British International Spa Association

Linda Bankoski is a co-founder of SpaQuality LLC and has served as Managing Director of Education and Assessment since its start in 2003. She is a quality expert with over 30 years of experience leading, coaching, consulting, and training, she has helped a wide variety of organizations succeed and thrive. Linda has been the primary author of The International Standards of SpaExcellence(SM) and its annual update. She also heads SpaQuality’s spa assessment organization.

Linda has enjoyed a multifaceted career as a healthcare professional, corporate trainer, customer advocate, market researcher, culture change pioneer and business advisor. Linda served on the Board of Examiners of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for five years. She is a frequent speaker for professional meetings and seminars and was chair of the local section of the American Society for Quality (ASQ). For the last 25 years, she has been a Good Manufacturing Practices Auditor (FDA regulations) and for 14 years has been an ASQ Certified Quality Auditor, RAB Certified Quality Systems Lead Auditor and a Certified Lead Assessor (ISO 9001). Linda is past president of the Board of Directors for the Delaware Quality Consortium, Inc. (Delaware Quality Award).

As an adjunct professor in the Continuing and Professional Studies at the University of Delaware, Linda is lead instructor in the Quality Management Certificate and teaches courses in Quality management and organizational improvement. In association with the Delaware Manufacturing Extension Partnership, she has developed and taught courses on the ISO 9000 standard, Quality system auditing and problem solving.
www.spaquality.com

Josef Bartholemy has lived for more than 30 years in Baden-Baden which serves as a healthy and inspiring base from which to work for leading companies and associations worldwide as a consultant for managers and other outstanding people.

In 1990, he was one of the few European founder members of the ISPA International Spa and Fitness Association in the USA – one of only 10 from Europe, 6 of them German, 4 from Baden-Baden. In 1991 he was awarded the “Baden-Baden – Spa of the year 1992” award and in 1992 became the “ISPA-Representative for Europe”, writing from 1992 to 1997 a bi-monthly column “News from Europe by Josef Bartholemy, Baden-Baden” for PULSE, the ISPA periodical. In 1995 he initiated the first international spa conference and in 1996 he was member of the international organization committee and a speaker of the local executive board for the very successful Europe-America Spa Summit, Baden-Baden (Brenner’s Park-Hotel & Spa).
Today, Josef still enjoys Baden-Baden, art and culture. He sings as a hobby and writes short stories about the fascinating people he has met. He divides his time between Baden-Baden and another oasis, La Palma, Islas Canarias, visiting members of his family.

Dr Andrea Bernhard studied medicine at the University of Freiburg, Germany, later specialising in anaesthesiology at the University Hospital in Frankfurt in 1999. She is also formally trained and qualified in nutritional medicine, ayurvedic medicine and natural healing.

Dr. Bernhard has focused on Systemic Deep Cleaning (® Dr. phil. Ch. Keller) via the colon since 2000. This is a natural healing method known in Germany as S.T.E. The method was developed by her mother, Dr. phil. Ch. Keller-Bernhard, and has been used for successful treatment since 1989. Treatment normally lasts for several days in Dr. Bernhard’s private outpatient clinic. Detoxification of the body is based on intense colonic cleaning and restoration of healthy bacterial flora in the intestines. Intense cleaning enables the patient to undertake further detoxification to eliminate various toxins from the liver, lymphatic tissue and other organs. The results are immediate. Patients will profit from an instant increase in vitality, and reduced symptoms originating from functional bowel disorders or chronic diseases. Systemic Deep Cleaning increases your health, boosts your immune system, and reduces the symptoms of functional bowel disorders or chronic diseases.
www.darmtherapie.de

Bernard Burt is an internationally recognized authority on spas and is a writer and leader in the field of spa vacations and fitness travel. He has written for such leading magazines as National Geographic Traveler, Travel & Leisure, and Spa Magazine. The Board of Directors of the International Spa Association recently named Burt recipient of its Dedicated Contributor Award. The award honors his commitment to industry standards and his professional values.
www.SpaGoer.com

