James Lohan is one half of the couple behind Mr & Mrs Smith. A serial entrepreneur, he began by founding London event company Atomic, moving on to co-found restaurant and members’ club the White House. He will be at the Big Business Event on Wednesday, April 22nd, 11am to share his experiences.

In 2002, after meeting Tamara, he spotted a gap in the market for a trustworthy independent travel guide and turned his attention to boutique hotels. Since Mr & Mrs Smith’s first guidebook was published in 2003, Smith has grown from a labour of love to a multi-faced boutique travel provider, with an online booking service, an expert 24-hour in-house travel team and a three-tiered travel club.

In recent years, Smith has has expanded to include offices in New York, Melbourne and Hong Kong and now has more than 800,000 members worldwide. In 2013, James spearheaded the launch of Smithandfamily.co.uk, a new site dedicated to child-friendly hotels that really get it right for grown-ups. Mrandmrssmith.com has twice been voted ‘Best Travel Website’ at the Condé Nast Traveller Readers’ Awards (until the category was discontinued) and, in 2014, James and Tamara were both awarded MBEs for services to the British travel industry.