Leah Anathan is a marketing leader in the software industry. She has over 25 years of experience in GTM strategy and growth marketing for start-ups and scale-ups. Passionate about product innovation, Leah has helped multiple software companies to launch award-winning products. Today she is the Chief Marketing Officer at Mews and the Board Chair for an international non-profit called Free to Run. 

Susan is the Global Head of Uber for Business (U4B) and heads up Business Development at Uber.

Susan has had a fast-paced 20 year career spanning Financial Services, Strategy Consulting (Bain) and Tech (Amazon, Uber). At Uber, Susan has held leadership positions across the Eats and Rides businesses in Australia, New Zealand and North Asia, quickly becoming known for driving geographic expansion and rapid growth. A natural evolution of this work led to her most recent role overseeing global strategy for new mobility products.

She is laser focused on creating magical customer experiences, moving fast to action and building strong, diverse and engaged teams.

In her spare time Susan enjoys running, reading and spending time with her husband, daughter, son and puppy Penny.  

Chris Arsenault is a driving force in the maturing Canadian tech ecosystem with over 25 years of operating and investing experience. A co-founder of Inovia Capital in 2007, he has been pivotal in shaping its culture and vision. Chris is renowned for identifying high-potential companies, maximizing their value, supporting their growth and guiding them through profitable exits. His leadership has notably contributed to successes like Lightspeed Commerce's IPO and Luxury Retreats' acquisition by Airbnb. Currently on the boards of AppDirect, Life House, Super.com, and Talent.com, Chris provides valuable guidance and strategic insights. His involvement in community initiatives and organizations like The C100 reflects his dedication to fostering collaboration across borders. He also serves on the boards of Montreal Heart Institute Foundation, CHU Sainte-Justine Foundation Campaign Cabinet, and Groupe Dynamite.

Amit is a member of the Investment Strategy Group (ISG) focusing on strategic asset allocation, tactical asset allocation and portfolio construction solutions for high-net-worth families, family offices, pensions, endowments, and foundations.  

Previously, Amit was a senior portfolio manager with Bessemer Trust responsible for managing the Old Westbury Strategic Opportunities Fund, the firm’s multi-billion unconstrained cross-asset strategy. Amit was responsible for sourcing direct investments, implementation and managing risk across global equities, opportunistic credit, alternatives, and derivative-oriented strategies. 

Prior to Bessemer, Amit co-founded Protea Partners, a hedge fund focused on volatility arbitrage strategies and served as a Vice President at BlackRock. Amit began his career in the securities division of JP Morgan. He earned degrees in Economics and Finance from the University of Missouri in Columbia. 

All things strategic and tactical for a leading SE Asia OTA

Alex Dichter is the Managing Senior Partner of McKinsey’s Boston office and also leads the Firm’s global Travel practice, an area of passion and interest that is reflected in his client work. Alex’s work in the sector cuts across functions, industries, geographies and focuses on strategy development, regulatory reform to driving step changes in operational, financial and organizational performance in Travel Companies across U.S., Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.

During the last 23 years at McKinsey, Alex has worked with over 45 airlines and dozens of players in the hotel, cruise, general aviation, and travel space. He has been at the center of some of the most successful transformations in the industry.

Dr. R. David Edelman is one of the world’s leading authorities on the geopolitics of technology and the new land- scape of corporate risk, helping U.S. Presidents, CEOs, and MIT’s best-and-brightest glimpse into the future and make sense of what they see. From AI and data privacy to cybersecurity and nuclear fusion, Edelman combines uncanny insights with a unique clarity in explaining what’s next for our world.

A Yale- and Oxford-educated technologist, investor, and former policymaker now based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, his insights and analysis have appeared in print in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, the FT, Der Spiegel, WIRED, Fast Company, and Fortune, and in broadcast on CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC, MSNBC, and NPR.

Starting his career in travel as Airbnb's 13th hire, Justin built and led customer experience and sales teams throughout Airbnb's ascension for over 10 years, gaining key insights into the emerging trends in the industry. Now CEO and co-founder at Storied Collection, a luxury accomodations brand representing privately-hired estates across the United Kingdom and Ireland. Justin also invests in the next unicorns in hospitality and consumer tech via his angel fund Inkwell Ventures.

