Alexey Korobkin

Alexey Korobkin is the Senior Development Director MEA at IHG^®, one of the world’s leading hotel companies. He joined IHG in 2021 and was responsible for leading the expansion of IHG’s brand portfolio in the Russia, CIS, Georgia, Ukraine & Baltics region through franchise and management agreements. Since 2022 he joined the MEA team and is looking after among others the expansion in the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia, Egypt, Oman, Kuwait and further countries.

Prior to joining IHG in 2021, Alexey spent 8 years in development roles at Azimut Hotels, Marriott International and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). In that time, Alexey helped to expand the portfolio of brands in the region and drive strong returns for owners. Prior to working in hotel development, Alexey headed the Moscow Consulting & Valuation practice of HVS Global Hospitality Services, where he specialized in strategic consulting, valuations and investment advisory across Russia & the CIS.

Alexey also worked for various hotel management companies within the hospitality industry across Europe, USA and Russia in operational departments including Rooms Division, Revenue Management and Food & Beverage.

Alexey obtained a BSc in Economics and Finance from the University of London, and holds an MBA in Hotel Management from César Ritz, Switzerland.

Nishant Kumar

Nishant Kumar is the Director of Development for South West Asia at IHG®, responsible for the development and growth of IHG’s brand portfolio across the region.

Nishant has over 18 years of experience in Real Estate, Infrastructure and the hospitality industry. Since joining IHG in 2017, he has been instrumental in expanding IHG’s brand footprint across the South West Asia region. His key signings include the debut of the Staybridge Suites brand in Bengaluru, the ‘Silicon Valley of India’, InterContinental Bengaluru, and relaunching the InterContinental brand in Sri Lanka with the signing of InterContinental Colombo. He also led the signing of a four-hotel portfolio deal under Holiday Inn brand family, which uniquely positions IHG as the first international operator in the Buddhist Circuit of India.

Prior to IHG, Nishant was with Starwood Hotel & Resorts where he was a key member of its i100 plan to induce strong growth momentum for its brands in SWA region.. Before joining Starwood, Nishant was with DLF Limited, where he represented the ownership core team to form the DLF-Hilton joint venture in India, as well as the acquisition of Aman Resorts portfolio in 2007.

Nishant holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, majoring in Finance with a minor in Economics and received his PGDBA from IMT Ghaziabad.

Shi'ai Liang

Shi'ai Liang is the Senior Development Director for South East Asia & Korea at IHG^®, one of the world’s leading hotel companies. She is responsible for the expansion of IHG’s brand portfolio across South East Asia & Korea, particularly in Malaysia, Maldives and Cambodia.

Shi'ai joined IHG with over 14 years of experience in hotel development. Prior to IHG, she was Vice President, Head of Development APAC for Blueground, the world's leading flexible living operator. During her time with Blueground, she signed strategic partnership agreements for Blueground's entry into Japan and Thailand. Before Blueground, she held hotel development roles with Marriott International, Rosewood Hotel Group, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts and Pan Pacific Hotels Group.

Shi’ai holds a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture degree from the National University of Singapore and a Master of Management in Hospitality from Cornell University, with a concentration in real estate finance.

Mudassir Naqib

Mudassir Naqib is the Development Director for South West Asia at IHG®, one of the world’s leading hotel companies. He is responsible for the development and growth of IHG’s brand portfolio across the region.

Ram Narayanan

Ram Narayanan is the Senior Development Manager for Indonesia at IHG®, one of the world’s leading hotel companies. He is responsible for the expansion of IHG’s brand portfolio across Indonesia.

Ram brings over 14 years of real estate and project experience across Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Prior to IHG, he was with Pomeroy Studio in Singapore as property & real estate associate. Prior to that, he was Head of Business Development and International Sales at Sinar Mas Land in Indonesia, where he specialised in negotiations for international joint ventures and managed property development cycles, with some exposure to hotel resort planning and management contracts.

His past experience also includes roles in the proptech sector with Cloud Kitchens, management consulting with Deloitte, and with the Malaysian Government as a public transport regulator. 

