OUR INSTRUCTORS

The Lead Culinary Arts instructor at DCT comes with a long history in the kitchen of established hotels throughout the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia having worked with Marriott International for over 26 years, of which 12 years was as Executive Chef. His personal passion is in large-scale catering, in the detail and fundamentals of cooking skills and culinary management and he teaches now to inspire, educate and prepare students for a future career within the hospitality and culinary arts industries.

Cristian heads up the Culinary Arts programme at DCT and teaches Food Preservation, Introduction to Culinary Arts and Culinary Arts Fundamentals.

Peter is an Executive Pastry Chef with a passion for creating unique baked goods and desserts. Having grown up in a family run bakery in Canada, Peter pursued an apprenticeship and Pastry Training before embarking on his own career. He has worked in small bakeries/ pastry shops, high volume commercial bakeries, and hotels and airlines including Hyatt Regency and Oman Air. Before joining DCT, Peter worked for Emirates Inflight Catering for over 13 years as their Executive Pastry Chef where he managed a Pastry Production Team of 112 Pastry staff and the preparation and implementation of desserts, pastries and cakes for Emirates’ 1,500+ menus. Peter also has a passion for health and fitness, and has a certificate qualification as a Fitness Instructor. He is currently pursuing a degree in Nutrition to enable him to consistently implement healthy eating into customer meal choices and teach these skills to his students.

Alexia Doherty has a strong passion for retail business and for delivering the highest standards of customer service. With a career spanning over 17 years, she worked as a Department Manager in Harrods, London for 8 years overseeing a department of 200 employees, and then for LVMH Perfumes and Cosmetics where she was responsible for the wholesale and retail sales of Guerlain across Central London’s department stores namely Harrods, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Peter Jones, Fortnum and Mason, John Lewis and House of Fraser. Managing a team of 40 staff, she planned and implemented multiple successful product launches and promotional activations, ensured the highest standards of merchandising and consistently exceeded both retail and wholesale sales and service targets. Alexia holds a BA(Hons) degree from Cambridge University and teaches the subjects Introduction to the Retail Industry and Luxury Retail to students in the Certificate in Retail Business programme. She also teaches Skills for Service Excellence to both Events and Retail Business students.

Elham Bolooki is an Academic Advisor and Senior Instructor at DCT. With an MBA in International Hospitality from The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management, Elham has had an extensive career at Jumeirah Group. She was selected to be part of the Future Leader Program that allowed her to experience different departments such as: Rooms Division, Food & Beverage, Events Operations and Human Resources. She has worked in properties such as the Burj Al Arab, Madinat Jumeirah, Jumeirah Beach Hotel and Jumeirah Port Soller in Mallorca, Spain. She was awarded The Rising Star at the 2017 Middle East Hospitality Awards. Elham moved on to work in Retail at Dubai Mall looking after all Food & Beverage, health and beauty outlets as a Senior Retail Relations Manager. At DCT, she will be teaching Hospitality courses such as Front Office and Introduction to Hospitality. In her spare time, Elham is also a certified Yoga instructor and enjoys visiting Dubai Opera as she is passionate about musical theater!

Iman is a seasoned event professional with over 14 years of experience in the fields of events planning, production and conference management. Her current position is Head of Conferences at Falcon and Associates, where she will be working on RewirEd, a collaboration between Dubai Cares and Expo 2020 Dubai. RewirEd will deliver three key initiatives that will catalyse global conversation and action on education: RewirEd Talks, RewirEdx and the RewirEd Summit which will take place at Expo 2020 in December 2021.

After graduating from the American University in Cairo in 1999 as a Journalism and Mass Communications Major, Iman began her career with the United Nations Development Programme as an Operations Specialist. She then joined the National Council for Women, while also studying for a Master of Arts degree in Sociology/Anthropology.

In 2008, Iman moved to Dubai, where her career shifted to conference management with Informa Markets (IIR Middle East) from 2011 to 2019, leading the Cityscape conferences team, successfully delivering more than 60 conferences, seminars, workshops, business breakfasts and talks in UAE, Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.

In 2019, Iman joined the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit, and developed the annual GMIS 2020 conference programme, in coordination with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the UAE Ministry of Energy and Industry.

