About the Hotel Investment Conference

Dimitris Manikis

Dimitris Manikis is President for Wyndham Hotels & Resorts EMEA and is responsible for the development of all of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts’ brands in the EMEA region as well as maximising the performance of all new and existing franchise and managed hotels. He focuses on driving the strategic objectives of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts including quality and technology solutions as well as new business, loyalty, sales and marketing.

Dimitris Manikis has a long-standing career and deep knowledge of the hospitality industry. Prior to joining Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, he spent over 27 years with RCI, the worldwide leader in vacation exchange, across a number of senior roles, and most recently served as Vice President of Business Development for EMEA. Earlier in his career, he also held a number of key positions in the region as Managing Director of RCI Greece  and RCI South Africa.

Dimitris is a member of the Board of Trustees for the World Sustainable Hospitality Association, an Industry Advisory Board member for Hotelschool the Hague and a Member of the HSMAI Europe Board of Directors.

A Greek national, Dimitris was born in Athens and holds a Bachelor degree in Tourism and Administration from the Technical University of Patras in Greece, and an MSc Postgraduate degree in Tourism Marketing from the University of Surrey. His passion for people and work ethic comes from his father, who built up a grocery retail business in Athens where Dimitris learned the value of elevated customer service, having a positive outlook and hard work as being the foundations of success in both business and life.

He is based in Wyndham Hotels & Resorts’ London office.

Torgeir Silseth

Silseth’s first hotel related work experience was as a chef at Union Hotel in Geiranger, an effort that led to a prestigious trainee position at the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten in Hamburg. Torgeir started his career in Strawberry as Managing Director at Quality Hotel Hafjell in 1991. In 1996, he was employed as Operations Director for Scandinavia until he took up the position of Deputy CEO of Strawberry in 1999. In 2006 he was named CEO.

Torgeir is chairman of the Nordic Leisure Travel Group, which includes the tour operators Ving, Globetrotter, Spies, Tjäreborg and the airline Sunclass Airlines. 

Torgeir Silseth has his education from the Norwegian Hotel Univerity College in Stavanger.

Trine Loe

Trine is Global Head of the Consumer, Industrials & Financial Institutions Division in DNB Bank ASA, with responsibility for Large Corporates within Consumer Trade & Services, Industrials, and Financial Institutions. 

Her previous experience spans 25+ years in Large Corporate Banking, including various senior management positions in Norway and internationally. She has extensive experience from financing the hospitality sector and related commercial real estate in te Nordics. Trine served as Head of CEMEA / DNB London Branch (including offices in Athens and Aberdeen) from 2011 to 2016. From 2008 to 2011, she was responsible for building up DNB's branch in Santiago, Chile. 

Trine holds a Master's Degree in General Business, with specialization in International Business and Finance from BI Norwegian Business School.

Ulf Hamberg

Trine is Global Head of the Consumer, Industrials & Financial Institutions Division in DNB Bank ASA, with responsibility for Large Corporates within Consumer Trade & Services, Industrials, and Financial Institutions. 

Her previous experience spans 25+ years in Large Corporate Banking, including various senior management positions in Norway and internationally. She has extensive experience from financing the hospitality sector and related commercial real estate in te Nordics. Trine served as Head of CEMEA / DNB London Branch (including offices in Athens and Aberdeen) from 2011 to 2016. From 2008 to 2011, she was responsible for building up DNB's branch in Santiago, Chile. 

Trine holds a Master's Degree in General Business, with specialization in International Business and Finance from BI Norwegian Business School.

Mika Matikainen

Mika Matikainen joined CapMan in 2006, one year after the inception of CapMan Real Estate, and became the head of CapMan Real Estate and a management group member of CapMan in 2010. Matikainen has, together with his team, expanded CapMan Real Estate from a local Finnish player into a pan-Nordic asset manager with operations in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Simultaneously the investor base of CapMan Real Estate has internationalised substantially, now including international institutional investors from Europe, North America and Asia. Prior to CapMan, he worked for UBS Investment Bank in London.

Carmen Hui

Carmen has over 25 years of global hospitality expertise spanning the entire value chain from traditional asset investment to digital distribution.

As Global Commercial Strategy Director of Booking.com, Carmen was responsible for creating and enhancing value propositions for global accommodation supply partners across support, services, products and data. She also developed and scaled the new partner segment of hotel ownership groups and independent hotel management companies within Booking.com’s commercial organisation. 

Prior to Booking.com, Carmen led the European Investments Team for Host Hotels & Resorts, one of the most active hotel investors in Europe between 2006-2016.  She was responsible for all aspects of acquisition and dispositions, fund management and board governance of the €2bn European JV with GIC & APG.  

