Ahmet Kötehne, Chief Strategy Officer of ATU Duty Free, has been working in the company since 2006. Previously he was the Operation Units and Business Development Deputy General Manager, responsible for 80 shops in 8 countries, along with the Business Development and Architecture departments.
Ahmet has spent much of his life travelling in various countries, giving him a strong background in change and cross-cultural management. He graduated from Radford University and holds an MBA from the same school. In his career he has worked at AT&T/AHS, Garanti Bank Luxembourg, Mezun.com and provided independent consultancy services.
Ahmet is a keen sportsman and is married with a son. He speaks English, French and Turkish.
Joe Harvey is the Head of New Business Development for leading concessionaire Tourvest Inflight Retail Services. Previously he headed up the global crew engagement programme, which is based around influencing change and customer service.
Joe took on the challenge of leading the new global business development and corporate marketing strategy of the company in May 2014, as Tourvest IRS expands into new global travel markets focusing on its ‘direct to passenger’ strategy, developing buy on board and duty free programmes for airlines.
Joe has over 11 years’ experience within the inflight retail industry, including a seven-year spell within the team that successfully developed the Aer Lingus inflight retail business. With a background in hotel management, he also holds a Masters degree in Tourism Management.
With its headquarters in South Africa, Tourvest is the exclusive inflight duty free service provider to British Airways, South African Airways, Kenya Airways, SA Airlink and TAAG.
David Freeborn previously worked in the UK for L’Oreal for ten years before moving to Dubai in 1998. He joined Seagram in 2000 and subsequently set up the Pernod Ricard Gulf business following the Seagram acquisition in 2001. As Managing Director he has responsibility for all the Pernod Ricard sales throughout UAE, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar as well as Sri Lanka and The Maldives. In addition the Pernod Ricard Gulf business also supports operational delivery into India, Bangladesh and Nepal.
Key brands would include Royal Salute, Chivas Regal, Ballantines, The Glenlivet, ABSOLUT, Martell Cognac as well as wines such as Jacobs Creek, Brancott Estate and Campo Viejo.
Eoin Martin Cox has more than 20 years of experience in aviation and retail. Currently, in his role as Manager, Inflight Duty Free Operations at Qatar Airways, he is responsible for the on board retail business of one of the world’s fastest-growing airlines, which has seen unprecedented expansion averaging double-digit growth year on year.
Prior to joining Qatar Airways, Eoin worked as a Senior Retail Consultant with Aer Rianta International Middle East, initially in Bahrain and later in Doha, Qatar.
Before coming to the Middle East, he worked as European Retail Operations Manager for Tommy Hilfiger International, one of the world’s leading designer lifestyle brands.
A native of Ireland, Eoin has also worked previously for Aer Lingus and Air France’s CityJet, based in Dublin.
As President of the Duty Free World Council, Sarah Branquinho is an active advocate for the duty-free and travel retail industry and the key role it plays in enhancing transport infrastructure and the passenger experience.
Initially appointed the first Commercial Director of the industry’s trade association Tax Free World Association, the start of the duty-and tax-free industry’s campaign to fight the abolition of intra-EU duty- and tax-free sales saw her take up key advocacy roles. She served as Secretary General of the European Travel Research Foundation from 1995, managing and co-ordinating the ambitious research projects which underpinned the lobby and as secretary general of Focus 1999, coordinating the ‘Save Duty Free’ consumer mobilisation programme throughout the European Union.
Sarah subsequently joined BAA and its retail company World Duty Free, extending her remit for business relationships and external affairs to sister company Aldeasa following Autogrill’s acquisition of WDF. With the acquisition of World Duty Free Group by Dufry, she was appointed the group’s Director of External Affairs. From 2021 to 2023 Sarah served as Global Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer at Dufry, further driving the company’s commitment to ensuring its team is as diverse as its customer base and to building an inclusive and culturally sensitive workplace.
Today she continues to serve as External Affairs Advisor to Dufry.
Alongside her commercial roles, she has served as Chair of the UK Travel Retail Forum (2009 – 2018), President of the European Travel Retail Confederation (2012 – 2018), and still serves as the World Business Partner observer on the ACI Europe Board and Chair of Women in Travel Retail, which offers networking opportunities to women in the travel retail industry.
PRESENTATION
Baptiste Duguit is Vice-President Business Development at Lagardère Travel Retail, and leads development projects and investment opportunities in the EMEA region. He has been working for the travel retail operator since 2011, and was previously Business Development Director for the Middle East & Africa. Prior to that, he was Marketing & Commercial Director at Dutyfly Solutions, the inflight retail division of Lagardère Travel Retail.
Before joining Lagardère Travel Retail, Baptiste worked in Sports Marketing for Havas Entertainment (Advertising) as well as the French brand Le Coq Sportif (sports lifestyle goods), developing experience in consumer marketing, communication tools, purchasing and sales development. Baptiste holds an MBA from ESSEC Business School and played rugby at semi-professional level.
Sharon Beecham is the Senior Vice President of Dubai Duty Free, having taken on the role as head of the retailer’s Purchasing department in September 2020.
Sharon began her travel retail career in 1994 with Aer Rianta International in Moscow and a short time in Beijing. She joined Dubai Duty Free in 1998 in the Retail division, where she held various positions in operations and merchandising before moving to the Purchasing department in 2004.
Prior to joining the world of travel retail, Sharon worked in retail management on the UK High Street.
With over twenty years of experience in the fields of business development and strategy execution across the Middle East and leading large national and regional projects, Deema Anani has been working with Airport International Group (AIG) since 2010 and is currently the company’s Chief Commercial and Customer Service Officer, with the mandate to develop, maintain and increase commercial revenues at Queen Alia International Airport in Amman. Her responsibilities include retail activities (duty free, specialty retail, food & beverage) ground handling, airport services, car parks, advertising and overall real estate development. The commercial division also looks after property and asset management. Deema also heads the digital transformation committee in Queen Alia International Airport.
Before assuming her current role, Deema worked with organizations including IBM consulting services, Tecom Investments and Monitor Consulting.
Deema, a change agent, is a founding member of the Young Entrepreneurs Association, and is part of the steering committee of Digital Arabia Network. She is also a certified emotional intelligence trainer, and has an MBA in Strategic Management from the University of Edinburgh.
İsmet Ersan Arcan graduated from Warnborough College Oxford (BBA) in the UK and from the Business Administration Department of Schiller University, Heidelberg in Germany. He began his professional career as Sales Representative at ATA sarl in Switzerland and as Sales Manager at AREX Ltd in Luxembourg.
After seven years with TAV Airports Holding between 1999-2006, Ersan joined ATU Duty Free as Operations Manager, later being named Deputy General Manager. In October 2007 he was appointed as General Manager. He speaks English and French fluently.
Gerry Crawford joined the DAA group of companies after graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from University College Dublin. He held various finance management roles before being recruited to the DAA’s international retail management programme.
Subsequently, Gerry spent 14 years overseas with Aer Rianta International, holding senior management positions in Eastern Europe, Middle East, The Levant and the Mediterranean.
Prior to taking up the role of COO, his most recent posts were Director Retail Operations, Head of Retail & Concessions (Ireland), Regional Purchasing Manager – Middle East and General Manager of the award winning Cyprus Duty Free.
Gerry also holds an MBA from Warwick Business School.
