Deep Kalra

Founder & CEO, MakeMyTrip

Deep is the Founder and CEO of India's leading online travel company, MakeMyTrip.com. Launched in India in 2005, MakeMyTrip offered the convenience of online transactions coupled with great value prices, thus revolutionizing the way Indians research and purchase travel services. Under his stewardship, MakeMyTrip is today the largest e-commerce business in the country and the largest travel company in India and listed its shares on NASDAQ in August 2010.

Deep is a member of the NASSCOM Executive Council and chairs its Internet Working Group. He also serves as a Board Member of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) Delhi and is an active Angel Investor in the internet space. Deep is a founding member of “I am Gurgaon” - an NGO focused on improving the quality of life in Gurgaon. Deep has been recognized by Ernst & Young as Entrepreneur of the Year - Business Transformation (2011) and was also felicitated as a 'Distinguished Alumni' of IIM-Ahmedabad in December 2011.

Prior to his entrepreneurial venture with MakeMyTrip, Deep has had corporate stints with GE Capital, AMF Bowling Inc. and ABN AMRO Bank. Deep holds an MBA (PGDM) degree from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and a Bachelor's degree in Economics from St. Stephen's College, Delhi. His interests include swimming, yoga, quizzing, adventure sports and, of course, travelling.

Philip Wolf

President, PhocusWright

Years ago, a lonely entrepreneur embraced the controversial idea that quality of information would differentiate winners and losers in the then-burgeoning information age. That entrepreneur was Philip Wolf; the year was 1994. The company he founded, PhoCusWright Inc., is now the premier source for travel, tourism and hospitality intelligence, and nearly every industry presentation has at least one slide that says, "Source: PhoCusWright." He began his travel career in May 1989 heading a small agency.

After two decades of analyzing and scrutinizing market trends, Philip has built a brand around his trademark catchphrase: "Strategically correct, not politically correct." He is the architect of the annually acclaimed PhoCusWright Conference and has taken the stage one-on-one with many of the industry elite. A sought-after speaker around the world, he has addressed audiences on five continents and is frequently quoted in consumer and trade media. Philip was named to Travel Weekly's "Club 33: The Most Influential People in the Travel Industry." Formerly an adjunct professor at NYU's Graduate Center for Hospitality and Tourism, he is currently a distinguished lecturer at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration. Philip has served as board director for companies on three continents, currently for travel search engine developer Hopper Inc., India's MakeMyTrip, Russian OTA oktogo.ru and mobile application developer QuickMobile. In addition, he serves as board advisor for European OTA ODIGEO, commission recovery specialist Net Trans, and accommodation booking provider BookingMarkets. Prior to PhoCusWright, Philip was CEO of a venture-funded software developer and travel booking engine pioneer. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Duke University and holds an MBA from Vanderbilt University. Decades after first espousing the power of Internet travel, Philip continues to spark industry epiphanies... and leave audiences buzzing.

Peter Harbison

Executive Chairman, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation

Peter Harbison is Executive Chairman of the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA). He established the Centre in 1990; today it produces the leading range of executive analysis, newsletters and information reports, covering the global aviation industry. He is also Chairman of CAPA AeroPark, an affiliate of CAPA and of CAPA India, the company’s consulting arm for the sub-continent. CAPA AeroPark is to be a major, comprehensive global aviation training and education campus, based in India. Peter is an aviation consultant and commentator on industry issues. His career in aviation comprises more than 40 years, in government and in industry, including two years with the Australian mission to the International Civil Aviation Organisation and 10 years at a senior level in the International Air Transport Association, IATA.

Over the past 20 years, he has conducted more than 200 consultancy projects either as project manager or senior advisor, from the Middle East, India, China and most parts of Asia to the South Pacific. He has authored and/or edited numerous reports on the aviation industry, including, most recently a comprehensive 300-page report on the global low cost airline industry. A new CAPA report on Aviation Training is currently in production. Peter he was until recently President of the Australian Aviation Council, was formerly Chairman of IATA’s World Aviation Regulation Monitoring Group, President of the Aviation Law Association of Australia and New Zealand and a former IATA Travel Agency Commissioner. He is a board member of the Foundation on Antivirals (FAV). He holds LLB (Melbourne), LLB (London), LLM (McGill).

Cameron Jones

Vice President, Commercial, SilverRail Technology

In the role of Vice President, Commercial, Cameron is responsible for business development and commercialising SilverCore, SilverRail’s global rail platform that provides corporate and leisure travel sellers access to multiple rail carriers by connecting via a single API. Prior to joining SilverRail, Cameron spent 8 years at Expedia Inc. During his tenure with Expedia he held a number of positions in Asia Pacific and Europe focusing on both Supplier Relations and B2B Distribution. Most recently Cameron led business development for EMEA for Expedia’s Affiliate Network. Cameron also served on the board of directors of Nasdaq-listed eLong, Inc., a leading online travel provider in China from 2004 to 2007.

