Micaela Giacobbe is Managing Director of Connections, the international private community for senior executives in high-end travel. Micaela and her passionate team launched Connections in 2014, hosting 30 incredible events all over the world in the luxury, wellbeing, adventure, high-end meetings and incentives – and to mark our fifth birthday – the weddings sector.

Micaela created Connections to be more than just a place of meetings. Connections has become known and valued for its human approach to networking, becoming a versatile network that adapts to the lifestyle of our mobile decision makers. Our delegates can discover new business opportunities and establish new partnerships with the right people, all around the world; there is no limit to where and how our leaders meet to conduct business.

Prior to launching Connections for the Jacobs Media Group, Micaela was head of marketing & communications for World Travel Market (WTM), the flagship travel trade event of Reed Exhibitions with responsibility for marketing, e-marketing, public relations, events and promotions.

During 14 years at Reed Exhibitions, Micaela led the branding rationalisation across the Travel Group, created the marketing, communications and conferences strategy for the inaugural WTM Latin America event in 2013 as well as being responsible for seven WTM Vision conferences midyear around the world (London, Moscow, Beijing, Sao Paolo, Dubai, Milan and Mumbai).

Micaela also developed and successfully launched Decision Makers TV, a video-based website profiling many of the travel industry’s most senior movers and shakers. With a marketing and public relations background spanning more than 15 years, Micaela’s combination of passion and determination, creative drive and strategic intelligence has propelled her through the ranks of notable blue-chip companies such as Coca Cola, Olivetti, Reed Exhibitions and now Jacobs Media Group.

A specialist in branding, identity and strategic corporate restructuring, Micaela has now added the development of new product ranges to her long list of talents that also includes speaking five languages as well as keeping fit by commuting to work on her road bike.

Entrepreneurial by nature, you will often hear Greg sounding out a business idea, or asking if something could be done ‘slightly differently’.

Greg is absolutely obsessed with driving value to clients and understanding their objectives. He enjoys the challenge of working on solutions to exceed client expectations and introducing industry leaders to one another within the industry. Leading the sales team and working on the commercial direction of Connections, Greg is the go to man if you would like to work with us. Just put him to the test!

Prior to joining the Travel Weekly Group, Greg was the founder and individual responsible for building the Thump Clothing brand and UnEarth Travel app.

Previous to this, Greg worked with Reed Exhibitions where he discovered his love for travel and events working on a selection of the industry's leading exhibitions - World Travel Market London, WTM Africa, WTM Latin America and Arabian Travel Market.

David is very passionate about designing personal and authentic event formats to encourage the very best business relationships to flourish. A true champion of our industry, David is dedicated to supporting and collaborating with our industry peers to help audiences truly connect during their business interactions.

As one of our creative masterminds, David helps design and curate our event programmes, and works closely with friends of Connections to create rich, long-term partnerships for the benefit of our industry leaders.

In 2015, David founded CoCoA - a B2B experimental marketing events consultation company that provide designed programmes in the business events world.

Prior to this, David successfully launched the award-winning educational summits called “IBTM Talks” with Reed Travel Exhibitions; these tailor-made events provide insight into the Global Meetings Industry. David was also part of the integral team that launched and managed “Evento Days”, the leading events industry exhibition in Spain, owned and managed by Grupo Eventoplus.

Having been with Connections since its inception in 2014, Evangeline has been part of the integral team that has developed The Connections Way, creating personal, networking environments to help our leaders do business. Now, Evangeline runs the meticulous delivery of all our Connections events.

Working with event partners across the globe, Evangeline makes each event concept a reality. Managing all logistical operations and on-site execution, from agenda creation to experience providers to production, she is the driving force behind our seamless programmes.

Prior to joining Connections, Evangeline worked for Sportmark for the London 2012 Olympics team; hosting VIP Visa Clients to and from Olympic Venues. Evangeline also successfully undertook a one year placement as e-marketing assistant at World Travel Market. Through her role, she developed a wide knowledge of digital marketing, including website management, social media and email campaigns.

Evangeline is also bilingual in English, Spanish, Catalan and Filipino.

Alejandro is responsible for the buyer management team, driving the qualification and recruitment of leading luxury global agencies, and identifying potential opportunities for our clients. Alejandro also manages the bespoke matching process for our events, coordinating client meeting preferences to help strengthen future business relationships.

