Tobias Elwood

Tobias was elected as Member of Parliament for Bournemouth East in May 2005. In January 2006 he was appointed Opposition Whip and in July 2007 was promoted to the post of Shadow Minister for Culture Media and Sport where he is responsible for a portfolio including tourism, gambling and licensing.

Tobias completed the senior executive course in National and International Studies at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University in the summer of 2009 and in his role as an MP, continues to take an interest in military matters, specialising in post-conflict operations, and is a frequent visitor to the Middle East, in particular Iraq and Afghanistan. In October 2002 he lost his brother in Bali bomb attacks.

Tobias is married to Hannah and they have a son, Alexander who was born in October 2008. Their constituency home is in Strouden, Bournemouth. Tobias is a governor at the Queen's Park Infant School, Bournemouth and has also been a borough councillor.

Outside of politics, Tobias a keen sportsman and is training with the UK shooting squad for the 2012 London Olympics. He also plays the saxophone, enjoys the theatre and he is an Eagle Scout.

Amanda Vinnicombe

Director Talent Development EMEA, InterContinental Hotels

Andrew Ghijben

Andrew Ghijben is the Senior Partnership Manager at Business Link and London. Business Link in London (funded by the London Development Agency) supports people that are thinking of starting a business, have started a business or our now wanting to grow a business. BLIL does this by offering free and impartial business advice and identifying the needs of the businesses to provide the required support to support the business owner.

Andrew started his career in the fledgling years of the Call Centre boom within the UK. He quickly became a Senior Operations Manager for one of the premier outsourcing contact centre specialists (Dimension Data) in the Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Andrew then held the position of Contact Centre Consultant where he used his experience and expertise in supporting Start Up and Established Contact Centres in the EMEA region.

In 2003 Andrew took the position of Senior Relationship Service Manager in Business Link in London, with a primary focus on supporting SME’s with their growth plans. During his 6 years at BLIL he has held a number of positions, from being a manager of Business Advisors to setting up and managing a Business Development Team.

In the last year, Andrew took on the role of Senior Partnership Manager. The role is focused on positioning BLIL as the Gateway to business support within the Capital, with the main challenges being to ensure that the provision of all public and private sector services/programmes are accessible to the SME’s of London.”

Chris Daniels

Chris Daniels is Head of London 2012 Activation for the Wholesale division of Lloyds Banking Group.  This division covers all companies, ranging from sole traders to multinationals, and also includes the Capital Markets team and trading floor.  The role covers business development, as well as both employee and client engagement.

An Oxford mathematics graduate with an MBA from IESE Business School in Barcelona, Chris was most recently Head of Financial Institution Sales & Business Development in Bank of Scotland Treasury. Prior to that he spent a period in Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets Sales and 6 years in Barclays Capital Structured Capital Markets, Corporate Risk and Derivatives sales, covering the financing and risk management needs of a range of clients. 

Prior to joining the Banking industry Chris was an Officer in the Parachute Regiment for 5 years, an Expedition Leader and Youth development facilitator for the Prince’s Trust. His passion for sport and the Olympics is ably demonstrated in his selection as Athletes Services Manager for the Modern Pentathlon event at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, his current participation in the UK Over-40’s athletics team, his athletics coaching qualifications and his chairmanship of the Oxford University Cross Country Club alumni organisation.  He is married with 2 young boys.

Chris Foy

Chris Foy heads VisitBritain’s 2012 Games Unit, developing the strategy, and actions to ensure that the whole of the UK visitor economy benefits from the 2012 Games.

He joined VisitBritain in 2003 to manage relations with strategic partners across the UK. Prior to that he was business development manager at LTB / Visit London. In 2005 he became a non executive director of the Lancashire & Blackpool Tourist Board .

Chris Galvin

Chris Galvin’s career has spanned thirty years in a variety of restaurants and hotels on both sides of the Atlantic. Originally inspired by the cooking of his grandmother, he began 30 years ago working in a neighbourhood restaurant under Antony Worrall-Thompson, later joining the brigade at The Ritz hotel in London led by Michael Quinn.

Chris teamed up again with Worrall-Thompson in New York as Head Chef at Menage à Trois, before returning to London and working at L’Escargot and The Lanesborough Hotel. He joined Conran Restaurants where he worked with Sir Terence Conran for ten years; one of the highlights of his time here was the launch of Orrery in 1997 which gained a Michelin star in 2000. Chris also saw his responsibilities expanded when he was promoted to Chef Director of the group.

In 2003 Chris joined The Wolseley as Executive Chef, where the restaurant earned numerous accolades including Time Out Restaurant of the Year, AA London Restaurant of the Year and inclusion in Restaurant Magazine’s ‘50 Best Restaurants’ for two consecutive years. Brothers Chris and Jeff Galvin teamed up to open their first solo venture Galvin Bistrot de Luxe in Baker Street in September 2005. Jeff’s previous experience includes six years in Soho’s one Michelin starred L’ Escargot (in the Picasso Room), at 3 Star Michelin Chez Nico at 90 Park Lane, The Greenhouse and 3 Star Michelin The Oak Room with Marco Pierre White.

