Developing Hospitality Properties and Facilities

Josef Ransley has worked on the design and development of hotels and leisure projects internationally since the mid-1970s, including a wide range of landmark projects for both major branded companies and independent investors and operators. These include the initial Express and Staybridge by Holiday Inn products in Europe, and the SI-Centrum, Stuttgart, one of Europe's largest multi-use hospitality complexes. Since 2004, he has worked with a number of companies on various aspects of their development programmes including new brand development, investment strategy, group acquisitions, refurbishment and extensions as well as a range of added value projects. Josef was a Visiting Professor at the University of Surrey and ESSEC/Cornell IMHI MBA programme, having taught the Hotel Development and Construction course at ESSEC Business School, Paris, for 15 years. He has written or contributed to a number of books and articles and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Hadyn Ingram started his working life in his father's West London pub before studying hotel management at college and managing hotels in London and Yorkshire. He returned to the family pub, restaurant and function rooms in 1977 and completed an MSc at Oxford Brookes in 1990. His academic career began as a Senior Lecturer in Hospitality Operations at Bournemouth University, and he subsequently worked as a Lecturer at the School of Management Studies at the University of Surrey. Hadyn completed an IMCA DPhil in 1997 and a University of Surrey MPhil in 1998, and was appointed Whitbread Professor of Hospitality Management in 2000. He practised what he preached by buying a hotel in Salisbury and later converting it to serviced apartments. He has written more than 100 books and articles on operations, development and strategic management for the hospitality industry as well as teamworking and virtual learning.

Debra Adams is the founder of arena4finance, a training provider focused on developing and delivering one-day, online and more extensive courses in hospitality finance for both finance professionals and operational heads of department in hotels, restaurants and leisure facilities. Debra is a chartered accountant, and her career has included experience in finance roles as well as a number of years working in higher education. She has delivered courses to numerous organizations and leading hotel schools in the sector such as Ecole hoteliere Lausanne and Glion Institute in the United Kingdom and Switzerland. Debra is the author of the book Strategic Management Accounting for the Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure Industries with a third edition in progress. Debra was recently appointed as a member of the Supervisory Board at the Institute of Hospitality and is a founding Trustee of the charity Eye Nepal, raising funds for early years education in Nepal.