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IHC-IIHM International Hospitality Day Awards celebrates the Glamorous Hospitality Industry of Mumbai

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MUMBAI, India, July 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — The Mumbai chapter of IHC-IIHM International Hospitality Day celebrations was held on July 1st at a glamorous ceremony organised at the Aurika Mumbai SkyCity by International Hospitality Council UK and International Institute of Hotel Management. Glamour city’s well known and celebrated hospitality personalities were present at the occasion, many of whose contributions to the industry were acknowledged appreciated by the IHC-IIHM awards.

The Mumbai chapter of the award ceremony was indeed special as there were a number of special categories introduced specially for this city’s glittering and glamorous hospitality fraternity. “It’s a special feeling to be able to celebrate IHC-IIHM Hospitality Day at Mumbai, the city of grandeur and glamour. We are honoured to be able to felicitate some of the iconic hospitality personalities of the city on this occasion,” said Dr Suborno Bose, Founder and Chairman IIHM and Chairman IHC.

Prof David Foskett OBE, the legendary hospitality educator and author, praised the Indian Hospitality industry and said, “Today, we celebrate success. We celebrate the Champions of our industry, who work so hard to promote this industry and to create employment and hope for young people.”

Celebrity Chef Ranveer Brar, congratulated IHC and IIHM for this endeavour by saying that, “IIHM has become an organization that selectively decides what Hospitality is going to look like in the next five years. I see IIHM becoming a core institution in leading the hospitality conversation in the country.”

Padmashri Chef Sanjeev Kapoor and Mr Nakul Anand, Chairman, IIHM Young Chef Olympiad Global Advisory Council, in a joint statement added the great news that IIHM Young Chef Olympiad, India Qualifiers are opening their doors to the all the Indian students of Hotel Management thereby making it a bigger than ever before. The winner of the Qualifiers will represent India at the International Young Chef Olympiad, the biggest culinary olympiad for culinary students.

The awards list is exhaustive but each person is worth mentioning. They were as follows:

The IHC London and IIHM Lifetime Achievement Award 2024 went to:

Chef Anton Mosimann, Swiss chef and former Maitre de Chef at The Dorchester, London.
Danny Pecorelli, MD of The Exclusive Collection
Patu Keswani, MD, Lemon Tree Hotels
Ranju Alex, Area Vice President, South Asia, Marriott International
Anuraag Bhatnagar, CEO, The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts
Sanjay Sethi, MD and CEO, Chalet Hotels.

Both Mr Bhatnagar and Mr Sethi were bullish about the current trends of the Hospitality industry.

Mr Anuraag Bhatnagar during his acceptance speech said, “Thank you so much for acknowledging the achievement and the learnings so far. The next couple of decades are the best time in Hospitality Business. It can only be fuelled by the passionate aspiring youngsters who want to make Hospitality a part of their lives and we owe it to them to ensure that we pave the way for their success.”

Mr Sanjay Sethi, thanked IHC and IIHM and said, “The Hospitality industry is now break form a stride into a run. The visible future for the industry, especially for the young people is very bright.”

The next category of awards was the IHC London and IIHM Inspirational Hospitality Leaders of 2024. The awardees were:

Nikhil Sharma, MD and Senior VP, South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group
Jaideep Dang, MD, Hotels and Hospitality Group, JLL
Jatin Khanna, CEO, Sarovar Hotels & Resorts
Chef Rahul Akerkar, Creative and Culinary Director Aditya Birla New Age Hospitality
Deep Kalra, Chairman, MakeMy Trip
Rohit Khattar, Founder Chairman ,Old World Hospitality

Many hoteliers were acknowledged for their exceptional contribution to the hospitality industry. They were presented the IHC London and IIHM Outstanding Achievement and Contribution to the Hospitality Industry 2024:

Manish Dayya, GM, Sofitel Mumbai BKC
Harkaran Singh-GM, Aurika Mumbai SkyCity
Sunil Narang-GM, Four Seasons Hotel Mumbai
Puneet Narula-Business Head, Jio World Convention Center, Mumbai, RIL
Varun Chhibber, GM, St Regis Mumbai
Dietmar Kielnhofer, Area Vice President and General Manager Grand Hyatt Mumbai Hotel and Residences
Sameer Sud, GM, Leela Mumbai.
Bhagwan Balani, GM, ITC Maratha, Mumbai
Nikita Ramchandani, Multi-Property VP Marriott International, Mumbai Market
Chandrashekhar S Jaiswal, GM, Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation
Mehrnavaz Avari – Area Director, Taj UK
Rajiv Kapoor – GM, Fairmont Mumbai
Sumeet Suri – GM, The Westin Mumbai Garden City
Vikas Singh – Executive Chef, The Westin Mumbai Garden City
Subhabrata Roy – General Manager, Courtyard by Marriott Mumbai
Ajeesh Gopalan, Station Manager, Air India Express
Afzal Khan, GM, President – IHCL SeleQtions, Mumbai
Kuncheria Thomas, Director – Touracle, Hon Secretary, Skal Asia
Sagar Dighe, Director & CEO, SATS Food Solutions India Pvt. Ltd

Women achievers have a special place in the IHD awards list and Mumbai was not behind. The IHC London and IIHM Women Achievers in Hospitality 2024 went to:

Krishani Nitan Chhatwal, Director/Board Member, Shrem Infrastructure Pvt Ltd
Sonakshi Yajurvedi, Senior Area PR Manager, Radisson Hotel Group – South Asia
Reema Singh, Director Communications- India Hilton
Divya Agha, GM, Marketing Fortune Park Hotels Ltd
Rakhee Lalvani, Founder, Rla And Consultant, IHCL For Diversity and Inclusion
Reema Diwan, VP – Design and Technical Services, India and South Asia, Accor Hotels
⁠Durba Datta, Multi-Property Director of Housekeeping at The Westin Powai Lake and Marriott Executive Apartments
Manisha Bhasin, Corporate Chef, ITC Ltd – Hotels Division
Gunjan Bisarya, Head – Housekeeper, ITC Ltd – Hotels Division

Some of the other special categories included IHC London and IIHM Outstanding Hospitality Influencer Award 2024 that went to Divia Thani, Editor, Condé Nast Traveller India and Kalyan Karmakar– Food Blogger and Influencer

New talent and hard working individuals were appreciated by the IHC London and IIHM Rising Star of 2024. They were:

Siddhant Santosh Dhuwali, Owner & Founder Di Mora Pune, Baglami Bombay, La Cena Thane
Rickey Bhardwaj, Junior Sous Chef, JW Marriott Juhu, Mumbai
Aditya Bhagat, Assistant Relationship Manager, National Accounts-Sales and Marketing, IHCL
Digvijay Singh, Holistic Fitness and Wellness coach

The IHC London and IIHM Hospitality for a Cause 2024 award went to the Saksham Project to support SOS Children’s Villages of India, EIH Ltd and EIH Associated Hotels Ltd. A special award IHC London and IIHM Outstanding Contribution to the development of Tourism 2024 Award went to Jayashree Bhoj, IAS, Secretary (Tourism), Government of Maharashtra, Tourism and Cultural Affairs Department.

Finally, the IHC London and IIHM International Hospitality Day Special Jury Award went to Shafquat Ali, Publisher, Hospitality Horizon magazine & Curator, Food Food TV Awards and Bibhor Srivastava, MD, Events, ITP Media India.

The IHC-IIHM Honours List recognized the organizations from Mumbai who have excelled at the Art of hospitality and made guest have treasured experiences.

The event also boasted of the Best personalities awards which recognized the members of Hospitality community, who have personified hospitality as an attitude and not just a profession.

The International Hospitality Day by IHC and IIHM celebrates Hospitality as character and inspires the young members of this extremely dynamic industry to embark on a journey of service and hospitality excellence.