Robert Czik is managing director of Finders International Ltd, an accountant by profession and also a graduate in hotel management. Robert founded Finders in the UK 27 years ago with the aim of producing a range of health and beauty products for the spa industry utilising pure minerals from the Dead Sea. This business adventure has resulted in the creation of two skincare products lines under the brands Spa Find and Dead Sea Spa Magik which are sold in over 22 countries around the world. “I believe that the future of the spa industry depends on good education for spa therapists.”
www.findershealth.co.uk

Wilfried Dreckmann learned the spa business from bottom up. Professional trainings as beautician, chiropodist and massage therapist and several years of hands on work were followed by a career as spa manager of some of the most beautiful and influential spas in southern Europe, Switzerland and South America. After developing a spa division for a German hotel group Dreckmann started to work freelance as Spa coach Europe wide. His main objectives are coaching junior Spa Managers and developing quality standards within the spa business. He is frequently booked as speaker on Spa business meetings and lectures regularly at the IST Studieninstitut.

International spa standards – “Quality is what the customers think it is…” Is that true? And what about the fact that each customer is an individual, as well as each therapist? Are standards useful anyway in the spa sector? How can we implement standards without constricting our customers’ needs and our therapists’ capabilities? Different cultures – different needs – different standards? Can one standard apply for all spas worldwide? These and similar questions will be discussed in the panel.
www.spa-project.eu

Stefan Dressendörfer is CEO of Cosmedico Licht GmbH in Stuttgart. Before joining Cosmedico in 2006 he had worked in the textile industry in CEO positions for many years and for a leading international power supply corporation as marketing and sales manager. Two years after taking up his position as Cosmedico’s new CEO, Stefan Dressendörfer has already put his mark on the company, known around the world for its exceptional tanning lamps and commitment to its customers’ success. Cosmedico has been one of the leading professionals in the tanning industry for more than 30 years and accordingly feel responsible for the industry, as well as for the human being in general.
www.cosmedico.de

Peter Droessel has been active in the field of spa consultancy, development and management since 1980. He began his career as a physiotherapist and private therapist in his own health & beauty centre on the Canary Islands and later managed the Club Bellevue rooftop the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten in Munich before embarking on a freelance career in 1994 with launching of the first VITTEL SPA GUIDE.

He has since revolutionised countless hotels, spas and even luxury liners in Germany and around the world with his spa concepts. He combines luxurious cosmetic lines with innovative design ideas and newly devised spa rituals to create a new spa experiences. He developed Spa Futuresse for the luxury cruise liner MS Europa and headed Brenner’s Spa to the top of the league. As Spa Director from 1998 to 2004, he established the world’s first Private Spa Suite which has since been emulated repeatedly in luxury hotels around the world.

Presently he is developing the first high-end spa training-academy for international spa specialists at THE MOUNTAIN SPA and offers consultation to help spas improve their operation.
www.spa-direktor.de

Frank Frikker has a background in sales & marketing, is a certified NLP trainer and founder and director of mind&motion. He has over 10 years experience in the Asian and Pacific markets working in leading positions for international companies. In 2004 he moved to Australia and currently operates 4 day spas in Far North Queensland and is coordinator for ASPA in Far North Queensland.
www.mindandmotion.com.au

Janice Gronvold, the founder of Spectrec, has more than 20 years’ experience in business development and marketing services for spa, resort, health, tourism and medical based organizations in the United States and abroad. Actively involved with continuing education, she serves as an advisor and lead instructor for the Spa and Hospitality and International Hospitality Management Certificate programs for the University of California, Irvine.
www.spectrec.com

Berni Hawkins, a former army officer, started her career in the spa and leisure industry in 1998 as Operations Manager, working with Lord Thurso at Champneys of Tring. She then moved on to further leading roles with various industry operators including general management roles with Virgin Active and LA Fitness and Directorships back at The Champneys Group and with Whitbread PLC.