In May 2006, Chris and Jeff launched Galvin at Windows, on the 28th floor of the London Hilton on Park Lane, with André Garrett (ex-Orrery) as their Head Chef.

Most recently Chris and Jeff opened two new City-based restaurants. Galvin La Chapelle is a grand dining room housed in the 19th Century Grade 2 listed St Botolph’s Hall serving bistro-plus cuisine. The adjoining Café de Luxe is a contemporary all day pavement café with interconnecting oyster bar. www.galvinrestaurants.com

Chris Hale

Prof. David Russell

Prof. David Russell founded The Russell Partnership in 1989. At the outset the Partnership vision was the creation and effective delivery of bespoke commercially viable food and drink solutions. Twenty years later that passion and vision remains intact. David has pioneered and driven food and drink solutions within organisations as diverse as Accenture, Ashridge Business School, BAA, Chandon Estates, DCMS, The Eden Project, English Heritage, House of Commons, InterContinental Hotel Group, London 2012, Marsh, MCC at Lord’s, NEC, The United Nations and Wimbledon

In his former corporate career he was the Group Managing Director of Town and County Limited, then Europe’s largest private catering company, holder of three royal warrants and operating in three sectors of the industry, corporate, public and event.

Prior to this appointment he was Food and Beverage Director for the 240 Forte (UK) hotels; successfully introducing food modelling and developing and implementing the group’s branded restaurant strategy.

David read Hospitality Management at Leeds, is a Freeman of the City of London, a Professor of Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and is a Trustee and Board member for Food for the Brain, The Brain Bio Centre and the British Food Trust.

Hans van Driem

Managing Director, Holland Business Promotion Office

In 1988, Hans was appointed Director Commercial & Operational Affairs of the World Horticulture Exhibition Floriade 1992 in Holland. This successful international exhibition attracted 3.3 million paying visitors during 6 month’s.

After the Floriade he continued his career in 1993 as Managing Director of Walibi Flevo. He was responsible for the design, construction and operation of this new theme park and the adjacent festival park with events such as the ‘World Jamboree 1995’ and the music & dance festival ‘Lowlands Paradise’. Between 1997 and 2000 he was responsible for the development, construction of one of the largest new theme parks in the Netherlands: Six Flags Holland, the festival park with a camping for 60.000 visitors and a bungalow park.

In 2000 he was appointed as Managing Director of the Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions, NBTC. During his time as director, various mergers and reorganisations have been executed in order to streamline and develop the organization into a professional International Destination Sales & Marketing Company. Under his leadership, Holland.Com has been developed into the major destination information and bookings website of the Netherlands. In combination with the successful event Rembrandt 400, this resulted in a record number of 10 million foreign tourist arrivals in the Netherlands in 2006.

In March 2007, he was appointed as Managing Director of the Holland Business Promotion Office (HBPO). The main task of HBPO is to coordinate the international business promotion of the economic sectors of Holland and to position Holland as one of the top economic regions of Europe during international events like the World Expo 2010 China , Olympic Games, etc.

Hans van Driem (62) is married, has two sons and lives in Epe, in the Netherlands.

Martin-Christian Kent

Research and Policy Director, People 1st

Martin-Christian Kent is the research and policy director at People 1st. People 1st is the Sector Skills Council for the hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism sector which aims to raise the skills and performance of the sector.

Martin-Christian oversees the team responsible for research, qualifications and skills policy. He has over 15 years experience as a labour market researcher in various sector skills bodies. He has previously worked in the hospitality industry in both France and the United Kingdom and as such is well positioned to talk about the practical issues facing skills development and policy. He has a MSc in Organizational Behaviour and is due to embark on his Ph.D focusing on the skills utilization of managers.

Mike Mulvey

Mike started his career in the Merchant Navy and spent many years in various senior management roles in the ferry industry, working both in the UK and Europe.  As Director of Purchasing and Supply for Sealink, he was the world’s third largest buyer of duty free goods.  Mike also ran a hotel in Northern Ireland and set up and ran a major UK-wide distribution company providing ‘just in time’ deliveries 24/7. 

He went on to acquire his own ferry company, carrying five million passengers and one million cars a year to the Isle of Wight. During his career he has owned and operated a world-renowned restaurant, a West End nightclub, a tour-operating company and a perfume and beauty salon.

More recently he has worked for Serco as Customer and Support Services Director for the Docklands Light Railway and Bid Director for two major rail franchises. He is currently seconded to the London Business Board to set up and lead the London Business Network in the promotion of business opportunities arising from the 2012 Games.