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.

Valentina Laborde

Valentina drives the promotion, prospecting, and sales of all IHG brands throughout Mexico. A 15-year veteran of IHG, she previously served as Direct Marketing Commercial Director for MegaDirect and Director Corporate/Founding Partner at Globacom. Valentina has a degree in Business Administration from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico and has completed a graduate seminar on studies in tourism. Passionate about travel, walk, art, music, and culture, Valentina loves sharing experiences with her two sons, such as exploring museums, observing architecture, and tasting new foods. When at home, she enjoys hosting gatherings and cooking meals for her family.

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.

Alex Mai

Alex é responsável por definir a estratégia, planejamento, negociação/execução de transações hoteleiras e gerenciamento do crescimento e expansão de todas as marcas para os Hotels & Resorts da marca IHG nos países da América Latina e Caribe. Alex tem mais de 25 anos de experiência prática em hotéis, resorts, gerenciamento de marca, imóveis e operação. Ele tem trabalhado em centenas de ativos de hotéis, negociações e desempenho de hotéis nos Estados Unidos, Américas Latinas e Caribe.

Prior to joining IHG, Alex was the Head of Development and Vice President of development for Latin America & Caribbean for Choice Hotels International and Radisson Hotels Group Americas, where he was responsible for the growth of all brands. Alex was also President & Founder of ALBA Hospitality from 2020 to 2022, where he was responsible for strategic asset positioning, management contract negotiations, and hotel real estate transactions. Prior to that, Alex worked for Hilton Hotels Corporation from 2007 to 2020 holding various Management positions in Development, Brand Management for Full & Focused Service, Owners Relations, and Training. In his free time, Alex enjoys exercising outdoors with his wife and Siberian Husky and watching European Soccer matches. 

Miguel Martins

Miguel Martins is the Head of Development for Northern Europe at IHG®, one of the world’s leading hotel companies. He is responsible for leading and developing IHG’s brand portfolio across Northern Europe, covering 17 countries, and identifying new business opportunities.

Miguel and his team work collaboratively with development partners to deliver value for both franchised and managed hotels across luxury, upscale and mainstream brands. In his tenure with IHG, he has since signed over 40 new deals across the Northern Europe region.

With extensive international experience in hotel development and hotel operations, he has been involved in over 20 projects in Europe, including Portugal, Spain and Poland. Prior to joining IHG in 2015, Miguel co-founded Polish Hotel Company, a strategic growth Partner, responsible for the roll out of some of IHG’s most well-known brands in Poland, such as Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Hotel Indigo and Crowne Plaza.

Miguel also worked as a Senior Consultant at an international hotel & asset management company based in Portugal where he was involved on various projects under local and international brands and experienced several functions in hotel operations.

Elena McGarry

Elena McGarry is the Development Manager for DACH at IHG®, one of the world’s leading hotel companies. She is responsible for the development and growth of IHG’s brand portfolio across the DACH region, particularly in Germany and Austria.

Alex Moeckel

Alex Moeckel é o vice-presidente de desenvolvimento da IHG Hotels & Resorts, responsável pelo crescimento de luxo e marca Premium nos pedidos do Leste, bem como no Centro-Oeste dos EUA e no Leste do Canadá. Bem versado na marca anterior do IHG, Alex foi, mais recentemente, Vice-presidente de desenvolvimento para a Mid-Atlantic Pedidos e, antes disso, Diretor de Desenvolvimento, onde era responsável pelo desenvolvimento, crescimento do serviço seletivo do IHG e extensão do Staybridge Suites anterior. Sr. Moeckel entrou no IHG pela primeira vez há 10anos como gerente de desenvolvimento para a América do Norte e América Latina, trabalhando fora do escritório de Atlanta. Antes de trabalhar no IHG, Alex trabalhou em Nova York, onde progrediu por cargos de responsabilidade crescente em hotéis de responsabilidade crescente em hotéis de luxo como o All Luxury Hotels of the World, Eastdil Secured e Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts. Alex se formar pela School of Hospitality Management da University of Delaware e atualmente faz parte do conselho da University of Delaware Hospitality & Sports Business Management School. Além de passar tempo com a esposa e os dois filhos, Alex adora viajar, desfrutar de novas comidas, jogar golfe, esquiar e surfar. Ele também é um apoiante ativo da National Parks Conservation Association, do Adirondack Council e da Nature Conservancy.

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.