High profile executives from companies operating in travel retail across the Americas, including Starboard Cruise Services, Peace Bridge Duty Free, Puig, Bacardi and Shopping China, have joined the judging panel for this year’s DFNI Americas Awards for travel retail excellence.

The event will take place as part of the virtual Summit of the Americas on 7 April, hosted by regional travel retail associations IAADFS and ASUTIL and organised by The Moodie Davitt Report and FILTR.

The DFNI Americas Awards panel of judges are hand-picked from the most experienced and knowledgeable names in the industry.

Joining the judging panel for 2021 is:

• Lisa Bauer, President & CEO, Starboard Cruise Services
• Geoff Biggs, Regional Director, Bacardi Global Travel Retail Americas
• Felipe Cogorno, owner, Grupo Cogorno/Shopping China 
  
• Felipe Grant Lopes, General Manager for Travel Retail Americas, Puig
• Jim Pearce, General Manager, Peace Bridge Duty Free 

Lisa Bauer leads Starboard Cruise Services, the premier retailer at sea proudly serving eight cruise line partners around the world. With an enviable record in the airline, hotel, cruise and leisure travel industries, Lisa is an accomplished leader whose career has been rooted in her passion for driving retail customer experience through innovation.

On joining the judging panel, Bauer commented: “From the onset of this unprecedented crisis, travel retailers have excelled at reinventing how they operate and support their local communities. Never has it been more important to recognize and celebrate forward-thinking, creative and successful initiatives. I am humbled to serve as a judge for the 2021 DFNI Americas Awards, and look forward to celebrating the resilience of our industry, especially when considering travel retail challenges over the past year.”

She is joined on the retailer side by Jim Pearce, General Manager, Peace Bridge Duty Free, who has over 30 years’ experience in the Canadian land border channel. Representing the supplier side, Geoff Biggs, Regional Director, Bacardi Global Travel Retail Americas, has three decades of experience in leading business units for Unilever, Pepsico, Diageo and Bacardi.

They will be joined by Felipe Cogorno, owner of Grupo Cogorno which operates Shopping China and Felipe Grant Lopes, General Manager for Travel Retail Americas at Puig.

You can find out more about our judges here and more details will be announced shortly.

Special categories
DFNI has developed special categories for this year’s awards programme in light of the unprecedented challenges that businesses have faced. The first event, the DFNI Americas Awards, will take place as part of the virtual Summit of the Americas on 7 April.

This year we have chosen to celebrate the companies, teams and people that have made a real difference – whether it is in support of the industry, within their organisations or to the community. At the same time, we also hail the hero products that have made an impact with consumers in the travel retail arena in spite of the challenges the sector has faced.

Enter now
Entries are now open. The full list of awards follows, and you can find out more about our new categories including their criteria here. The 2021 DFNI Americas Awards will close on Friday 26 February.