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Professional

Executive

Track: Revenue Management & Pricing

Panel: Driving Revenue and Pricing Performance in a COVID-19 – driven Hospitality and Travel World

Monday, April 12, 4:30-5:10pm EDT

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected every industry segment across the globe, and the hospitality and travel industries are no exception. With estimates that recovery to pre-COVID-19 levels could take until 2023 or later, these industries need to reinvent themselves if they were to stay attractive in the post-pandemic era. With some of the required transformations apparent already, this panel contemplates the means through which revenue management and pricing strategy and execution could contribute to a fast and sustainable recovery. Our distinguished panelists provide first-hand, actionable insights derived from their unique industry positions as actual operators or industry solution providers. Interested? Join us for a unique walk-through through how leading hospitality and travel companies position themselves for continuous success into a post-pandemic world.

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Laura Calin

Laura Calin

VP of Strategy and Solutions Management at Oracle Hospitality

Laura Calin is the VP of Strategy and Solutions Management for Oracle Hospitality. Responsible for charting the direction of Oracle Hospitality’s cloud services and solution portfolio for the Hotels, Casinos and Cruise verticals, Laura oversees all product management and go-to-market strategies. An acclaimed industry leader, she has 25 years of experience in hospitality, product management and global business development. Laura began her career at MICROS/Oracle as a member of the development team and played an instrumental role in bringing the Opera Enterprise Suite of products to market and orchestrated its global expansion to more than 180 countries. During her tenure at MICROS/Oracle, Laura has held leadership positions in an array of fields, including development, product management, consulting, operations and sales engineering. She is an alumnus of the West University of Timisoara, Romania, where she earned a master’s degree in mathematics and IT.

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Dev Koushik

Dev Koushik

Vice President, Revenue Management and Pricing at Amtrak

Dev Koushik is a global executive with significant expertise in pricing, revenue management, distribution, data science and analytics functions in travel, transportation, finance and logistics. He has proven success in building and leading high-performance teams and delivering industry leading capabilities and results, leveraging his skill sets in advanced analytics, technology and product management. One of the industry-leading achievements that he was responsible for, in the travel space, is the design and implementation of a price optimization capability that resulted in enduring incremental revenue improvements to the tune of $600M. In the transportation and logistics space, he also drove the digital transformation of the logistics business through innovative revenue strategies, resulting in significant operational improvements driving profitability growth of $100M. More recently, within the data services space he led pricing improvements leading to incremental revenue growth of $200M.

Dev is currently leading Pricing and Revenue Management for Amtrak, one of the leading travel companies providing train travel in the USA. Prior to that, he was at Equifax, a data services firm where he was responsible for driving pricing strategy for their Workforce solutions business to drive top-line revenue growth. Before Equifax, he was in XPO Logistics, a transportation and logistics firm, where he was responsible for pricing and revenue management for different lines of transportation as well as creating enduring solutions that allowed XPO to drive top-line revenues and profitability growth. Prior to XPO Logistics, he held key leadership roles in IHG, a travel and hospitality firm, and drove top-line revenue growth through innovative revenue strategies and advanced analytics. Dev has also consulted with firms in the airline and car rental space during his stint as a consultant in PROS.

Dev has a Masters in Operations Research from University of Florida. He lives with his wife and kids in the Greater Atlanta area. In his free time, Dev coaches his son’s high school Quiz Bowl team. He enjoys traveling and quizzing.

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Jens Munch

Jens Munch

CEO and Founder at Pace Revenue Management

Jens​ ​Munch​ ​is​ ​the​ ​CEO​ ​and​ ​founder​ ​of​ ​Pace Revenue,​ a revenue platform that enables high-frequency, micro-targeted, decision-making. Before​ ​starting​ ​Pace​ ​in​ ​2016​ ​Jens​ ​was​ ​Chief​ ​Strategy​ ​Officer​ ​at​ ​iZettle​ ​between Series​ ​B​ ​and​ ​Series​ ​D,​ ​during​ ​which​ ​the​ ​company​ ​grew​ ​from​ ​80​ ​to​ ​350​ ​people. Prior​ ​to​ ​iZettle​ ​Jens​ ​spent​ ​6​ ​years​ ​at​ ​Google​ ​leading​ ​Strategic​ ​Partnership​ ​for Commerce.​ ​In​ ​this​ ​role​ ​his​ ​team​ ​built​ ​relationships​ ​with​ ​Europe’s​ ​top​ ​retailers and​ ​launched​ ​Google​ ​Shopping​ ​and​ ​Local​ ​Shopping​ ​across​ ​UK,​ ​Germany​ ​and France.