Get to know the team and story behind Chain4Travel
Chain4Travel's mission is to transform the travel industry from a fragmented and outdated industry environment into a unified and efficient global shared network that accelerates innovation. By acknowledging web3 opportunities but also barriers for travel, it became clear the industry needs its own layer 1 travel infrastructure.
Chain4Travel is the initiator of Camino, the first web3 travel ecosystem, and provides the KYC (Know-Your-Customer) process as well as the application suite for the Camino mainnet to ensure a fast, stable and secure environment for all travel enthusiasts while taking advantage of all blockchain-associated features.
Our founders, Ralf Usbeck, Thomas Stirnimann, and Pablo Castillo, collectively possess decades of experience as serial founders and high-level executives in the travel tech sector. They identified significant challenges that the industry was confronting, as well as the emergence of novel technologies like web3, which have been transformative in other industries. However, there had been no notable endeavor or project in the travel industry. Back in 2021, they decided to change this and created the vision to build a collaborative network and enable digital innovation for the global travel industry. This vision is called Camino.
Ralf Usbeck is the widely respected German entrepreneur, founder, and chief executive of Chain4Travel, his latest venture in shaping the global travel industry with innovative travel technology. As founder of Peakwork, TravelTainment (sold to Amadeus in 2006), Vtours, and Weekend.com, he has already successfully built and exited companies in a 3-digit million volume. In 2013, Ralf Usbeck received an international award as 'Serial Innovator of Travel Technology' at the World Travel Market in London.
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Pablo Castillo, CIO and Executive Board member of Hotelplan Group from 2014 to 2021, has vast and proven experience delivering complex projects across all European markets with a strong business focus. He started his career in tourism over 20 years ago, selling trips for Kuoni, and has held various positions within Tour Operating, Data & Content Management, eCommerce, and international Project & Innovation Program Management for various international travel companies. He co-founded Chain4Travel in 2021, delivering the first layer 1 blockchain for the global travel industry, "Camino," ready to take advantage of the next iteration of technology and the web3 age.
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With more than 25 years of experience in the travel industry, Anke Hsu has worked in various leadership positions for the Lufthansa Group, flights.com, Sabre Corporation, FTI Group, and InteRES GmbH (a subsidiary of TUI). Her professional journey has taken her across the globe, with roles in Germany, France, Switzerland, the USA, and Brazil. She also worked as an external doctoral blockchain researcher at the University of Zurich, recognized globally as one of the leading institutions for blockchain research, underscoring the significance of Anke's contributions to the field.
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Vincent Usbeck is COO at Chain4Travel. During his studies with a focus on management, philosophy and economics, Vincent founded a start-up in the travel sector and was able to gather various expertise and establish relationships in the industry. After his studies, he worked in South America. He is passionate about making innovative technologies such as blockchain accessible to new markets, which determines his daily work at Chain4Travel.
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Alexander Koch is a technology enthusiast and expert in high-performance computing. After studying and working at the Computing Center of RWTH Aachen University, he started his career in the travel industry in 2010 as a software engineer at Peakwork, where he was instrumental in driving player technology together with Markus Pfau. Striving to broaden and deepen his knowledge, Alex is a key driver for strategic projects, innovations and new technologies.
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Julia is VP Finance at Chain4Travel AG. During her studies in Cologne in the field of office management, she worked in a law firm where she was able to put her acquired knowledge directly into practice. Back in Zurich, Julia worked in the banking sector, where she had her first touchpoints with the world of cryptocurrencies and blockchain. Since then, she has become passionate about the vision of Chain4Travel and is eager to use her extensive professional experience in managing positions and her strong sense of organizational structures and finances for the benefit of Chain4Travel.
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Michele is a veteran technologist with a 20+ year career delivering software solutions on four continents. Michele “Mik” Ruberl has been involved in blockchain for traveltech since 2017, as the CTO of Sandos Hotels & Resorts first and then serving as the Head of Architecture & Integration at Alpitour. Under his leadership, various projects have been implemented, such as a decentralized travel loyalty federation and several NFT applications for the tourism ecosystem. Today, Mik is Director Blockchain & Web3 Solutions at Peakwork AG and VP Product at Chain4Travel.
