HTNG Announces Keynote Speakers for Its Flagship Conference

Henry Harteveldt is a well-known analyst and advisor in the travel industry, named by Skift as one of its 30 "movers and shakers" in May 2014. Harteveldt's keynote, "The Three I's Influencing Hotel IT," will discuss how three factors driving the future of the hospitality business – immediacy, inspiration and individualism – both arise from improved lodging IT capabilities and impact IT systems during the next few years. Prior to his career as an analyst, Harteveldt spent more than 15 years in marketing, planning, distribution and strategy roles at companies such as TWA, Continental Airlines, the Trump Organization, the Fairmont Hotel Management Company and GetThere. After spending 11 years as head of Forrester Research's global travel research practice, Harteveldt launched Atmosphere Research in September 2011 to fill the void when Forrester exited this space. Atmosphere Research provides research and perspective to the global travel industry, distilling relevant emerging trends and opportunities in marketing, distribution and industry technology topics.

Jennifer B. Kahnweiler, Ph.D., Certified Speaking Professional, is a bestselling author and global keynote speaker known as the "champion of introverts." In addition to her latest book, The Genius of Opposites, she is author of the bestsellers The Introverted Leader and Quiet Influence, which have been translated into 16 languages. Kahnweiler has worked with hundreds of organizations including GE, CNN, NASA and the CDC. She is a faculty member of the American Management Association and has been featured in Forbes, Time Magazine and The Wall Street Journal. She focuses on helping introverts and extroverts better understand one another to leverage their strengths and create strong teams in the workplace. By becoming "introvert-friendly," companies draw the best from all employees. This leads to more innovation, employee satisfaction and higher levels of productivity. A company will be more successful and its employees happier in working for a business that understands them.

"We have created a fresh program to provide members with strategic content that will guide technology decisions and planning as well as optimize the performance of their organizations," says Michael Blake, HTNG's CEO. "We expect record-breaking attendance at the 2016 North American Conference and aim to deliver an agenda that fills the needs of both hoteliers and technology providers." Other topics that will be covered at the conference include scalable cellular networks, PII protection, virtual reality, 3D printing, security, Internet of Things, big data, payment technologies and more.

Conference registration is open to any full-time employee of a hotel owning, management or franchising company. For all other industry participants, HTNG membership is required. Technology providers, consultants and others who are not HTNG members should check with HTNG's membership department to ensure eligibility.

The HTNG North American Conference will be in Amelia Island, FL at the Omni Amelia Island Plantation Resort from March 1-3, 2016. The program and speakers are subject to change. For information or to register, visit http://www.htng.org/conferences/north-american

About Hospitality Technology Next Generation (HTNG)

Part of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), HTNG the premier technology solutions association in the hospitality industry, HTNG serves members from hospitality companies, technology vendors to hospitality, consultants, media and academic experts. HTNG's members participate in focused workgroups to bring to market open solution sets addressing specific business problems. HTNG fosters the selection and adoption of existing open standards and also develops new open standards to meet the needs of the global hospitality industry.

Currently more than 400 corporate and individual members from across this spectrum, including world leading hospitality companies and technology vendors, are active HTNG participants. HTNG's Board of Governors, consisting of 22 top IT leaders from hospitality companies around the world, itself has technology responsible for over 3 million guest rooms and world-leading venues. HTNG publishes workgroup proceedings, drafts and specifications for all HTNG members as soon as they are created, encouraging rapid and broad adoption. HTNG releases specifications into the public domain as soon as they are ratified by the workgroups.

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