Speakers

Sigurlaug Sverrisdottir is the founder & owner of ION Luxury Adventure Hotel in Iceland. Sigurlaug is an Icelandic businesswoman with a wide range of experience in toursim, recreation, and hospitality. She has a BSc in Business Administration & diploma in Human Resource Management from Reykjavik University and has established companies in Lithuania, Switzerland, and Iceland.

After 14 year experience as crew manager with an international ACMI airline, Sigurlaug founded her own private crew training company, specialising in training and company procedure development. Sigurlaug served as the primary consultant for many projects including the establishment and creating of the Flight Academy at the Keilir Atlantic Center of Excellence in Iceland.

In 2009, Sigurlaug moved with her family to Switzerland where she co-founded a company that offers rentals of luxury chalets in Thyon-Les Col- lons, the heart of the Swiss Alps. The company provides tailor-made tours in the Alps with the main focus on healthy lifestyle including organic food, hiking, and yoga.

After relocating back in Iceland, Sigurlaug founded the ION Luxury Adventure Hotel, close to Iceland's UNESCO listed national park Thingvellir, where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates meet. Sigurlaug led the project from design to opening with the surrounding environment in mind, gaining the hotel substantial media attention and awards.

Sigurlaug strives to run the business in as nature friendly way as possible where she emphasizes on local materials and ingredients. She has built a fair trade business with the farmers around ION who either supply the hotel ́s restaurant, Silfra with local quality ingredients such as fish from the lake and lamb from their farm or simply take the guests for a hike or farm visit. Sigurlaug ́s experience of living & working in Africa, Asia, South America & Europe in the past has influenced her beliefs towards fair trade business and importance of strengthening your close environment. The local interaction in business is important to Sigurlaug as she believes it to be the best way to ensure purity and best quality.