Bobby kicked off his career building video games for Nintendo. He then founded Eland Technologies (an airline tech company) which he sold 12 years later to SITA.AERO. He then built CarTrawler (the world’s largest mobility marketplace for airlines) over 15 years, and led two successful LBOs for the business. For the last 4 years, he’s been building ‘Manna’ - a “Drone Delivery as a Service” business whose mission is to improve the world by making lightning-fast suburban deliveries affordable, green and safe. He is also a founder of Meili Travel technology with a mission to end the fiasco of car hire brokering.

Eben Hewitt is Global CIO at Hyatt. Prior to this, he was CTO & Fellow at Sabre Hospitality, CTO at Choice Hotels, and CIO at O’Reilly Media. He has designed and built a PMS and a CRS, both used at thousands of hotels. He is the author of several books on technology, including the international best-seller Technology Strategy Patterns, which is taught at Harvard Graduate School where he is a regular guest lecturer and faculty panelist for courses in the Digital Enterprise & Enterprise Architecture. Eben wrote the world’s first book on the Cassandra distributed database (three editions) and his work has been translated into Chinese, Japanese, and Persian. He has led engineering, architecture, product management, marketing, M&A, and PMO organizations, and designed and built globally scalable, award-winning software products and systems for over 20 years.

Matt Knise is the head of Capital One’s Travel and Premium Experiences team, most recently overseeing the relaunch of the new Capital One Travel franchise. He joined Capital One in 2011 and has held a variety of strategy and analysis roles across the business, including recently serving as the head of Capital One Rewards. Prior to Capital One, Matt worked at American Express in the Strategic Planning Group, and Deloitte Consulting.

Matt received his BA in economics from Bowdoin College, and MBA from Columbia Business School.

Niles Xi’an Lichtenstein is the co-founder and CEO of Nestment, a platform that aims to democratize home buying through enabling co-ownership models. After Harvard College, Niles went on to founding teams at several startups in the mobile technology space and B2B Saas space. During this time, he grew passionate about helping friends and family, many who were first-time homeowners, purchase multi-family and vacation rentals. As Niles saw the changing

demographic and economic trends for his Millennial peers, he realized new paths of home ownership had to be created. Thus, Nestment was born. Nestment is proud to be funded by a community of proptech, blockchain and mission-driven investors, of which 70% are investors of color.

Skyler is from Ojai, CA., and studied Entrepreneurship at Drexel University in Philadelphia. Professionally, Skyler has built two companies, ZIRX, which was acquired by KAR, and Tatari, the privately held TV ad-tech giant. Outside of work, Skyler enjoys hanging out with his grandma, driving his 66' Ford Bronco, traveling, and coaching youth football. 

Melanie Ryan Meador is a travel industry veteran and business transformation specialist having spent 20+ years in hospitality and online travel prior to joining Redeam in June 2018. Melanie’s travel industry roots began when she worked for Sunburst Hospitality as Director of Revenue Management and Transient Sales, where she pioneered the corporate adoption of online technology “firsts” that led the company to experience exponential revenue growth in just three years. She then went on to serve as VP of Strategic Accounts and Business Development at Orbitz Worldwide, where she led a high-performing global strategic sales and account team. Melanie, a member of HEDNA (Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association) for 12 years, was an eight-year board member before being elected the National President for two consecutive two-year terms. Melanie also previously served as Chief Strategy Officer at FORTRUST, a Tier III colocation data center, and Chief Revenue Officer of BankRate, where she led a business transformation that resulted in the company’s acquisition. Melanie is also the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of the Meadors Masters Foundation, a 501c3 nonprofit organization focused on providing humanitarian support globally to those in need. Melanie has a BS in Marketing and Organizational Leadership from Colorado State University. 