About IIHM

IIHM (International Institute of Hotel Management) is one of the largest chain of premier hospitality and hotel management schools across India that started its journey in 1994 at Kolkata. IIHM is a part of Indismart Group, the conglomerate that operates the Indismart Hotels. IIHM campuses are located across eleven National and International cities with the associate institute IAM-IHM located in Kolkata, and Guwahati. Students passing out of IIHM are armed with an international degree from the University of West London and equipped with global hospitality skills that enable easy placements in any hospitality brand across the world. IIHM is dedicated to its pursuit of excellence in teaching and placements. Real time experience is the key to success in hospitality and that makes the institute popular. In recent years, IIHM has been instrumental in organizing the Worlds biggest Culinary Olympiad Young Chef Olympiad, with participation of over 50 countries, a unique idea and initiative inviting young culinary talents across the world. It has MoU’s with over 50 countries for student and faculty exchange bringing the best of education for its students from around the World. 

The institute has bagged several prestigious awards in the past 24 years. The list includes the Best Education Brand Award from Economic Times consecutively 7 years in a row in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024, Most Valuable Global Hospitality Education Brand 2023 by Zee, Institute of Excellence in Domestic and International placement by TV9 Bangla and Excellence in Academics at Institutional Infrastructure by Times Excellence Awards. Best Placement Institute by ASSOCHAM 2021 & Educational Excellence Award by ASSOCHAM 2023  It was also featured in Forbes Magazine as Great Indian Institute and Great Place to Study consecutively in the year 2018 – 2019 and 2019 – 2020. IIHM was also awarded as one among the World’s Greatest Brands & Leaders 2015-16 by URS International (IMEA – Process Reviewer PriceWaterhouseCoopers PL) and also received the Best Institute in Hospitality Education 2017 Award by ASSOCHAM from Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey, Hon’ble Minister of State for HRD (Higher Education), Govt. of India.

Please visit for more information: www.iihm.ac.in

Media Contact:
Mr. Abdullah Ahmed, 011-43204700, Abdullah.ahmed@iihm.ac.in

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Threekit Launches AI Sales Agent for Manufacturers

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The Threekit Sales Agent helps sellers who are overwhelmed with the complexity of selling manufactured products. It gets sellers to a proposal in seconds rather than hours and works with existing CPQ, B2B commerce, and ERP systems.

CHICAGO, June 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Threekit today announced the Threekit Sales Agent, built on its new native AI platform. The Agent makes guided selling effortless by digesting a wide variety of customer requirements and recommending valid configured solutions instantly.

For 30 years, CPQ and ERP have been the backbone of how manufacturers quote, make and order products. But the modern seller expects something faster and more intuitive in the age of AI.

The Threekit Sales Agent is the first sales tool manufacturing sellers actually love.

Reps start with what they already have: notes, voice memos, photos, documents, RFPs, line drawings, competitive quotes. The Agent doesn’t wait for a complete spec. It reads the customer’s intent, works toward a valid quote, and takes the next step on its own – asking the rep what’s missing, flagging conflicts before they become errors, and proposing the next valid configuration the rep didn’t see.

When requirements change mid-deal, the Agent reasons through the impact and adjusts the proposal in place. No starting over. It catches a rule violation the rep would have shipped, spots an incompatible option and recommends the fix, and keeps the deal moving toward a quote it knows is valid. Threekit Sales Agent can be deployed across direct sales, channel sales, dealer networks, websites, and ecommerce.

“There’s a huge gap in the Guided Selling stage that sits in front of CPQ and B2B systems on the path to a quote,” said Matt Gorniak, CEO of Threekit. “There’s massive demand to use AI to make complex products easier to sell. We see it directly – revenue for our AI Sales Agent has grown more than 229% in the last year.”

Threekits AI platform built for enterprise trust, safety, reliability, and proof: more than 10M configuration-to-quote sessions monthly, a 99.8% SLA, ISO 27001 certification, and 150 enterprise customers. Threekit’s AI Sales agent has grown revenue 229% in the last year.

