The 2026 Agenda

Diane Estner, Founder & President of DANNI Enterprises, is a distinguished hospitality leader known for connecting people, ideas, and innovation. She is a strategic advisor with extensive experience in global hospitality technology and business leadership, offering practical insights into emerging trends.

Monika Nerger is a pioneering leader whose career has spanned some of the world’s most iconic names in luxury hospitality, cruise lines, and gaming. She previously served as Global CIO of Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group and held leadership roles with Royal Caribbean Cruises, KPMG, and Pan Pacific Hotels—helping shape how technology transforms the guest experience. Monika is also a former president of HTNG, an inductee into the International Hospitality Hall of Fame, and today advises several AI startups focused on the future of global and luxury brands. She’s spent her career at the intersection of technology, innovation, and unforgettable experiences—and we’re delighted to have her with us today.

Alex Cabañas is passionate about leading and growing companies that make a profound difference in the lives of employees, customers, owners, industry partners and the community. Service to others is his clear passion. And Alex’s life mission since college has been to create opportunities for others to be successful and significant. Alex currently serves in several board level roles, Executive Chairman of Pyramid Global Hospitality, the second largest hospitality management company in the U.S., and Board Director at Convene, a global meetings & events, flex office and office hospitality platform. Both companies resulted in mergers Alex helped to orchestrate with a variety of investors. Alex’s focus areas are strategic planning, business development, leadership coaching, leveraging his network for growth and supporting exceptional culture and service. Pyramid Global Hospitality was formed in October 2021, when Benchmark Global Hospitality and Pyramid Hotel Group merged. Alex was previously CEO of Benchmark for 7 years, joining Benchmark originally in 2006. During his tenure with Benchmark, Alex held roles in business development and finance, supporting the growth of the company from just 22 hotels in 2006, to now over 200 hotels as part of Pyramid Global. Convene and Alex’s involvement resulted from the sale of etc.venues to Convene in February of 2023. Benchmark’s ownership partners, prior to merging with Pyramid, invested in etc.venues, supporting the UK based business to grow and expand in the US. Alex served as Board Chair of etc.venues until the sale to Convene and now serves on the Convene Board. Alex is also the Founder & CEO of Astound Ventures, investing in hospitality related products and services that are truly unique, surprising and delightful. Astound has raised influence and collaboration first, connecting over 250 industry professionals for influence and involvement and then investment where desired. Examples of current investments are Outmore Living (heated outdoor furniture), Fox Fold (reinventing toilet and facial tissue), Beachy (mobile enabled point of sale) and Alliance Strategies (end to end visitor worker programs, global workforce solutions). Alex serves on the board of each of these innovative companies. Prior to Alex career in hospitality which began in 2006, he worked for The Boston Consulting Group from 2000 through 2006. While with BGC he worked with clients in a number of different industries including: travel and tourism, government, consumer/retail, telecommunications, e-commerce, financial services, and energy. The projects ranged in variety including: lodging investments, market sizing and segmentation, competitive benchmarking, product development, process management, asset valuation, new business development and growth strategy. Alex earned his MBA at Harvard Business School and holds a BBA and MS in Finance from Texas A&M University. He is an active member of Young President’s Organization (Houston Chapter), a board member for the American Hotel & Lodging Association, and a HalfTime Fellow, a Dallas based career development organization. Last, but certainly most important, Alex is married to his perfectly-made-for-him wife, Heather and they have two energetic and out-going boys, Matthew and Eli. Alex enjoys his time with family, traveling, exercise, exploring any outdoor activity. He is guided by his five “F’s” – Faith, Family, Fellowship, Fitness, Finances.

Greg has devoted more than three decades exclusively to the practice of hospitality law and has represented many of the industry's most prominent brands, owners, operators, and franchisors. He advises on the full range of legal and commercial matters these businesses encounter, including distribution and e-commerce, sales and marketing, technology, privacy and data security, and artificial intelligence. Greg also serves as counsel to several leading trade associations and is the author of Duff on Hospitality Law, an award-winning publication on online travel and distribution that reaches industry stakeholders worldwide.

Sarah Burnick is a civil litigation attorney & former felony prosecutor whose work focuses on the intersection of law, risk management, & emerging technologies. Her prior experience as a prosecutor sparked a passion for developing practical, collaborative strategies to combat human trafficking through prevention, early identification, & cross-sector partnerships. Sarah is a strong advocate for empowering the hospitality industry on the front lines to recognize trafficking indicators, respond effectively, & work alongside law enforcement to protect vulnerable individuals.

Noel Thomas is the Founder & CEO of Dark Watch, a Pre-Arrival Intelligence™ platform designed to help enterprises identify high-risk individuals and behavioral patterns before they escalate into crime, loss, or regulatory exposure. Built for payment, reservation, and logistics ecosystems, Dark Watch delivers continuous pre-incident awareness at enterprise scale. Noel is also the author of Dark Traffic, a book focused on the fight against human trafficking and how intelligence, technology, and public awareness can help combat organized crime and exploitation.

