THE CONFERENCE

Past speakers

Goran Yordanov

Regional Director for Central Europe and Caucuses at Sommet Education

Goran Yordanov is a sales and marketing professional with 14 years of experience in education counselling in Europe/Central Asia and a strong hospitality background with various positions in Food&Beverage across 6 countries and different 5 star brands. Currently holding a MSc degree in Hospitality management with completed research on Emotional Intelligence followed by guest lecturing experience on the topic across Europe.

Marius Girlea

Owner of buyromanianwines.com

Sommelier, wine taster and lover of Romanian products. Owner of www.buyromanianwines.com, probably the only wine site exclusively for Romanian products. Wine judge in the United States, on both coasts, California and Georgia. The first Romanian to judge in these states and the founder of the first American company with exclusively Romanian origins that imports wine barrels from Europe.

Calin Ilie

President of the Romanian Hotel Federation

A hotelier since 1995, Calin Ile has been very involved in promoting tourism in Romania to make it a priority industry of the national economy.

As President of the FIHR, Calin has supported several campaigns promoting tourism – including projects like Romania in my heart, Repatriot Tourism or Romania promoted at BBC – and campaigns to help the education of the labor force in tourism through the Association of Tourism High Schools in Romania.

Razvan Crisan

Co-founder and CEO of Kane Group

Throughout his life, Razvan managed to set up a successful business group: from cafes and pizzerias to restaurants and recreation spaces during the summer. The Kane Group has several projects such as Kane Restaurant, M60 Cafe, M60 Space, Mamizza Mother of Pizza and Mercato Comunale. Today, the Kane Group has over 60 employees and in 2022 will launch a series of new projects that will increase the number of colleagues to 150.

Before hospitality, Razvan was the organizer of several short film festivals and managed to bring together people from the creative industries.

Petru Catalin

Wine & Beverages Manager on Disney Cruise Lines

We have all grown up watching Disney movies, and it is every child’s (and not only) dream to be part of this magical world. We offer you the chance to interact with one of the people who worked for years on the Disney Cruise ship. Mr. Petru Catalin started working on cruises 23 years ago as a bartender, and after 2 years, he graduated to cell master. Several cruises later, he became Head Sommelier.

In a short time, Petru was promoted to Wine Manager, being in charge of everything that Wine operation can mean on a ship with about 3000 passengers.

Alin Mihalcea

Founder of Elite Sommelier

Certified trainer in public and tourist food since 2011. 22 years of experience in the field of hospitality, twice finalist at the Marian Bugan Trophy, National Maitre D ‘Hotel Competition in Tourism: 1st place in 2007 and Winner of the Marian Bugan Trophy in 2012.- Finalist at the Sommelier Trophy and 2nd place, 2010 edition of the Aro Palace Brasov. In 2007, as a result of obtaining the 1st place at the National Maitre D’Hotel Competition, he received the invitation to work as a sommelier at Casa Capsa in Calea Victoriei in Bucharest. Next are famous Bucharest restaurants: Bon Ton, Sole 15th Floor, Odeon Palace, Red Angus. Exactly 10 years after his first employment as a sommelier, in 2017 and 2018 he presents wines in 2 of the best London restaurants: Bread Street Kitchen and Petrus from Gordon Ramsay Group.

Allen Weiss

Founder of Weiss Hospitality

Allen has worked for some of the top hotel brands in the world, including Marriott, Radisson, Warwick and Red Lion. He is a graduate of the prestigious Cornell Hotel School and holds a Master’s Degree in Hospitality Management from Florida International University. More recently he founded Allen Weiss Consulting which helps small hotel chains & individual owner/operators grow top line sales revenue. In July of 2021 Allen relocated to Brasov Romania to continue his work at American Hotel Academy where he has been a visiting lecturer since 2008. In his current role Allen teaches courses like Business Communications and Hospitality Marketing in addition to working in enrollment, admission interviews and assisting with special projects.

Diana Paraipan

Customer Care Executive at Eden Spa

Eden Spa is the first spa operator in Romania, opened in 2005 in Bucharest. The biggest projects were for the management of The Spa from Hilton Sibiu and for Grand Hotel Continental Bucharest in 2008, respectively 2010.

After 16 years of existence, Eden Spa has inspired and helped implement other spa concepts in Romania, like Orhideea Spa, Forest Retreat & Spa Vâlcea, Unirea Spa Iași, etc.

The purpose of Eden Spa is to offer its clients a vibe of wellbeing and of relaxation when their day is agitated.

It does not depend on where it is located, Eden Spa is a healing oasis, where alternative therapies contribute on preventing sickness and to stimulate our own healing systems.

Ovidiu Tierean

Lecturer at American Hotel Academy

Ovidiu Țierean has been a long standing lecturer at American Hotel Academy, sharing his experience in finance and in management with students from all years. He graduated from University of St. Andrews – Master of Science in International Strategies and Economics and was awarded a PhD title in 2011 from ”Transilvania” University of Brașov for the thesis ”Marketing of public institutions”. His main reserach intrests are Marketing and Decision making based on collective psychology of consumers.

For the past 3 years Ovidiu has been coordinating the student teams engaged in the hospitality operations simulator (HOTS) where they develop decision making and strategic skills and put to practice all the hospitality and business knowledge gained, generating the best revenue outcomes.

Marius Pascu

Founder of CleverEat

Marius is a young entrepreneur and marketer. He’s been studying Marketing for 5 years (Bachelor and Master degree). CleverEat is now his legacy, fighting for it to grow bigger every single day. In his day-to-day life, he enjoys playing video games and traveling. He recently learned about Kibbutz and wants to go there.

CleverEat is a digital platform that let restaurants sell their surplus food at the end of the program at lower prices as surprise menus to end customers, now restaurants can make a profit by selling the surplus and customers can enjoy fresh and affordable food from their favorite stores, all these together leas to a planet with less waste!

Rares Mara

Founder of CleverEat

I am a happy young entrepreuneur. I like to have fun with all that I do, I enjoy little things in life. I have a background in marketing, I am a sales enthusiast, and currently, I am studying in Denmark Brand Management and Marketing Communication. I am fully dedicated to CleverEat, representing it always and forever!! When it comes to my personal time, I love doing sports, especially extreme sports such as skateboarding and snowboarding, and travel as much as I can.

Sebastian Mindroiu

Founder of PIcktwo, Senior Interior Designer

Schooled as an interior designer, Sebastian believes that the world moves if you do. “I am the engine of my world! ” is his way of life.

PickTwo is an interior design studio that creates custom solutions for hospitality, office and retail spaces.

Their mission is to find a different concept and mood, unique for each project. They like to work with brands, to tell their story, and to inspire end users to become part of world we create!