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Chain4Travel's mission is to transform the travel industry from a fragmented and outdated industry environment into a unified and efficient global shared network that accelerates innovation.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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Thomas Stirnimann is the chairman and owner of Alpha Golf Travel AG and a board member at Hotelplan Holding AG. Until December 2020, he was the CEO of the Hotelplan Group for eight years. Before that, he worked for more than 20 years at Kuoni Travel Holding AG, responsible for the markets in Switzerland, Scandinavia, and Greece. Thomas was responsible for Travelhouse, and he is the founder of Edelweiss Airways.
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Pablo Castillo, CIO and Executive Board member Hotelplan Group 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 selling trips for Kuoni and has held various positions in Data & Content Management, eCommerce, Project & Innovation Program management.
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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) at locations in Germany, France, Switzerland, the USA, and Brazil. In addition to her position as Head of Business Development and Growth at Chain4Travel, she is an external doctoral blockchain researcher at the University of Zurich, ranked as one of the top blockchain universities worldwide.
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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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As Managing Director and Head of Product at Chain4Travel, Daniel supports the creation of a decentralized infrastructure for the travel industry. Daniel is a tech enthusiast with a background in the hospitality industry. He studied International Management (Dipl. BWL) and Computer Science (M. Sc.) and started his career in the hospitality industry as Food & Beverage Manager and Sales Manager before diving into Travel Tech at Peakwork, taking on the roles of Technical Project Manager and Product Owner at Peakwork. There, he helped launching the Rail-Package-Player and utilizing innovative A.I. to manage non-bookable-content.
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Vincent Usbeck is Head of Sales and Marketing 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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Julia is Head of Office Management 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 for the benefit of Chain4Travel.
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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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Helena earned her bachelor's degree in Tourism Management from Heilbronn University of Applied Sciences and her master's degree in International Marketing and Media Management from RFH University of Applied Sciences Cologne. Helena found her passion for innovative technologies early on during her bachelor's studies, which led her to write her thesis about the potential of blockchain technology for the travel industry. In her position as Digital Marketing Manager at the German National Tourist Office in London, Helena was responsible for creating and realizing cross-media campaigns. Today, she can apply and intensify her knowledge in the disciplines of marketing and blockchain in her daily work at Chain4Travel.
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Tabea is the product manager at Chain4Travel. Throughout the last 4 years she has lived, worked and studied on 4 different continents and is exited to revolutionize the travel industry. She studied International Business (B.A.) and Customer experience & Innovation (M.Sc.). Tabea has gained experience as consultant and strategic designer at BCG and founded her own company in the travel sector. Her background gave her various experience from launching an application to consulting various clients in the tech sector.
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Luca is an experienced web3 enthusiast and product builder with a background in Hospitality. He joined the Product Team at Chain4Travel after dedicating nearly two years to researching and building products in web3. In his previous role as the product lead at Winding Tree, Luca played a key role in launching win.so, the world's first decentralized accommodation marketplace that allowed travelers to book accommodation using their web3 wallets. He holds a degree in Hospitality Business, where he wrote his thesis on the implications of blockchain technology in the tourism industry. He also has a track record of successfully founding two companies while at university.
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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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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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Philipp Nahrgang is a marketing associate at Chain4Travel. A year abroad enabled him to make international contacts and sparked his enthusiasm for the tourism industry. He subsequently began his business studies, founded a start-up in the travel sector and was able to gain further relationships along with experience in the field.
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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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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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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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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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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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Jhon specializes in introducing innovation within the global travel industry, by generating technology partnerships and powering commercial gains across the industry. Since 2009 Jhon has contributed to the growth of key global travel technology and ecommerce companies such as Skyscanner, Kiwi, and Tourico Holidays. Based in Miami, the blooming crypto capital of the Americas, he has been active in the web3 growing ecosystem and currently enrolled in the Master’s in Blockchain and Digital Currency at the University of Nicosia. He is also an advocate of Chainlink, the #1 global blockchain oracle.
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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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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 now serving as the Head of Architecture & Integration at Alpitour. Under his leadership, various projects were implemented, such as a decentralized travel loyalty federation and several NFT applications for the tourism ecosystem.
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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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Olivier is an Award-winning, data-driven, and problem-solver, TravelTech C-level and general management veteran with 30+ years of hands-on expertise in digital transformation management and operations, distribution, data analysis, AI, and technology integration, operating across EMEA, Asia PAC, and Greater China, B2B SaaS, software development, Tech/marketing consulting, bootstrapping start-ups, and B2C public listed OTA, such as Travelport (was then Galileo), Seychelles Tourism Board, Partners in Marketing UK, Pegasus Solutions (now Cendyn), Ou Yang Business Consulting China, Derbysoft China, Hoteltravel.com (now MakeMyTrip.com), Wotif (now Expedia), Digital Innovation Asia (DIA), and Holidayme.com. Based out of Bangkok, he is currently working as Chief Operating Officer for Portier Technologies, a B2B2C mobile-based AI-driven guest engagement platform for the hospitality segment. Olivier also held several Committee Chair and Chairmanship seats at HEDNA (Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association) and CIM (Chartered Institute of Marketing) travel industry vertical. Having lived through the birth and hyper-growth of web2, he is now down for the challenge to harness the growing opportunities that web3 is bringing to the travel industry at large, as additional new commercial, branding, marketing, distribution, operations, and guest experience engagement and loyalty channels/touch points. Olivier is a keen scuba diver and enjoys being a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI). He is a great believer in ESG and leaving a renewable ('sustainable' not being good enough) world to his daughter, son, and future generations. Olivier also supports Thai orphans charity organizations.
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Rémy Merckx has over 25 years of experience within the Travel and Hospitality industry. In the last decade, Rémy focused enormously on the digitization of the Customer Journey. In his extensive career, he went from Operational roles within big Hotel Companies (i.e. Hilton, IHG, Starwood) to being an early adopter of Digital Capabilities joining Expedia Inc. in 2001 which was still the early stages of what will become the great Online Travel Agency (OTA) business. After 10 years of great personal & professional development within Expedia Inc., he decided to bring this huge digital background & knowledge back to the Hospitality Industry to lead the eCommerce business for Accor in Paris before moving back to Brussels after three years to lead the Global Digital Transformation for Radisson Hotel Group as the SVP Global Digital & Marketing. He is now an independent Senior Advisor with eClerx Digital and also a shareholder and advisor to Profila GmbH, a blockchain-based Digital Marketing platform revolutionizing the Customer Engagement processes.
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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.
