Alex leads STR's AM:PM platform and is focused on scaling the product across STR’s global supply and pipeline databases. He began his career in New York, gaining experience in fixed income with Lazard, Merrill Lynch, and Scotia Capital. He then moved into the hospitality industry when he joined Expedia’s sales and development team, working in both their New York and San Francisco offices. Alex subsequently moved to London for HotelTonight, with responsibility of managing partnerships with global brands and industry organizations. He joined STR in August 2016.

Chris Igwe is one of the world’s leading authorities on global retail and highly sought after for his knowledge and insights. 

Based in Paris, he is special advisor to global brands, owners and investors on strategic matters at his own consultancy firm, Chris Igwe International. He is also Managing Partner at More Or Less, representing exclusively tenants in their lease-related problems. From 2007 to 2015 he was Head of Retail, France and EMEA at CBRE, and before that, Head of Real Estate Europe at Foot Locker and then Gap.

Chris is a frequent international keynote speaker and conference moderator. He is Co-Chair of ULI (Urban Land Institute) Retail and Entertainment Council, Member of ICSC’s European Research Group and Member of MAPIC Steering Committee.

Samuel has over 20 years’ experience advising governments, destinations, education providers and student housing investors. Since 2007, under his leadership, his staff of 50 researchers operating in four offices around the world have been providing the highest level of secondary and primary in-field data, making BONARD a leading provider of independent and reliable research and solutions for alternative residential asset classes.

Samuel has studied at City University Seattle. He is a frequent speaker, attending dozens of international education and real estate conferences a year and sharing latest insights backed by long-term industry experience. 

Hotelier with 25 years of experience in the hotel industry in the area of ​​operations, sales and development, gained in the InterContinental Hotels and Resorts in the USA and AccorHotels / Orbis in Poland and Eastern Europe. Since 2017 responsible for the development of Hilton brands in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary and Romania.

Indrė Genytė-Pikčienė began her professional career at the Lithuanian Free Market Institute, then continued working closer to business practices at Vilniaus Bankas and as a member of the real estate advisors team “Resolution Advisers”. Before joining DNB she worked as a senior economist at the Bank of Lithuania. Indrė Genytė-Pikčienė has been a valued member of DNB Research (later - Luminor) team since 2007 – for twelve years already. 

Indrė’s work scope at Luminor encompasses the analysis of the global economic trends and financial market processes, macroeconomic and market risk analysis of the Central Eastern European region, monitoring of Lithuanian internal macroeconomic processes and economic activities, close communication with the business community, active participation in a public debate on economic, political and social topics.

Gijs Klomp is currently investment director of NEPI Rockcastle covering the CEE markets.

Gijs Klomp (41) is a Dutch citizen and specialist in real estate management, who attended the Eindhoven University of Technology in The Netherlands. He had his first contact with the Romanian market back in 2000 during an internship. Upon graduation in 2002, he joined ING Real Estate Investment Management (ING REIM) in The Hague as a Research Analyst. After 3 years, Gijs Klomp relocated to Prague and subsequently to Bucharest and later Budapest. He was involved in numerous acquisitions, divestments and also worked in asset management at ING REIM, which later became CBRE Global Investors.

Starting May 2013, Gijs Klomp joined JLL in Romania as Managing Director and in early 2015 returned to CBRE to head CBRE’s Romanian and later CEE capital markets practice.

As of July 2016, he moved to NEPI Rockcastle, a public property company that specializes in retail real estate to become their investment director. NEPI is one of the largest retail property landlords in CEE with assets in Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia. 

Kaspars Beitiņš is General Manager of Akropole, the newest and most modern shopping and entertainment centre in Riga, Latvia, that will open its doors on 4th April, 2019. The development and construction of Akropole has been one of the biggest projects of the last decade in Latvia. Kaspars Beitiņš joined the team in 2012 as Assistant Development Project Manager and was appointed as Project Director in 2016. He has led and supervised all phases of Akropole project – from design and construction through to the opening of the new shopping and entertainment centre.

Mr. Per Thorell has 25 years of experience in International Banking. He has been working in SEB since 1996 and held various managerial positions leading business units in the Nordic countries, Baltics, Poland, Russia, United Kingdom and Emerging Markets.

Per is based in Stockholm but has worked with SEB’s Baltic business since 2008 and is part of the management team for Corporate Banking in the Baltics. He is responsible for Markets, Transaction Services and Real Estate Financing within SEB’s Baltic Division.

Ms. Elina Chodzkaite - Barauskiene has an experience of over 6 years in site selection, project implementation, negotiation, managing international relationships, sales and marketing, and country branding. She oversees manufacturing investment projects with a focus on developing industries of strategic importance to the national economy, including Life Sciences, Automotive and Industrial Machinery. Her client portfolio includes Thermo Fisher Scientific, Hollister and Continental. 

Elina graduated from the University College London, reading BA Politics and Eastern European studies as well as obtained a Master's degree at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, Austria.  

