CHS AlpAdria & Eastern Europe
2020 – 2021 Board of Directors
Silvija Ilišković Balagović
PDP ’06 | President
Silvija started her professional career in 2002 in Hotel Partner, local partner of PKF hotelexperts Vienna, where she advanced to the position of Managing Consultant. As a Project Manager in Horwath HTL since 2011, besides overseeing single asset consulting advisory, she was involved in complex assignments of mixed-use resort concepts, portfolio valuations as well as asset management plans.
After over 16 years of professional experience in the hospitality industry, in early 2017, she founded Hotelis d.o.o., a boutique consulting company, specialized in hotel real estate valuation and concept development.
Silvija is a member of the professional organization Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors since December 2015. Also, she is one of the founding members and current President of AlpAdria & Eastern Europe Chapter of Cornell Hotel Society.
Laura Fraefel
MMH ’13 | Secretary
Laura Fraefel joined Aman in 2013 and is based in the head office in Switzerland as Corporate Director of Human Resources & Talent Development where she is responsible for recruitment, performance management, employee engagement, total rewards, and learning & development. She also acts as HR Business Partner for the properties located in Europe and Americas. Prior to joining the corporate office, she managed one of Aman’s five lodges in the Kingdom of Bhutan for 2 years and was part of the preopening team for Aman’s resort in the Dominican Republic for 3 years. She has worked previously at The Siam in Bangkok and the Ritz-Carlton Millenia in Singapore.
Laura started her career in the banking sector where she worked 6 years for Credit Suisse in Switzerland and Mexico. It was the love for people, travel and gastronomy that brought her into hospitality where she found her calling. Laura graduated 2013 with a dual Master of Management in Hospitality (MMH) from Cornell University and Nanyang Business School in Singapore. She also holds a Master of Science in Work and Organizational Psychology from the University Zurich. Laura is a member of the Cornell Hotel Society as well as the CHS AlpAdria & Eastern Europe Chapter. She lives in Zurich, her hobbies include hiking and road cycling and she enjoys good food and wine.
Palmiro Noschese
PDP ’19 | Treasurer + Regional Event Coordinator: Italy
Palmiro is a professional with experience of over 30 years in Hotel Operations and Development of the fields of Hospitality, Luxury, Food&Beverage and Entertainment. He is a specialist in the startup of new concepts in hospitality with a focus on customer satisfaction and internal client.
Palmiro has been Country Manager of Melia Italia for over 17 years. He joined the Company when the Italian operations counted two Hotels with a Total Revenue of 16 million euros and leads the operations and development of the Italian Branch to reach 7 Hotels and a 65 million Total Revenue.
He started his career in Jolly Hotel in major properties in different roles, from Front Office Manager to General Manager in several years. Prior to joining Melià Hotel International he has been General Manager of the Hotel Barchetta in Como owned by the Villa d’Este Hotel Group.
Palmiro is a natural leader which considers people development as a key to success in Hotel Operations. His generosity, integrity and vision over the industry gained him several Career Prices.While progressing in his career Palmiro graduated in Tourism for Cultural Heritage at “Suor Orsola Benincasa” University of Naples in 2015 and earned a Master in Corporate Management in Ecole hôtelière of Lausanne and in General Management at Cornell University of Ithaca (USA).
Currently, as a Senior Advisor to investors and operators in the Italian hospitality market, Palmiro is developing new concept hotel’s restaurants in outsourcing for Elior Spa.
Palmiro is also a Member Board of Aica and Chief Istitutional Committee of Ehma
2020 – 2021 Regional Event Coordinators
Kristina Topalovic
PDP ’19 | Regional Event Coordinator: Eastern Europe
After graduating from Faculty of Economics and Business in Zagreb with major in Finance, Kristina worked on Regional economic development project financed by European Union and led by KPMG Roma, Italy. In 2013, Kristina joins Horwath HTL Croatia where she has been participating in over 80 projects, dominantly in market research, definition of hotel and real estate development concepts, investment planning, hotel operator search, assessment and negotiation of management / franchise agreements. Kristina has well-balanced experience with urban hotels, boutique hotels, luxury resorts, mixed-use developments, multipurpose convention centres, camping resorts and glamping resorts.