Brittany Dunn is COO & Co-Founder of Safe House Project, which serves 3,600 survivors of human trafficking nationally each year. A national leader building the technology infrastructure to eradicate trafficking, she served on the Virginia Governor's Commission on Human Trafficking Prevention and Survivor Support, spent a decade in international business and technology, and is a published author. Featured in Forbes, The Hill, CBN, and Newsmax; degrees from Wellesley and Thunderbird.

Ried Floco serves as President and Director of TechForce Robotics, Inc., bringing more than 30 years of both active hospitality leadership and 15 years of software and technology development experience. Throughout his career, he has overseen more than 200 hotel properties representing over $3 billion in assets across major hotel brands. His focus is developing technologies that streamline operations and support the people that work in the field daily to contribute to the success of a business.

Evan Saunders founded the Tourism and Hospitality division of Azira in 2018. Azira delivers actionable insights on consumer behavior at a global scale, empowering Marketing and Operational Leaders to confidently reach, understand, market to, and measure highly targeted audiences, with over 500 tourism boards and 100 hotels leveraging the company's solutions globally. As part of his work at Azira, Evan served as a member of the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) Industry Data and Expert Analysis (IDEA) Working Group for two years. Prior to Azira, Evan founded Attract China, a hospitality marketing company focused on Chinese travelers coming to America, and ran it as CEO over a four-year period, servicing 250 clients, speaking at over 30 conferences worldwide, frequently quoted in the news, and winning multiple industry-leading awards, including HSMAI’s Top 25 Most Extraordinary Minds. An avid traveler and club sandwich enthusiast, Evan documents his adventures on his blog, ClubSandwichReviews.com.

Andrew Boch is a seasoned startup operator with 17+ years of experience building and scaling high-growth tech companies, especially in the travel, digital payments, and hospitality space. Before taking the helm as CEO of Mobi, Andrew spent two years as COO and held the same role at BudBud, Hopper, and LevelUp (acquired by GrubHub—yum!). He earned his BA in History and Science from Harvard, which may explain his love for both big ideas and tiny details. When he’s not steering fast-moving startups, you’ll likely find him underwater—Andrew is an avid SCUBA diver who’s explored dive sites across the globe. On land, he’s just as adventurous: hanging out with his family, chasing after his puppy Sparrow, and preparing for Halloween all year long.

Jeff Bzdawka is a recognized leader in hospitality technology with more than thirty years of experience driving innovation and industry transformation. As CEO of Hapi, he helps organizations strategically leverage technology to deliver meaningful business outcomes. Jeff has held senior leadership roles, including Chief Executive Officer of Knowland, Senior Vice President at Hyatt Hotels, and Chief Operating Officer of TravelClick, where he led high-performing teams, scaled operations, and delivered market-leading solutions. A trusted industry voice, Jeff remains actively engaged in hospitality forums, championing the strategic use of technology to elevate service, efficiency, and operational excellence.

Ronen has worked with travel and hospitality brands for a decade, formally launching Wunderkind’s Travel and Ticketing vertical in 2023. As GTM Director - Travel & Hospitality, Ronen leads business development and GTM strategy for ElevenLabs' Hospitality segment. He has a proven track record of bringing products to market that help businesses drive meaningful outcomes and measurable ROI. Based in Manhattan, his passion for travel extends to his personal life, where he’s constantly in pursuit of listening to good music in faraway places.

Kim Smith is the Senior Vice President of Digital & Direct Channels at IHG Hotels & Resorts, where she leads global contact centers, mobile app, website, and digital service strategy. Since joining in 2022, Kim has driven a major transformation of IHG’s Reservations & Customer Care organization—modernizing technology, restructuring a 3,000+ person team, and delivering multimillion-dollar savings—while expanding digital capabilities like messaging and chatbots.

Pat Nestor is Senior Vice President, Data & AI at Hyatt, where he leads enterprise data and AI strategy and solution development. He previously led decision intelligence at Kraft Heinz, overseeing global data and AI products and platforms; and held global data and analytics roles at Domino’s, advancing cloud modernization, machine learning and growth analytics. Pat holds degrees from the University of Michigan and Cornell University.

Leslie Adler is Hilton’s Vice President of Business Development & Innovation, leading corporate strategy, AI strategy, and white-space growth. Her prior leadership spanned brand strategy, luxury and lifestyle, innovation, and customer experience. Previously, she developed new businesses at Choice Hotels and worked in acquisitions and asset management at HEI Hotels & Resorts. She holds a B.S. from Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration and lives in Maryland with her family.