Jens Thraenhart

Jens Thraenhart has over 30 years of international travel, tourism, and hospitality experience, spanning positions in operations, marketing, sales, revenue management, strategic planning, and e-business. Early in his career, Jens's entrepreneurial edge was sharpened with his founding and operating a successful food catering company in Duesseldorf/Germany, starting a New York-based Internet leisure travel Internet company, and managing an independent luxury golf resort in Southern Germany. With a doctorate degree in tourism and hospitality management (DHTM) from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, an MBA-accredited Master of Management in Hospitality from Cornell University, and a joint Bachelor of Science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and the University Center 'Cesar Ritz' at Brig, Switzerland, Dr. Thraenhart was recognized as one of the travel industry’s top 100 rising stars by Travel Agent Magazine in 2003, one of HSMAI’s 25 Most Extraordinary Sales and Marketing Minds in Hospitality and Travel in 2004 and 2005, one of the Top 20 Extraordinary Minds in European Travel and Hospitality in 2014 and recognized as one of the 10 Most Influential Travel Leaders in 2022. He serves as the 2nd Vice Chair of the UNWTO Affiliate Members Board (World Tourism Organization), Executive Board Member of the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association (HSMAI), Executive Board Member of the International Federation of IT in Travel & Tourism, and was Board Member of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), and past Chair of PATA China.