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Helena is a marketing professional who discovered her passion for blockchain while writing her thesis on its potential in the travel industry in 2018. She gained experience leading cross-media campaigns at the German National Tourist Office in London. Since joining Chain4Travel 2 years ago, Helena uses her skills to build an engaged community in the growing web3 travel network of Camino.
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Before moving to Mallorca in 2001, Sam was active in programming, testing, and IT project management in the finance sector in Holland. He started his journey in tourism with the accommodation integration of easyJet for Hotelbeds. From 2007 at MTS Globe, he was responsible for the development of provider and distribution integrations. At Chain4Travel, Sam’s focus is the implementation of open-source data standards for an easy transition to web3 for the travel industry.
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Mohamed is a software development professional with 8 years of experience. He holds a B.Sc. degree in Mechatronics with High Honors from the German University in Cairo and a M.Sc. degree in Robotics from TU-Dortmund. Mohamed has been a key member of Chain4Travel since 2022, leading infrastructure, automation and deployment efforts with exceptional expertise and dedication.
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Ekrem Seren, Chief Architect at CompecTA for over a decade, is an expert in the field of high performance computing clusters and Linux systems. Having studied Naval Architecture at Istanbul Technical University, Ekrem used his technical skills to move into the High Performance Computing field. He has vast experience in building and maintaining robust computing clusters, setting new standards in the travel industry. His deep knowledge, strategic insights and commitment to innovation perfectly prepare him for his role as Docu Lead at Chain4Travel.
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Cristina is an international lawyer with more than 15 years of experience in corporate, M&A and restructuring transactions, national and international contract practice and general corporate and commercial law. She has advised several technology companies on their structuring, fundraising, M&A transactions and regulatory issues. She has also advised companies on the implementation of strategic contracts required for their digital asset activities. Cristina is a web3 and technology enthusiast, passionate about the vision of Chain4Travel and eager to use her vast professional experience to ensure that the project complies with all legal requirements.
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Vladimir is an experienced brand and marketing executive with over 10 years of hands-on experience. Known for analytical/data-driven and strategic thinking, clear communication, and creativity in developing successful marketing campaigns. Skilled in digital marketing and able to manage tasks effectively while building strong relationships with teams and stakeholders. Notable achievements include launching the first Web3 booking application win.so through successful go-to-market strategies and building local travel brands. Vladimir's work is always driven by a desire to build customer-focused communications.
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Juan B Sanchez has lived in Cordoba, Madrid, Rabat, Milan, Manchester, and Valencia coast. He started in 2002 in the travel business, becoming a sport & culture group travel specialist. So far, Juan has organized over 200 tours and events and founded his own company: Odisea Tours. Due to the covid pause, he had to reinvent himself and found on blockchain online communities an exciting opportunity to evolve professionally. He now mixes his two passions: blockchain & people, and helps the Chain4Travel team to develop and grow the Camino Network community.
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Illa Eggers is our contact for global public relations. With more than 20 years of experience in the travel industry and especially in travel technology, since the year 2000 she has been the communication specialist behind all major external communication of TravelTainment and Peakwork. Next to PR Illa knows all the marketing related challenges of a travel tech company - from corporate communication via social media, on- and offline channels to developing customer relations and event communication.
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Andrew Owen-Jones has over 30 years of travel technology experience and knowledge in multiple key markets. He is CEO and Co founder bd4travel 2013 - now. He won the Award of ML based business serving travel and retail businesses. He was CEO Amadeus Leisure Group 2009 - 2011. Director Leisure Strategy Amadeus 2001 - 2009. Board Member Comtec, Multicom, CCO Virgin Travelstore 2000, GM IT Virgin Atlantic 1997 - 2000.
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After many years working in international border management Annet co-founded/co-initiated the Aruba Happy Flow project in 2013 that created the world’s first seamless passenger facilitation uniting the public and private stakeholder at the airport in one identity management system using a single biometric token. Ever since digital Identity and innovation for the travel eco-system have been at the centre of her work. She is currently a consultant for the travel and tourism industry and works on projects with focus on implementing digital identity, the (EU eIDAS 2.0) digital wallet and digital travel credentials to create true Seamless Travel while preserving data privacy and data protection. Annet has been actively involved in IATA OneID working groups and task forces and in 2020 she was awarded the Women in Biometrics Award.
