ADVISORY BOARD

HONORARY CHAIRMAN

Rafael Ansón
President of Honour, International Academy of Gastronomy
Dr Honoris Causa and Director Gastronomy Chair, Universidad Alfonso X El Sabio
Ambassador for Sustainable Tourism, UNWTO

AMBASSADORS

Global:
Philippe Françoise
President, World Association for Hospitality and Tourism Education and Training (AMFORHT)

Regionals:
LATIN AMERICA
Adolfo Favieres
Ambassador for Spain and Iberoamerica, WTTC
Secretary General’s Advisor, UNWTO 

José Carlos de Santiago
Vice President, Iberoamerican Academy of Gastronomy
Founder President, Grupo Excelencias Comunicación 

Tomás Poveda
President, Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola (USIL), Miami
Former General Manager, Casa de América
Former General Manager of Media and Public Diplomacy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Spain

Countries, in alphabetical order:
ARGENTINA
Javier Espina
Director of the Federal Council of Tourism, Ministry of Tourism and Sports, and former Minister of Tourism of Mendoza

Rodrigo Lemos
Wine Tourism advisor, Corporación Vitivinícola de Argentina (COVIAR)
Director, Academic Program International (Gov. Mendoza)

BRASIL
Márcio Favilla
Former Executive Director for Operational Programmes and Institutional Relations, UNWTO
Former Vice Minister of Tourism of Brasil

CHILE
Miloš Mišković
Former Director, SERNATUR Valparaíso

CHINA
Margaret Chen
Founder CEO, Optimus Horizon

FRANCE
Hervé Novelli
President, Conseil Superieur de l’Oenotourisme

GREECE
Polykarpos Efstathiou
Former Director, Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO)

ITALY
Nicola D’Auria
President, Wine Tourism Italia (MTV)

PERÚ
Mariela Gutelli
Founder CEO, ‘Caliptra’ Consulting on Wine Tourism Marketing

PORTUGAL
Maria João de Almeida
President, Wine Tourism Portugal (APENO)

SOUTH AFRICA
Monika Iuels
Acting Chief Marketing Officer, Official Tourism, Trade and Investment Promotion, Agency for Cape Town and the Western Cape (WESGRO)

SPAIN
Germán Porras
Former General Director of Tourism and Tourspain, Governmet of Spain 

TURKEY
Fatma Bilge
President, Urla Viticulture and Winery Association (UVWA)

URUGUAY
Arnaldo Nardone
Former World President, ICCA

MANAGEMENT BODY

PRESIDENT & CEO
José Antonio Vidal
Founder President CEO, Wine Tourism Spain (Spanish Wine Tourism Association-AEE)
Founder President CEO, The Enotourism Institute of Spain (IEE)
2018 Spanish National Wine Tourism Prize

VICE PRESIDENTS
The Americas
Pablo Singerman (ARG)
Director Economic Observatory Wine Tourism and MICE, Ministry of Tourism of Argentina

EurAsia
Leonid Gelibterman (RUS)
President CEO, International Center of Wine and Gastronomy

COUNTRY DIRECTORS
Argentina
Romanella Paggi
Owner, Ketek Eventos & Turismo
Moderator ‘Mendoza en Una Copa’, Ministry Tourism of Mendoza

Brasil
Milton Zuanazzi
Co-founder & CEO, Hotel Sustentável consulting
Institutional Director, Viajar Faz Bem
Former National Secretary of Tourism Policies, Ministry of Tourism

Chile
Judith Ramírez
Partner, La Recova Wines

China
Jiawei Jiang (CHN)
Assistant Director, Monitoring Center for UNWTO Sustainable Tourism Observatories in China
Gao Ruylene

Portugal
Luís Bento
Economist, Writer, Restaurateur and Sommelier.
Founding Partner, Primal Advisors and of “Walk the Wine” project

Russia
Leonid Popovitch
President, Russian wine makers

United States of America
David Furer
Adult Beverage Communicator & Marketer

COMMUNICATIONS
Central EurAsia
Julia Smirnova
Travel advisor, Komsomolskaya Pravda
Press advisor, Cervantes Institute Moscow

Verónica de Santiago
Dir. General, Grupo Excelencias Comunicación

MICE Managers
Congresses and Exhibitions 
Arnaldo Nardone
Director, MICE International Consulting
Former World President, ICCA

Incentives and Events
Charo Trabado
Director, MITM Events

ADMINISTRATION & TREASURY Head
Mercedes Sánchez
GWTO Co-Founder
Secretary General & Treasurer, Wine Tourism Spain (AEE)

CORPORATE ASSISTANT & PPRR
Dina Gimbatova
Former PPRR Assistant, Four Seasons Hotels Qatar

LEGAL Head
Maurizio Di Ubaldo
President, Di Ubaldo Advocats