BISA 2010 International Spa Conference in Budapest

Roger is Managing Director Thermarium Spa Management (a Division of Thermarium Bäder-Bau GmbH) based in Tyrol, Austria. Thermarium Spa Management provides experienced client dedicated financial spa planning, conceptual development and operational management know-how to some of the most exciting spa projects in the world.

Roger has worked in spa development, operations and management for over 15-years all over the world including building up and exiting a CEE based successful leisure company. He has extensive experience in achieving spa ROI and brings an aggressive business focus to his presentations.

Guido Bauer, a native of Southern Germany, received a degree in tourism and hotel administration from the University of Munich. He began his career working with cruise lines and tour operators. His experience led him to develop BWEE Vacations for British West Indies Airways, a vacation program with a focus on sustainable tourism. In 2001 Guido founded Green Certifications Inc., a company specialized in providing independent standards and verification for the hospitality and tourism industry. After merging his company with Green Globe, Guido became the CEO of Green Globe Certification based in Los Angeles, California.

Anna Bjurstam, Partner and Creative Director of Raison d'Etre, has become the guiding light for an ever-growing company of globally-placed professionals in world renowned spas such as Amanpuri, Taj Exotica Mauritius, Four Seasons Qatar, Capella Singapore, Atlantis the Palm and many more. From initial contractual negotiations, creating tailor made business solution packages, to inspiring & teaching line staff importance of magical delivery of treatments, her grasp of every aspect of spas has earned her international recognition.

Anna Bjurstam has been dedicated to the health, wellness, and spa industries for nearly two decades. Together with her hands on industry expertise and a Master Degree in Business, Anna has successfully led Raison d'Etre Spas to become one of the leaders in the spa industry, now designing, conceptualizing and operating spas with organizations operating in over 30 countries.

Mary Elizabeth Bondu is International Development Director of Hydrotherm and has worked in international marketing and export management for leading global cosmetic brands throughout Europe, the United States, Asia and Latin America. An expert in new product development and merchandising, she recommends innovative solutions for enhancing the spa experience and maximizing retail sales potential, including selecting professional beauty treatments and creating product ranges. She is fluent in French & English.

Musia Heike Bus is an Aqua Wellness trainer and co-founder of Liquid-Bodywork. She runs the Institute for Aqua Wellness in Bad Sulza and gives seminars, individual sessions and Aqua Wellness training in combination with Liquid Sound®. She is trained in warm water therapies, hawaiian bodywork and healing massage, holistic massage and trance dance. She is also publisher of Waterview, the magazine for all those fascinated by water.

Bradley Cox, COO of Green Globe Certification brings decades of business experience within the travel and tourism industries with a focus on delivering practical solutions for the triple bottom line of (people, planet, profit) model for sustainable business in the tourism, spa and hospitality arenas.

Mr. Cox served for eight years as Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre's General Manager at Griffith University on Australia’s the Gold Coast where they conducted research and developed innovations to the tourism sector, growing to 16 university and 17 government and industry partners, including Tourism Australia, Qantas and the Australian Federation of Travel Agents. Working closely with this industry, government and academic partners provided innovative research ideas that developed into prototypes that now benefit Australia's tourism sector. One of the key innovations was the scientific benchmarking and certification tools which have underpinned the Green Globe model for over a decade.

Jane Crebbin-Bailey is a leading educationalist, writer and speaker on Spa Therapy and Practise. She is a past chairman of The British Association of Beauty Therapy; served as a director of the International Spa Association (Europe) responsible for Standards and Practise and as a board member of The ISPA Education Foundation in the US.

Jane works as a partner in International Spa Consultants, HCB Associates. She is also a part time lecturer at The University of Derby, School of Hospitality, Leisure and Tourism. Jane is a member of the HABIA (Hairdressing & Beauty Industry Authority) working party responsible for the new UK vocational standards in Spa and is currently developing a Foundation Degree in Spa for BCUC (Buckinghamshire & Chilterns University Colleges).

Jane is lead-author of the The Spa Book. The definitive guide to spa therapy and co-writer of Spa, a Comprehensive Introduction.

Joerg Demuth is the founder of “The Organic Spa”, an authentic luxury spa brand, and the founder of “ANIKA Organic Luxury”, a holistic certified organic range of spa products.

Joerg was born in southern Germany into a family of scientists with green fingers. Joerg’s mother is a master chemist and his father is a chemical engineer, who raised their family on fresh biodynamic fruits and vegetables grown in their garden. Joerg learned about aromatherapy, essential oils and the unique power of plants from his mother who learned from her grandmother.