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Beat Blaser is Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Falkensteiner Ventures. He gained a comprehensive overview of travel and hospitality tech startups, managing a diverse portfolio of investments. Until 2018, Beat was MD at Thomas Cook for their City/Domestic tour operator platform, serving multiple markets in Continental Europe, the UK, and the Nordics. Currently, he is a Board Member in several startups and grownup companies in travel and hospitality across Europe.
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Benjamin Usinger is the Chief of Staff to the CEO at BitMEX and the Lead for their token projects. In this role, he designed and launched successful Token projects. Prior to this role, Ben was an Associate Director in KPMG Hong Kong and founder of their Crypto Advisory team since 2017. For more than 8 years, he has been working with Crypto Asset Service Providers and Banks on their institutionalisation and adoption of digital assets and brings deep expertise in Tokenomics & utility development, token issuance, market mechanics, liquidity and crypto asset regulation.
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From measuring runways in exotic destinations in the 80s - while opening a good number of destinations around the globe for traditional TOs - to today's wide presence in the travel tech environment, Berthold Holly, over the past 35+ years, has accumulated a vast range of experiences in the various & many verticals representing the tourism industry. His first encounter with the techie-side of things came when he was tasked to build the Summer Sun bedbank-business for Expedia in EMEA, opening shops in 18 countries, earning him the 'Gobal Sales Manager of the Year'-Award. He then became a lobbyist for Expedia in this super-region, generating marketing monies from the Ministries of Tourism versus delivering ROIs measured in numbers of jobs created. For the past 10+ years, Berthold has been an independent consultant. Always engaged at the frontline of things, his tremendous network today allows C4T to have the right doors opened at the right level and in far-flung places around the globe.
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After finishing his studies in mathematical physics at the Technical University in Munich, Christian started his career with a fellowship program at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) in Geneva. He then moved to Munich and spent five years at a bank as a software engineer and later on as team leader. In 2008, Christian acted as interim head of the consumer finance department's IT division at Ukrsibbank in Kiev before joining 360T (now part of the Deutsche Börse Group as their Foreign Exchange arm) in the role of Head of Technology. The core capability of the 360T foreign exchange trading platform is low latency, high throughput geo-scale distributed computing. Christian served at 360T in the role of Head of Technology and member of the Group Executive Board for 10 years until end of 2018 and he is still an Advisor to the Group Executive Board at 360T. Since late 2020 Christian joined Arabesque S-Ray (ESG Book) as platform expert and is helping to make the platforms developed at Arabesque a success.
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Christian Trumm is an accomplished Fintech & Web3 Advisor with a strong track record in Payments, Stablecoins, CBDC and Trade Finance between Asia and Europe. As a trained banker, he has been in Fintech and Web3 for the past 10 years, helping his clients define use cases, solve real world problems, and create products and solutions that are on the cutting edge of Web3 technology and digitisation. Christian also sits on the CBDC and Stablecoin committees at the Blockchain Association Singapore and at Web3 Harbour in Hong Kong, advising the central banks in both cities on the upcoming regulation for digital currencies.
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David Henderson has over 30 years experience selling Technology Solutions across Travel, Telecoms & Software. He is currently Co-founder of Hangout on Holiday, pioneers in Digital Communications App Platforms. He has lived in Switzerland, Greece and the USA managing Corporate teams on every continent and spearheaded the launch of several VC backed, US start-ups into Europe. He was VP Intl & Board Member at Holiday Taxis ahead of its sale to Hotelbeds.