Having been with Connections since 2015, Alejandro has experienced 27 of the 30 worldwide events created in The Connections Way. His charisma and natural business flair has enabled his career to progress impressively from events coordinator to head of buyer relations.

Prior to joining Connections, Alejandro completed a six-month placement as the production assistant for Galician Radio Television Broadcasting Company (CRTVG). During his time, Alex developed a wide knowledge in marketing, event planning and video editing. Alejandro graduated with a bachelor degree in Communication and a masters degree in Event Planning at Deusto University in Bilbao.

Of the 40+ countries Alejandro has visited, Japan remains his best travel experience, having volunteered in Hokkaido when he was 21.

As Marketing Manager, Gemma is responsible for steering the marketing strategy for the company, leading all branding and communication activities, and keeping abreast of market developments and growth areas.

Gemma works collectively with the senior team on the company direction, as well as developing new strategic partnerships. Together with Four PR & Marketing, Gemma and her team handle all press and media activities.

Gemma brings a wealth of experience from her former role at Quintessentially Travel, the award-winning division of Quintessentially. As part of the global senior management team, Gemma oversaw all facets of marketing, organised high-net-worth client events with Belmond, Oetker Collection and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, and managed all brand partnerships with companies such as Mulberry, WSJ+ and Emilia Wickstead. Gemma also completed a mini MBA with Marketing Week during her time at Quintessentially.

Previously, Gemma wrote and managed all content for Crew Clothing Company and was an ambassador liaison for Ben Fogle, Mitch Tonks and Dee Caffari. Gemma left to join home-sharing company Veeve, becoming a member of their central team to relaunch the brand.

Rachel joined Connections in September 2017 after graduating from Royal Holloway, University of London with a BA in Politics and International Relations. Having lived in Dubai, Japan and Kuala Lumpur growing up, she has developed a desire to travel and work within the luxury travel industry.

Rachel joined Connections as Sales Coordinator, supporting our exclusive clients and assisting in the development of a new generation of networking events. Her focus is now in marketing, developing our presence both on and offline.

A passionate adventurer, Monika strives to better understand the world, challenge herself and create positive change.

At Connections, Monika is responsible for maintaining strong relationships with our clients, investigating emerging luxury travel markets and is our team ambassador for Connections Adventure. Prior to joining, Monika specialised in creating tailor-made journeys for the adventurous so is very well equipped to understand the needs and requirements of our leading buyers.

After graduating from the University of Warsaw with a degree in social science, Monika worked at the Foreign Office, managed a two-year scientific project for the European Commission and collaborated with a number of non-profit organisations on educational programmes in Nepal and Laos.

Monika enjoys an active lifestyle and has been fortunate to have travelled to nearly 60 countries, often volunteering abroad.

Genuinely passionate about the Events and Travel & Tourism industries, extremely committed Silvia joined Connections at the beginning of 2019 as Buyer Relations Manager.

Silvia first started her career organising events in the Luxury Travel industry in the enchanting Venice where she was born and bred. She then managed high-level events in Greece and Spain, before making the move to the UK for a new professional challenge in a more international environment. With a flair for managing personal, business relationships, whilst ensuring her clients have the best experience possible, Silvia's constant interest is to explore new ways of communication and networking.

Silvia enjoys to travel and explore different cultures - a main reason why is so “fascinated by this babel, which is London” .

As Head of Sales for Connections, Robbie is responsible for all commercial aspects of the brand as well as working with senior management to implement a number of new strategic initiatives that are planned for implementation in the coming months.

Robbie started his sales career at Reed Exhibitions in 2013 where he joined their inaugural Sales Academy programme. During his time in the academy he achieved more than 100% over annual target after five months and became the leading sales person for total revenue, total number of sales and largest individual sale.

He then progressed his career in the FTSE 100 business to eventually become Sales Manager for International Jewellery at Reed Exhibitions, where he was also nominated for People Manager of the Year (2016). He was responsible for strategy, reporting and execution for UK sales of venue space, stand-build design, bespoke advertising and digital products.

Sam has spent three years in sales and the events industry, executing and delivering on 15 global educational events, which brought together over 1,500 C-Level industry leaders from FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies.

He has recently moved into the Connections family and high-end travel, sharing his knowledge in order to help shape the industry forward. If you are interested in becoming a part of our community as a supplier and looking to provide unique insight along with our industry leaders, Sam is expertly placed to help.