Leadership Team
Founding Team
Young N. Nguyen – CEO and Founder
Young is a technology visionary who conceptualized and developed the transformative technologies of d2o. Over the past 12 years, he has been realizing his vision for achieving simplicity from complexity for users of technology. Throughout his career, he has parlayed his operational experience in F&B management and hotel operations at some of Europe’s leading hotels into game changing technology for hotel operators. Recognized as a thought leader, Young has received multiple awards for industry innovation and company performance. And he is a frequent industry speaker and guest lecturer.
He studied hospitality and tourism, finance and organizational behavior at Cornell University, Norges Handelshøyskole (NHH) and Glion, and has an MBA from Heriot-Watt University.
Svend Fimland – Chief Technology Officer
Svend manages technology delivery for d2o. With more than 22 years of experience in IT, he combines his deep passion for technology with pedagogical or instructional insight to provide the best user experience for d2o clients. His broad expertise ranges from usability design and software development to application integration and systems operations and maintenance.
Svend holds Master of Arts in Pedagogics from Vestfold University College and Project Management study at Norwegian Business School.
Kjell Gangdal – Vice President, Education Training
Kjell leads the education and training division at d2o. He is the lead trainer on large scale projects and a frequent guest lecturer at PMI training programs at universities. His passion for teaching yields enthusiasm from both students and user trainees alike. His operational experience includes large scale F&B operations for several international brand properties such as Rezidor, Choice International, and Scandic in the UK and Norway.
He was educated at Norwegian school of management and Oxford Brookes University in the UK. He holds Bachelor degrees in Economics, Business and Hotel Management.
Laurence Massem – Chief Financial Officer
Laurence combines financial and accounting expertise with hospitality operations experience in her role as financial manager for d2o. With over 15 years in the industry, she has worked with several of the world’s leading hotel brands in a range of functions – from new hotel openings to sales & catering. Her hands-on experience and knowledge of the global hotel industry provide a strong foundation for the international scope of d2o’s global customer relationships.
She studied hotel and operations management, and English at L’Institut Supérieur de Gestion Hôtelière, Naerings Akademie, and BI Norwegian Business School.
US Expansion Team
Eric Orkin – Chief of Research and Development
Eric is focused on delivering even more sophisticated forecasting science to d2o’s performance navigation solutions. His more than thirty years of hospitality industry experience help ensure the technology resonates with the unique needs of the US market. The founder of Delphi Management Systems and OPUS2 Revenue Technologies, Orkin has been pivotal in shaping today’s hotel performance concepts and has been a trusted consultant to the world’s major brands as well as a thought leader to the industry as a whole.
Eric was voted to the HFTP Hospitality Technology Hall of Fame. He attended the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, and has an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Bernard Ellis – Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing
With twenty years of experience in hotel revenue management, distribution and operations, Bernard heads the introduction of d2o to the US hotel market. Most recently, he was IDeaS’ Managing Director for the Americas, heading the successful broad market penetration of the company’s revenue management solutions. He held executive roles first with Micros-Fidelio and later with SynXis, now part of Sabre Hospitality Solutions, where he grew the customer base to 6,500 hotels.
Bernard is a Certified Revenue Management Executive (CRME) and Certified Hospitality Technology Professional (CHTP). He graduated from the College of William and Mary, and holds a Master’s degree from the Cornell School of Hotel Administration.
