August 2019 - GTRC 2024

ITIC 2019 Speaker — Rajan Datar
Broadcaster and Journalist
BBC

Rajan Datar is a hugely respected and versatile broadcaster and journalist who cut his teeth feature-writing for national publications including the Guardian and the Times and then presented and reported for the BBC on television and radio, to domestic global audiences – and often live as a reporter on Newsnight and as an award-winning presenter for BBC 2’s The Money Programme, writing and presenting ten half hour programmes on popular brands … from Google to Tesco.

His speciality has been current affairs and culture and he is the presenter of the World Service’s flagship discussion programme The Forum, as well as being for the last decade, host of the weekly feedback programme Over To You. He has made many documentaries for Radio 4 and is a regular contributor to Radio 4’s flagship Arts programme, Saturday Review.

He has reported for popular consumer programmes such as Watchdog, including live.

For the last decade he has become a globally-recognised presenter of more than forty travel documentaries for the BBC in which he has immersed himself in local cultures and quirky situations …from fighting a Mongolian wrestler in the Gobi desert , to abseiling with refuse collectors in the favelas of Rio, to living the life of a Buddhist Monk for several days in Thailand, singing with a 25 piece male polyphonic Georgian choir in the caucuses…. and living with a cult.

Not many people can display the versatility to alternately present the high-brow discussion programme “The Forum” on the BBC World Service, then engage in a bout in front of a public audience with a Mongolian wrestler in the Gobi desert for the BBC Travel show or play on stage at a New Orleans zydeco band .. along with a background in 50 min prime time TV docs on subjects that vary from the collapse of Enron to the Fast Fashion industry for the BBC …

He has just completed a film for BBC News and Current Affairs about his own father’s Dementia, earning plaudits from the Director of News and CA amongst others ..

He is also an in-demand moderator and speaker at panels run by the UN amongst others and tours the world – from Singapore to Australia to the USA – presenting entertaining and thought-provoking sessions on the Travel Industry and Broadcasting today.

ITSC 2019 Speaker — Christopher Rodrigues, CBE
Chairman
Port of London Authority

Christopher Rodrigues became Chairman of the Port of London Authority in January 2016 and the Chairman of Openwork in January 2014.

Christopher was Chairman of the British Council from 2016 – 2019; Chairman of the British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association from 2013 – 2019; Chairman of VisitBritain from 2007 – 2017; Chairman of International Personal Finance and Windsor Leadership from 2007 – 2015; Chairman of The Almeida Theatre from 2008 – 2016, and in July 2016 stepped down as a Council member and Trustee of the National Trust. He was on the Executive Committee of the World Travel and Tourism Council from 2007 – 2016.

Christopher is a graduate of Cambridge University and the Harvard Business School. He rowed for Cambridge in the 1970 and 1971 Boat Races, is a past-Chairman of Leander Club and is a Steward of Henley Royal Regatta.

He was made Visiting Professor at the University of Surrey in 2009 and a Visiting Professor at Cranfield School of Management in 2010. He was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of the University of Surrey (DUniv) in April 2013. In May 2018 he became an Ambassador for the World Travel and Tourism Council, and in January 2019 the Development Committee Chairman at University College School, Hampstead.