Ana Maria Girtu is the Senior Director, Cruise Hotel Operations at The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, where she leads the shoreside hotel operations strategy for the fleet, including Evrima, Ilma, and Luminara. Her role focuses on ensuring that the design and functionality of guest accommodations, public spaces, entertainment venues, spa and wellness facilities, and service areas translate into an exceptional onboard experience while supporting efficient day-today operations.

With nearly two decades of international experience in luxury hospitality, cruise operations, and guest experience, Ana Maria has built her career driving operational excellence, service
innovation, and organizational transformation across luxury travel.

As a 2026 Cruise Ship Interiors Awards judge, Ana Maria brings the perspective of a luxury hotel operator, evaluating projects not only for their design excellence and innovation, but also for how effectively they enhance the guest experience, support operational performance, and perform in a live ultra-luxury cruise environment. Her expertise bridges hospitality operations and interior design, with a focus on creating spaces that are both aesthetically exceptional and operationally effective

Since 2014, Antonio Di Nenno has been the lead architect for MSC Cruises’ new building department. Prior to his role with MSC, Antonio worked in the yacht design industry. In his current role, Antonio is involved in the development of all the new prototype ships designed for MSC Cruises, following the process from the concept design to the delivery. Antonio focuses his attention on the design and outfitting of guest cabins and public areas in order to ensure that the ship’s interiors are in line with MSC Cruises’ vision of the cruise experience. Antonio will lend his industry prowess to the CSIA as a judge.

George Scammell is Director Interior Asset Management – Princess Cruises.

A global hospitality design leader, George has extensive experience in the hospitality, cruise, and leisure entertainment industry.  Leadership positions include VP of Global Design for Wyndham Worldwide, Principal for CORE architects, VP of Design for ForrestPerkins, and Design Management for Walt Disney World Resorts.  George earned his bachelor’s degree in Interior Design from Florida State University, is a licensed Interior Designer, and a Professional Member of both the American Society of Interior Designers, and the International Interior Design Association.

Jane Frewen is responsible for the design, maintenance and operation of facilities and hotel operations across Carnival UK’s 11-ship Cunard and P&O Cruises fleet. She leads the design team across both brands, covering interior design, FF&E specification and in-service works. A global facilities executive with over 20 years’ experience across the UK, UAE and Australia, her career is defined by operational transformation at scale — full P&L accountability for a $16B asset portfolio at Woolworths Group, Australia’s largest retailer; leadership of the International Convention Centre Sydney from design and pre-opening mobilisation through to full lifecycle operations; global estate and workplace operations across four continents with Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi; and premium residential asset management for Nakheel on Palm Jumeirah, Dubai. She is a Chartered Member of the IWFM and a Board Member of FMA Australia.

Jon Ingleton is the executive editor of Cruise & Ferry Review and Cruise & Ferry Interiors. Jon led the team that launched the magazine almost 25-years ago and in 2011 he acquired it on behalf of Tudor Rose where he is currently managing director. In addition to directing the company’s other publishing activities, Jon has editorial responsibility for Tudor Rose’s Cruise & Ferry suite of products. In this role Jon tracks key developments and trends in the cruise and ferry sectors, leads our association memberships and related activities, represents the magazine at global events and fulfils regular editorial assignments on a range of topics. Please visit www.cruiseandferry.net and www.Tudor-Rose.co.uk for more information.

Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, Lauren West is third generation “Cruise West” family – a family well-known and respected in the cruise industry and passionate about all areas related to small-ship cruising. After completing her Bachelor of Science degree majoring in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at Webb Institute in New York, West accepted a full-time position as Project Engineer in the conversion department of Foreship Oy, a leading cruise ship newbuild and conversion consultancy firm headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. In 2018, she joined AmaWaterways in the role of Naval Architect and currently works directly with AmaWaterways co-founder, Rudi Schreiner and the operations teams, overseeing newbuild projects, ship maintenance, refurbishments, and design innovations affecting the company’s modern fleet of 31 river cruise ships.

As Director of Hotel Maintenance, Dry Dock and Refit at AIDA Cruises, Marc Spingler is responsible for all refurbishment and dry dock projects across the AIDA fleet, including financial planning as well as the development and implementation of interior design concepts and fleet standards. As a member of the leadership team for the AIDA Evolution program, Marc played a key role in the successful completion of the AIDAdiva refurbishment and the Evolution 1 series. He is currently leading work on the Evolution 2 series and continues to contribute significantly to AIDA’s sustainable refit initiatives.

Marc joined AIDA Cruises in 2001 and spent more than seven years onboard, gaining extensive experience in cruise hotel operations, primarily as a Hotel Director. Throughout his career, he has held several executive positions within the shore-based fleet operations organization and was appointed to his current role in 2021.

My is the Senior Director, Design & Innovation for HA Line and leads the design department overseeing three prominent cruise brands: Holland America Line and Seabourn. My’s design experience is diversified across Refurbishment and Newbuild.

As a globally recognized thought leader, My’s repertoire of achievements span both land and sea. She is known for her internationally acclaimed award-winning designs as well as being a public speaker on topics close to her heart such as Sustainability and Leadership.

On the topic of inspiration, My says, “inspiration to me is not a noun. It’s more of a mindset. I’m as inspired seeing the colors of leaves while walking in my neighborhood as I am looking at fashion in different cities that I visit around the world. The key is to always keep your eyes open and not have tunnel vision. That mindset assures you will always feel inspired”.

Sandra Correia da Silva began her career by studying architecture in Porto’s University, Portugal, from 1990-1996.

During her career of over 27 years, Sandra´s work covered art exhibitions, residential and several land-based interior design projects.

From 2008-2019, at PPS, her work focused on hospitality and cruise interior design projects.

Since 2019, as Architect Coordinator at Mystic Cruises, Sandra is responsible for the newbuilding, refitting and dry-dock projects, heading all designs both for sea and river fleet of the company.

Sandra has been involved in more than 20 cruise ships projects, with particular focus for the last 5 years in the development of Mystic Expedition vessels, from concept design to delivery.

Sascha Lang is Vice President, Architectural & Design | Newbuild & Innovation at Royal Caribbean Group, and is assigned to the Royal Caribbean International brand. Sascha joined Royal Caribbean Group in September 2019.

He has over 25 years of experience in hotel design management and has worked with leading hospitality groups in Europe, the Middle East, India, Africa and Asia-Pacific. Well-regarded by professional associates within the hospitality industry for his ability to creatively integrate the development of hotels and interior design concepts, Sascha has extensive experience in hotel and mixed-use development, acquisitions and due diligence, project development and management, concept development, interior design and technical services.

A Swiss national, Lang has a degree in architecture and studied building construction and structural engineering. He holds a degree in business administration as well as a diploma in hotel management from the Belvoirpark Hotel Management School in Zurich.