Devinder OHRI

Experience

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  G. C. Nanda & Sons Private Limited | Since 1923 | Tourism | Travel Distribution Technology

  Oct 1984 - now

  Business Owner

  Devinder Ohri was born & educated in Singapore, where he attained the GCE A Levels from Raffles Institution. Following his National Service (Conscripted Military Service in the Singapore Armed Forces - SAF), he proceeded to the United Kingdom to pursue a degree in Economics at the LSE – London School of Economics & Political Science, University of London, from which institution he attained the degree of BSC (Econ) Lond. (Hons)Within the field of Economics, he majored in Industry & Trade, specialising in the Economics of Inequality of Incomes, Depleting Resources, Fair Trading and Competition Matters and minored in Commercial Law in areas such as intellectual property rights. Upon returning to Singapore, he joined the family business, G.C. Nanda & Sons Private Limited – a pioneering tourism company in the Travel & Tourism industry since 1923, where he remains engaged to this day.He also has a distinguished Track-Record for organizing large scale Conventions & Motivational Travel Rewards trips and high profile VIP visits, where he has received numerous citations and commendations from the former President of France, Jacque CHIRAC, several Mayors of cities like Johannesburg, South Africa, as well as from the Chairmen or CEOs of renowned global MNCs ranging in fields as diverse as Banking, Life Insurance, Pharmaceutical and the Automotive industries.Principle Areas of Expertise:Tourism – Commercial Aviation – Distribution Technology, Regulatory Framework, Franchising and Brand Management of products across the Travel & Tourism Industry Value Chain – Organisation of Meetings, Incentives, Conventions & Exhibitions, Trade Fairs and Industry Forums bridging multi-cultural divides.Principle Recognised Skills:Thought Leadership – Public Speaking – Diplomacy & Lobbying – Cross Cultural Dynamics – Mergers & Acquisitions – Strategic Planning – Change Management – Cross Border Project Implementation - Media Management – Crisis Management & Negotiation – Mentoring Show less

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  Tourism Management Institute of Singapore

  May 2014 - Jun 2017

  Chairman | Term 2014-2017 (NGO)

  On 23rd May 2014, Mr Ohri was appointed the Chairman of the Tourism Management Institute of Singapore.Key Accomplishments:Bringing about a renewal and right-sizing in the Management Team and seeing TMIS delivering its first profitable year after nearly a decade of continuous loss-making years.Charting a new direction for the Institute by way of its content mix in the product-line of the types of courses it would run in the foreseeable future. This was designed with the objective of ensuring that it would no longer have to compete head-on against similar courses offered by our Polytechnics and ITEs. This was achieved by working collaboratively with the Cruise Liners International Association – (CLIA) and the International Air Transport Association – (IATA) which enabled TMIS to offer courses which were hitherto unavailable in the local vocational training context in the travel and tourism field. Show less

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  National Association of Travel Agents Singapore (NATAS)

  May 2014 - May 2017

  President

  One of my early achievements was securing a single Bank Guarantee for members. The air travel industry relies on IATA - BSP for B2B payments, with Travel Agencies providing BGs to manage credit risk. In Singapore, Singapore Airlines and other carriers administered their own bilateral BGs (SAFC – Self-Administered Financial Coverage) causing an overlap with the IATA Bank Guarantee – IBG. In 2014, I headed an IATA Financial Advisory Group (FAG) to address the challenge of SQ Agencies needing both a bilateral BG for SQ and including their SQ sales in their IBG calculation. After four months of analyzing masked IATA data, effective negotiations with SQ resulted in modified LFC calculations in the IBG. This change persuaded SQ to participate without disadvantage, increased most Agencies' IBG, and rendered SAFCs redundant, benefiting the majority of IATA Travel Agencies in Singapore.Another achievement was crisis managing the breakaway of a group of members from the NATAS Travel Fairs which was a sensitive situation widely reported in the local media and then after nearly 2 years bringing about a 90 per cent re-unification of the same group back to the Travel Fairs, which likewise needed to be managed with sensitivity. This culminated with the celebration of the 50th Travel Fair in early 2017 which broke all previous records for attendance.Yet another milestone achieved during my tenure was organising the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) 2017, held from 16th to 20th January 2017 at Marina Bay Sands. NATAS and the Singapore Hotel Association (SHA) joined forces to successfully organise TRAVEX 2017 at the ATF – a three-day “b-to-b” travel trade event which showcased the largest contingent of ASEAN sellers, with 350 booths, over 1,000 delegates, comprising 600 sellers, 325 buyers and a 120 strong media contingent. Significantly the Event coincided with the 50th Anniversary of the formation of ASEAN. It raked in close to a million dollars in profit for the 2 Associations. Show less

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  Universal Federation of Travel Agents Associations | UFTAA

  Sept 2014 - Feb 2018

  Board Director | Term 2014-2018 - (Non-Profit Board & NGO)

  On 6th September 2014, Mr. Ohri was elected to serve as a Board Member of the Universal Federation of Travel Agents Associations (UFTAA) – a Global Federation headquartered in Monaco. On 6th October 2014, Mr. Ohri was accorded a seat at the International Air Transport Association – (IATA) - Passenger Agency Programme Global Joint Council, as a representative of UFTAA at this global forum of Equal Representation by 9 Major Global Airlines and 9 Travel Agent Federation Representatives chaired by a neutral & independent Chairperson. This is the highest global Forum where Airline Distribution Matters are discussed in the global arena. Show less

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  Association of South East Asian Nations Tourism Associations | ASEANTA

