Micheal Hirst
OBE, eCOGRA Chairman and Independent Director

Michael Hirst has extensive experience in the online gaming sector. He currently provides strategic and business development advice to software and operating companies, and several companies within the international leisure, hospitality and tourism industries.

A former board member of the Ladbroke Group Plc, now known as the Hilton Group, Hirst became Executive Chairman of its hotel division and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Hilton International in 1990. He was voted "Corporate Hotelier of the World" by the readers of HOTELS Magazine in 1993.

Hirst is active in representing Britain's tourism needs through various government and trade bodies. He is a Director of the Tourism Alliance, a group of representative organizations within Britain's tourism industry which develops policies that raise standards and lobbies government on key issues relevant to the development of UK tourism. He is also Chairman of the Business Tourism Partnership, a cross-industry and government group that represents the conference, meetings, exhibition, outdoor events, incentive travel and corporate hospitality sectors.