Before joining Expedia, Cameron was an independent consultant with key customers including Hilton, Starwood and Intercontinental Hotel Group. Cameron also spent 5 years at Starwood Hotels in multiple roles, most recently as director of ebusiness for Asia Pacific. Claim to Fame: Cameron was one of the last few passengers to ride on top of the Devil’s Nose Railway in Ecuador before it was discontinued for safety fears.

Olivier Jager

Co-Founder & C.E.O, ForwardKeys

Olivier has been an online pioneer in Europe, first as an entrepreneur, and later with brand names such as AOL or Europe Online. He then joined Amadeus in Madrid, where he became instrumental in developing the company's e-commerce strategy and product line. In late 1999, Olivier joined leading online marketing company 24/7 Real Media in the U.S. as vice president, and settled in his seventh country. Back in Europe, Olivier undertook to research and track the European market for PhoCusWright. In 2004, Olivier became Regional Director of Sales South of Europe for TravelCLICK. In 2008, Olivier undertook to grow Market Metrix's global presence in developing the business in the EMEA region.

Through his career Olivier developed a strong expertise in International Business Development, Sales and Management, combined with a good understanding of the travel industry at a whole. It is this experience and track record that Olivier invested in Forward Data S.L., to continue serving his industry of choice: the Travel Industry.

Alok Mittal

Managing Director, Canaan India

With a broad range of hands-on experience founding, funding and supporting early-stage technology companies, Alok Mittal joined Canaan India in March 2006. Alok focuses on investments in digital media and mobile companies, as well as innovators in managed software services and other IT enabled businesses. He regularly speaks at prominent industry events such as TiE, NASSCOM, SiliconIndia, VC Circle, Microsoft BizSpark, Adtech and more. Prior to joining the venture industry, Alok co-founded JobsAhead.com, a leading web-based recruitment business, which was acquired by Monster.com, the global leader in online recruitment. He also brings strong Telecom experience to Canaan having worked for Hughes Software Systems prior to that.

Alok is a co-founder of Indian Angel Network, on the board of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) in Delhi and an advisor to Adtech India. During the course of his association with Canaan India, he has advised Canaan Partners in their investment in Bharat Matrimony, Equitas, iYogi, Cellcast, UnitedLex and MotorExchange. Alok earned a BE in computer science and engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and a MS in computer science from UC Berkeley.

Rajiv Vij

Managing Director & CEO, Carzonrent India Pvt Ltd.

Radio taxis are ubiquitous in India now. And the man who first brought them in is Rajiv Vij, whose eight-year-old firm Carzonrent, runs a fleet of 1,400 Easycabs across the country today. oming from a fairly modest background, he worked his way up the corporate ladder, going on to serve as marketing head at Hindustan Motors. The seeds of his own venture were sown when he was with ITC's International Travel House as head of its car rental business. Got to know car rental companies like Dollar,Europcar and Avis and radio taxi companies like Smart Cabs and Comfort Cabs, and studied their operating systems and challenges.

Realizing that the time was right for India's car rental industry to boom, he launched Carzonrent (India) Pvt Ltd in Sep 2001 with an initial investment of Rs 2 crore (of which Rs 30 lakh were his own while the rest were borrowings from banks) and a fleet of 38 cars. Did business worth Rs 30 lakh in the fist month. Soon after,his company was appointed as a master licensee for Hertz in India.In six months it turned profitable. Radio taxis were next in line and in June 2006, Carzonrent entered the business with a trial run of 25 taxis in Chandigarh."The reason for choosing Chandigarh as a launch pad was that it never had a meter taxi service and it's a much smaller city as compared to the metros, which in a way was appropriate for testing our business model,"saysVij.
Encouraged by the results, Easycabs were launched in Delhi NCR in January 2007 with an initial investment of Rs 15 crore and a fleet size of 250 cars. Last year, it expanded its fleet by adding 750 Mahindra Renault Logans.

Now with a fleet of 1,400 cars Easycabs operates in Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chandigarh, and has corporate clients such as Infosys, Microsoft, Nokia, and ISB, among others.

In nearly two years of operation the company has received investments to the tune of Rs 85 crore and it does Rs 4 crore worth business every month. He plans to grow the Easycabs fleet to 3,000 and start in Mumbai and Chennai as well. From driving an ambassador—his first car—to a BMW now, Vij sure has covered a lot of ground.