Kristina has significant experience dealing with numerous hotel brands and in securing financing for investment projects, including various IFI’s like European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and European Investment Bank (EIB) as well as commercial banks and development banks.
So far, Kristina has worked in projects over various geographies, including but not limited to Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kazakhstan, Russian Federation, etc.
Kristina holds an Advanced Certification in Real Estate and Hotel Investment issued by School of Hotel Administration, Cornell University NY (Professional Development Program), as well as Certificate for Real Estate Broker and Real Estate Mediation Agent of Croatian Chamber of Commerce. Since 2019, Kristina is a member of Cornell Hotel Society and member of CHS AlpAdria chapter.
Palmiro Noschese
PDP ’19 | Treasurer + Regional Event Coordinator: Italy
Palmiro is a professional with experience of over 30 years in Hotel Operations and Development of the fields of Hospitality, Luxury, Food&Beverage and Entertainment. He is a specialist in the startup of new concepts in hospitality with a focus on customer satisfaction and internal client.
Palmiro has been Country Manager of Melia Italia for over 17 years. He joined the Company when the Italian operations counted two Hotels with a Total Revenue of 16 milions euros and leads the operations and development of the Italian Brench to reach 7 Hotels and a 65 milions Total Revenue.
He started his career in Jolly Hotel in major properties in different roles, from Front Office Manager to General Manager in bunch of years. Prior to joining Melià Hotel International he has been General Manager of the Hotel Barchetta in Como owned by the Villa d’Este Hotel Group.
Palmiro is a natural leader which considers people development as a key to success in Hotel Operations. His generosity, integrety and vision over the industry gained him several Carreer Prices.
While progressing in his career Palmiro graduated in Tourism for Cultural Heritage at “Suor Orsola Benincasa” University of Naples in 2015 and earned a Master in Corporate Management in Ecole hôtelière of Lausanne and in General Management at Cornell University of Ithaca (USA).
Currently, as a Senior Advisor to investors and operators in the Italian hospitality market, Palmiro is developing new concept hotel’s restaurants in outsourcing for Elior Spa.
Palmiro is also a Member Board of Aica and Chief Istitutional Comitee of Ehma
Anastasija Krasnova
BS ’05 | Communications Manager + Regional Event Coordinator: Switzerland
Anastasija is an entrepreneur at heart. She is the founder of AppyGuide – a startup in contactless travel tech. The AppyGuide app allows travellers to use their own smartphone to discover destinations via on-demand audio guides created by world’s best experts in art and history. With this app, Anastasija wants to change how people travel and experience local art, history and culture.
Anastasija began her career at Prudential Real Estate Investors, where she worked for 5 years in the New Jersey and then London offices. She then went on to work in the family business in Moscow, Russia before founding her own company.
Anastasija is a ’05 graduate of Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and currently lives in Geneva with her husband, Peter, a fellow Cornellian.
Daniel Szelényi
GMP ’16 | Regional Event Coordinator: Austria
Daniel Szelényi is Vice President, Hospitality at Salzburg Global Seminar, an international not-for-profit organization that owns and operates the award winning Hotel Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg, Austria.
Daniel comes from an international background of five star hotels, having been involved in the opening of several luxury properties, including the Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace in Budapest, Hungary, where he was in charge of developing the local corporate market and became a member of Four Seasons’ prestigious President’s Club.
Following his Budapest stint, Daniel took on a Sales role in Zurich, Switzerland, where he repositioned the exclusive Dolder Resort, comprised of the five-star superior Dolder Grand, four-star Dolder Waldhaus and adjacent Dolder Sports recreation complex, following its USD 450 million renovation, internationally.
Prior to joining Hotel Schloss Leopoldskron in June 2013, Daniel was based in London where he acted as Vice President, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Global Head of Hotels for the world’s largest independent luxury hotel reviewer, Kiwi Collection, for three years. In charge of curating Kiwi’s 2000+ strong collection, Daniel travelled nearly 200 days a year to find, review, and rate the world’s most exclusive hotels.
Originally from Munich, Germany, Daniel obtained a master’s degree in tourism management when he graduated with distinction from the IMC Fachhochschule Krems, Austria, in 2003. He attended Cornell’s GMP program in 2016. Passionate about service excellence and innovation, Daniel has given key note speeches at his university as well as industry events.
Together with his wife and daughter, Daniel lives just outside of Salzburg.