Year in Review: People
People of the Year
Each year since our founding in 2002 The Moodie Davitt Report has recognised those individuals who by their deeds, attitudes and behaviour have most advanced our industry’s cause and reputation. In this, our 20th year, our selection features men and women nominated for leadership amid crisis, thought innovation, critical social and corporate principles, and being voices of progression and positivity.
Paul Griffiths
“The pessimism of the uncertainty that we’ve been facing has to give way to the… optimism of recovery that is going to follow.” Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths, one of the outstanding leaders in our sector, was speaking in early January after the Omicron variant of COVID-19 had emerged to stifle the travel recovery that began in late 2021.
In an interview with CNN’s Richard Quest, Griffiths painted an encouragingly upbeat view of aviation recovery while calling for greater freedoms from international travel restrictions.
He said: “Once the testing regime becomes history, which I think it will do shortly, we believe… there will be a very strong recovery. We’ve got to get to live with it. And we’ve got to be able to travel as part of that normalisation of the approach to the virus in the future. That’s when people get their lives back. That’s when they will become mobile again.”
Despite deep market uncertainty at the time, his prescience became reality as early as Q2, as travel opened up in the Middle East and worldwide.
Reflecting on that period later, in an interview for our Cannes edition (see Interviews of the Year), Griffiths said: “We knew it would come – a bit like Newton’s third law, for every reaction there’s an equal and opposite reaction. And we knew that for every pandemic there will be an equal and opposite rebound.”
Having predicted the robust recovery that later took shape, Griffiths and his team have also been driving a new view of the airport experience, something that had begun before the pandemic.
“We want to pioneer the transformation of DXB from an infrastructure management business into a hospitality business,” he told us.
Beautifully put. It’s a message that chimes with new, wider industry thinking on what airports should represent, and what partnership should mean within the travel eco-system – views he echoed with trademark eloquence at The Trinity Forum in November. For his leadership in thought and action through the pandemic and since, Paul Griffiths is a clear choice as one of our People of the Year.
Lisa Lutoff-Perlo
The Celebrity Cruises CEO is one of the few American women heading a multi-billion-dollar company, and a leader in the global travel hospitality industry. She has played a key role in helping to redefine luxury cruising and in transforming the cruise guest experience – along the way developing high-performing, culturally-inclusive teams.
The Moodie Davitt Report had the good fortune to encounter Lutoff-Perlo in April during the maiden voyage of Celebrity Beyond, the newest ship in Celebrity Cruises’ revolutionary Edge Series – onboard which Starboard Cruise Services is the travel retailer.
We had a revealing insight into the inclusive agenda promoted by Celebrity Cruises towards both staff and guests, and heard the CEO speak about the gender equality drive she has led. The bridge at Celebrity Beyond is staffed by 70% women – led by Captain Kate McCue – a remarkable statistic considering that globally, only 2% of mariners are women.
Lutoff-Perlo said: “When I joined Celebrity Cruises in 2014, we had 5% women in our bridges, today that figure is 32%. To go from 5% to 32% that’s the easy bit, it’s the next percentage to get that full 50/50 balance that will be the hardest step. We are making progress every day and we recruit talent from all over the world regardless or race or gender.”
It’s a crystal clear statement about the direction of travel in our sector – from a leader who is inspiring positive change every day.
For the full story about the Celebrity Beyond launch and its retail offer, click on this link.
Thabet Musleh
The completion of the Terminal Expansion and delivery of the new Central Concourse at Hamad International in November represented a landmark moment for airport development and for travel retail.
It features an outstanding Qatar Duty Free commercial offer, led by an unparalleled luxury and premium offer, a range of firsts across retail and dining among other highlights. All this is set within an extraordinary 10,000sq m indoor tropical garden called The Orchard.
The philosophy to invest in five-star services on the ground and in the air, all coinciding with the triumphant FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, has been led by Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker and Hamad International Airport Chief Operating Officer Engr. Badr Mohammed Al Meer.
Their astute leadership has thrust the airline, airport and its duty free arm to the forefront of consumer and industry attention in this signature year for Qatar.
Executing that philosophy on the ground for Qatar Duty Free is Vice President Thabet Musleh. His unbridled passion, combined with an almost non-stop flow of ideas, immense drive and leadership by example have helped deliver a world-class consumer offer at Hamad International Airport, one in which many brand partners from around the world are placing their faith as never before.
“He’s been absolutely remarkable through this whole development; working, planning, dreaming night and day,” noted one leading brand partner. “His work ethic and dedication are extraordinary.”
“Thabet is a very, very smart guy, a visionary,” added a senior executive from one of the world’s premium luxury houses.
