Stefan is responsible for repositioning Giorgio Armani as an Haute Couture global brand by capitalizing on its high notoriety, its femininity and its selectivity, while at the same time boosting Designer’s fragrances such as Viktor & Rolf or Ralph Lauren and recruiting new consumers to the luxury world with Diesel and Cacharel.
Prior to this assignment Stefan Dembinski was the head of L’Oréal Luxe in Poland developing extensive partnerships (eg. Sephora, Douglas…) and establishing new ways of doing business using the power of the supplier’s brand and the power of the distributor to increase the penetration and transformation rate.
He first joined L’Oréal 18 years ago, when he was part of the pioneering team which convinced duty free retailers to enrich their offer with a whole new offer in mass market; first in Europe and Middle East than creating and developing L’Oréal Paris in the Americas. He successfully helped establish L’Oreal Paris as a key brand in skin care and make up, giving retailers a wide portfolio to attract new customers and increase penetration rates.
Bernard is a qualified Certified Public Accountant (CPA) with over 30 years of experience living and working in Ireland, Scotland, Bahrain, Dubai, the Dutch Antilles and the United States.
His career has seen him work in the textile manufacturing, mobile telecommunications, private practice and the travel retail business. Bernard has over 16 years’ experience working in the duty-free industry, having previously worked for Bahrain Duty Free (1998-2001) and for Dubai Duty Free (2001-2007). Bernard returned to Dubai Duty Free in May 2010 to head up the Finance Department as Finance Controller and was named Senior Vice President – Finance (Retail & Leisure) in July 2016.
In addition to his CPA qualification, Bernard holds a Masters in Business Administration and is currently carrying out Doctoral studies in airport retailing. In October 2013, Bernard was elected Chairman of The Irish Business Council in Dubai, a position he held for two years.
Joachim von Winning has been Chief Commercial Officer of Cairo Airport since 2010, as part of the management contract between Fraport and Cairo Airport Company. He is responsible for the non-aviation revenues of the airport, including the development of the commercial areas inside existing and future terminals for retail and F&B. In addition to his non-aviation responsibilities, Joachim is in charge of Cairo’s route development and is a member of the Routes Advisory Panel.
Joachim joined Fraport in 1999 as a project manager in ground handling. He later served as head of IT and logistics of ground handling before implementing strategic planning in the maintenance and construction division of Fraport. He moved into the commercial sector as chief of staff of the real estate division, supervising the re-organisation of the department and aligning it with Fraport’s Airport City strategy.
Joachim holds an MSc in Logistics and IT (Dipl.-Wirtsch.-Inf.) from the University of Mannheim and an MBA from the University of Nottingham. From 2007 to 2010 he was a lecturer at the Frankfurt University for Applied Sciences for logistic processes in aviation.
During his studies he briefly lived in South Africa and was vice president of the German committee of the world’s largest independent student organisation AIESEC. He’s married with two boys.
Sherif Toulan serves as the Chief Executive Officer of IDF in Egypt. In this role he oversees the company operations including its diverse subsidiaries. Mr Toulan’s combined efforts have played an integral part in diversifying the operations of IDF and growing the business vertically and laterally thereby establishing IDF as a nationwide benchmark in the industry.
During his tenure, Mr Toulan succeeded in acquiring a number of airport retail concessions for IDF. In 2010 he founded Global Brands, a subsidiary of IDF the with a focus on the local market In 2013, he established Heinemann -Egypt, of which he is currently Chairman. Heineman Egypt is a joint venture between Global Brands, Global Trading and Technology and Gebr. Heinemann who are now operating its Duty Free Shops in Sharm El Sheikh Airport.
Mr Toulan joined IDF in 1997 as Business Development Coordinator responsible for Business Development and Strategy implementation and since then he has held a number of positions with increasing responsibility.
Part of the MEADFA Board since 2009, Mr Toulan served as Vice President (2019-21) before being elected President earlier this year. He also serves on a number of boards and associations. He is currently a Member of the Board of International Duty Free (IDF) and Global Trading and Technology, one of the subsidiaries of IDF with core focus in tobacco machinery and spare parts. In addition he is an active member of both the American and German chambers of commerce in Egypt.