Carmen started her career with the Morgan Stanley M&A and Real Estate Teams in New York and Hong Kong.

She is currently a Special Adviser - Hospitality for Deloitte, and also serves as an Advisory Board Member of the Nova SBE Westmont Institute of Tourism & Hospitality and advises start-up founders in Hospitality-related concepts.

Bjarke Ingels

Bjarke Ingels is a Danish architect and the founder of BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, a multidisciplinary design studio operating at the intersection of architecture, urbanism, landscape, and systems thinking. His work is driven by the belief that architecture can be a tool for turning fiction into fact - merging pragmatic solutions with utopian possibilities.

Since founding BIG in 2005, Ingels has led projects that redefine typologies and challenge conventional constraints. From the figure-eight loop of 8 House in Copenhagen, to the hybrid pyramid-courtyard of VIA 57 West in Manhattan, to the skiable waste-to-energy plant CopenHill, his work proposes that sustainable cities can not only be better for the environment, but also more enjoyable to live in.

BIG’s portfolio includes global collaborations with companies like Google, LEGO, and Toyota, as well as public projects such as the Smithsonian Master Plan, the Prague Philharmonic - a cultural landmark for music in motion - and Zurich Airport, the world’s largest building in timber, redefining both scale and sustainability in aviation architecture. Across all scales, Ingels advocates for hedonistic sustainability - an approach where ecological responsibility and human enjoyment are not at odds, but mutually reinforcing.

He has taught at Harvard, Yale, and Columbia, and is the author of Yes Is More, a graphic monograph on BIG’s design philosophy. His recognitions include the Knight’s Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog (Denmark), Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France), the French National Grand Prix for Architecture (Grande Médaille d’Or), the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale, the Louis I. Kahn Award, and the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, as well as being named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People.

Li Zhang

Li is a Managing Director and Head of Hospitality Investments for Europe at Brookfield. Previously, he worked at ADIA in their global hotel investments team and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Hotel Administration from Cornell University with a Minor in Real Estate.

Jens Blomdahl

Jens Blomdahl currently serves as a Managing Director in the European Capital Solutions team, based in London, and is a member of KSL's Investment & Leadership Committee. Jens is involved in sourcing, underwriting, negotiating and structuring debt and equity investments in the travel and leisure sector throughout Europe. Prior to joining KSL in 2013, Jens was an Analyst in the Gaming and Leisure Division of Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Jens earned his B.S., summa cum laude, from The McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.

Jan Hazelton

A seasoned hotel investment and development executive, her experience includes banking, asset management, finance, development, feasibility, and investment analysis.

She is passionate about her current role of seeking one-of-a-kind opportunities for Kerzner brands including One&Only, Atlantis, SIRO, and Rare Finds, and ensuring each new luxury hotel is a combination of unique market dynamics, location, design, with captivating storytelling.

Other experience includes: Three Points Advisory, a boutique hotel advisory firm; Four Seasons Hotels, Taylor Global Advisors; Hilton Hotels; Calyon/Credit Lyonnais, lender to the hospitality industry in the US and Europe; private equity fund Olympus Real Estate; ITT Sheraton; and PKF in hotel advisory services. Her career started at the Westin Century Plaza Hotel in the management training program.

She has degrees in Hotel and Business Administration from Washington State University and was inducted into the WSU Hospitality School Hall of Fame in 2020.

A frequent speaker at industry conferences, Jan is also involved in industry organizations including International Hotel Investment Council (IHIC), as a Director; Urban Land Institute (“ULI”) and a past Vice Chair of ULI’s European Hotel & Resort Council. Her credentials also include a visiting professorship at Ecole Hoteliere Lausanne as well as a professor for the school’s online MBA program.

Born and raised in Seattle Washington, Jan is an avid tennis player and skier, enjoys traveling, cooking, wining, and dining, gardening, architecture and design and has a keen interest in health and fitness. She has been involved with Women for Women International, a humanitarian organization that provides practical and moral support to female survivors of war. She is also avid about supporting and mentoring women in the hospitality industry and on the board of Hospitality Beats Cancer. 

Lily Wecker

Lily is the CEO of Aethos, one of Europe’s most exciting and fastest-growing lifestyle luxury brands, known for its experience-led resorts, private members’ clubs, and retreats that foster authentic connections and conscious exploration. Her experience includes strategy, private equity, and hotel development. She began her career at Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey & Company, advising real estate and private equity clients. During Covid, Lily led the acquisition and asset management of 22 hotels worth over €250 million at Zetland Capital. Most recently, before joining Aethos, she was responsible for the growth of new hotels and branded residences across Europe and North America at Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Bjarke Mikkelsen

Bjarke brings a rare combination of global tech entrepreneurship and real estate leadership. A former Goldman Sachs VP, he founded e-commerce platform Daraz and scaled it to 50 million users before its acquisition by Alibaba in 2018. He joined Thylander as CEO in 2024 with a mission to build the next-generation real estate business.