About Threekit

Threekit helps manufacturers make complex products easier to sell. Its AI Sales Agent reasons over product data, configuration logic, visual selling, governance, and enterprise integrations to drive a deal from customer request to valid, configured proposal on its own.

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CENTEGIX Launches The Safety Signal Podcast, Where Crisis Meets Connection

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New podcast hosted by CMO Robb Monkman and national school safety leader Ron Self debuts with Chief Development Officer Dr. Roderick Sams

ATLANTA, June 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — CENTEGIX, the leader in incident response and everyday safety solutions protecting more than 18 million people across 50 states, today announced the launch of The Safety Signal, a new podcast dedicated to the people, innovations, and conversations redefining what it means to feel safe at work.

Safety is earned in the moments most people never see. The Safety Signal brings you the people who live those moments, trading worst-case theory for what actually works.

Hosted by CENTEGIX Chief Marketing Officer, Robb Monkman, alongside co-host, Ron Self, a nationally recognized school safety leader, each episode bridges the gap between crisis and connection, bringing together educators, healthcare leaders, safety experts, and innovators to explore safety not just as a crisis response, but as a driver of culture, retention, trust, and organizational improvement.

“We are not just talking about technology,” said Monkman. “We are talking about the teacher who can focus on her students. The nurse who can focus on her patients. The leader who can focus on their people. That is what safety looks like when it actually works.”

Debut Episode: Safety as a School Improvement Issue

The first episode of The Safety Signal is available now, featuring CENTEGIX Chief Development Officer Dr. Roderick Sams, known to colleagues and partners as Rocky. A former award-winning principal, teacher, and coach, Dr. Sams brings a career built in classrooms and school buildings to a conversation about why safety sits at the center of every school improvement challenge facing leaders today.

Topics covered in the debut episode include the real cost of teacher turnover, the downstream impact of unsafe environments on enrollment and community trust, and what school leaders wish they had known sooner.

“Success is determined by where you end, not where you start,” said Dr. Sams. “Safe schools give every student and every educator a fighting chance at that.”

Where to Listen

The Safety Signal is available now at:

Website: https://www.centegix.com/resources/the-safety-signal-podcast
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJZvrdMqaTg
Spotify: Available now
Apple Podcasts: Available now
Amazon Music: Available now

Available wherever you get your podcasts.

About CENTEGIX

CENTEGIX is the leader in rapid incident response and everyday safety solutions, protecting more than 18 million people across 18,000+ locations in 50 states. The CENTEGIX Safety Platform, including CrisisAlert wearable panic buttons, Safety Blueprint critical incident mapping, Visitor Management, and Reunification, gives organizations the tools to plan for and respond to any emergency, from the everyday to the extreme. CENTEGIX serves K-12 and higher education, healthcare, government, commercial, and public safety organizations nationwide. CENTEGIX is backed by Charlesbank Capital Partners and Gauge Capital.

For more information visit www.centegix.com

CONTACT: marketing@centegix.com

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ICON International Launches Content and Entertainment Solution, Establishing New Pathways for Brand-Funded Film and Television

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Industry Veteran Aaron Tabas to Lead Offering with First Wave of Partnerships Including Imagine Entertainment, Pro Shop and more

STAMFORD, Conn., June 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — ICON International, the media-backed financial solutions company, today announced the official launch of its Content and Entertainment solution, a new practice dedicated to solving the industry’s most persistent challenges in content funding, production, and distribution. ICON will debut the offering this month at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (June 22–26), where its executives will meet with brands, agencies, and producers to discuss how the new practice is rewriting the economics of brand-funded entertainment.

The new offering, led by industry veteran Aaron Tabas, has already established strategic partnerships with leading talent agencies, creators, and distributors. Leveraging ICON’s core strength as a media and financial solutions partner, the new offering gives brands, creators, and distributors access to innovative, flexible financing structures that make content initiatives more streamlined, cost-effective, and impactful.