Sherif Toulan holds a BA from the American University in Cairo and an Executive MBA from North Western University.
A former president of MEADFA, John Sime is Vice President Retail Services at Emirates Airline, one of the world’s fastest growing airlines.
John has been employed by Emirates since 1997 and is tasked with the development of the company’s onboard retail programme and the operation of a global rewards platform for Skywards members.
Before joining Emirates John held positions with several major duty free operators, including Aer Rianta International and Harding Bros. John has worked in most duty free retail environments, including ferries, cruiselines, airports and airlines.
José María Palencia Saucedo has been Chief Executive Officer of World Duty Free Group (including Aldeasa, World Duty Free, Alpha Group and HMSHost) since September 2010. He joined Aldeasa in 2001 and was Managing Director until 2005, when he became Chief Executive Officer. He has been a member of the Company’s Board of Directors since 2001, and he is also a member of the Board of Directors of CANARIENSIS.
José María has previously worked with Acerinox, Mitsui & Company, Andersen Consulting, Ministry of Economy and Finance and Eurocofin. He has a degree in Economics and Business Administration from the Complutense University of Madrid and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Luigi Bocconi University, Milan.
An MBA graduate, Frank Passmann joined Montblanc in 1998 from Staedtler Mars GmbH, where he had held the role of Area Manager North America. He began his career with Montblanc as Area Sales Manager Europe, later becoming Sales Director before moving into the travel retail sector in 2005, when he was appointed General Manager Travel Retail Western Hemisphere. Last year he became Managing Director of Montblanc’s International Travel Retail division, created following the integration of the company’s Asian travel retail business within its international operations, run from Hamburg.
In his current role Frank is based in Hamburg and oversees Montblanc’s regional travel retail offices in Miami, Dubai and Hong Kong.
Kelvin Ng is Assistant Vice President (Marketing Communications) at Changi Airport Group (CAG), the manager and operator of Singapore Changi Airport. As part of his role, Kelvin co-leads tactical campaigns and joint promotions with strategic partners through Changi Airport’s Social Media Team, whose “Fans of Changi” social media assets won the Best Use of Social Media and Best Facebook Page prizes at the inaugural Moodies Awards organised by The Moodie Report in 2012.
An active participant on social media, Changi Airport’s presence include a Facebook page which is currently the world’s second largest airport Facebook account and a successful engagement avenue to travellers and the airport community alongside its Twitter, Instagram and YouTube assets. Together, these continuously promote awareness of the Changi Airport brand and raise the profile of its partners.
Paul Griffiths is Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Airports, with responsibility for the operation and development of Dubai International as well as Dubai World Central, which will eventually be the world’s largest airport with capacity to handle 160 million passengers and 12 million tonnes of freight annually.
Paul joined Dubai Airports as its first CEO in October 2007. Exactly a year later, on October 14, he orchestrated the flawless launch of Terminal 3 at Dubai International and on June 27, 2010 successfully opened the emirate’s second airport, Dubai World Central. He achieved another milestone in Dubai’s aviation history on January 2, 2013 with the similarly flawless opening of Concourse A, the world’s first purpose-built A380 facility.
Prior to moving to Dubai, Paul was Managing Director of London’s Gatwick Airport, the second largest airport in the UK. Before joining airport operator BAA in 2004, he spent 14 years with the Virgin Group, working closely with Sir Richard Branson as a Board Director of the Virgin Travel Group, embracing the commercial activities of both Virgin Atlantic Airways and Virgin Trains. Prior to this, in the 1980s, he spent four years in Hong Kong developing the marketing, commercial planning and technology functions for the then start-up airline Dragonair.
Paul’s career in transportation arose out of the strict advice of his father not to pursue his passion for music. An accomplished organist, Paul has managed to combine a high-profile career with a schedule of concert and recital engagements, and has made many public appearances as a recitalist, continuo player and soloist in concerti with major orchestras.
Paul is married to Joanna (also a concert organist and composer) and has three children between the ages of 9 and 22.
