André J. Cointreau is the president and CEO of l’Ecole de Cuisine et de Pâtisserie Le Cordon Bleu, better known as Le Cordon Bleu. During his tenure, he has shifted the Le Cordon Bleu business from one school in Paris to a multinational concern with nearly 30 schools in 15 countries.

Cointreau is a direct descendant of the founding family of the Cointreau liqueur and Rémy Martin Cognac. He holds degrees from the Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) and Sciences Po, Paris (Sciences Politique). Cointreau began his career with Unilever and later The American Express Banking Corporation before he joined the family business as a commercial director in the 1970s amid battles for control of the liqueur magnate by the controlling families. Cointreau struck on his own in 1984, buying Le Cordon Bleu from Madame Elisabeth Brassart, an old family friend.

Among other activities within the food and wine world, Cointreau helped to create the Science and Food Culture Foundation within the Académie des Sciences, and the Institute des Hautes Etudes du Goût (HEG) in conjunction with Reims University and he has been on the board of Alliance Francaise since 1993. In 2005, he received the Hall of Fame award for his contribution to the International Food & Beverage Forum. In 2008, Cointreau was awarded the Légion d’Honneur from the Foundation Alliance francaise for his contributions and accomplishments as head of Le Cordon Bleu and "for his unique educational concept."

Datuk Peter Brokenshire is the General Manager of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (the Centre), responsible for its overall management. He spearheaded the setting-up of the technologically-advanced and purpose-built facility which opened in June 2005.

Prior to the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Datuk Brokenshire spent six years at the International Convention Centre, Durban, South Africa as chief executive officer where he was also involved in the Centre’s pre-opening and on-going management. He then led the pre-opening of the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre as chief executive officer.

Datuk Brokenshire’s career in hospitality spans more than 30 years in various positions within hotels, government bodies, catering companies and convention centres in both Australia and Malaysia. In Australia, these have included roles with the Palais Ballroom and Convention Centre and the World Congress Centre in Melbourne, the Commonwealth Government, Adelaide Convention Centre and the National Convention Centre in Canberra.

He made his debut in the hospitality industry in Malaysia in 1994 as the director of catering and convention services of Putra World Trade Centre, Kuala Lumpur where he executed a re-engineering of the catering and convention facilities and services.

Datuk Brokenshire’s qualifications include a specialised hospitality studies programme from William Angliss College, Melbourne and a Senior Management programme from the Australian Management College, Mt Eliza, Australia.

His professional affiliations include “Fellow of the Catering Institute of Australia”, a “Maitre De Table De Restauranteur with the Confererie de la Chaine Des Rotisseurs”. He is also a member of the Institute of Directors, Australia and South Africa.

Datuk Brokenshire is active in knowledge transfer within the Malaysian hospitality industry in his capacity as Director Heritage Lane Sdn Bhd and play an active role as Chair of the Industry Advisory Panel for the School of Hospitality & Tourism, Taylor’s College, a member of the KDU Hospitality Advisory Board and Industry Advisory Board Panel for the Sunway University School of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure Management.

For his dedication to the pursuit of excellence within the hospitality industry, he was awarded the “Outstanding Operations Persons Award” from the Meetings Industry Association in Australia in 1992, 1993 and 1994, and a Paul Harris Fellowship for services to the community in Durban, South Africa in 2001. In 2007, he was presented the Tourism Minister’s Special Award at the Malaysia Tourism Awards 2005/2006 in recognition of his contribution to the industry and was the recipient of the ‘MABC Business Person of the Year’ award at the 2009 Annual Malaysia Australia Business Council Excellence Awards.

He was conferred Panglima Jasa Negara (PJN) for services to Malaysia by His Majesty Yang diPertuan Agong XIII, Al-Wathiqu Billah Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Mahmud Al-Muktafi Billah Shah in June 2009.

His continuing contribution to the growth of business tourism in Malaysia has been acknowledged with his recent appointment to the advisory council of Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) where he will play an active role in further developing this important sector of Malaysia’s tourism industry.

In 2010 Datuk Brokenshire was appointed to the National Key Economic Area (NKEA) Tourism Steering Committee as part of the Economic Transformation Programme to provide specialist input on Business Tourism.

Mr. John Autelitano, General Manager of Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa, oversees all operations of the five properties within the Sunway Integrated Resort City.

An Australian-born Italian, John has 17 years of successful business entrepreneurship and 18 years of hospitality experience in his career portfolio. As a luxury-tier hospitality executive, John’s philosophy, principles and practices have been garnered working for renowned hotel chains like The Ritz-Carlton and Marriott International, in Asia Pacific, The Caribbean and the United States of America.

