Our Esteemed Panel of Judges-2020
Since we are a Popular
Choice Award and the winners are chosen by the number of votes, we have
decided that we will do the entire Award process online. We would be opening
nominations in July and as always, the nomination for the Awards will be
FREE. After shortlisting, the nominees for the first round of voting will
be announced and 2 Rounds of voting will be completed online.
The final Gold and Silver Award winners will also be chosen online and announced through our website www.hozpitality.com and Certificates/Trophies can be collected from our office in Dubai.
The Judges for the Awards are prominent hospitality professionals, and these champions will be invaluable in helping us to encourage entries from beyond the UAE, and judge them fairly. The Judges will help us reach the final list of nominations for each Category that will be opened for online voting.
Panel of Judges:-
Ibrahim Yaqoot
Executive Director-HR/Training Solutions
DTCM
Ibrahim is an Executive Director with specializations in Human Resources, Training and Development in the areas of service and Excellence in tourism and hospitality industry.
Ibrahim supervises the Emiratization Task Force for Hotel Industry in Dubai. He is a Member of the international concierge group (UICH) and supervises the les Clefs d’Or-UAE (Dubai Chapter) in Dubai hotels and hospitality industry. Also member of the International front office group (AICR) and supervising AICR- Dubai Chapter in Dubai hotels and hospitality industry.
Filippo Sona
MD- Wood Couture
Filippo Sona is one of the most recognized
names in the global hospitality consultancy community having carried out work in
more than 28 countries for the past 25 years. From UK to Europe, Middle East,
Africa and USA he has carried out more than 735 hospitality projects ranging
from market & financial feasibilities, valuations, operator selection,
project management and strategic asset management.
Currently is Managing
Director-Global Hospitality at Drees and Sommer, a global firm specializing in
consultancy, asset management and construction management. Filippo understanding of management
agreements has been an invaluable skill to global law firms as an expert
witness and advisor in commercial negotiations. Filippo is a regular speaker at
international hotel investment conferences and writers for many international
hospitality publications. Filippo is an associate member of RICS and holds an
MBA from Oxford Brooks University and an Honours Degree in Hospitality
Management from the University of West London.
Uwe Micheel
Director of Kitchens
Radisson Blu Hotel, Dubai Deira Creek
President, Emirates Culinary Guild
Chef Uwe Micheel is the President of Emirates Culinary Guild and Director of Kitchens at Radisson Blu Hotel, Dubai Deira Creek. The German born, award winning 5 star Chef has more than two decades of experience as a Chef in Dubai and a huge list of credentials to follow his name.
He joined Emirates Culinary Guild in 1993 and became Emirates Culinary Guild General Secretary from 1994, ECG Chairman from 1996 and President from 1999 until present.
Shiraz Osman
Chairman & Founder- Delta Food Industries
Chairman and founder of Delta Food Industries FZC, Shiraz Osman is a high profile entrepreneur whose business discipline was acquired not from studying textbooks and taking exams in formal schools but from selling pastries in the hot and dusty streets of Malawi, Central Africa when he was just nine years old.
His exposure in the marketplace at such an early age helped shape his entrepreneurial personality. With razor-sharp wit and his innate flair for business, Shiraz used these traits to carve his name in the highly competitive world of business.
Diversifying from his successful garments factory inside the Sharjah Airport International Free Zone, Shiraz heard another calling in the FMCG manufacturing industry.
Eight years after Delta Food was born in a small warehouse next to his garments factory, Shiraz is seeing the fruits of his toil growing into a multimillion-dollar company that it is now. His network expanded exponentially as Delta Food’s market broke the barriers of multinational monopoly.
Ron Thomas
MD, Strategy Focused Group
Ron Thomas is Managing Director, StrategyFocused Group-, based in Dubai.
He is also a senior faculty member and representative of the Human Capital Institute [ hci.org ] covering the MENA region He was formerly CEO of Great Place to Work-Gulf and former CHRO based in Riyadh. He held senior level HR positions with Xerox HR services, IBM, and Martha Stewart Living. Board memberships include the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council, ,McKinsey Quarterly Executive Online Panel, and HCI's Expert Advisory Council on Talent Management Strategy.
He received the Outstanding Leadership Award for Global HR Excellence at the World Human Resources Development Congress in Mumbai, and was named as one of the 50 Most Talented Global HR Leaders in Asia
Manoj Abraham Mathew
Territory Head – (Middle East & North Africa), Zee Network
Manoj A Mathew is the Territory Head at Zee
Network (Middle East, North Africa and Turkey), a Global Television Network
spread over 173 countries, beaming over 75+ channels and to over a billion
viewers. In his current role he leads the product and revenues of 2 Arabic
Free-To-Air channels and over 20 pay channels in the region. He has over
25 years’ experience in the media, content, technology, marketing and advertising
business across Middle East, North Africa and Europe.
At heart an idea incubator; content curator; revenue generator.... Passion, conviction and perseverance is core to him. He enjoys being responsible for both creative and revenue side of the business, fusing content & technology, launching new products and making them commercially successful. Extensive knowledge and experience in content creation, distribution, marketing, licensing, digital and sales. He constantly endeavors to fuse holistic business processes with the bottom line. An absolute foodie, a critique, a whisky ambassador, a restaurant and hotel reviewer. He has been on the jury of many food and hotel shows.
