Neil Thompson is recognised globally in the world of customer loyalty, as CEO of Virgin Australia’s Velocity Frequent Flyer program.  Over the past three years, Velocity has successfully challenged the Australian market to grow to over 5 million members and an extensive range of program partners, the most recent of which is BP. In 2014, Neil oversaw the  sale of a minority stake in the Velocity to private equity interests in a transaction which valued the business at close to  $1 billion. Neil has over 25 years’ experience in the aviation and travel sector in Australia, Asia , Europe and North America. He is  a former head of CRM and loyalty for Qantas, and led the loyalty practice of a New York-based consultancy before returning to Australia to join Virgin Australia. In addition to his role with Virgin, Neil has served for a number of years on the board of Plan International, a global child-rights based development agency, both in Australia and Hong Kong. He is also an Advisory Board member of ANU’s Centre on China in the World. He is also involved as a mentor and business coach with the Street University, a youth development project of the Ted Noffs Foundation, and provides mentorship to a number of young professionals and entrepreneurs.