Miles is the Owner and Director of Definitive Hospitality, a restaurant and hospitality solutions company in Dubai, and is a hospitality professional with over 16 years’ experience in food and beverage establishments with a focus on new openings, menu development, budgeting, costing, recruitment, and training & development. Having worked in esteemed and popular establishments such as the Els Club, Dubai Golf and Fortnum and Mason, Miles has extensive experience of ensuring the delivery of the highest levels of customer service. Also a keen Competition Boxer, Ironman, Marathon Runner and Skier, as well as a Motor Sports fanatic, he has many sporting stories to tell!

Miles is teaching Food Purchasing to Culinary Arts Diploma students and Food and Beverage Service to DCTs Certificate in Hospitality students.

With over 20 years’ experience in the business events industry, Kylee has worked for prominent organisations including the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Jumeirah Group, Arabian Adventures, MCI group - the world’s largest Professional Conference Organizer (PCO) and Congress Solutions International (part of the Emirates Group). She is an industry expert in event strategy, conceptualization, business development, event marketing, planning and operations who has successfully bid, won, and delivered over 300 congresses, conferences, incentives, exhibitions and events.A graduate from Griffith University in Australia with a Bachelor of Business majoring in Event Management and Hotel Management, Kylee has lived in the UAE since May 2008, and is passionate about sharing her knowledge and experience by being a mentor to several event entrepreneurs and speaking at industry events. Kylee, teaches Event Project Management to DCT Diploma students and MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events) to DCT Certificate in Events students.

Nikoleta Hroncova is the Hospitality Programme Lead at DCT and brings a wealth of professional knowledge and experience to the college.

Prior to joining the college, she worked  as a Hospitality Lecturer with Les Roches Jing Jiang International Hotel Management College in Shanghai for 4 years.  Her own hotel career began in Orlando, Florida working for Vacation Resorts International. She moved on to spend 5 years with St Regis Hotels and Resorts in guest relations and front office management in Abu Dhabi, Doha, and Shanghai.

Nikoleta holds a First Class Degree BA (Hons) in International Tourism Management from the University of Bedfordshire, Business Schoolin the United Kingdom as well as a MBA in Global Hospitality Management (Distinction) from Les Roches Global Hospitality Education, Switzerland and a Postgraduate Diploma in International Hotel Management from Les Roches International Hotel Management College, Shanghai.

Becky has lived in Dubai since 2008 and has worked on many high-profile events including What’s On Awards, Gulf Business Industry Awards, Business Traveller Middle East Awards, and Emirates Woman 'Woman of the Year' Awards. Having graduated from Leeds Metropolitan University with a BA Events Management, her expertise lies in event delivery, corporate sponsorship management, new business development, supplier relations, event budget control, team management and client care. She also has extensive experience in managing event sponsorship activations including the Dubai Desert Classic, HSBC Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, Omega Dubai Ladies Masters Golf tournaments and the Dubai Rugby 7s. Becky teaches the module Inhouse Events to DCTs Certificate in Hospitality students.

A service industry professional with over 15 years of experience in content design, training, teaching and facilitation across various industries such as Retail, Consulting, Telecom, and Food.

Prior to working at DCT as an Instructor, she worked with Pure Gold Group, Dubai as Head of Learning and Development, whereshe set up the department for their 180 retail stores based out of UAE, GCC, India and Singapore. She also worked with Training Platform in India, a boutique HR and Training consulting organisation based out of New Delhi, India for over 5 years as a Senior Manager for Training and HR, designing bespoke Training and HR solutions for corporates across various industries.

With a Master’s Degree in Psychology and Post Graduate Certificate in Human Resources Management. Priyanka is passionate about practical learning, and helping her students to thrive with targets and perform better under pressure.

Sally is a passionate Events and Marketing professional with a track record for creating successful campaigns and events for the world’s most renowned consumer brands. With a qualification from the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s (CIM), Sally has worked on planning and promoting events for world famous brands such as Adidas, Atlantis Dubai, Levi’s, Volkswagen and the Dubai Marathon.

Sally teaches Introduction to Events and Event Planning to DCTs Certificate in Events students.