Since graduating as a food technologist specialized in cosmetics and detergents, Joerg has become a leading personality in the natural organic field in Europe, and his company, ANIKA, is a recognized pioneer in creating, producing and having certified unique ranges of natural organic spa products.

Joerg is a member of the BDIH Expert Standards Group for “controlled natural skincare”, a founding member of and representative for Naturland, on the European Committee for Organic and Natural Skincare Standards COSMOS and a member of the APSWC (Asia-Pacific Spa & Wellness Coalition) Products Task Force. He is passionate about organic farming and natural organic cosmetics, modern European cuisine and wine and networking with interesting people all over the world.

Joseph Dillard, LCSW, Ph.D., has been a student of healing, balancing, and transformation since exposure to meditation and dreamwork through the work of the exceptional medical clairvoyant, Edgar Cayce, beginning in 1963, when he was thirteen. He studied philosophy, psychology, and comparative religion in college and taught meditation and dreamwork widely. He has worked as a psychotherapist specializing in pain management, anxiety, depression, addiction, and stress disorders since 1976. Concerned with the projective aspects of traditional dream interpretation, in 1981 he developed a dream character interviewing process called Dream Sociometry, after methods pioneered by J.L.Moreno. This work is a type of dream yoga, or psychospiritual discipline, whose purpose is to outgrow the self-induced dramas of our waking and dreaming lives. It is also a process of transpersonal awakening, called Integral Deep Listening.

Peter Elsner, MD, studied medicine at Julius-Maximilians-University, Wuerzburg, Germany, 1974-81 and was trained as a dermatologist and allergologist at the Dept. of Dermatology, Würzburg University, 1983-1987. He received his doctoral degree in 1981 and his lectureship in dermatology in 1987.

From 1988-89, he was visiting research dermatologist at the Dept. of Dermatology, UCSF, San Francisco, and from 1991-97, Consultant and Associate Professor, Dept. of Dermatology, University of Zurich, Switzerland. Since 1997, he is Professor and Chairman, Dept. of Dermatology and Allergology, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany.

Dr. Elsner has published more than 400 original papers and 20 books. He is a member of more than 30 scientific societies and Board Member of the German Society of Dermatology. He has served in the Scientific Committee for Cosmetics and Non-Food Products (SCCNFP) of the European Commission and in the European Group on Efficacy Measurement of Cosmetics and Other Topical Products (EEMCO).

Jean-Guy de Gabriac is the founding director of TIP TOUCH and spa consultant for cosmetic brands, urban or hotel spas, thalassotherapies or thermal centers.

Since 2001 he has devoted himself in missions of business development in order to help spa managers and hoteliers, raise the bar in guest experience and in the profitability of their business through marketing, sales and communication actions.

Since massage is a technique, a science and a traditional healing art, the international trainers of TIP TOUCH create signature treatments and share their passion in order to help the spa teams create a long-lasting memory when they touch their clients/guests bodies, hearts & minds.

Kate Hardcastle and Richard Gomersall are Partners at Insight with Passion – a business transformation and rejuvenation partnership with a clear focus on driving return on investment for clients.

Richard Gomersall is a commercially focused business leader with a track record of transforming businesses from family owned to PLC, holding executive roles in ASDA, Mothercare and The Co-operative Group. During his career he has successfully implemented a 10-year brand-led strategy, managed a £4bn turnover group merge and guided a department and home-store business through a disposal and closure of 47 sites.

Janice Gronvold is Principal of Spectrec, a U.S. based business and marketing development firm specializing in the spa, resort, hospitality, wellness and medical arenas. Ms. Gronvold also serves as an instructor and advisor for Spa and Hospitality, International Tourism and Hotel Management programs at the University of California, Irvine.

Active with various professional and academic organizations addressing new business models based upon sustainability, one of her university classes includes Fundamentals of Green Spas, Hotels and Resorts. She will be moderating June 3rd of the conference which will focus on responsible spa themes.

Dr. Iman Hakim is the Dean of the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health (MEZCOPH). She is the founding director of the Global Health Institute at MEZCOPH. She is internationally known for her translational research and work on the role of phytochemicals such as Green tea and limonene in modulation of oxidative damage and prevention of chronic diseases. Her research focuses on health promotion, dietary interventions, and the role of gene-environment interactions. She has been the Principal Investigator of several large-scale, behavior change interventions trials focused on nutrition and cancer prevention, tea consumption and coronary heart disease, Nutrition and tobacco, chemoprevention of lung carcinogenesis using green tea; a dietary intervention to study the effects of tea consumption on smoking-related oxidative stress; development of tea polyphenols database and validation of the tea and citrus questionnaires; role of citrus-cancer association in Mediterranean diet; role of high tea consumption in the modulation of DNA damage.

