Conference

Keynote

Dr Glenda Rivoallan

Resilient as Fudge!

Glenda is the Founder of We Talk Wellbeing, a company who specialises in corporate wellbeing with a focus on resilience. Glenda is an accomplished author in the wellbeing space, with her 3rd book Resilient as Fudge becoming an amazon best seller in 8 categories since its launch in October 2023.

Glenda specializes in developing resilient habits, building vision, unshakeable self- belief and entrepreneurial spirit. Working to silence your inner critic, allow wisdom to take over and find inner peace.

Glenda is passionate about supporting people in enhancing their resilient mindset, skillset and toolset for thriving in life and work. Glenda guides participants in tapping into their professional skills, personal experiences and innate gifts to dive deep and unleash the power within.

Glenda holds a First Class Honours Degree in Physical Education, a Masters in Sports Science and a Doctorate after studying the link between resilience and mindfulness in entrepreneurs.

With a background in education as a previous vice principal and in entrepreneurship founding multiple successful wellbeing brands, Glenda understands the demands we face in high-pressure fast moving business environments.

Glenda’s fun approach based on the power of storytelling & imagery with roots in positive psychology and behavioural change, makes her Resilient as Fudge keynote both memorable and actionable, oh and sticky!.

Keynote

Chris Wayne-Wills

The importance of spa in hospitality: A Hotelier's perspective

Chris Wayne-Wills has over 25 years’ experience in senior management positions in the hotel & hospitality industry. His career started as a Sales Manager before quickly becoming a General Manager. His wide and varied experience has included large city centre hotels,  resorts with golf & spa businesses and various multi-property leadership roles.

His experience in Scotland includes being the General Manager of the Roxburghe Hotel in Edinburgh and Regional Managing Director for Scotland for Macdonald Hotels. During this time, he was also Chief Executive of the Macdonald Aviemore Resort and oversaw a successful extensive investment and repositioning project.

As Regional General Manager for QHotels, Chris was responsible for multiple businesses including Slaley Hall in Northumberland and the Westerwood in Cumbernauld. During his time working with QHotels he was also General Manager of The Midland Hotel in Manchester an AA 86% Silver Star hotel which was the highest graded large four-star hotel in the UK and the host hotel for the Conservative Party Conference.

As Cluster General Manager for Marriott International he oversaw all managed Marriott Hotels in Scotland and the North of England. He was awarded the Marriott International special recognition award for outstanding commitment in 2018.

Chris is now CEO of Crerar Hotels, a high-quality, privately-owned hotel group in Scotland whose purpose is to share the spirit of Scotland throughout all their hospitality. Crerar Hotels was awarded the AA Small Hotel Group of the Year for 2023/24.

Chris was one of the first recipients of the HIT Scotland Leadership Scholarship in 2008 and attended the General Manager’s Programme at Cornell University, Chris is now a trustee of HIT Scotland.

He is the Chairperson for UK Hospitality for Scotland, a Master Innholder and a fellow of the Institute of Hospitality. He sits on the Institute of Hospitality Scottish committee and the board of UK Hospitality.

Breakout

Jacqueline Ross

How to elevate your service and retail sales journey.

Jacqueline Ross, an award-winning spa consultant, has been in the spa industry for over 30 years.

Consulting with spas for over 15 years, Jacqueline has successfully assisted in the build and support of 45,  four-star and five-star spas from concept to delivery and completed projects with multiple prestigious skincare and spa brands, offering five-star services to support their business and achieve their goals.

Adopting a results-driven approach, Jacqueline also works with spas on business strategy, customer service training, retail sales training, and much more.

Breakout

David Cochrane, MBE

Learning is for Life, not just for Christmas!

David Cochrane, MBE, is Chief Executive of Hospitality Industry Trust, Scotland. (HIT Scotland) and will be speaking about some of the amazing work the Trust does on Scholarships to support students and individuals working ion the hospitality sector.

After commencing his career at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, David started working for Norfolk Capital Hotels. He then joined Gardner Merchant, now called Sodexo, as a chef manager, progressing to District Training Coordinator.

This training experience led him into the Hotel and Catering Training Company, working with Youth Training and unemployment projects. He also undertook a Leonardo da Vinci European project to help implement Vocational Qualifications in Scottish prisons!

David has been the Training Manager at the internationally renowned Gleneagles hotel. He developed his passion for people development, and this led him naturally to take on the role of Chief Executive of HIT Scotland.

In 2004 David was awarded the Industry Award for services to the hospitality industry in Scotland. Since working with HIT Scotland the Trust has awarded over 7000 scholarships for the emerging talent of the industry and 15,000 student bursaries. He took part in the successful Kilimanjaro challenge in 2011 and then again in 2022! He also organised The Gran Paradiso Challenge in Italy in 2014 and the Great Wall of China Challenge in 2017! In 2012 he was awarded an honorary degree in International Hospitality Management from Higher Institute of Education - Glion and he was honoured with the Education and Training “Catey” UK award the same year. Later in 2019 he organised another successful fundraising trek to Machu Picchu. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Hospitality and Strathclyde Business school.

David was awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list 2020 for services to hospitality and tourism. In November 2022 he was given an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration from Robert Gordon’s University, Aberdeen

David will be joined by Kirsty MacCormick from the Sottish Wellness Collective to share information about the collaborations with HIT Scotland and the very first spa scholarship.

Breakout

Lesley Blair MBE

Panel Host

Lesley Blair MBE, and CEO at the BABTAC & CIBTAC will host a  stellar panel of industry experts from the salon and spa world who will share their thoughts and ideas to address the long-standing challenges surrounding recruitment and retention in our industry.

Panelists will include:

• Finlay Anderson, Area Spa Director at InterContinental Hotels (IHG Group)
• Jenny Storey, Director of Education at The Academy & Director at Urban Retreat.