu Syrmä is the Director for Brand, Marketing and Communications for Helsinki Partners, a company owned by the city of Helsinki, attracting international visitors, talent and investments to Finland’s capital. Before joining Helsinki, Anu has worked in various leadership roles doing international sales and marketing eg. for brands Reima, Nokia, Coca-Cola, L’Oréal.

Matt Painter is the UK Managing Director of Ipsos Corporate Reputation. He leads a team of 40 people, based in London and Edinburgh. Previously Head of Research at Echo Research Ltd and Ebiquity plc, Matt has specialised in brand, reputation and corporate communications for 20 years. Over this time he has worked with some of the world’s most renowned businesses, as well as national governments, universities, NGOs and media outlets.

Matt is a regular speaker and author on reputation issues and the emerging trends facing corporate communicators.

Mark is Professor of Public Policy at King’s College London.  He has been a government adviser at the No10 Strategy Unit, a civil servant at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, and a policy director for all three London Mayors, leading a range of policy work on the economy and business, migration, urban governance, regulation, smart cities and technology, housing and homelessness, and Brexit.  

Mark has held academic posts at the University of Cambridge and the London School of Economics, as well as a chair in International Social Policy at the University of Bristol. In 2015, he was a Visiting Scholar at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, and in 2019 a Visiting Fellow at the City Futures Research Centre, University of New South Wales. He is a former Policy Fellow at the Centre for Science and Policy, University of Cambridge

He is the author or co-author of four books, including A European Welfare State? (Palgrave) and Working Capital: Life and Labour in Contemporary London (Routledge) and more than 100 published papers. He has spoken at many academic and policy conferences in the UK, Europe, USA, Canada, Australia, China and Japan. Mark has also been a consultant to the OECD, the European Commission, government departments, local authorities, and major UK and global companies.

Chris Woodall is Head of Brand Partnerships for the WSJ/Barron's Group in EMEA & APAC. He oversees all sales aspects of Dow Jones’ content offerings and works with the wider News Corp divisions to create proactive new partnership sales opportunities. Chris started in media 18 years ago at ITV and has held roles at The Economist and Bloomberg before joining The Wall Street Journal in 2016.   

Georgios Filiopoulos is the CEO of Enterprise Greece, Greece's national investment and trade promotion agency. Before serving in the public sector, Mr. Filiopoulos worked as a business executive for various companies and organizations in the U.S. and Greece.

He received his MBA from HEC Paris, holds an MA in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, an MA in Journalism from the University of Memphis, and a BA in Advertising from Kansas State University.

Kevin leads communications for investment promotion agency IDA Ireland where he is a member of the Executive Leadership team. As part of his role, Kevin handles a diverse portfolio of areas for IDA Ireland including: corporate communications, brand, reputation, political communications, events, crisis and internal communications.

Sithembile Ntombela has been part of the Brand South Africa team for over a decade. A prolific marketer with over 22 years of marketing experience in private and public sector and has a deep understanding of the marketing and brand environments.

She has extensive classical marketing experience in FMCG, global marketing, and destination (Nation Brand) marketing. A leader with the mission to innovate and improve overall company performance. She is a prudent decision-maker and an inspiring leader that strives to build high performing teams.

Sithembile has held senior managerial positions from diverse companies and her experiences include developing and implementing impactful, successful, and sustainable brand strategies.

Sithembile completed her Marketing undergraduate qualification at Mangosuthu University of Technology in KZN. She later pursued and completed a Post Graduate National Diploma in Marketing and BPHIL Honours in Marketing through the Institute of Marketing Management (IMM) and a Masters in Commerce (MCOM) from MANCOSA.

She is a Chartered Marketer (CM-SA) with the Marketing Association of South Africa (MASA) and a member of Black Management Forum.

She is also an Advisory board member the CMO Council (Sub Saharan Africa) and City Nation Place where she continues to share her insights relating to dynamics in brand and marketing world.

Since 2003 Mr. Torres has been advising Countries in the field of Nation Branding and City Branding, working directly with heads of state, directors of National Tourism Organizations and Investment Promotion Agencies.

His clients include Countries, Regions and Cities such as Australia, Brazil, Cleveland, Costa Rica, Finland, Jamaica, Oman, Poland, Riyadh, South Africa, Stockholm and many others spread across all five continents.

Mr. Torres collaborates directly with the World Economic Forum in the matters of Nation Branding and is a guest speaker in some of the most prestigious universities in USA and Europe, such as NYU, HARVARD, the London School of Economics, Stockholm School of Economics and many others, being interviewed by The Economist, BBC, Guardian and CNN.

