Meet the Team.
At Helios, we're more than just a hotel management company. We're your trusted partners in success. Our diverse team of passionate hospitality professionals is driven by a shared excellence, clear communication, authenticity and drive. With decades of combined experience and progressive outlook, we understand the ever-evolving nomadic travel lifestyle and the unique challenges and opportunities this demographic presents, and we leverage our expertise to deliver exceptional results for our clients.
Gadi Hassin
Chief Executive Officer & Co-founder
Gadi Hassin is a hospitality professional and a global nomad with over 25 years in hotel management, acquisition and development.
His experience spans from boutique and upscale luxury hotels to hybrid and design-led hostels. He has worked for international hotel brands like Hyatt Hotels, The Ritz-Carlton and Ovolo, managing and leading hotel openings across the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. In 2020, during the global pandemic, Gadi joined as Managing Partner for Selina, the fastest growing hospitality brand built to address the needs of millennial and Gen Z travellers, to spearhead the opening of 10,000 rooms in Asia Pacific.
In 2023, he was appointed Selina Global COO, managing 120 locations, in 22 countries across 6 continents, from urban cities to remote beaches and jungles, blending beautifully designed accommodations with coworking, recreation, wellness, and local experiences, all custom-built for today’s nomadic traveller.
He also served as board advisor to Mad Monkey Hostels who has the largest hostel footprint in Southeast Asia.
Driven by his passion for travel, people and culture, and the ever-evolving nomadic travel lifestyle, Gadi as CEO recently co-founded Helios Hospitality Management, an independent global company that specialises in experiential and lifestyle hotel and hostel brands targeting these nomadic travelers. Gadi, a Generation X and father to Generation Y, Z and IGen, is a true modern nomad, entrepreneur by heart, and global citizen with multiple citizenships.
influenced by his upbringing in a Kibbutz in Israel, he is a strong advocate of the sharing economy.
His global outlook is further enriched by his academic background in political science, diplomacy and international law.
LISA ZAKHARKA
Chief Operating Officer & Co-founder
Lisa Zakharka is a hospitality and operations executive with a global perspective and a passion for operational excellence, innovation and transformative travel experiences.
With over a decade of leadership experience in hotel operations, development, coliving, and coworking spaces, she has been instrumental in scaling and optimizing hospitality brands across multiple continents. Lisa’s career spans a diverse range of hospitality ventures, from boutique hotels and resorts to dynamic coworking and coliving communities.
She has held leadership positions at international hospitality brands such as Selina, Aticco, and HII, where she successfully pre-opened and managed multiple properties, developed innovative revenue streams, and led high-performing teams across Europe, Latin America, and Asia to achieve operational excellence. In 2023, she joined Selina as the Global VP of Operations, where she oversaw the performance of 120 hotels worldwide and played a pivotal role in restructuring operations to enhance efficiency, profitability, standards and guest experience.
Fueled by a deep love for travel, people, and cultural immersion, Lisa thrives in dynamic environments. Fluent in English, Spanish, German, and Russian, and a strong advocate for lifestyle and experiential nomadic travel, she embodies the spirit of the modern global citizen—constantly on the move, working from different locations, and shaping hospitality experiences that cater to the needs of today’s digital nomads and explorers.
At the start of the year, Lisa co-founded Helios Hospitality Management, an independent global company specializing in experiential and lifestyle-driven hotel and hostel brands designed for the next generation of travelers. As COO, she brings her expertise in operations to redefine hospitality in an ever-evolving world.
May Pendraat Kredner
Chief Commercial Officer & Co-founder
A global citizen with a multicultural background, May has lived and worked across three continents. Her expertise lies in strategic planning, business development, change management, and organizational structures positions her to be highly effective in maximizing profit and driving top-line growth for businesses.
Across different corporate contexts, she excels at developing ambitious branding, digital, and commercial strategies built on strong team and technology infrastructures.
She is driven by optimization of the bottom line and ROI/KPI metrics across multiple brand tiers, from lead-in to high-end assets that resonate with multi-generational customers from Boomers to Gen Zs.
May delivers customer-centric experiences from the point of brand value proposition, guest touchpoints design, to user journey digitalization.
Having worked alongside corporate CEOs, asset owners/representatives, business units, global teams, and business partners, she adeptly manages multiple stakeholder organizations. Fluent in English, Putonghua, and Cantonese, May’s career is rooted in hospitality with commercial and brand strategy leadership roles at multiple brand tiered organisations such Rosewood Hotel Group, Artyzen Hospitality Group, Marco Polo Hotels, and Hyatt. In 2023, she joined Selina, a global travel and lifestyle platform, as VP of Marketing.
There, she leveraged her experience to target digital nomad travellers by implementing a strategic digital marketing roadmap.
Balancing career and family, May has two Gen Z sons and is forever on a learning journey. She is an aspiring dog trainer and home cook.