Lucy Mousa is a franchise owner of Travel Counsellors, Dubai. Before launching her own travel consultancy in 2017, she worked for over 12 years in Customer Service and Sales roles for well known hotel brands in Dubai; Marriott International, Intercontinental and Hilton. Lucy is teaching Introduction to the Tourism Industry and Travel Agency Operations to DCTs Certificate programme students.

Akvile Pareigyte has over 15 years of experience in digital marketing. Former Digital Marketing Manager at Jumeirah Group and Digital Marketing Lecturer at the Digital Marketing Institute Middle East, Akvile now heads digital consultancy at a digital-first agency VOLT LAB. She is also actively engaged in the digital education field globally and works as a Regional Google Trainer for the Google Digital Academy, London. She is also Digital Facilitator at PWC Digital Academy and The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management. Akvile’s innate ability to maximize the web’s full potential has resulted in her being a sought-after speaker, instructor and digital award judge. She has joined DCT in September 2020 to teach Digital Marketing to DCTs Diploma students.

Olivia is the Academic Director of Dubai College of Tourism, and has been involved since the college's inception, contributing to its overall strategy, planning and design. Prior to this, Olivia worked for 6 years as a management consultant in the Educational and Skills Consulting division of global advisory firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers in their Dubai office, as well as in the Talent and Organisation team of global technology consulting firm Accenture in London. She has advised a range of governments and large multinational companies on change management strategies as well as developed innovative learning programmes. Olivia is also a qualified teacher in England & Wales having completed the prestigious Teach First programme, the UK’s largest education non profit organization, before later becoming a Trustee.  Olivia completed her MA in Geography and Education at Cambridge University and is dedicated to providing young people with world class educational and vocational opportunities that will help them go on to have challenging and rewarding careers.

Nish is an Instructor, the Events Programme Lead and an Academic Advisor at DCT. Prior to this, she worked with the Education and Skills division of PWC in Dubai for 3 years where she managed projects that provided strategy development and implementation support to public and private sector entities operating within the Academic and Vocational Educational Sectors in the Middle East. A BSc Economics graduate, Nish has also worked for the World Bank in Pakistan, and as an International Credential Evaluator for World Education Services in the United States, where she also completed her Masters in International and Comparative Education at Stanford University. She currently teaches Social & Cultural Awareness and Workplace Communication and Preparing for a Career in the Culinary Industry/in the Tourism Industry to DCT Certificate students. She also teaches Business Communication to DCT Diploma students. Nish is an avid traveller, always keen to experience new cultures and environments, especially new cuisines!

Jeff joined the Dubai College of Tourism, a unique initiative from Dubai Tourism, to enhance the tourism proposition through a number of grass-roots human capital enablement initiatives. Prior to this, Jeff had a sixteen-year career with Marriott International, where he was Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Middle East and Africa, responsible for then portfolio of 41 hotels. From 2005, Jeff was integral in opening more than 18 hotels across Middle East and Africa. In 2013 Jeff became the owner of Cambodia-based boutique hotel, Maison557, and a founding shareholder in Ayana Journeys, an ethical and responsible tour operator, also based in Cambodia. A Graduate from West of Scotland College and University of Liverpool, Jeff worked in Spain, London and Manchester before relocating to Dubai in 2000. Jeff has written in published future looking research for Phocuswright and the oft-cited Future of Travel in the GCC report (2014) commissioned for Amadeus.

A retail business professional with 25+ years of global experience ranging across the industry spectrum of Consumer Electronics, Fashion, Perfumes, Pharmaceutical in the areas of Sales, Business Development, and Strategic Business Planning.
In his tenure as Retail Manager in Eros group, he ensured implementation of retail strategies to establish market presence for the business revenue of US$ 100 Mn+. Leading a team of 200+ comprising Regional Managers, Store Managers and support staff he increased revenues and profitability for products & services and streamlined operations of the product teams and various service groups for ensuring effective delivery of marketing & sales solutions resulting in the attainment of the “Winner” title in the category of Electronic Retailer under Dubai Service Excellence Scheme in 2014, 2015 and 2017.
Currently pursuing his passion of teaching and mentoring at Dubai College of Tourism for the Retail Business programmes where he teaches Business Fundamentals and Entrepreneurship at both Diploma and Certificate level.