Mohamad Awad

Mohamad is Managing Director for Transactions and has been with Urban Partners for 8 years. Mohamad leads transaction across the Danish real estate market, within hospitality, residential, retail and logistics.

His previous experience spans more than 15 years within finance, including roles in banking and audit. He has worked across different areas of finance and business. His background includes financial analysis, transaction-related work and a broad understanding of business operations.

Mohamad holds a Master's Degree in Auditing, from Copenhagen Business School.

Anthony Bull-Diamond

Anthony is responsible for the European Investment, Asset and Development management functions at KanAm Grund Group - a Frankfurt based international real estate investment platform with offices in Paris, London, Madrid, Luxembourg, Brussels as well as the US. Anthony brings extensive track-record across key pan-European markets in realizing sustainable value creation for both institutional and private equity sources, across the full risk spectrum.  

Tobias Koehler

Tobias Koehler is one of the Co-Founders and the Chief Commercial Officer at Onsai, a pioneering startup revolutionizing hotel communication and operations building the digital team member powered by AI. Previously, he founded Hotel Tech Solutions, a consultancy firm where he guided hotels and hotel groups in modernizing their technological systems and operational processes. His expertise in process optimization led to the implementation of scalable, future-proof solutions that significantly enhanced both guest and employee experiences. Before his consultancy work, Tobias held the position of Chief Commercial Officer at Big Mama Hotels and was a key member of the executive team at Ruby Hotels. Demonstrating his commitment to industry advancement, he volunteers as the Head of Technology at HSMA Germany, a leading hospitality sales and marketing association.

Guilhem Echivard

Guilhem Echivard is an Assistant Vice President in Aareal Bank’s Hotel Properties team. Aareal Bank is one of the leading debt financing providers within the hospitality industry, with a hotel loan portfolio of over €12 billion across more than 20 countries in Europe, North America and Asia. Aareal Bank’s hotel team focuses primarily on lending to first-class hotels in prime locations, as well as portfolio transactions. In his role, Guilhem is involved in the underwriting, structuring and management of hotel real estate financings across Europe. He holds a Bachelor of Science in International Hospitality Management from EHL Hospitality Business School, Switzerland.

Heleri Rande

Originally from Estonia, Heleri has lived in seven countries and holds a Bachelor’s Degree from New York University in Economics and Business, as well as an executive MBA in Hospitality Administration from École Hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) in Switzerland.

After leading Puccini Group’s growth in EMEA for two years after graduation, she has partnered with Think Hospitality to deliver on F&B strategy projects helping brands and owners assess the market, find the right concept positioning for the properties through strategic advice and review. Her focus is mostly on hotel and mall development projects with a portfolio that includes the likes of Accor, Hilton, Kempinski, Puro Hotels and Peel Holdings.

She is the Consulting Editor of Supper Magazine and programme director at various major hospitality events around the world. She co-founded Ideas-Flavours-Experiences, the leading gastronomy event in the Baltics and the New Baltic Hospitality Forum, the first hotel focused event in the region. Heleri also sits on the board of the Global Restaurant Investment Forum and is the Stammvater of the UK Chapter of EHL Alumni Network.

Christian Kielgast

Christian Kielgast is a partner and has been an integral part of building up and expanding NHC since joining the company in 2008.  The main area of activity is advising investors on hotel transactions, development projects including operator searches and contract negotiations as well as M&A advisory. Over the years, Christian has advised on hotel transactions and development projects with a combined aggregate value in excess of 3 billion EUR. Christian is based on NHC’s Copenhagen office but is active across the Nordics and coordinate cross-border clients and projects.

Christian is a honors graduate from the prestigious hotel management school Ecôle Hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) in Switzerland.

Edvard Øverlier

Edvard Øverlier is an Associate Partner in Nordic Hotel Consulting, focusing on advising real-estate investors and developers. Edvard joined NHC in August 2021 and has since worked on numerous assignments across the Nordics, e.g. hotel transactions, operators searches, property valuations, and development projects.

Edvard holds a BBA with Distinction Honours from the leading hotel management school, Glion Insititute of Higher Education in Montreux, Switzerland. Edvard specialised in International Hotel Development & Finance.

Philip Ward

A career investment banker, Philip Ward has been involved with the hotel sector for 35 years. After heading JLL’s EMEA hospitality group (2016-2020), Philip has taken up various advisory roles with investors and companies active in operational real estate. Philip sits on the board of directors of BobW.