What a personal and professional journey the Terminal Expansion represents for a man who wears his passion on his sleeve; one who started as a Store Operations Manager for World Duty Free in the UK back in 2006 and has come such a very long way since.
Charles Chen
Charles Chen marked 35 years with China Duty Free Group (CDFG) – and service to the industry – in 2022, in what was a landmark year for the state-owned travel retailer and its President.
Under Chen’s stewardship CDFG has cemented its place as the industry’s number one player by sales. This year parent company China Tourism Group acheived a secondary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, positioning CDFG well to expand its operations at home and abroad.
Prospects have been further boosted by China’s late December announcement that it is reopening its borders for both inbound and outbound travel.
At The Trinity Forum last month, Chen outlined how the company plans to achieve that. The three key dynamics to “restarting the market engine” are Big Data, innovation and cooperation between industry partners.
These principles came together to dazzling effect for the 28 October opening of CDFG’s signature operation, cdf Haikou International Duty Free Shopping Complex (see also other highlights in this eZine).
Chen closed his Trinity address with a stirring call for further cooperation across the business, along with a sense of adventure and positivity.
“We can never go back to three years ago. We cannot stop moving forward. We must embrace the future bravely with wisdom and courage,” he said. That wisdom and courage from the top have helped drive CDFG’s fortunes and indeed its own transformation as a retailer – and made Chen a deserving recipient of the inaugural Trinity Award, presented at The Trinity Forum last month. Equally deserving is his inclusion in our annual list once again.
Adriana Echandi
During a remarkable journey that began in Costa Rica in 2001, Morpho Travel Experience has established itself as a powerful force for innovation, multi-channel operations and commitment to the concept of Sense of Place in Latin American travel retail and dining.
Its presence today spans locations in Costa Rica, Peru, Chile, Curacao, Antigua and Barbuda, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Brazil and New Caledonia. It features 31 retail concepts across 23 airports and eight food & beverage concepts across four airports, with brand names including Britt Shop and Britt Café Bakery, among many others.
That airport portfolio sits alongside an expanding off-airport business led by hotels and hospitality. Its latest big project at Montevideo Carrasco Airport showcases Uruguayan artisanship and entrepreneurship to the world through local handicrafts and gastronomy, as we reported this month.
With creative and engaging CEO Adriana Echandi at the helm, the company has a stated ambition to “revolutionise the shopping and dining experience at all airports and hotels in the region” in the next five years, with a big focus on outstanding customer service, store design and speed and skill in execution.
In a recent interview with respected Costa Rican business title El Financiero, Echandi spoke about that spirit of investment and entrepreneurship, which had helped drive sales +20% above pre-pandemic levels.
The 90 new projects it has embarked upon have been accelerated by the recovery and by Echandi's own vigour and energy as CEO, a position she took in 2014 after previous jobs as a salesperson and supervisor with the company. Travel retail has far too few women leaders so it is particularly good to note Echandi leading such an innovative company with such success.
That success is set to grow next year as she has set a new target +15-20% sales growth target,
Our industry talks much about the travel experience but as with Sense of Place the reality often disappoints. Here is a company that carries the former proudly in its name and embraces the latter with zeal. For that, its charismatic CEO deserves much credit.
Fjolla Holzleithner
What to do when a global pandemic threatens to destroy your airport staffing and promotions business? Fjolla Holzleithner, a remarkable Austrian entrepreneur, decided that if people couldn’t physically travel, she would give them a virtual alternative. Already the Founder of renowned Austrian staffing and promotions agency Brand Embassy, she created a new company – and a new concept – called Dayholi.
The company’s innovative VR glasses and immersive ‘consumer dome’ transports users to any travel destination in the world. Crucially, it can be applied to the airport environment and to other settings.
As delegates at The Trinity Forum in November will recall, Dayholi was named winner of The Trinity Challenge 2022, a competition hosted by Mondelez International Travel Retail and The Moodie Davitt Report to recognise and reward innovation in the travel retail world.
“Dayholi was founded with the goal of enabling everyone in the world to travel without any limits,” she said. ”No limits on time, money, health and sustainability. Dayholi beams people into new realities through immersive 8K quality virtual experiences that tap into all the senses.
“With our technology, we can enhance brand experiences through virtual reality technology, increase retail loyalty and maximise entertainment at lounges and gates. Dayholi can also enhance staff training by giving them an enjoyable and interactive experience.”
This is a story about staring crisis in the face and about the spirit of resilience that to come out the other side. Dayholi has opened a new chapter for Fjolla Holzleithner; we feel sure that many more successful ones will follow.