Training and development of people has always played an important role in Berni’s life both professionally and personally. She comments, “In the army, you spend the majority of your life training to ensure the delivery of the mission. The quality of your soldiers and you as a leader must constantly be encouraged and cultivated, as no matter what the endeavour or one’s desire (not always ability), determines success”. Berni truly feels that ‘total dedication’ to the heights of human potential creates champions and champion behaviour. Within the industry, Berni now runs the leisure consultancy firm, Hawkins Muiderman.
www.hawkinsmuiderman.com

Dr. Stefan Kannewischer, operator of the Caracalla Therme and the Friedrichsbad Baden-Baden, is a member of the management team of the Kannewischer family-run business with special responsibility for operations management and consultancy. He has 4 years experience as a strategic business consultant at Bain & Company in London, Frankfurt and Munich and holds a PhD from the University of St. Gallen focussing on “The privatisation of public recreational facilities with particular focus on swimming baths”. Stefan Kannewischer speaks regularly at professional conferences on behalf of various spa associations on aspects of business management and will be speaking on his experience of the privatisation of spas in Baden-Baden over the last 15 years.
www.kannewischer.com

Hans-Peter Kuhl is psychologist and naturopathic practitioner, with special expertise in the systemic therapy and counselling of addiction, in NLP and clinical hypnosis. As founder of the “flow-team”, he offers business coaching, team training and personal development seminars.

His own personal experience of the twists and turns in life have convinced him that there is potential in every situation—even ‘muck’ can be turned to fertiliser! With a firm belief in the god-given core of people, he focuses on strengthening and nourishing each person’s individual resources and potential as a means of self-healing.
www.kern-gesund-praxis.de

Karl-Ludwig Resch studied medicine at the universities of Cologne and Munich, Germany. 1994 completion of PhD, University of Vienna, Austria. 1994-1996 Senior Lecturer in Complementary Medicine with the University of Exeter, UK. Since 1999 Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation with the University of Dresden, Germany.
1996-2006 Director of Europe’s largest research institute on Natural Medicine and Spa Science (Forschungsinstitut für Balneologie und Kurortwissenschaft Bad Elster [FBK]) a branch of the Saxon Ministry of Social Affairs. Since 2006 International Associate Dean, Andrew Taylor Still University, Kirksville, USA. Since 2007 CEO of the German Institute of Health Research gGmbH, a not-for-profit organization concerned with health services research and evaluation, quality management and quality assurance, conceptual consulting for and development of innovative settings for public bodies and private companies, and teaching and coaching. President of the German Society of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (DGPMR), and the Association of Saxon Spas (SHBV).
Author/co-author of 300+ scientific publications, 6 books, and 500+ articles for the general public, and a much sought-after speaker at conferences, seminars, and panel discussions, and frequently invited to German TV health shows.
www.d-i-g.org

Micky Remann, born 1951, writer, media artist and performer, developed the Liquid Sound® concept, which was first established and gained international fame at Toskana Therme Bad Sulza, Toskana Therme Bad Schandau and at the Liquidrom Berlin. Micky Remann serves as cultural director and communication coordinator for Toskanworld group. Together with Marion Schneider, he co-owns TTS PRODUCT & SERVICE GmbH, Bad Sulza, where he is responsible for consulting, planning and installing of Liquid Sound® concepts worldwide. He continuously explores new links between digital media and healthful living. At Salve.tv network, he started the series “Ways of the Healing Arts”. He is also lecturer at Bauhaus-University, Weimar, faculty of media.
www.liquidsound.com

Ute Rührig is general manager of QUALITY SPA, a development company for Spa- and leasure projects. Working as an spa consultant Ute is also an experienced spa architect, expert and independent keynote lecturer on wellness and spa success. She has been actively involved in the health services sector since the late 80’s and is known in the spa industry as an innovator and originator of creative ideas. Besides her business she works as a certified assessor and teaches a course on spa business at the FH Westcoast.
www.quality-spa.com

Milada Sárová, M. D. is a specialist in internal medicine, balneology, physiatry, rehabilitation, pediatry, homeopathy and acupuncture. During her more than 35-year career she has worked as Head Physician in the best sanatoriums in Karlovy Vary and has treated over 30,000 patients from over 60 countries. She participates in research and education in balneotherapy. In 1998 she was organizer of ISMH world congress in Karlovy Vary. Recently she is Owner and Director of private Spa Clinic & Cosmetic Salon Harfa at the Grandhotel PUPP and Spa & Wellness Hotel Prezident in Karlovy Vary. Her clients include well-known celebrities from cultural and political life such as President Vaclav Havel, Michail Sergejevitch Gorbatchov, Gerard Depardieu and many others.
www.harfa.cz

