大象传媒

Richard Solomons trained as a chartered accountant, before starting his career in investment banking. He joined Bass - the company from which IHG later emerged - in 1992, and his roles there included chief operating officer of the Americas hotels division. He was appointed finance director of the company in March 2003, just before the hotels division company separated from its parent company. He was appointed chief executive of IHG in July 2011.

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IHG manages around 4600 hotels in nearly 100 countries around the world. Its brands include InterContinental, Holiday Inn, and Crowne Plaza.

Kate Giles was educated at John Bentley comprehensive school in Calne, Wiltshire, and at Kingston University, where she graduated with a degree in economics.

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During her twenties Kate juggled a job in sales with a successful rowing career, and was aiming for a place at the 2000 Sydney Olympics before her career was cut short by a severe bout of pneumonia. She blamed the illness on the damp kit she wore, and this gave the idea for her sports clothing business, Crewroom, which she launched in 2000. Crewroom now supplies the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, as well as the Royal Parks half marathon, and the business has expanded into China.

Geoff Ho is City editor of the Sunday Express. He joined the paper in April 2007 to cover banking, insurance and other financial services, just in time for the credit crunch. He has also written about a wide range of topics, including pubs, restaurants, natural resources and economics.
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Prior to the Sunday Express, he was a writer at the investment magazine Shares, where he tipped stocks and analysed finance, leisure and betting sector companies.
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His first role in journalism was at the specialist publication Health Insurance in 1998. He has also worked in IT and the consumer finance department of a major oil firm. He studied journalism at the London College of Communication.