Hanna Messerli, Private Sector Development/Tourism, The World Bank

Hannah Messerli is dedicated to utilizing tourism as an economic development tool for emerging economies. Currently a Senior Private Sector Development Specialist in Tourism for the Africa region of the World Bank, Dr. Messerli supports government initiatives to develop private sector capacity in tourism across 47 countries. With more than 15 years of experience in the public and private sectors focusing on tourism planning and development, she has worked in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. As an analyst and tourism product development specialist, she has focused on cultural heritage and nature-based tourism in emerging economies.

Her professional background includes serving as a faculty member at New York University and operations consulting with hotel and tourism companies globally. Hannah has completed masters’ degrees in hotel administration at Cornell University and tourism planning at The George Washington University. Her doctorate in tourism planning and development was also completed at Cornell University.

Mark Walton, EVP Sponsorship and Corporate Development, Africa Channel

Mr. Walton is Executive VP for Sponsorship & Corporate Development at The Africa Channel.  Prior to this, he was CEO of Onyx Media Group, a TV syndication company, he co-founded.  Mr. Walton spent over 10 years with the CBS TV Network holding various management positions in sales and marketing.  He was the head of marketing for independent film distributor KJM3 who successfully distributed Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust.  Mr. Walton is an adjunct instructor at Fordham’s Graduate School of Business and serves on the Boards of the Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center, Sister Cities International and the Yale School of Management.  He holds a BS in journalism from Boston University and received a Master’s from the Yale School of Management.

Sthu Zungu, President (North America), South Africa Tourism

South African national Sthu Zungu was appointed President of South African Tourism, North America in October 2007.  Prior to her tenure in the US, she served as General Manager of South African Tourism in Milan for four years. 

Her in-depth international marketing experience began when she was hired by BMW South Africa as a Market Analyst fresh out of college. She went on to handle Corporate Planning and Strategy and was eventually named Brand Communications Manager for the MINI. Along the way, she spent a year in Germany working at BMW headquarters in Munich where she completed post-graduate studies in Advanced International Marketing under the Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft Scholarship. 

Born and raised in the province of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, Zungu studied at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, from which she received a Master of Commerce degree in marketing and a Bachelor of Commerce degree in marketing with honors.

Rumit Mehta, Founder, Immersion Journeys

Rumit Mehta was born in Kenya, raised in Tanzania and currently resides in New York City. He holds an undergraduate in Architecture and an MBA in International Business from Pace University. After working in the design and construction field for 13 years, Rumit invested in the African hospitality and tourism industry in 2004 and founded Immersion Journeys focusing on customized leisure, adventure and academic tours to Africa and South East Asia. He has worked with renowned corporate and academic institutions such as the HBS, Yale School of Management, Pace University, Babson College, The Africa Channel, Synergos Institute and Sister Cities International. Immersion Journeys educational division- Immersion Experiences or “IEx” works closely with graduate business schools in developing international travel programs to emerging African counties & India. Rumit is on the Board of Directors of the Africa Travel Association (ATA) and the Association of the Promotion of Tourism in Africa (APTA).

Shabir Walji, President/Co-Founder, Camden Holdings Ltd.

Shabir Walji is President and Co-founder of Camden Holdings, Ltd., a family owned company that identifies undervalued assets for acquisition and development. Having held a variety of positions over a 25 year period, he has developed successful strategies to improve the performance of assets such as companies in the food sector, real estate developments and hotels/resorts in North America and the Caribbean.

Recently, the company has identified assets in the lodging sector, and has negotiated and developed a management team to enhance asset performance. These assets include a variety of international hotels and boutique resorts totaling in excess of 12,000 rooms.

Shabir holds a BA in Political Science and Sociology from Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada and is also a graduate of the Owners/Presidents Program at Harvard Business School.

He was born in Uganda and left the country in 1972 to resettle in Canada. He currently resides in Houston, Texas.