Harman Singh Narula is Co-Founder & CEO of Canary Technologies, a venture backed hotel technology company. Canary provides a host of guest facing operations technologies, including Contactless Check-In/Checkout, Upsells, and Digital Tipping to 20K+ hoteliers across the globe. Canary works with some of the most notable brands, management groups, and ownership groups across the globe including Four Seasons, Rosewood, Wyndham, Choice and others.

Prior to founding Canary, Harman was a management consultant at Bain & Company, where he primarily advised senior executives across hospitality, technology, and private equity. Earlier, Harman was a part of the Global Strategy Group at Starwood Hotels and Resorts where he was responsible for strategic initiatives to help streamline operations and enhance the guest experience. 

Harman holds an M.B.A. from The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, and a B.S. from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration. He also serves as an advisor to a number of technology companies in Silicon Valley.

Petar Ojdrovic is the founder and CEO of yada.ai. This is his third startup. Petar is also an owner-operator of an AirBnB portfolio with listings in the Greater Boston Area and in Belgrade, Serbia. With a passion for creating amazing guest CRM experiences and many years of operational experience in SaaS and hospitality, I hope to transform the way hosts and operators engage with their guests at scale.

Prashanthi Raman has over 15 years of experience navigating challenging, highly charged, and complex political environments. As Vice President of Global Government Affairs for Cruise, an all-electric, autonomous vehicle company, she oversees public policy and regulatory issues for the company worldwide. Prior to Cruise, Prashanthi served as Head of State and Local Government Relations at Lyft, where she played a pivotal role in creating and expanding the ridesharing industry across North America. She started her career as a healthcare attorney, which ultimately led to her appointment as associate chief of staff for healthcare and human services by then governor of Illinois, Pat Quinn. Throughout that time, Prashanthi worked with a diverse set of decision-makers to advance the governor’s agenda, negotiate multiple legislative bills, and led major policy initiatives, which included medical marijuana, Medicaid expansion, and ridesharing. She is a graduate of Northwestern University and Chicago-Kent College of Law and received her Masters in Public Health from the University of Illinois at Chicago. As a woman of color and mother of two, Prashanthi is breaking glass ceilings and leading in an emerging tech space where senior leadership positions are particularly underrepresenting women and people of color. In furthering impact to these communities, Prashanthi serves on the Board of Directors of the National Domestic Violence Hotline, the PowHerful Foundation, and is a recent appointee by Secretary Buttigieg to the US Department of Transportation Advisory Committee on Transportation Equity.

Charles Rath is the President + CEO of RS21, an Inc. 5000 fastest-growing company three years in a row and Fast Company Best Workplace for Innovators. Created with the desire to help businesses and communities prepare for a dynamic and changing world, RS21 harnesses the power of data to help people make better, faster, smarter decisions.

A global thought leader in data science and artificial intelligence, Charles was named an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2020 Mountain Desert Region Award Winner and one of the Top U.S. Executives to watch in 2019. Charles brings a unique perspective on the future of technology, with a particular focus on doing good with data.

Robin is a Partner in McKinsey & Company’s San Francisco office and a leader in the Firm’s Aerospace & Defense, Travel, Transportation & Logistics and Sustainability practices. He leads the Firm’s global Disruptive Aerospace sector and the Advanced Industries Disrupter sector in North America. Through his client work he serves the whole ecosystem, from OEMs to investors to suppliers to operators to government agencies, across geographies and both established players and startups.

Venkatesh Sakamuri, also known as Venkat, is the CEO and Co-Founder of Stayflexi, a Y Combinator-backed company. He holds a degree in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon and has a family background rooted in the hospitality industry. Alongside his co-founders, Preetam and Sasank, Venkat developed an Operating System for the hospitality sector. His vision is to streamline the entire guest journey, covering everything from room search to check-out, all within a single platform. Today, Stayflexi successfully serves over 2,000 properties worldwide, effectively managing over 40,000 rooms.

Before embarking on the journey with Stayflexi, Venkat garnered valuable experience at Oracle, where he was an integral part of the core database team. During his time there, he earned two patents for his significant contributions to the field of databases. With a passion for coffee, Venkat has mastered the art of making the perfect java from scratch, from grinding fresh beans to the ultimate foaming latte (sometimes latte art) - he does things this way.

