Dr. Franz Linser
CEO, Linser Hospitality GmbH, Austria

Franz Linser is a Global Wellness Summit board member, as well as the founder and CEO of Linser Hospitality, an international consulting firm based in Innsbruck, Austria, and focused on the hotel, wellness and health industries. One of Franz’s core competencies is the tailor-made development of wellness and health concepts, services and products. Franz is a passionate and renowned strategist, mastermind and engineer in pioneering modern-day hotel concepts. 

Professor Dr. Terry Stevens
Professor of Tourism Innovation, School of Management, Swansea University, Wales, UK

Terry Stevens is managing director of the award-winning, international tourism consultancy, Stevens & Associates. It specializes in destination development in over 50 countries for a wide range of public/private sector clients, including UNWTO and UNESCO. Terry has published extensively, is regarded as a leading innovator in tourism and has been appointed part-time professor of tourism innovation, School of Management, Swansea University, assisting the regional wellbeing initiative.

Gemma Arribas
Project Manager, Health & Welfare, Iniciativa Actua, Andorra

Gemma Arribas has worked as an operating room nurse in Barcelona for 15 years and is currently the health and welfare project manager for Iniciativa Actua. Gemma came to Andorra three years ago to manage the establishment of medical centers and to help lead the wellness sector.

Charles Davidson
CEO & Co-Founder, Peninsula Hot Springs, Australia

Charles Davidson created Australia’s first commercial natural hot mineral spring bathing facility. Charles had a dream to connect people with each other and their environment through hot spring bathing. He has since been on a health and wellbeing learning journey that has taken him to more than 1,000 bathing facilities in over 30 countries and led him to develop Peninsula Hot Springs.

Dr. Paul J. Limburg
Medical Director, Mayo Clinic Global Business Solutions, U.S.

Paul Limburg, MD, M.P.H., is a professor of medicine, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, and consultant in the division of gastroenterology and hepatology. Dr. Limburg also holds a joint appointment in the division of preventive, occupational and aerospace medicine. He serves as medical director for several business units at Mayo Clinic that are responsible for defining or delivering health and wellbeing expertise within and beyond the organization. 

Joshua Luckow
Executive Director, Canyon Ranch, U.S.

Joshua Luckow is an entrepreneurial and visionary executive with proven performance within diverse disciplines—strategy, operations, business development, branding and marketing, finance and information technology—for public and private global firms ranging in size from $180 million to $52 billion, with over a decade spent at Canyon Ranch. Joshua is co-founder/president of NEXUS Executives, an organization that unites business leaders and entrepreneurs from across the economy.

Eleni Michopoulou, PhD
Senior Lecturer Business Management, University of Derby, UK

Dr. Eleni (Elina) Michopoulou is an assistant professor in business management at University of Derby, Buxton. Her research interests include technological e-tourism and accessible and wellness tourism. She is the author of a number of journal articles and book chapters on these subjects. Additionally, she is a founding member of the Global Wellness Institute’s Wellness Tourism Initiative and the European editor of the International Journal of Spa and Wellness. 

Carrie Phelps
Director, Membership & Resource Development, National Wellness Institute, U.S.

Carrie Phelps is the director of membership and resource development at the National Wellness Institute. She also is a board-certified coach and serves on the faculty for the Center for Mind-Body Medicine and Saybrook University’s College of Integrative Medicine and Health Sciences. For over 20 years, Carrie assisted as a consultant and provided leadership for the implementation of national wellness initiatives throughout the U.S.

Robert Ranzi
Cluster Manager, Standortagentur Tirol, Austria

Since 2007, Robert Ranzi has been the cluster manager of Standortagentur Tirol, a network with 130 enterprises, institutions and universities covering the health, wellness and tourism industries. The cluster organizes events, conventions and impulse workshops in order to introduce innovations. Robert is a clinical psychologist with experience in adult education, training and project development.

Tamás Várhelyi, PhD
College Professor, Eszterházy KárolyUniversity College, Hungary

Dr. Tamás Várhelyi graduated as a medical doctor and computer programmer, earning a MBA and PhD; he is now a college professor of tourism. His current focus is on the collaboration between spa/wellness and the healthcare industry, and the marketing and management of traditional spas and spa cities in an information-driven society.

David Wickline
Chairman, Alchemy Ventures Group, U.S.

David Wickline’s career spans investment banking (Morgan/Goldman Sachs) and developing over $500 million of resorts in partnership with leading investors who value his alchemist’s ability to spot undervalued opportunities and deliver stellar returns. David’s ventures include California hot springs, a Napa winery, Micronesian resorts and the assembling of 10 kilometers of Pacific coastline for an eco-resort that has won praise from international environmental groups.