Alan Tantleff leads FTI Consulting’s Hospitality, Gaming & Leisure Practice, assisting clients facing complicated challenges. During his career, Tantleff has advised boards of directors, CEOs, lenders, borrowers and other stakeholders on numerous high-profile hospitality matters. This includes being involved in most of NYC’s high-profile hotel insolvency matters, including The Williamsburg Hotel, Edition and Crowne Plaza Times Square, and Ritz Carlton Battery Park City. In a landmark case, Tantleff testified for the Mark Hotel’s owners that a poorly constructed foreclosure auction was not commercially reasonable. Tantleff was appointed Chief Restructuring Officer and interim President of bankrupt Eagle Hospitality Trust, a Singapore-listed REIT with interests in 18 U.S. hotels. He also leads FTI Consulting’s pro bono efforts for Friends of Firefighters. Furthermore, Tantleff will co-chair Cornell University’s 41st Annual Real Estate Conference. He is a member of the Turnaround Management Association and is an NYS court-approved real estate receiver, a licensed real estate broker, and a Certified Insolvency and Restructuring Advisor. Tantleff earned his undergraduate degree in Hotel Management, School of Hotel Administration from Cornell University and an MS in Real Estate Investment and Development from New York University.

Ed Bignold leads A&M’s Travel, Hospitality & Leisure (“THL”) Practice across Europe and the Middle East. Seven years ago, he joined A&M, a 8,000+ person-strong global advisory firm, having previously worked at InterContinental Hotels Group; and founded the THL practice. He and the practice have recently advised some of the sector’s most significant operating transformation programs, including the design and implementation of Accor’s new operating model. Bignold has also been engaged recently on several of the industry’s largest and most disruptive M&A transactions, including the sale of The Student Hotel (now rebranded The Social Hub) to GIC, in a deal valuing the group at approximately $2.14 billion. Furthermore, he is often engaged to lead market and business strategy engagements across the spectrum of hotels, alternative accommodation, tourism entities and travel and distribution companies.

Jean Chick is a Principal in strategy consulting and the Restaurant and Foodservice Industry Leader. Her experience includes: large company transformations with Deloitte’s Consumer Products, Automotive, Travel, Hospitality and Services clients. Deloitte provides industry-leading audit, consulting, tax and advisory services to many of the world’s most admired brands, including nearly 90% of the Fortune 500® and more than 8,500 U.S.-based private companies. Notably, Chick has navigated complex financial and operational issues while balancing change management and critical strategic considerations to maximize return on investments. She has played important roles in successful shared service center implementations in Europe and Real Estate IT system selection. She has led large global real estate technology implementations including IBM TRIRIGA. Her prior audit partner experience brings a pragmatic and financial outcome-based approach to client engagements. Chick graduated from the University of Kentucky with an undergraduate degree in accounting.

Jason Guggenheim is a Senior Partner and Managing Director out of BCG’s Atlanta office. Some of the work that Guggenheim has been involved in includes: transformation and cost restructuring of a large global airline, digital operations and software development in the airline day-of operations space, mobile strategy across several travel verticals, pricing, merchandising and promotional across a range of travel verticals, redesign of comprehensive loyalty program for in cruise, hotel and airline space, restructuring plans for leading global car rental company, and several large global airlines. In addition, Guggenheim sits on a range of BCG’s people development committees in North America – and led the Recruiting Function in North America from 2016-2022. Before joining BCG in 2001, Guggenheim received an undergraduate degree in Finance and Economics from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. He also graduated with a law degree from Oliver Schreiner School of Law at the University of the Witwatersrand. He was global lead of BCG’s Travel and Tourism (T&T) business from 2020 through to 2023, and now leads the newly created Travel Cities and Infrastructure business in North America.

Michael Gottlieb, the Managing Director of National Hospitality Advisory at CohnReznick, provides deep industry expertise to his clients. With over a century’s worth of experience, nearly 4,000 global team members, and 29 locations including global subsidiaries, CohnReznick serves clients in 30 different industries through an integrated team of advisory, assurance, and tax professionals. Their Nexia International affiliation expands the firm’s reach to more than 128 countries.

A renowned restaurant industry expert, Gottlieb is a global business and financial leader with over 35 years of experience in business strategy, P&L management, operations, enterprise risk management, and governance. He has deep knowledge and expertise in optimizing revenue channels, digital transformation, workforce challenges, supply chain management, franchising structuring and operations, real estate and lease considerations, and operational, transaction, and tax matters. Gottlieb has worked with most of the leadership in the restaurant industry and was involved in several of the high-profile transactions. He graduated from the University of Southern California with an undergraduate degree in accounting.

Radhika Papandreou is the Managing Partner at Korn Ferry’s Chicago office. In addition, she leads the Firm’s North American Travel, Hospitality and Leisure practice. Papandreou is also a core member within the Board and CEO Services practice, where she focuses on CEO succession and board recruitment. Prior to Korn Ferry, Papandreou was at a large executive search firm, where she was managing director and global head of its Hospitality and Leisure practice and a core partner within the board practice. Papandreou specializes in C-Suite and Board placements and has managed large scale client projects including bankruptcies, turnarounds, spin-offs and M&A. Previously, Papandreou had an 18-year career in corporate banking, most recently as managing director and Head of the Consumer and Healthcare practice for Lloyds Bank North America. Prior to that she was a senior banker at BBVA. She began her banking career at Citigroup working within the corporate and investment bank in both New York and London. Away from Korn Ferry, Papandreou is a National Trustee of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. She is also a member of the Arogya World Board of Directors. Papandreou earned a BA with a dual major in International Affairs & Economics from the Johns Hopkins University. She later received an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Sooho Choi is the Practice Leader for the Travel, Hospitality & Leisure (THL) industries group at global management consultancy Alvarez & Marsal. He has led numerous business transformation programs, including digital and customer experience initiatives, data strategies and integrations, commercial and operational improvements, new business line creation, and technology modernizations at many of the world’s leading travel brands across hospitality and aviation. His experience also spans the globe with significant projects in Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Choi’s domain experience includes: Property Management, Travel Distribution, Group Sales, Revenue Management, Loyalty, and Digital Channels. He pairs the A&M bias towards action and results with a talented combination of consultants, functional experts, and industry operators to help clients address their most significant challenges such as driving customer and inorganic growth, addressing and optimizing the challenging labor environment, building resilience in an inherently cyclical sector, and addressing the environmental and social concerns of customers and investors. Choi holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from Cornell University.

Umar Riaz is EY Americas Real Estate, Hospitality & Construction Consulting Leader, managing EY Consulting Services across the sector. He is also EY Americas Hospitality Sector Leader. Focusing on the industry’s most pressing challenges and opportunities, Riaz advises companies on digital transformation, including customer experience design, analytics, enterprise digitalization and innovation management. He also consults with businesses on sales and marketing transformation, back-office organization, managed services and corporate strategy. EY exists to build a better working world, helping create long-term value for clients, people and society and build trust in the capital markets. Enabled by data and technology, diverse EY teams in over 150 countries provide trust through assurance and help clients grow, transform and operate. Riaz has more than 20 years of consulting experience across a wide range of industries and functions. He has served clients in Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the U.S. Riaz graduated with an MBA from the University of Michigan. He was also a Research Fellow at Harvard University.