Bernd Schmeink, born in 1951, has lived in Bad Wörishofen (Bavaria) since 1972, becoming a member of the town council in 1978. In 1991 he was appointed chair of the “Spa and Health” commission (SPD). From 1973-2006 he was director of an insurance division before becoming chairman of the board of the VDKB Association of German Spa Resorts and manager of the RAL-Quality Assurance Association for Spa Resorts (RAL-Gütegemeinschaft Kureinrichtungen) and the “med in Germany e.V.”. From 2005 to 2008 he was Quality Assurance Director for the German Federation of Spa Resorts (Deutschen Heilbäderverband e.V.) and represents the VDKB on the national “Joint Committee for Quality Assurance” along with the health insurance associations.
www.vdkb.de, www.ralkur.de

Dr. N. Schmid-Keiner is chairman of the Photomed association and director of the agency s:tc synergie training + consult. After studying medicine, Dr. Schmid-Keiner took up a position as scientific director of a tanning company, establishing close connections with research and providing consultation nationwide for sun-studios and tanning retail companies.
After working for many years as a publisher and publishing director of medicine and cosmetic journals, he returned to the tanning industry in a directorial capacity.
As chairman of the Photomed association, he can draw on almost 20 years’ experience of teaching seminars and courses for sun-studio personnel, as a member of scientific and journalistic councils as well as on his extensive experience in magazine, radio and television journalism.
Dr. Schmid-Keiner is a member of several international scientific and professional institutions including the American Society for Photobiology (ASP), the German Academy for Photobiology and Phototechnology (DAfP) and the Germany Dermatological Association (DDG).
www.photomed.de

Bernd Schmid is managing director of Sun’s Solarien in Freudenstadt in the upper Black Forest. Previously a building surveyor, he came into contact with the rehabilitation and fitness branch following a sport injury. He founded a series of fitness studios in the Baden-Würtemburg and later, after the reunification of Germany, in the former DDR. In 1989 he opened the first solarium, which was to become the model for more than 100 such studios throughout Germany, Austria and France.
The founding of Sun’s Solarien in 1989 marks a shift in Bernd Schmid’s activities from operator to retailer. With 21 employees, Sun’ Solarien develops tailor-made solarium concepts – from initial analysis to design of the facilities, marketing concept and studio operation systems. Sun’s is a recognised brand name in solar cosmetics, solarium tubes and accessories.
www.sun-s.com

Marion Schneider has worked in the health care branch since 1983, focussing especially on aspects of human health and their improvement through therapy, in particular effective short-term therapies, the effects of water, heat and light as well as architecture, music and art in healing and therapy. She played a leading role in the introduction of balneophototherapy and of the Liquid Sound technology for bathing in light and music.

Together with Klaus Dieter Böhm she owns and manages the KBS Medical Spa in Bad Sulza, the neighbouring Toskana Therme and Hotel an der Therme in Bad Sulza and the Toskana Therme in Bad Schandau. Her personal goal is the promotion of preventative and rehabilitative therapy to a key role in medicine and politics, as this is not only socially but also economically meaningful and necessary. To this end she publishes articles, and lectures and contributes at conferences and congresses.

Marion Schneider is a board member of The American Spa Therapy and Education Certification Council, ASTECC, and chair of the board of the international children’s aid organisation “Ourchild”. She is chairperson of the British International Spa Association and the organiser of this conference.
www.toskanaworld.com

Michael Schummert comes to BABOR with vast experience in the cosmetics industry and a successful track record in the positioning of luxury brands, international marketing concepts and public relations. His career began at L’Oreal, where he served as a Product Manager. He then joined Estée Lauder as Sales Director for various cosmetic and fragrance brands. Companies, which combine high-quality products and a distribution channel aside of the mass market, are part of Mr. Schummerts business experiences as well. For two years he was Sales Manager of Windsor GmbH responsible for HAKA. Before coming on board at BABOR, he served as Managing Director for Wolford, a luxury brand for women’s ready to wear lingerie and hosier.

