ITIC APAC 2023

Trudi is first and foremost excited by all things travel. As a strategic thinker, she adopts a pragmatic approach in addressing business challenges. Trudi combines the two in her passion for creating easy-to-understand and simple-to-use products and services for people when traveling the globe. She is an energetic and respected business leader who has the credibility and style to quickly establish rapport and maintain effective relationships with key stakeholders.

Dr Jinhatha Panyasorn is a Director of Corporate Utilization Management and Insurance Services at Bangkok Dusit Medical Services PLC.

She earned a Master’s Degree in International Health Management from Imperial College London in 2007, a Certification in Health Care and Quality Management (CHCQM) in 2010

and Fellows of ABQAURP from American Board of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review Physician, Inc in 2023.

Dr Attapoom Susupaus, M.D., is an assistant Professor of Cardiovascular Surgery at Bangkok Heart Hospital, Thailand. He studied at the Siriraj Hospital Faculty of Medicine, later continuing his education at Rajavithi Hospital. Attapoom also spent time in the US Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, in Chicago, Illinois, and at the Singapore Management University. He has written for various journals and presented at many conferences.

Dr Michael van Niekerk leads the APAC region’s Health Operations Center of Carnival Australia. His background is in emergency medicine with a particular interest in Critical Care, Cardiology and Public Health. He completed five years in Maritime Medicine as a Senior Doctor on board cruise ships, and obtained a Diploma in Primary Emergency Care with distinction and graduated MBChB (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) Cum Laude, and was awarded the DUX award. Apart from serving in various leadership roles within health services, Michael is an Abe Bailey Scholar, Golden Key International Scholar Laureate, awarded top community service project leader and selected as one of the Mail and Guardian’s top 200 young South Africans. He is currently completing a Master of Business Administration degree in International Healthcare Management.

Dr. Jong is the Group CEO and Group Medical Director at EMA Global, a company he established in 1991. Renowned for contributions to clinical anaesthesia, intensive care medicine, and aeromedical expertise, Dr. Jong holds a prominent position as a leading sub-specialist in aeromedical medicine. He also meticulously supervises all transports and actively engages in the aeromedical training and quality assurance initiatives for EMA Global’s medical escorts.

David is the CEO of First Assistance. Before joining the team in 2013 he led various Travel and Assistance companies across the Asia Pacific region. From his earlier work and study in agriculture, David uses common sense over conventional wisdom to simplify complex business problems.

He embraces change and innovation, employing digital technologies to enable people to focus on providing customer care. David is passionate about influencing organisational culture, challenging the status quo and promoting diversity and inclusiveness.

Originally hailing from Finland and now making his home in Australia, Miksu Vaittinen is the Executive General Manager at Freely: a travel insurance and safety app. Previously, he was with Fjord (Accenture) for five years, working with FSI clients across Brazil, Europe and Asia around their digital transformations and new digital products. Driven by a passion for human impact in the travel insurance sphere and with more than 20 years’ experience in the digital design and software industry, Miksu is an accomplished digital professional and executive. In his free time, he loves to travel, dive and play golf – and is known for trotting the globe in search of the perfect fly-fishing spot.

Ian Allsop manages the International SOS partnerships across Australasia with insurers, brokers, travel management companies and other solution partners to ensure a holistic service is provided to clients. These services support mobile workforces, on both travel and long-term assignments, with health and security support. This provides understanding of both corporate decision making and traveller behaviours and expectations from insurance, service providers, and travel. Ian has worked with International SOS for over five years and has a background in technology service management.

Debbie is the General Manager of Business Development at Matilda International Hospital in Hong Kong. She began her career as a dietitian and has always been passionate about engaging with patients and building relationships. Her dedication led her to establish the Patient Service Centre, which has successfully improved the patient journey and referral management process at the hospital. Her current role involves overseeing patient services, business development, contract and stakeholder management, and communications, demonstrating her all-rounded commitment to private healthcare.

With vast frontline experience working with patients, doctors, insurers and assistance companies, Debbie has a profound understanding of the private healthcare and the crucial elements of patient care journey. Debbie is devoted to placing patients at the forefront of her work, ensuring that everyone who enters the hospital is heard, respected and well-cared for.

Dr Carl Luckhoff is the Medical Doctor for nib Travel’s International Assist Clinical Support team. He is an emergency physician, Deputy Director of Alfred Health Emergency, and senior lecturer with Monash University. Following his initial medical training in South Africa, Carl worked in the United Kingdom as well as other overseas remote locations as a medical physician before starting his emergency specialist training in Australia. He has since completed his Global Executive MBA from Monash Business School. Carl has more than ten years’ experience in the travel support industry spanning across both senior management and clinical support roles. In his spare time, Carl enjoys the challenges of triathlon training, mountain biking and travelling with his family.

I have held senior positions within health and travel assistance for over 15 years. I have extensive experience setting-up and managing multi-cultural teams and offices and developing global networks. I thrive in challenging situations where lean and change management practises can be applied to create a sustainable working environment along with creating a happy and productive work culture.

Successes include process improvement and optimisation for service enhancement and cost efficiency, business development for growth and global recognition, tech initiatives and implementation for streamlining operations and optimising consumer experience.

Dean is the CEO of the Australian Federation of Travel Agents, and previously served as the CEO of the Accommodation Association of Australia from June 2019 to October 2021. As head of these two organizations, he successfully led industry bodies for two of the hardest hit sectors through the devastating and complex challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In these roles, Dean led reform programs including the deregulation of Australia’s travel sector, legislative reform of the working holiday maker visas, the establishment of the Destination NSW Act and the third round of the Covid-19 Consumer Travel Support Program.

Dean also brings over 15 years as a government relations and corporate affairs professional with experience operating across government, enterprise and the not-for-profit sector. He has also held positions at American Express, the government of New South Wales, and the University of Western Sydney.

Victoria Roy is a leading Australian travel lawyer specialising in the complex area of cross border injury claims. After over a decade of private practice in both England and Australia, she launched her boutique law firm Victory Travel & Cruise Lawyers in 2021 which specialises in bringing compensation claims for Australians injured overseas, in aircraft accidents and in cruise ship accidents. Her past successful cruise claims have predominantly involved passengers suffering slips, trips and falls onboard, and being injured on shore excursions. Where her clients have made claims under their travel insurance policies, Victoria has assisted travel insurers with recovery including medical and repatriation expenses.

Victoria regularly presents at legal conferences and webinars. She also gives media interviews on travel law consumer rights issues. As well as being a legal expert in the niche field of travel and cruise law, it is Victoria’s approach to her work that stands out. She is passionate about helping people and genuinely cares about the work that she does and the outcome she achieves.

David is a Senior Registered Nurse and health management professional with a keen interest in travel. His experience lies in emergency medicine, medical imaging and clinical governance including safety and quality, accreditation and risk management. David started with World Travel Protection in January 2014 as a registered nurse and was appointed to a Clinical Team Leader role in July 2015. In February 2020 he moved into a Senior Registered Nurse role to focus on delivering high quality, efficient, complex medical assistance to travellers in the international corporate and leisure travel market. Late in 2020 he worked as Global Provider Network Manager through to the end of 2021, and has been in the role again since mid-2022.