“ICON has always sat at the intersection of media, content, and advertising,” said Reid Steinberg, EVP, Media Director at ICON International. “This new offering formalizes what we have long done best—connecting brands with culture through financial expertise and strategic partnerships.”

Three Core Solutions for Content Financing and Distribution
ICON’s Content and Entertainment solution offers partners three proprietary funding models:

Working Media Solution: ICON unlocks funding for a brand’s content initiatives by creating added value around its existing media investments.Media Trade Solution: ICON funds content projects on behalf of brands and distributors in exchange for future advertising inventory.Independent Financing: ICON serves as a traditional film and television financier, bringing its brand and distributor relationships and marketing expertise to the table alongside capital.

“Working with ICON has changed how we think about brand partnerships,” said Marc Gilbar, President of Brands, Partnerships & IP at Imagine Entertainment. “They came to the table not just with financing, but with a deep understanding of what it takes to make engaging content. ICON has given filmmakers and brands a new roadmap to making their most ambitious projects possible.”

Projects at Launch
From documentary film to scripted prestige television to indie features and viral social content, ICON has already assembled a diverse portfolio of projects that demonstrates the full range of what its funding and distribution models can offer clients. Across each, the throughline is bringing together best-in-class creative partners and giving them the resources to tell stories at the highest level.

Amelia, Feature Documentary in Partnership with CNN Films, Imagine Documentaries, Storyville Films and produced in association with ICON and Sandbox Films: ICON is a core funding partner on Amelia, a feature documentary billed as the definitive portrait of Amelia Earhart. Produced by CNN Films, Imagine Documentaries and Storyville Films, directed by Academy Award Nominated and Emmy-Winning Julie Cohen and Betsy West and set to air on CNN, the project represents the kind of premium, culturally significant content ICON was built to support. The partnership was brokered by CAA Media and Entertainment Partnerships and signals the caliber of relationships the solution brings to the table.The Artist, Limited Series in Partnership with The Network: ICON’s reach extends to scripted prestige television with The Artist, the Gilded Age murder mystery limited series from creator Aram Rappaport featuring an ensemble cast that includes Mandy Patinkin, Janet McTeer, Patti LuPone, Hank Azaria, and Zachary Quinto. ICON funded the program for The Network, the free, ad-supported streaming platform demonstrating the model’s ability to support not only individual titles but the platforms that distribute them. The Artist premiered on The Network over the 2025 holiday season and is streaming now at thenetwork.stream.Social Content Series, in Partnership with Dude Wipes and Pro Shop: ICON executed a social content series for DUDE Wipes in partnership with Pro Shop, a leading golf media company. The series, executed by Skratch Golf with its unique media rights, featured the PGA TOUR’s best players navigating pressure-packed on-course situations during one of the year’s most attended events, the Waste Management Phoenix Open. The program generated more than 3 million views across Skratch Golf’s media channels and exceeded engagement benchmarks.dAte, an Independent Feature Film: ICON is also putting its Independent Financing model to work on dAte, an indie horror film currently in production with Squid Farm Productions. The project showcases ICON’s role as a traditional film financier pairing capital with the brand relationships and marketing expertise that independent filmmakers rarely find in a funding partner.

“What we’ve built is a fundamentally different way for brands and creators to work together,” said Aaron Tabas, who leads ICON’s Content and Entertainment solution. “The projects we’re bringing to Cannes reflect what’s possible when you remove the financial friction from the creative process. We’ve partnered with some of the best producers, agencies, and distributors in the business, and we’re just getting started.”

ICON at Cannes Lions
ICON’s Content and Entertainment team, led by Tabas, will be on the ground at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, June 22–26, meeting with brands, agencies, producers, and distributors to discuss partnership and financing opportunities.

About ICON International
ICON International is a media-backed financial solutions partner that transforms underutilized resources into measurable growth. With the trust of over 350 organizations, ICON combines strategic know-how, creativity, financial expertise, and unmatched media partnerships to create enterprise value for its clients. For more information, visit www.iconinternational.com.

Media Contact: iconinternational@jainepr.com

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