Sam Shank is a tech entrepreneur, investor and advisor. Sam founded and was CEO of HotelTonight, the same-day hotel booking app, in 2010, and joined Airbnb after its acquisition of HotelTonight in 2019. At Airbnb, Sam held various roles including Head of Guest Experience and Head of the Commercial Team. Sam previously Founded DealBase, a travel deals search engine, and TravelPost, a hotel reviews site. Sam is currently on the board of Operto Guest Technologies. Sam attended the University of Virginia and received an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Sam is a member of YPO and was a Northern California Finalist for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year. He lives in San Mateo, CA with his wife Sara and their two sons Spencer and Thomas.

Gaurav is a Partner at F-Prime Capital, a multi-billion dollar global venture firm, where he focuses on enterprise technology investing. He has led F-Prime investments across B2B infrastructure and applications with a special interest in hospitality and travel, including companies such as OTA Insight, Canary Technologies, Avantstay, Connexpay and others. Previously, Gaurav was at F-Prime’s sister fund, Eight Roads Ventures Europe, based in London, where he invested in European software and online services businesses and served on the boards of Appsflyer and Neo4j. Gaurav was a computer scientist by training and spent the early parts of his career at Credit Suisse and McKinsey and Company. Gaurav attended MIT for his bachelors and masters degrees in computer science, as well as his MBA.

Nir Yaron, a seasoned entrepreneur and trailblazer in the travel and hospitality tech sphere, currently leads HyperGuest as CEO & Co-Founder since its inception in 2020. Earlier, he successfully pioneered Innstant Group (2010-2019), infusing it with travel-tech expertise. Prior, he founded seoXprts (2009-2010). Before that he played a key role in MediaMind Technologies Inc.'s journey to Nasdaq (2001-2009), as COO, CFO and VP of Corporate Development. His dynamic leadership extended to Isramco/Equital Group (1999-2001) as VP of Business Development. Equipped with LL.B. in Laws and B.A. in Economics (Cum Laude) from Tel-Aviv University, Nir's dedication to innovation, continues to reshape travel tech, ensuring seamless experiences and driving robust growth.

Mark co-founded Thayer Ventures in 2009 and has been involved in all aspects of the firm’s growth since inception. Mark sits on multiple private company Boards, and serves as Co-CEO and Chief Financial Officer of Thayer Ventures Acquisition Corporation (NASDAQ: TVAC). Mark’s background includes professional experience as an attorney at Wilson Sonsini Goodrick & Rosati, investment banker at Thomas Weisel Partners, and as an elected official for eight years in the City and County of San Francisco. Mark was twice elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and in 2018 was elected as Mayor of the City of San Francisco.

Mark received his B.A. from Loyola Marymount University, cum laude, M.A. from University College Dublin (Ireland), with honors, and J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, cum laude. Mark currently serves on the non-profit Boards of the Olympic Club Foundation and Schools of the Sacred Heart in San Francisco.

As CEO of Optii, Katherine has a proven track record to create and lead successful organizations. Optii brings immediate tangible ROI results to their hotel customers. With more than 25 years of experience in technology, Katherine brings expertise in how corporations view, formulate and drive investment as well as helping startups thrive. Before joining Optii and Thayer Ventures, she was Global Head of Innovation & Ventures at Amadeus IT Group where she created the innovation division, including Amadeus Ventures, an Open API Program and a research unit focusing on the latest trends impacting travel. Prior to Amadeus, Katherine was founder of Chalktech, a startup specializing in IT vendor financial fraud as well as held senior positions across Europe with Compaq Computer.

Katherine received her undergraduate degree magna cum laude from Lewis & Clark College in 1995 and a graduate degree from Edinburgh Business School in 2002. She is trilingual in English, Spanish and German.

