Maxx Schnallinger, CEO : photo by davidjmartin.comMaxx Schnallinger is the President and CEO of the Schnallinger Group. His career in hospitality and food services spans three continents and over three decades. He served as the first President and CEO of Omni International Hotel Company, where he was responsible for branding, planning, opening and expanding this luxury hotel management company in Atlanta, Miami and Norfolk. He also served as Group Director of Development for Shangri-La International Hotels in Hong Kong and in that capacity pioneered all phases of a $1 billion expansion plan for the branding, conception, development, and opening of ten luxury hotels along with one hundred diversified restaurants in South East Asia.

As CEO of the Schnallinger Group, a hotel and restaurant consultancy, Mr. Schnallinger has been responsible for the planning and branding of six additional luxury hotels, including the flagship of the first three Ritz-Carlton hotels in Atlanta, Georgia and Laguna Niguel, California, the Peabody Hotels in Orlando and Memphis, and two Crown Plaza Hotels in New York and Washington, DC. He has formulated food and beverage programs for the Royal Viking Cruise Line and The Sea Goddess Cruise Line, and assisted Forte Grand and Meridian Hotels, in the re-branding strategy of their European food and beverage divisions.

Mr. Schnallinger was the opening general manager of the 5 star Fairmont Hotel in Dallas, TX. and served as Corporate Director of Food and Beverage for Westin International Hotels. He worked for the Hilton International hotel chain at their head office at the Waldorf Astoria in New York and held management positions at Hilton Hotels in Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Hong Kong, Montreal, Istanbul.


Mr. Glennon is a global business development executive who has held executive positions in companies that range from entrepreneurial to fortune 10. He created his business foundation negotiating technology merger & acquisitions at IBM. He then partnered in small business consulting focused on executive coaching, plant relocations, and strategy development and implementation. Patrick’s strength is in creating breakthrough comprehensive strategies to be implemented globally.


Mr. Wittenstein’s experience spans two decades, more than 25 countries, and over $1.5B in sales for over 300 companies. He was an IBM eVisionary, creating their first Customer Experience Practice. Working with companies like IBM, founding his own company and consulting with organizations of all sizes around the world, he is a leading architect for design that bridges the gap between data gathering and experience building.


Mr. Milkovic is an Executive Creative Director who has led creative and branding efforts for organizations such as CNN, Home Depot, as well as several Silicon Valley start-ups. The finesse behind his holistic award-winning vision and approach toward design, innovation, marketing, business, strategy, technology, and evangelization is a rare and highly sought after trait.


Ms. Chapman has a unique blend of expertise in branding, human resources and consumer research. The culmination of which includes pioneering methodologies and tools that help organizations align and activate their brands internally to deliver more inspiring and meaningful employee and customer experiences. She held several senior executive positions at InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) including Vice President, Human Resources—Asia Pacific. She is co-author of Brand DNA: Uncover Your Organization's Genetic Code for Competitive Advantage, 2010.