  Jan 2015 - Aug 2017

  President | Term 2017 (Non-Profit Board)

  The ASEAN Tourism Association (ASEANTA) was formed on 27th March 1971. ASEANTA is a non-profit tourism association comprising both public and private tourism sector organizations from the ASEAN countries.ASEANTA has since grown to become an association with influence playing an integral role in shaping regional tourism policy and development. Devinder served on the Board of Directors of ASEANTA as its elected Deputy President in 2015 and elected President in 2017.He was responsible for conceptualizing, negotiating and setting in motion one of the most prestigious and logistically complex initiatives undertaken to date – VisitASEAN@50 – This is testimony to what a concerted collaboration between the public and private sectors across our borders can achieve. It culminated with celebrating the 50th or Golden Jubilee ASEAN Day on 8th August 2017 in Jakarta, Indonesia. The prestigious Annual ASEANTA Awards were given away at the 50th ASEAN Night Gala Dinner that evening. As part of this initiative 150 journalists from around the world were invited, each of whom visited at least 2 ASEAN countries dovetailing their visits to congregate in Jakarta on ASEAN Day. Air travel was hosted by 6 ASEAN Airlines, each flying in between 10 to 25 journalists from all around the world. It was an opportunity to showcase their respective Hubs as the Gateway into ASEAN. This underscored that as a geographic region ASEAN has more than 10 Gateways which should all earn their rightful places as such. Many regions of the world which occupy a smaller area geographically (land and sea) and with smaller combined populations have a higher concentration of Air Gateways. All arrangements on the ground in Jakarta and the selected post Familiarisation trips to Bandung, Palembang, Surabaya, Bali and Lombok were logistically fulfilled and hosted by the National Tourism Organisation in Indonesia as they were likewise hosted in the other 5 Gateway Hubs. Show less

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  Airlines Technology

  Aug 2017 - Jul 2022

  Chief Strategist & Technology Partner

  Airlines Technology began as a fledgling start-up that was focused on developing the:NextGen Cloud-Based API Technology-Driven IATA New Distribution Capability Level 4 Certified Aggregator with Full Offer & Order Management for 27 Direct Connect Airlines plus Internet Booking Engine for Agencies B2C and B2B Platform for consuming and re-selling using Airline Direct Connect APIs, GDS APIs and other OTA, Hotel, Cruise, Limousine, Tour Consolidator APIs based on SaaS Pricing Models. Today, it’s all of the above in a Unified Platform available on any device concurrently offering settlements via IATA BSP B2B, e-Wallet credit management for LCCs and Multiple Payment Gateways (now 55 in number) for B2C via e-Commerce Domestic & International Web, Bank, Credit-Card, Pay-Pal, QR-Code and Cell Phone Touch-n-Go Payments including via Apple-Pay and Samsung-Pay.Devinder was involved with “at” from its early days and besides charting its direction from start-up infancy, was responsible for bringing on-board the participation of Singapore Airlines in the platform via their NDC Kris-Connect API and working with their distribution tech-team in Singapore.“at” was acquired by TWAI.com in early 2018 but he remained with the new owners as Business Advisor with primary oversight on the on-boarding of SQ into the platform, which is now completed and their content is "Live" on the TWAI as well as the now TWAI-owned GoQuo.com Unified platforms. Show less

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  GLG

  Mar 2018 - now

  Council Member | Asia-Pac Aviation & Tourism Development Strategist | Economic Development Analysis

  Gerson Lehman Group (GLG) | Global Network of Experts in Specific Domain KnowledgeCouncil Member | Political & Economic Analyst | Asia-Pacific Aviation & Tourism Development Strategist | Travel Industry Distribution Expert | Regulatory Framework Re-assessment In Post-Covid Environment | In-depth insights into the Travel Technology Distribution Transformation arising from the IATA NDC Initiative and best strategies for its adoptionDomain Areas (Tags):#tourism #esg #ngo #sdg #publicprivatepartnership #asean #economics #nto #travel #airlines #iata #gis #distribution #papgjc #apjc #bsp #gds #ndc #ota #ai #aggregator #digitalisation #digitalmarketing #b2b #b2c #g2b #cloudhosting #aws #ec2 #azure #gcp #geopolitics #politicalscience Show less

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  Guidepoint

  Jul 2020 - now

  Advisor

  Advisor | Guidepoint - The Experts at Finding ExpertisePolitical & Economic Analysis | Asia-Pacific Aviation & Tourism Development Strategies | Travel Industry Distribution Expert | In-depth insights into Travel Distribution Technology and Digital TransformationDomain Areas (Tags):#tourism #esg #ngo #sdg #publicprivatepartnership #asean #economics #nto #travel #airlines #iata #gis #distribution #papgjc #apjc #bsp #gds #ndc #ota #ai #aggregator #digitalisation #digitalmarketing #b2b #b2c #g2b #cloudhosting #aws #ec2 #azure #gcp Show less

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  AlphaSights

  May 2021 - now

  Expert in Network of Domain Knowledge Experts

  Insights into Tourism Development Strategies, Travel Technology adoption, Digitalisation and Distribution Transformation with subject matter expertise in Airline Passenger Sales Distribution Technology & e-Commerce SolutionsDomain Areas (Tags):#tourism #esg #ngo #sdg #publicprivatepartnership #asean #economics #nto #travel #airlines #iata #gis #distribution #papgjc #apjc #bsp #gds #ndc #ota #ai #aggregator #digitalisation #digitalmarketing #b2b #b2c #g2b #cloudhosting #aws #ec2 #azure #gcp Show less