Kate Hardcastle and Richard Gomersall are Partners at Insight with Passion – a business transformation and rejuvenation partnership with a clear focus on driving return on investment for clients.

Kate Hardcastle is regarded as one of the UK’s leading Commercial & Marketing experts, with experience in a variety of industries including fashion, charity, music and interiors.
She is a keynote speaker at many industry events – especially within the Interiors Sector, where she is acknowledged as highly regarded expert within the UK, having financially stabilised and grown leading brands within the market.

Her CV is impressive and extensive, having captured over 17 National Awards, including the accolade of best Young Marketer (under 30) within the entire UK. On the back of this success she was invited to attend INSEAD International Business School.

Kate is a Business Leader of the Marketing Society and also a Spark Ambassador – selected as a women entrepreneur to advise and assist women in business. Her inspiring and refreshing approach to strategy ensures that the brand and the customer remain at the heart of the business.

Hans-Peter Kuhl is psychologist and naturopathic practitioner, with special expertise in the systemic therapy and counselling of addiction, in NLP and clinical hypnosis. As founder of the “flow-team”, he offers business coaching, team training and personal development seminars.

His own personal experience of the twists and turns in life have convinced him that there is potential in every situation — even 'muck' can be turned to fertiliser! With a firm belief in the god-given core of people, he focuses on strengthening and nourishing each person's individual resources and potential as a means of self-healing.

Dr. Franz Linser is Founder and Managing Partner of Linser & Partner Consulting, an Austrian based management consultancy specialized in health tourism and health related spa projects. Linser & Partners offer strategic consultancy services, thus developing hotels and resorts as a whole towards effective and profitable lifestyle offers. With its professional team of exercise physiologists, physicians, economists and architects Linser & Partners develop unique lifestyle programs in motivating yet functional surroundings. With its professional background the team know how to bring down state-of-the-art scientific knowledge to practical lifestyle strategies.

Prior to his fifteen years in the spa industry, Franz was lecturing science of sport at Innsbruck University and successfully trained the Austrian National Ski Team from 1989-92. Franz brought his vast experience in health and tourism also into politics, i.e. as a Member of the European Parliament in the 1990s.

Mark Moloney has developed a career as one of the UK's leading exhibition organisers with a focus on the spa and beauty sector. From a small hotel based inaugural exhibition, Mark turned Professional Beauty into the UK's third highest attended of any trade/industrial exhibition before selling it to Emap plc in December 2006.

In 1993 Mark launched a B2B publications business and by 2006 had 12 titles in three countries covering the beauty, spa, fitness, medical and marketing professions. Continued event management and media interests are now represented in the UK, India, Germany and South Africa, including the launch of Total Beauty and the European Spa Convention at London's ExCeL in February 2011.

She is the Director of AFIREP and a Psychologist Clinician, specializing in mediation body and psycho dynamics of food habits.

She worked for 10 years as a photo model. Becoming a qualified psychologist, she has based her research on how the body can represent the personality but also the unthinkable and the unspeakable subject. Practicing plastic surgery and aesthetic, she was asked to write and communicate internationally about the importance of caring support in the accompaniment of various problems in the health field. Creative training and protocols psychocorporal, now she has worked as a psychotherapist at the Centre Philippe hinge in Paris under the direction of Dr. V. Kapsambelis and Dr. A. Braconnier.

Mark Kincses works as a strategic marketing advisor for the Hungarian National Tourist Office in Budapest. Previously, he represented the Hungarian National Tourist Office in London for several years. He holds a degree in Economics and Tourism and has studied in Hungary and the UK.

Mr Puczkó has been working as a researcher, consultant and university lecturer in tourism and leisure for over 15 years.

He worked for the Tourism Research Centre at Budapest University of Economics, KPMG Travel, Leisure and Tourism Group and taught for numerous international educational and trainings programmes. Based on his works several market analysis, professional books and academic articles have been published focusing on health and wellness tourism, thematic routes, tourism management in historic cities, attraction and visitor management, and impacts of tourism.

He is Board Member of the Travel and Tourism Research Association European Chapter and President of the Hungarian Association of Tourism Consultants. He is a managing director and head of tourism section at Xellum management consulting company.