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38 years of experience with curating digital technology in the passenger and cargo businesses of KLM, Air France-KLM and SkyTeam. Early successes, in the 1980s, include Inter-Airline Through Check-In, in the 1990s cargo System Profit Management and in 2000 the first www.klm.com. These and others taught Dirk Gemke that many objectives of an airline and its customers can only be achieved by cooperation between airlines, and recently, train-operators; and that no technology will be succesfully implemented without business championship from conception. From this follows another learning: there is no technology debt without business debt. Taking a true customer-perspective, which is not necessarily the business perspective, and an enterprise engineer’s view, were foundational between 2011 and 2017 for the design and implementation of SkyTeam’s technology hub; on the idea ‘to connect once to connect to many’ and that it is all about reimagining mobility from origin to destination. Before retiring from KLM in 2023 and based on SyTeam-experiences, involvement in the creation of an aircraft MRO-consortium and underlying blockchain-technology completed the starting point for next steps: an advisory role to Chain4Travel (and a last step towards becoming Master of Wine).
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Glenn Morgan is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for IT, Non-Executive Director, and Strategic Digital and Business Transformation Leader, bringing over 40 years of cumulative experience in strategy, venture building, corporate innovation & digital transformation. Glenn spent the last 25 years at British Airways & International Airlines Group creating and leading IAG's Hangar 51 multi-million ventures fund and global accelerator, working with start-ups and VCs. Glenn is the ex-Chairman of the IATA Digital Council and oneworld Digital Board. Glenn's responsibilities included being IAG's Chief Technology Officer, in charge of the group's information technology strategy. Glenn holds several technology patents and is an active angel investor and Non-Executive Director on several boards. In his spare time, Glenn participates in international motorcycle races, competing in FIA and FIM World Cup Cross Country rallies, and is a Tae Kwon Do Instructor and 2nd Dan Black Belt.
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Jan Stenger is a serial entrepreneur and digital business expert. He developed his first b2b platform in 2000 and has since helped scale over ten more. With his company Companion D, he is transforming traditional companies and building up new digital businesses and, above all, tech teams for owners and investors, including transatlantic. Jan is also an advisory board member of several different travel tech/cyber companies in the US and Europe.
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Markus Pfau is a brilliant developer. He has already developed technologies that have significantly changed distribution and production in the tourism industry. For example, Markus developed the caching technology of TravelTainment (now Amadeus). He is the inventor of the Player Hub technology and the founder of Peakwork. He has been developing successful blockchain projects for several years.
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Martin Kloeckner is Senior Technology Consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers (Pwc) in Australia, where he advises clients on IT strategy and contributes to the blockchain/web3 practice build in the APAC region. He started his travel tech career in Germany in 2008 at TravelTainment, managing key accounts in the DACH market before he implemented strategic XML connectivity projects with international hotel channel managers and OTA's as Partnerships Manager at HRS. After his migration to Australia in 2015 Martin endeavoured on a five-year entrepreneurial journey as co-founder and managing director of BBQ Buoys, a multi-award winning leisure experience provider for local and international customers in Adelaide.
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Norm is a recognized expert on travel technology, particularly his analysis of the impact of emerging trends such mobile, social media, blockchain and Artificial Intelligence. He has extensive experience in all travel industry sectors including airlines, tour operators, online and traditional travel agents, hoteliers, rail and software platforms used for operations and distribution. From 1982-1988 he held sales and marketing management positions at United Airlines and from 1989 -1995, Norm was corporate travel manager for Sun Microsystems. At Sun, he worked with a number of third-party developers creating client/server software for the business travel market. This included early prototypes of self-booking tools and expense management systems.
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Ulrich Sieber performed different leadership roles in the financial services industry. His entire professional career anchors in investment banking and functions in Human Resources. His career started at Bayerische Vereinsbank in Munich, followed by employment at Credit Suisse, JPMorgan, and Dresdner Bank. He served at the Board of Managing Directors at Commerzbank Group, focusing on integrating Dresdner Bank into Commerzbank.
CloseOur growing team is as global as the vision for the travel industry itself. We are working in different time zones and with different cultural backgrounds. With our shared passion for innovation in the travel industry, we work continuously on making blockchain accessible and approachable for the industry. Join us on our journey to break boundaries and change the way of travel.
Whether you are a startup looking to break into the travel industry or an established player seeking to stay ahead of the curve, Chain4Travel is your ultimate guide to digital transformation and innovation. Join us on the journey to the world of travel reinvented.