Chris has spent his entire professional life in and around startups and high-growth businesses in travel, hospitality and technology having founded seven companies during his 37 years in business. Today he is a co-founder and Managing Director of Thayer Ventures, a venture capital firm investing in technology companies in the travel and mobility space, and former co-CEO of Thayer Ventures Acquisition Corporation (NASDAQ: TVAC) a $176 million special purpose acquisition corporation (SPAC) that merged with Inspirato (NASDAQ: ISPO) in early 2022. Immediately Prior to Thayer Ventures, Chris was founder and President of iCare Marketing (sold to Sysco Foodservice Corporation in 2012) and founder and CEO of Dynamic Payment Ventures (sold to Elavon, a subsidiary of US Bank in 2007).  

Prior to that, Chris was founder and CEO of CriticalArc Technologies, a supply-chain software provider to the foodservice industry, founder of E&O Kitchen and Bar, a casual dining restaurant based in San Francisco, founder of The Hemmeter Collection, a direct response retailer and founder of Hemmeter Publishing, a publisher and distributor of travel books and content. Upon graduating from Cornell University in 1986, Chris joined Hemmeter Investment Company, a real estate developer of destination-resort properties. Founded by his father in 1962, the Hemmeter organization developed major destination resort hotels in Hawaii and operated several related hospitality and travel businesses in the foodservice, gaming, retail and aviation sectors.

Chris received his undergraduate degree magna cum laude from Cornell University and his graduate degree from Harvard Business School in 1995, where he was recognized as a Baker Scholar for his academic achievement.

In addition to a large reservoir of solid business skills and judgment, Jeff brings a wealth of knowledge, experience and connections in the transportation and distribution space

where he spent the bulk of his career.

Located in Dallas, Jeff spent 14 years with American Airlines, managed the legal separation of Sabre, Inc. from AA in 1998 and left to become EVP and Chief Financial

Officer of the stand-alone company in 2000.Over his 10 years at Sabre, both as Chief Financial Officer and as EVP Corporate Development, Jeff managed the Sabre initial

public offering, completed over 25 acquisitions and divestitures of over $8 billion in value, served on the Board of Travelocity, managed the globalization of the Sabre

organization, and completed sale of the company to Silverlake and TPG in 2007.

Jeff is a graduate of Dartmouth College and has an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg Business School. He served as Chair of Parents Advisory Committee of Carleton

College and was an ex-officio member of the Board of Trustees. He also served on the Boards of Rent-A-Center, a $2.8 billion public rent-to-own company and of Getty

Images. He currently serves on the not for profit board in Port Townsend, WA that is responsible for managing the resort assets at Fort Worden.

After graduating from Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration, Lee spent 19 years at Marriott, rising to become an Executive Vice President and Corporate Officer.  

Lee left Marriott in 1988 to launch Thayer Lodging Group, a hotel real estate private equity fund for institutional investors. During its 25+ years, Thayer Lodging’s funds achieved a 26.2% IRR, ranking it one of the most successful real estate funds. The company was sold to Brookfield Asset Management in 2015.

Thayer Lodging Group launched several companies including TIG Global Internet Marketing, Thayer Insurance Group, EMC Venues, PURE Rooms, and others.

In 2004, Lee and Mary, with Teddy Zhang MMH ’97 visited 18 of China’s provinces at the request of the Beijing Government to meet with local officials to promote the development of travel and tourism within China as a major employer and engine of economic growth. Thayer China formed a joint venture with China’s Jin Jiang Group to build the first central reservations/global distribution system running in Mandarin. In 2010, Thayer Lodging Group partnered with Jin Jiang to take Interstate Hotels and Resorts private, tripling the size of the company to manage over 500 hotels worldwide prior to its sale in 2015.

Lee and Mary have been active supporters of Cornell University. In 2006 they made a $15 million donation to the Hotel School to found the Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship. Lee and Mary have been named Foremost Benefactors of the University. 

A Presidential Counselor and Trustee Emeritus, Lee served on the Board of Trustees for 12 years. Lee was named Entrepreneur of the Year in 2016 by the University. In addition, he has been recognized by Penn State, the J.L Kellogg Graduate School Northwestern University, the University of Denver, and IHSMA. He has lectured at universities around the world including China and Singapore.