Originally from Berlin, Michael Schummert is married and has two children. He joins a company that is the leading, professionally sold and recommended skin care brand in Continental Europe and recognized as one of the most trusted brands in the industry today. Combining its European botanical tradition with leading-edge science and technology, BABOR’s skin care and cosmetic line encompasses a wide range of systems designed to offer innovative solutions and luxurious treatments to suit the needs of its diversified customer base.
www.babor.de

Thomas Spar has more than 12 years experience in the internet branch. He founded the PopNet Internet AG and worked as CCO. He was responsible for all creative processes within the company. As strategic head of the company he worked for EON, BMW, Otto and Maggi. Since 2004 Thomas is Managing Director and owner of Deep Thought GmbH. He is the strategic head for all customer projects and an expert in the field of eCommerce, Sustainability and Trendmarketing. Deep Thought’s customers include dlv Deutscher Landwirtschaftsverlag, DBV Deutscher Bauernverband, DÖAK, International Airport, neckermann.de, Reemtsma, toskanaworld and more.
www.deepthought.de

Volker Spiegel was born in Dresden and during the GDR worked as the women’s volleyball national coach. Today he is the owner and managing director of LOWOXYGEN Systems GmbH and an expert in high-altitude training. Together with Dr. Ulrich Fuchs he developed the worldwide leading technology LOWOXYGEN Systems, which creates artificial high-altitude conditions. Initially, LOWOXYGEN® was primarily used in the sports sector by institutions and top level athletes, but in recent years interest and demand in the medical sector as well as in the hotel and medical wellness branch has been steadily increasing and first projects have been realised.
www.lowoxygen.de

Kari Tveranger is the owner and CEO of Argus Exhibitions AS and Promedia Group AS, with headquarters in Oslo, Norway. She has been related to the SPA and beauty industry for the last 15 years within sales, marketing and as skin and foot therapist. For the last four years she organizes the “Health & Beauty Scandinavia” fair in Oslo and Stockholm, the biggest SPA and beauty event in Scandinavia. She was educated as a skin and foot therapist by the Steiner School of Beauty in London, where she also had her own Beauty Saloon for three years, before moving back to Norway. Her company publish the only specialized branch magazine in Scandinavia, SPAbeauty Professional.
www.argusgruppen.no and www.health-beauty.no

Sonal Uberoi brings over 6 years of operations and management experience in the spa and wellness sector to her role as the founding director of Spa-Balance. She works closely with all clients, assisting and guiding them through pre-opening set-ups, recruitment and training of spa managers and all spa personnel, treatment menu development, financial projections, implementation of operational systems, in addition to providing on-site project management support during critical phases of the pre-opening and soft-opening, including post-opening tutoring. Sonal holds a bachelor of Law degree and in addition possesses strong financial and business skills gained through her prior experience with Goldman Sachs in the City of London.
www.spa-balance.com

Hans-Peter Veit is spa manager of Brenner’s Park-Hotel & Spa, one of the most renowned hotels in the spa resort of Baden-Baden. Its success is based on a strong sense of teamwork and respect, for one another as staff and for the guest, as well as a sense of enthusiasm and conviction in what they do. Rather than defining excellence through grandieur, design or extravagance, the hotel and team consistently work on perfecting their service while maintaining a personal and individual character. Since 2006 Hans-Peter Veit has begun communicating his philosophy to others as a consultant to spas, including the Adlon Day Spa in Berlin and the Park-Hotel in Vitznau, Switzerland, and as a lecturer at the Wellness Institute in Bad Homburg.
www.brenners.com

Regina Wittig is manager of the Ardesia-Therme and the Lobenstein Spa Association and joined the spa and wellness branch in 2005. Previously she headed the department for organisation and controlling, accounts and property marketing at the East Thuringian Development Corporation for over 6 years. She is a financial economist, certified accountant and certified rating advisor.
www.ardesia-therme.de

Joachim Wohlfeil and Corina Wohlfeil-Großer are directors and practitioners of the Rueckgrad e.V.
In the past only graduates of nationally-certified medical professions have been able to practice medicine and related activities, to which “medical wellness” belongs. In recent years, however, several courts have re-assessed these conditions, making it possible for new naturopathic healing professions to undertake medicine without statutory regulation. The courts have also laid down criteria for the recognition of such new medical professions with a view to ensuring the legal training and practice of schools and respective professional associations. The lecture provides an overview of the statutory conditions and the resulting educational framework and describes the possibilities of training to become a medical wellness practitioner or medical wellness therapist.
www.rueckgrad.com