Archives: Speakers

Based in Prague, Sean joined Jestico + Whiles in 2001, and is responsible for Jestico + Whiles’ operations across Central and Eastern Europe, India and Africa. Jestico + Whiles’ Prague studio was established in 1990 and boasts 20 highly talented people with architectural and interior design commissions for masterplanning, hotel, residential, offices, education and leisure projects in the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, Poland, Russia, Romania, Germany, Holland, Croatia, India, Pakistan and Tanzania, all under Sean’s management. Having completed many award winning international architectural and interior design commissions, Sean has particularly broad international skills and experience for projects up to £250 Million. Sean has a particular passion for both site specific and sustainable design, and is currently responsible for the five star bare-foot luxury Zuri Hotel Resort under construction in Zanzibar, Tanzania.

Ricardo is co-founder and managing director of XCO2. He is responsible for the company’s overall management and strategic business development, and also leads some of its key international projects. With both architectural and engineering backgrounds, and over 15 years of experience in the industry, he is a firm believer in collaboration between disciplines and design integration as major enablers for delivering robust sustainability solutions. A CIBSE Low Carbon Energy Assessor, Ricardo holds a masters degree in Environmental Design and Engineering from University College London, where he received Commendation for his innovative research. More recently, he has been leading efforts on CarbonBuzz and other industry collaborations. He has also lectured at Central St Martins College, University College London and Imperial College, and numerous international conferences in Europe, Asia and South America.

Laura Lepeska is the Senior Brand Protection Specialist for Daniel Wellington AB (DW). She is responsible for DW’s global online brand protection, their global customs and domain program, and their offline enforcement in Europe, India, the Middle East, and Africa. Before joining DW, Laura worked as a Brand Protection Specialist at NetNames Ltd/CSC, an online brand protection service provider in Stockholm, where she gave clients of various sectors insight and expert advice on brand protection and also managed online anti-counterfeiting projects for them. Prior to this, Laura was a Brand Protection Manager at the Finnish mobile-gaming and entertainment company Rovio Entertainment Ltd (now “Rovio Entertainment Corp.”) in Helsinki, where she managed Rovio’s offline and online brand protection strategy for their FMCG products, mobile apps and digital content. Laura holds a Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration degree. In her presentation, she will talk about her experiences and share insights into both anti-counterfeiting online enforcement and the latest challenges for brand rights holders, focusing on social media.

Fiona is supporting brand owners with their Asian related matters, by building up a great relationship with platforms, hosting providers, registrars and local governments. She believes that especially the Chinese market represents a major part of the global counterfeiting problem, targeting a brand’s counterfeiting problems here will help elevate any brand to new levels.

Vera Guedes is Group Head of Legal for Sacoor Brothers, where she has set up and manages the group’s Legal Department and is advisor to the Board. Key responsibilities include compliance and corporate governance, tax and corporate structuring and restructuring, and negotiation, drafting and reviewing of all sorts of contracts as well as group policies. She also manages external counsels of the Group worldwide and contributes to strategic decisions of the Board. Prior to her role at Sacoor Brothers, Vera was VP & Counsel of emerging markets for GE Capital Aviation Services and prior to that worked as Senior Associate at Clyde & Co. both in London and Dubai. Vera has accumulated 16 years of post-qualified experience and holds a Master of Laws in International Air & Space from the University of Leiden and has postgraduate qualifications in Corporate Law & Air Law.

Ralf is the Head of Instone Rhine-Main, a leading Real Estate Developer in Germany. After his studies at the University of Karlsruhe and Nottingham he began his career at Hochtief in 2001 with a high school diploma degree in Civil Engineering.

Luis studied Architecture in Portugal at the Escola Superior Artistica do Porto (ESAP). Luis is a chartered architect with a wealth experience in the design and delivery of large scale, international projects, having previously worked with Rafael Viñoly Architects as Project Architect on Battersea Power Station, 20 Fenchurch Street and Bahrain Bay development. Prior to this, Luis developed his career in the award-winning company Barbosa & Guimarães Arquitectos and also ran his own practice in Portugal with a focus on Residential, Retail, Commercial, Leisure, Civic and Hospitality schemes worldwide. As Design Director of Studio Seilern Architects, Luis is responsible for overseeing the design of all projects and ensuring the quality of the output. Luis has led a number of the studio’s key projects including RIBA-shortlisted Ansdell Street in Kensington.

Magnus Kaminiarz studied architecture in Bremen and Hamburg and also attended the architectural class of the HfbK in Hamburg. After graduation he worked at Schweger & Partner and at Schulze und Partner in Bremen. He started his own business, was appointed to the BDA Bremen and joined Jo. Franzke in 1998 in Frankfurt am Main, where he worked from 2003 as a partner. At the beginning of 2011 he founded his own practice Magnus Kaminiarz & Cie. in Frankfurt am Main. The office is currently building the Grand Tower, Germany’s highest residential tower, in Frankfurt am Main. Magnus Kaminiarz also designs interiors and regularly lectures on architecture at home and abroad.

With more than 15 year of experience in sales and marketing of customized solutions for various industries, e.g. industrial packaging, automotive and life science Florian Tute is Head of the Central & Northern European Key Account team of tesa scribos. We enable our customers to link their products to the digital world and thus benefit from new opportunities of digitalisation.