Ram holds an Honours degree in Economics from the University of Durham and has lived and worked across 5 countries.

James Oh

James Oh is Development Director for South East Asia & Korea at IHG®, one of the world’s leading hotel companies. Based in Seoul, James is responsible for the strategic growth of IHG brands in Korea. 

James brings 14 years of experience in real estate and hospitality industry, in various roles in some of the largest real estate asset management firms in Korea, from investments to ownership and asset management of hotels. With his knowledge and experience in hotel ownership companies, James has a strong understanding of the needs of hotel owners and is well versed to provide creative investment structures to drive successful outcomes.

Prior to joining IHG, he was Investment Director for Aju Hotels & Resorts, where he successfully led an acquisition of four hotels in the U.S. with diversified structures. Prior to Aju, James was the Head of Hotel Investment at Mirae Asset Global Investments where he led multi-billion dollar hotel investment deals and handled the firm's hotel group strategies. Before joining Mirae, he was with IGIS AMC where he spearheaded outbound commercial real estate investments.

James also held various roles in hotel brokerage and consultancy. He was previously the Country Representative for Hodges Ward Elliott, where he led the firm’s brokerage business development in Asia, and provided tailored solutions for investors hotel acquisitions.

James holds a Bachelor's degree in Hospitality Management from New York University and is a registered fund manager in the Republic of Korea.

Philip Ryan

Philip Ryan is Director of Development for Japan and Director of Capital Investments & Transactions for Asia Pacific. Based in Tokyo, he is responsible for working with hotel investors and owners on new hotels and conversions and executing IHG’s strategic growth in Japan and the region.

Abhijay Sandilya

Abhijay Sandilya is Managing Director - Japan at IHG®, one of the world’s leading hotel companies. He is responsible for the company’s strategic growth, performance and operations in Japan.

Prior to taking on this role in October 2021, Abhijay spent nearly 6 years with IHG in Australia where he most recently led IHG’s Development team as VP Development - Japan, Australasia, Pacific. Together with his team in Sydney and Tokyo, he was responsible for IHG’s biggest years of signings and openings on record in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, New Caledonia and Micronesia – signing almost 60 deals and reshaping the JAPAC region from 60 operating hotels in 2016 to more than 140 open and pipeline hotels today.

Key signings in his time with IHG have included the Appi Kogen portfolio, IHG’s biggest conversion deal in more than a decade in Japan, the first voco and Vignette Collection hotels globally, and market entries for Hotel Indigo, Kimpton and Regent.

Prior to his time at IHG, Abhijay worked for Whitbread PLC and the Jumeirah Group in Singapore and Dubai holding key leadership positions working on hotel real estate acquisitions for the groups working across markets in the Middle East, Africa and the Asia Pacific regions.

Abhijay has lived and worked in eight countries and holds a Master’s degree from Erasmus University’s Rotterdam School of Management.

Matthew Tripolone

Matthew Tripolone is Managing Director - Australasia & Pacific at IHG®, one of the world’s leading hotel companies. He is responsible for the company’s strategic growth, performance and operations in the Australasia & Pacific region.

Matthew was previously based in Dubai as Vice President of Development for IHG’s Middle East & Africa region since 2018, where he built and led the team that signed 17,000 keys, delivering unparalleled growth and signings for the Group, including the first Kimpton in MEA, and the world’s largest Crowne Plaza and voco hotels in the world.

Prior to that, Matthew headed development for IHG in Australasia & Japan, where he was responsible for IHG’s growth and doubled the annual signings, including iconic properties including InterContinental Perth, Crowne Plaza Christchurch, Crowne Plaza Sydney Darling Harbour and InterContinental Hayman Island Resort, as well as the renewal of several strategic portfolios for the group.

He joined IHG in 2014 from Accor Hotels where he held the role of General Manager, Development – Pacific, since 2008. Prior to that Matthew has worked for a number of leading real estate and advisory companies specialising in development, planning and site acquisition.

Matthew holds a Bachelor of Arts and Masters in Urban & Regional Planning from the University of Sydney.