He is the co-author of the recently published textbook Nation and Place Branding: An Applied Approach to Building the Image of Countries, Regions, and Cities, author of the Nation Brand Builders and co-author of several academic papers covering Nation and City Branding.

Bloom Consulting lead manager on the first-ever study on the impact of Nation Brands and City Brands on local and global economies.

Find out more on Bloom Consulting website: www.bloom-consulting.com

David is the CEO and founder of Brand Finance Plc. He has worked in the area of branded business, brand, and intangible asset valuation since 1991. He specialised entirely in the field after becoming the Director of Brand Valuation for Interbrand in 1995. He subsequently left Interbrand in 1996 to launch Brand Finance.

David pioneered the Brand Finance Nation Brands study over 15 years ago and has led the development of our practice from nation brand valuation to soft power insight. He has extensive experience working with nations, regions, and cities, including the GREAT Campaign, Brand South Africa, Seoul Metropolitan Government, and Italian Trade Agency. He has provided strategic advice on tourism and foreign investment campaigns to governments and place brand managers on all continents.

David is a passionate writer and has authored many articles for the marketing and financial press on nation branding and brand valuation, published in numerous newspapers and magazines, such as: Financial Times, Accountancy Age, and Marketing Week. He has also lectured on the topic of brand valuation for Harvard, Chicago, and London Business Schools.

David graduated from Bristol University with an English degree, qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse in London, and obtained a postgraduate diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Parul leads the team of analysts and consultants behind Brand Finance’s annual Global 500, Nation Brands, and Global Soft Power Index studies. She has a wealth of experience in Business and Brand Valuation working across sectors, specialising in Nation Branding, Food & Drinks, and Utilities. She is an experienced research and data analyst with survey experience across a range of evaluation and research issues.

Parul has worked with a variety of clients such as GREAT Campaign and PromPeru. She has a BSc in Economics and Economic History from the London School of Economics and is a chartered global management accountant, CIMA. 

Jaume Mata is the head of sustainable tourism at Visit València Foundation (the city’s destination management organization), where he coordinates the city’s strategy to become a sustainable destination. He has more than 25 years of experience in tourism planning, marketing and communication. He also has experience in large events organization as Marketing and Communication director, and director of the CEO’s office, of the public Consortium Valencia2007 (created to hold the 32^nd America’s Cup).

He was the Deputy Director of Visit Valencia when the DMO was accredited in 2006 by UNWTO as SBest DMO, and awarded with the Ulysses Award for Innovation in Tourism Governance in 2008.

He holds two Master’s degrees: MSc in Tourism Management from the University of Surrey (UK), and master in Tourism Management from the Polythecnic University of Valencia (Spain), as well as a BSc degree in Economics and business administration (University of Valencia).

He is lecturer at the University of Valencia and the Open University of Catalonia. He collaborated in the UNWTO Handbook. Introduction to Tourism (UNWTO, 1998). He is the author for the chapter: Intelligence and Innovation for City Tourism Sustainability, The Future of Tourism (Springer, 2019)

Claire is Head of Marketing for Brand Scotland at the Scottish Government. Brand Scotland is a strategic marketing and communications partnership that brings together the communications efforts of the Scottish Government and key partners in building Scotland’s global brand and reputation. Brand Scotland is very proud to have won Best Communications Strategy – Place Brand at the most recent City Nation Place Awards in 2022.

Prior to this, Claire spent 7 years leading award-winning behaviour change campaigns for the Scottish Government across climate change, health, road safety and justice, and also has extensive agency experience having spent 5 years as Account Director at one of Scotland’s leading advertising and creative agencies.

Claire is also vice Chair of the Marketing Society Scotland Advisory Board.

An engaged and experienced strategist, advisor and moderator with a deep interest in sustainable development and innovation in destinations, building bridges to achieve results. She has many years of experience in leading the sustainability work within the tourism industry in Gothenburg. As a result, Gothenburg has been named world leader by Global Destination Sustainability Index 2016 – 2019. She was also leading the city’s candidature for European Capital of Smart Tourism 2020.

Ms. Thorstensson has been Head of Sustainability and Senior Advisor of several international meetings and events hosted both nationally and in Gothenburg. She strongly believes in collaboration and has e. g. initiated the ECM Knowledge Group on Sustainability which she is also leading as Chair. She is also a frequent guest lecturer at the University of Gothenburg and at international symposiums.

The  mission of Göteborg & Co is to get more people to discover and choose  Gothenburg. We do this through wide-reaching collaboration, by leading and  promoting the development of Gothenburg as a sustainable destination, so that  everyone who lives and works here benefits from a growing hospitality industry.
  Göteborg & Co is the DMO of the destination, a municipal company owned by  the City of Gothenburg.