Passionate about his craft and his team, the enthusiastic and results-oriented leader has taken service excellence to worldclass levels in the past 20 months that he has been attached to Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa, first as its Hotel Manager and then as Acting General Manager prior to assuming his current position. While he takes a humanistic approach, laced with a good sense of humour, John believes an effective leader’s legacy is not about their personality, but what he or she leaves behind for the company and their staff.

Apart from focusing on the guest experience through service excellence, John has played a key role in overseeing upgrading of products and facilities like the Presidential Suite, swimming pool and its surroundings as well as the latest addition to its culinary offerings – Fuzion – the all-day café of the flagship 5-star Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa.

John strongly believes that Sunway will continue to provide a positive corporate culture and philosophy and recognise employees’ success to, in turn, achieve its long-term vision and goals.

A luminary career that spans almost 30 years, Chef Chern’s extensive professional experience as a pastry chef includes stints with some of the most prestigious hotels in Kuala Lumpur. He is a veteran in the culinary competition circuit both as a participant and judge at international competitions. He is a certified World Association of Chefs Societies (WACS) Pastry Judge.

Chef Chern is the current president of the Chefs Association of Malaysia and was recently awarded Best Pastry Chef by that same association.

Lee Mark started involving in the event industry during the late 80s when the industry was still new in Malaysia. Since then, HotShoes was formed, expanded and diversified both locally and globally with present in many international cities such like Las Vegas, Paris, Dubai, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Macau, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City and others.

Lee Mark is currently the Chief Operating Officer and driving force behind HotShoes. Throughout over 25 years of experience in the industry; Translating client’s needs into reality, Pushing concepts and ideas to the edge and Delivering event excellently, have always been his believe and the core values. Every event is strived to make a lasting and positive impacts with its own originality. As the COO of HotShoes, he is committed to achieving the company vision to become an Integrated and Strategic World Class Events Communication Agency.

Hanley Chew, Malaysian, brings with him 20 years of vast experience within the travel and hotel industry. Having held key portfolios with international hotel chains within the region, his management and leadership style is the greatest asset to the Sunway Group.

Since Sunway’s acquisition of Allson International Hotels & Resorts’ management in 2004, Hanley has been responsible for the management of all hotels within the Sunway and Allson brands in addition to playing a key role in the development of new management contracts within the Asian region. All global functions, regional heads and hotel general managers of the respective hotels currently report to him.

He is currently the Chief Executive Office of Sunway International Hotels & Resorts and also oversees Sunway Travel.

Mr George Ang, aged 39, is the Group CEO and Founder of Revenue Valley Group, a holding company that owns some of the popular casual dining restaurants in Malaysia, Singapore Thailand and Vietnam like The Manhattan FISH MARKET, Tony Roma’s, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and Snackz It! George holds the overall responsibility of managing the operations of all the restaurants and charting the strategic directions of the Group. Today, the Group owns more than 50 restaurants in the region and registered more than RM120 million sales in 2010. Revenue Valley continues to grow from strength to strength and George expects the Group to increase their sales by 30% for the financial year ending 2011.

His first taste in the F&B industry started when he joined Pizza Hut as a motorbike delivery boy when he was 17 years old. From there, he gained his passion in the F&B industry and while studying in Australia, he worked at several established restaurants in order to supplement his education costs. He has worked as a cook, kitchen hand, waiter and even dishwasher and up to today, if you happen to visit one of the restaurants under his care, you may just be lucky enough to have George serving you!

Upon graduation, he joined OCBC Bank Bhd in 1994 as an officer in the Corporate Banking Division. In 1996, he was headhunted to join an offshore European investment bank. He was recognised for his hardwork and ability to see through structured deals and was subsequently posted to the regional office in Singapore where he was made the Vice President in the Corporate Banking Division. The Singapore regional office oversees the bank’s businesses and clients in the South East Asia and India regions.

He returned to Malaysia and was full of enthusiasm to find his niche in the F&B industry. Together with 2 close friends, The Manhattan FISH MARKET brand was conceived with the first outlet established in 2002 in MidValley Megamall. Within a short period of less than 9 years, the Group has grown to its current size.

In 2005, the company was nominated for the Golden Bull Award as one of the emerging SMEs. In 2008, George was named The Young Entrepreneur of The Year at the Asia Pacific Entrepreneur Awards. Earlier this year, under the leadership of George, The Manhattan FISH MARKET won the Franchisor of The Year and International Franchisor of The Year at the FLA Awards Night, the first time a brand in Singapore won both awards.

To George, the most important asset in his company is the people. The strong people-culture in Revenue Valley Group ensures that they can select and retain a strong group of energetic and passionate leaders who will be responsible for charting the growth of the Group.