Patrick Doyle
“I’m at war with unfairness.” Meet the remarkable Patrick Doyle, a successful entrepreneur who has turned his earnings and learnings into making the world a better place.
Doyle started International Diplomatic Supplies (IDS) in 1997 in the bedroom of his London home, his early target market a limited number of British embassies overseas, followed by others in the UK capital.
This year that business – now led by Doyle from his head office in Dubai – marked 25 years of expansion across Europe, the Middle East and North America.
The Moodie Davitt Report attended the silver anniversary celebrations of IDS in Dubai on 13 May. This not only marked the company’s commercial success but also placed the spotlight on Patrick’s outstanding work as a philanthropist, particularly in supporting children’s charities around the world.
In an interview that followed the celebrations (broadcast via our TRI-POD series) he told us: “There’s a lot of unfairness in the world and a lot of excessive wealth, and if we brought those two things together just a little bit better, the world could change. It is so achievable if everybody puts their mind to it.”
Poignant and powerful words from someone who understands that his position in life and business allows him to help change the lives of those less fortunate. That empathy and humanity makes Patrick Doyle a powerful choice as one of our People of the Year.
Greg Plummer
“We are charting a new course. We are committed to helping launch more 100% minority-owned and operated businesses.” The words of Greg Plummer, CEO and Managing Partner of Los Angeles-based Concord Collective, which made history this year as the first Airport Concessions Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (ACDBE) to become a prime operator at Los Angeles International Airport (taking over concessions from SSP America).
In a market depressed by COVID-19 and with uncertainty around the pace of recovery, for a minority-owned business with a limited budget to take such a step took bravery blended with a large dash of optimism.
Los Angeles World Airports and master developer Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield Airports played their parts in setting the conditions to make the deal happen, a deal that “flipped the script” in airport concessions, with a smaller company going from being a joint-venture partner to a principal.
But the idea and execution was all about Greg Plummer – who initially began his career in F&B at a golf club in Michigan at just 13 years of age.
Making the agreement happen, from financing to staffing, wasn’t easy but as Greg himself told us in an interview earlier this year, “I wasn’t going to walk away from my dream of becoming an owner.”
In a neat summary of the power of ideas, he added: “We don’t have unlimited sources of capital, but we do have unlimited creativity.” That spirit of positivity can take you a long way, as Greg Plummer showed the world of airport concessions in 2022.
Click here for a detailed interview with Greg Plummer and his partners.
Kiran Jain
An April 2015 article on aviation news website Runway Girl Network highlighted Kiran Jain’s “grit, gumption, get-up-and-go attitude, and air of commitment” in her role as Head of Marketing and Route Development for Delhi International Airport.
The description should resonate with those who have come to know her subsequently as Chief Operating Officer at Noida International Airport – or who heard her speak at The Trinity Forum in Singapore this November. There, she outlined the ambitious plans for this thrilling new airport project in Delhi.
At the event she said: “Once Noida International Airport is completed, it will be the first time that India will have a dual-airport system. India currently has 700 aircraft, but 900 more are being ordered. Indian Airlines’ fleet is expected to grow to over 2,300 aircraft by 2040. It’s clear that the opportunity is there, and we must strike now.”
In an evocative description of the design vision for the 70 million passenger airport (operated by Zurich Airport International), she added: “Our goal is to marry Indian warmth with Swiss efficiency. When we look for partners, we’re looking for magic in terms of efficiency, ethos and beliefs.”
Magic. How nice to hear such a word by a leader in the industry Trinity. Through her career, Kiran Jain has become a powerful voice for women in senior aviation roles. With her dynamic leadership of operations and commercial activities at the Noida International Airport project, she has the chance to reinforce an already stellar reputation. A magic maker indeed.
Sue Kyung Lee
From the boundary-pushing Late Night Portraits Campaign, the inspiring VS and The Centre Lane Films, to its multi-sensorial World Pitera Day campaign and Social Retail Concept project with China Duty Free Group, SK-II has embraced thought-provoking campaigns that show a deep and authentic understanding of women and beauty.
As the leader of this positively disruptive beauty brand, Global CEO Sue Kyung Lee has constantly questioned the status quo, and changed how SK-II is viewed both externally and internally. Crucially, Lee has been a powerful advocate for empowering women, as evidenced by her own stellar career and SK-II’s many female-led social and community projects over the years.
She also speaks up for the quiet but thoughtful voices in business and life. At The Trinity Forum in Singapore, she spoke beautifully about the ‘power of quiet’ and how it can be a force for positive change.
Change wrought by the pandemic will have a deep and lasting impact on our sector, she noted in an important contribution to our leaders’ panel at that event.