Ute Rührig is chair of the BISA Green & Responsible Spa Action Group and is general manager of QUALITY SPA, a development company for Spa and leisure projects. Working as a spa consultant Ute is also an experienced spa architect, expert and independent keynote lecturer on wellness and spa success. She has been actively involved in the health services sector since the late 80s and is known in the spa industry as an innovator and originator of creative ideas. Besides her business she works as a certified assessor and teaches a course on spa business at the FH Westcoast.

Micky Remann is many things: author, consultant and producer, media artist and orchestrator of memorable culture events as well as campaigner for the Coalition for Silent Oceans. He is also inventor of the Liquid Sound® concept of 'bathing in light and music' and is the artistic director of the Toskana Thermes Bad Sulza, Toskana Therme Bad Schandau and Toskana Therme Bad Orb.

Based In Germany, together with Klaus Dieter Böhm, Marion Schneider owns and manages the medical clinic Klinikzentrum Bad Sulza and Hotel an der Therme and also manages the Toskana Therme Bad Sulza the Toskana Therme Bad Schandau and the Toskana Therme in Bad Orb. Recognized for creating innovative therapies in spa and medical settings, she has examined the effects of water, heat, light, music, art and architecture in therapeutic applications. These efforts provided the foundation for introducing balneophototherapy, the simultaneous application of water and light on the human body to numerous projects including Liquid Sound, which combines technologies for water based light and music experiences.

Marion Schneider is Chair of the British International Spa Association and co-founder of the state-approved School for Physical and Massage Therapists in Bad Sulza which, in conjunction with the Klinikzentrum Bad Sulza, offers 2 and 3 year full-time training for up to 200 students at a time in swimming therapy, massage and medical gymnastics. She is member of the Advisory Board of the Corporate Health Improvement Program (CHIP) of the University of Arizona, board-member of The American Spa Therapy and Education Certification Council (ASTECC) as well as the Hot Wells Institute in Texas, USA.

Nirvano Martina Schulz is trained in Hawaiian Bodywork & Native Healing Arts, Rebalancing, Neo Reichian Bodywork und Cranio Sacral Balancing. Founder of Oceanic Aqua Balancing and Aqua Wellness, her bodywork in warm water. Founder of Oceanic Bodywork and Director of the School for Oceanic Bodywork in Switzerland.

Dr. Terry Stevens is the Managing Director of the Swansea based, international leisure and tourism consultancy, Stevens & Associates. Terry has worked in over 30 countries consulting on tourism and leisure projects for international development agencies, national tourist boards and major private sector clients. He has completed six international benchmarking studies for governments including two on best practice in destination development.

New Yorker photographer Linda Troeller is known for her awarding winning book “Healing Waters” (Aperture) with atmospheric art images at hot springs and for the travel book “Spa Journeys” (powerHouseBooks). She was commissioned to create 33 photo paintings in the Liquidrom Spa, Berlin. She is also known for portraiture which led to the book “Erotic Lives of Women” with writer Marion Schneider, reviewed in the New York Times Book Review and exhibited in Berlin and Salzburg. She won Woman of the Year for her photo-collages “TB-AIDS DIARY” that was translated into seven languages and exhibited around the world including the Foto Galerie Forum in Frankfurt.

She has a M.F.A. in Photography from the School of Art, Syracuse University and was an assistant at the Ansel Adams Workshops. Her photographs are in major museum collections and she also shoots campaigns for beauty and fashion companies ranging from Kurotel, Brazil to Feline Day Spa, NYC. She is currently working on a photo book about the artists of the Chelsea Hotel where she has her studio. She is represented by Agence Vu in Paris, Grazia Neri in Italy and zumapress in the USA.

“Visual art has the power to transform a person to another place and time. When spas select art that is a true reflection of the aspiration of the spa’s brand identity, it has a further opportunity to bring the guest’s spa treatment experience to a more successful level.”

He is the Chief Executive of SpaFinder Europe, Middle-East & Africa, a division of the largest spa marketing and spa gifting company in the world.

Prior to SpaFinder Kevin Turnbull ran the Maybach super-luxury division of Mercedes-Benz in the UK. Before that he was CEO of the internet company Autobytel UK, a subsidiary of Inchcape plc where he was also Global Group Director responsible for e-Commerce. He was also Chief Executive of Toad plc, a technology business start-up, and played a pivotal role in raising multi million City funding and successfully floating the company on the London Stock Exchange. Kevin spent his early years at Ford and Nissan in sales and marketing.

Kevin received a BA (Hons) in History/Politics from Warwick University and holds an MBA from Durham University. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, a Fellow of the Institute of the Motor Industry and a Chartered Member of the Institute of Personnel and Development. He is a frequent speaker at industry events throughout Europe.

