Dr. Bryan K. Williams is a keynote speaker, consultant, and author, who is a noted authority on service excellence and leadership effectiveness. His passion is to serve others so they may better serve the world. Over the past several years, Bryan has provided training and consulting expertise to hundreds of organizations in over 20 industries ranging from Healthcare to Luxury Hotels. His work with clients has taken him throughout North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

Ed Skapinok is Chief Commercial Officer for Appellation, a new line of culinary-first boutique hotels opening in Healdsburg, Sun Valley, Petaluma and Pacific Grove over the next few years. A hospitality veteran since 1988, Ed Skapinok is recognized for his accomplishments leading the commercial disciplines at some of the industry’s most notable ownership groups, global hotel brands, and third-party management companies. Prior to joining Appellation, Ed worked as Senior Vice President for Aqua-Aston Hospitality, with additional leadership roles at Hostmark Hospitality Group, Larkspur Hotels & Restaurants, InterContinental Hotels Group, and Sheraton hotels. With a long track record of building and developing winning sales and marketing teams, he is credited with innovations in pricing and revenue management, e-commerce, database marketing, and corporate communications.

Claudia is a consummate hospitality professional with a career that spans 25 years. Her field experience ranges from technology, reservations, e-distribution, revenue management, operations, digital marketing, and data management. Her executive management and branding experience comes from a 10-year role with Hard Rock International where she opened and oversaw revenue and data strategy for 26 hotels around the world. In her more than four years as Sr. Vice President of Revenue Strategy for Margaritaville, Claudia and her team have focused on future proofing the brand on all-things revenue, data, technology, and loyalty. Claudia has extensive experience in the creation, deployment and optimization of initiatives that enhance the revenue capture and data processing power of the organization with staggering results. Claudia speaks regularly about data management and innovation in annual conferences. In her free time, she travels, dances, knits, and draws on walls with a sharpie!

Robert Dawson, a distinguished innovator in the field of hospitality with over 30 years of industry experience, boasts an impressive career spanning over 15 years in Digital Marketing & Web Development. His leadership in online technology innovations encompasses areas such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Website Development, Booking Engine Development, and Custom Website Application Development. Before embarking on a consulting career, Robert served as the VP of Global Digital Marketing for Sabre Hospitality Solutions, a relationship that lasted a decade following the sale of his boutique Digital Agency to Sabre in 2007. As the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of E-site Marketing, he was instrumental in pioneering the development of Hospitality Digital Marketing Solutions. His creative genius led to the creation of many first-to-market technology products, including RezTrack®, MCC (Marketing Communications Center), E-site Marketing's RSS content management solution, and the company's inaugural AJAX-based hotel booking engine. With a rich blend of technological innovation and deep hospitality knowledge, Robert's multifaceted background and unwavering commitment to excellence have solidified his reputation as a leading figure in the industry. His 30+ years of hospitality experience have shaped a career marked by innovation, leadership, and a profound understanding of the ever-evolving landscape of the hospitality sector.

Casper Overbeek is Chief Product Officer at award-winning hotel and lifestyle brand citizenM, where he oversees digital innovation and customer engagement strategy for a rapidly growing global portfolio. A frequent speaker on topics related to balancing technology and human touch in the hotel industry, Casper is regarded as an expert on the future of hospitality. Prior to joining citizenM, Casper worked for KLM and bol.com, one of the largest online retailers in Europe.

Evan Crawford is Corporate Director, Field Marketing for Pyramid, Benchmark Luxury & Lifestyle. Evan leads the strategic marketing vision and oversight of the East region, providing essential support for our regional and property level marketing teams as well as working with the Executive Vice President of Marketing and Branding, and the corporate marketing team to strengthen the brand messaging and communications. Over the past eight years with Benchmark, Evan has played a critical role in helping to elevate the marketing synergies across the portfolio, starting as a marketing manager for Santa Barbara Beach & Golf Resort Curacao. In the years since, Evan has assumed marketing oversight for a wide range of properties across the portfolio including several openings and management transitions. Evan and the properties he supports have been recognized for their achievements including Adrian Awards in Digital Marketing and Social Media, and a variety of Benchmark accolades. Evan is passionate about travel and marketing enjoying exploring new properties and their destinations. Evan lives in Austin, TX with his wife, Amanda, two children, Hayden and Everly, and dogs, Penny, and Lexi. When not working, you can find Evan enjoying time with family or out on the ice playing and coaching hockey.

Toby manages the day to day operations for ConStrata and works personally with many of ConStrata’s top clients to help them leverage their technology investments and bring measurable results to the company’s business operations. Toby Malbec is an “operational technologist” who brings over thirty years of technical and operational expertise to his clients. He began his career in the hotel industry coming up through the operations ranks before getting into the technology domain as hotels were first beginning to embrace the value of technology as a mainstream affordable operational tool. He was responsible for the design and development of some of the first PC-based Property Management Systems for small to mid-sized hotels as well as working on the design of early touchscreen-based POS systems. After ten years in hospitality, Toby was recruited into retail by Saks Fifth Avenue to head up their CRM initiatives and was responsible for designing and managing the development of several key applications including Saks Trak and their E-Client Book. In 2004, Toby assumed the role of Vice President of Business Development for Springer-Miller Systems, one of the premier hotel software companies in the world with applications designed for the resort and high-end luxury properties. In 2008, he joined the IPC (Independent Purchasing Co-Operative), the franchisee-owned arm for Subway restaurants, and was responsible for building and managing the team to build the in-house proprietary restaurant technology platform that would create a standard POS and technology platform for all restaurants worldwide. Subway is the world’s largest restaurant chain with over 37,000 units in over 100 countries. Malbec is a 1985 graduate of the University of Vermont and is in his final stages of completing his MBA at the Isenberg School of Business at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.