Educated at the University of Warsaw in the field of Sociology and at the University of London in the field of Politics and Economics of the East European Countries, Dominik Piwek has been involved in marketing and advertising since 1994. He has gained professional experience working for international advertising agencies such as Publicis, BBDO Worldwide and Edipresse publishing house. Being responsible for media, advertising and marketing strategies, Mr Piwek worked for brands such as Renault, British Airways, Red Bull and others. Since 2007 he was associated with the METRO PROPERTIES company (M1 shopping centres), to later begin his cooperation with the Balmain. Currently holding the position of Marketing & PR Director at NEPI Rockcastle Poland, Dominik Piwek’s responsibilities include management of the marketing department as well as development and implementation of advertising and marketing communication strategies for NEPI Rockcastle’s shopping centres portfolio in Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Latvia.

Kätrin Liebert has experience in banking, telecommunications and insurance area. Kätrin Liebert has a passion for innovation and technology.

Karolis has extensive experience structuring and closing transactions across Europe, especially in the Nordic and Central and Eastern European markets. Karolis has played an instrumental role in more than €700 million of sale and leaseback, net lease and build to suit investments including a complex €190 million joint venture acquisition of a multi-jurisdictional mixed-asset property portfolio in the Baltics.

Vitalija holds a doctor’s degree in Real Estate Economics from Aalto University, Finland. She specializes in real estate and workplace management studies and her dissertation topic was “From Walls to Experiences. Workplace transformation from physical office space to ‘Workplace-as-a-Service’ model”. At the moment she works in Aalto and Tampere Universities, where she is a main researcher in projects “Flexible space network”, “Development of digitalization strategies to public property management organisations”, and also a researcher in “Digital wellbeing user services in built environment” and “digitalisation of learning environments”.

Vlaho Kojakovic is Director of the Property and Tourism Team at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development where he has been working for the past 8 years.  He is a seasoned banker and a real estate executive with more than 20 years of experience in the sector.

Before joining EBRD, Vlaho worked as Development Director with the Trigranit Development Corporation, the biggest real estate developer in Central and Eastern Europe. He started his career in investment banking with BNP Paribas in London.

Vlaho ‎holds an MBA from Imperial College, University of London, and an executive education from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

EBRD operates in 38 economies in Central and Eastern Europe and North Africa and has invested over €125 billion in more than 5,000 projects up to date.

Mr R. (Ron) van Bloois, BBE MSc RE, is partner at HEVO having joined the firm in 2011. With a background in development and investment,  Van Bloois is determined to create future-proof solutions in the built environment. He has an extensive track record and has built a large network, especially in the area of (public) real estate. He has also initiated and led numerous developments in (semi) commercial properties.

Kristjan Tamla joined Swedbank (Hansabank) in 2005 as a senior economist and portfolio manager for Hansa Investment Funds. As a CEO of Swedbank Investment Funds he is responsible for managing the largest fund management company in Estonia with assets under management exceeding 2bio EUR. Of that ca 5% is invested to different real estate funds, primarily in the Baltic region. Before taking his position in Swedbank Investment Funds he worked as a head of Baltic Investment Centre in Swedbank and as a portfolio manager for asset allocation products in Swedbank Robur, Sweden. Kristjan has more than 20 years of professional experience in economics and financial markets. He has worked as an economist at the Central Bank of Estonia and as an intern at the European Commission Directorate for Economics and Finance. Kristjan has an MSc degree in Economics (with distinction) from the University of Exeter (UK).

Ramon is an experienced real estate lawyer, who has used his long term professional expertise to transform an extinct, historical industrial building into contemporary, prize-winning office space. Being a full time lawyer (https://www.rask.ee/team/ramon-rask) he rejects the term „developer“ and rather describes himself as “project based real estate enthusiast”.  And Lutheri Machinery Hall (i.e the project where Ramon acted as a co-developer) is a project where enthusiasm was highly needed, as it was by many described as a legally “toxic” project. Nevertheless, the project was successfully executed. Currently, Lutheri Machinery Hall (https://lutheri.ee/en/) is being noted in Estonia as one of the best examples of sustainable renovation of industrial premises. As a proof of that the Machinery Hall has been awarded as an exemplary restored architectural monument by the authorities of cultural heritage protection, and at the same time as a functional and contemporary office space by the expert’s committee of designers and architects (https://www.arhitektuuripreemiad.ee/#project-20-490). Machinery Hall also received a special prize for the best concrete building and wooden architecture (use of plywood) in 2018.

Aare has over 20 years of experience in financial sector. He has extensive banking, real-estate and finance background from various TOP Estonian and Nordic companies. Previously worked as Chairman of the Estonian Compensation Fund, CFO of the Port of Tallinn, Head of Corporate Banking at Nordea Estonia, and CFO and Chairman of the Board of Arco Vara. Aare is responsible for capital raising and real estate advisory projects in Redgate Capital. He has participated in most of the capital raising, M&A and other transactions of Redgate Capital, supporting clients at all transaction stages.