Shambala lives in Ibiza, Spain and trains people in MET (Meridian Energy Techniques). She also offers Hawaiian Bodywork, Aqua Wellness and life coaching.

For more than 25 years, she has studied the healing arts and human growth processes and meditation. She has lived in Japan and India and Spain and worked as a journalist and an interior designer. The last 10 years, she has dedicated mainly to working with people's body, mind and soul.

Katinka Will (SE, 1974) is Chancellor and Managing Director of the Corporate University “Adam-Ries-Fachhochschule”, state recognized in Germany.

Katinkas' background is in business administration, followed by management specialising in marketing and marketing research. Subsequently, she spent five years in education business. As co-founder of the Corporate University “Adam-Ries”, Katinka helps companies finding the best use of the talents of the students who work within them. The goal of Adam-Ries-University is to bring out the best in each student so that they can learn from each other's experiences in e.g. hotels, tourism organizations, spa clinics or spa administrators.

Tom Blue Wolf, Founder and Director of EarthKeepers One Tribe Trading Company, an organization dedicated to manufacturing and distributing a broad menu of organic, bio-dynamic, wild and/or wildcrafted healing products and educating people of all ages on the importance of relationship with the earth and each other. He is a charter member of the World Council of Elders, The Indigenous Healers Association and travels the world teaching workshops, conducting ceremonies in his grandfathers tradition for incarcerated brothers in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and inspiring hearts with the message of peace and harmony with “All Our Relations”. He is a board member of several local, regional and national Environmental Organizations and active in many roles with youth Programs around the country. He has appeared on many radio and television programs,written hundreds of articles to present the views of the EarthKeepers Organization and has received numerous awards and acknowledgements for his work with EarthKeepers over the past 45 years.

Tom is a grandfather, healing artist, Keeper of the Medicine Songs, herbalist, naturopath, environmentalist, and author. Tom was born in Southern Alabama, raised and taught in the traditional ways by his Creek Grandparents. Tom has tribal affiliation with the Star Clan, Y’falla Band of the Eastern Muscogee Lower Creek Nation.

Mark Wuttke heads the Wuttke Group, LLC, a world-class business development team with a focus on sustainable luxury, spa, boutique retail, organic luxury and the emerging category of eco-chic.

Mark is an editorial advisory board member of Organic Spa Magazine, and works closely with
LOHAS, Green Spa Network, and Natural Beauty Summit in America & Europe.

Peter Zimmer currently serves as CEO/managing director of FUTOUR Tourism Consultancy, Germany. Simultaneously he represents Green Globe Certification, the premier label for sustainable management and operations throughout the world, in his role as an Accredited Auditor. However, these are just a few of the many examples in his resume which reflect his expertise and years of experience in the tourism industry with a special focus on sustainable tourism. Mr. Zimmer's professional timeline includes posts as Director of Tourism & Travel Services at ADAC Touring GmbH; Auditor of the German Tourism Association in Bonn; and Consultant for the German Technical Cooperation. Educated at the Munich University of Applied Studies as well as the State University of Bucharest where he earned a doctorate in economics, Mr. Zimmer has gone on to share his profound knowledge of tourism with students in lectures on a vast range of topics at universities both in Austria and Germany. He holds many honorary posts such as Chair of the Corporate Social Responsibility Council, Tourcert GbR, and received several awards for his contributions to the tourism industry.

In 2005, Bart Zonnenberg started with a market research on assessing the truth behind salt caves. In 2005, most of the salt caves were still to be found in Eastern Europe. Basic question that deserved an answer was why salt caves did not exist in Western Europe, given the fact that they offered such good treatments to people suffering from respiratory discomforts, if we had to believe everything that salt cave suppliers published.

With a solid business concept in mind, Bart started the technical development of fully controlled Dry Salt Aerosol Microclimates in 2006 and released his first solutions in 2008. Microsalt creates microclimates where fresh dried air is saturated with an exact concentration of dry salt Aerosol, depending on the target group.

In 2009 Microsalt has started a collaboration with the University Clinics of Tubingen (Southern-Germany) who wanted to compare Dry Salt Aerosol inhalation with saline inhalation, a treatment that is often used for people suffering from cystic fibrosis. Microsalt will present the findings of the research performed by the university.

Microsalt has turned Dry Salt Aerosol inhalation into both serious curative therapeutic treatments as well as a perfect Spa treatment for optimal relaxation and preventative airway cleaning.