“However, change also leads to opportunity,” she said. “If we embrace change with pro-agility (proactiveness and agility) and accept change as a part of life, then we can react in an effective way.” Spoken by a woman who has dynamically driven change and evolution at one of the world’s leading beauty houses, the words carry extra resonance.
Erin Lillis
Erin Lillis has led Lacoste’s travel retail business in Asia Pacific with much distinction for the past decade, helping to cement and grow the French fashion brand’s presence across a key channel from her base in Hong Kong.
An outstanding and dynamic professional, her leadership skills have also been to the fore with Women in Travel Retail, of which she is a founding member. Her drive, zeal and charisma have been influential in many of the fine fund-raising projects undertaken by the group over recent years.
As well as being a voice for those less fortunate, Erin has been fighting her own battle recently, having been diagnosed with stage three cancer in 2021.
Her fortitude – documented with candour, humanity and humour in her regular communications with industry colleagues – amid a desperately stressful period has been inspirational. So too has her willingness to build awareness of the disease and its warning signs, and to help others generate the positive mindset key so dealing with such life-altering events. For her courage and for the inspiration she has been to others, Erin truly warrants inclusion in this year’s list.
Barry Geoghegan
As Founder and Commercial Director of Irish drinks specialist company Duty Free Global, Barry Geoghegan is a man who walks, talks and sleeps travel retail.
His bloodline in the duty free industry runs deep. Barry’s father Michael (Mick), now sadly passed, was one of the Aer Rianta delegation that came out to Dubai in 1983 to advise the government on setting up what would become Dubai Duty Free, one of travel retail’s greatest and most enduring success stories. Michael Geoghegan was also the first Aer Rianta International employee, and like Barry, a great character in our industry.
Barry – whose passion for travel retail is matched by his love of wine, a category he understands intimately – has been a powerful voice of positivity for our sector through the pandemic. While other brands, distributors and retailers were shedding people and contracts, he was taking on new resource, expertise and brand partners, all underpinned by a firm belief that travel retail would rebound once pandemic restrictions began to ease. That faith is now being richly rewarded.
He has championed the industry in other ways too, including through his company’s unwavering support of industry events, from TFWA’s exhibitions and seminars, to our own Virtual Travel Retail Expo and conferences such as The Trinity Forum.
But it is perhaps in other less public ways that Barry has displayed his great humanity and his ability to bring people together. He is always there to offer advice, support and encouragement to others in the business – especially but not limited to newcomers and those from his native Ireland. He is also a force for ensuring people stay connected, through WhatsApp groups or in person, helping to ensure that our sector remains what it always has been at its best – a people business.
Bassam Al Wardi
The innovative, beautifully ranged Bahrain Duty Free complex represents an anchor of the commercial and consumer offer at Bahrain International Airport, where a new terminal opened in January 2021.
Due to COVID-19, many in the industry will only have seen the 4,700sq m retail arena when visiting the Middle East & Africa Duty Free Association (MEADFA) Conference in November. Like us, they will have been impressed by the sense of scale in what is a relatively small terminal measured by passenger numbers (under ten million a year), as well as the well-segmented offer, bright and inviting store layouts and neat blending of retail with other commercial services.
The project that was completed in 2021 has been enhanced with design and category changes, and has come into its own as travel has returned in 2022.
Leading the Bahrain Duty Free team as CEO through its recent investment drive and through the tough COVID period is Bassam Al Wardi. Energetic, irrepressible and passionate, he has set the sights of the team at Bahrain Duty Free on being recognised as “the premier travel retailer in the Middle East”. That’s a big ambition given the competition around the Gulf region in particular but one that its leader consistently and constantly states amid the drive for Bahrain Duty Free to become a better and “more customer-focused travel retail company”.
Within this, a key platform is the travel retailer’s high levels of engagement on social media, and its clever marketing campaigns, many in collaboration with notable local and regional bloggers and influencers. These have helped raise brand recognition, enhance Bahrain Duty Free’s reputation and deliver wide-reaching audience engagement.
Bassam also regularly reinforces the ambition that Bahrain Duty Free should be an even better place to work for employees. This internal drive for improvement represents a major focus of Bahrain Duty Free’s management efforts, alongside a strengthened commitment to protecting the planet and to wider ESG principles. For these principles, alongside a passion and commitment to his company and the industry, Bassam Al Wardi is a deserved inclusion in our People of the Year roll call for 2022.
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The Moodie Davitt eZine Issue 318 | 30 December 2022
The Moodie Davitt eZine is published 14 times per year by The Moodie Davitt Report (Moodie International Ltd).
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