The Vision That Propelled the Educational Travel Community

2011 Interview with J. Mara DelliPriscoli by Sherry Schwarz

Like any intrepid explorer, Mara DelliPriscoli has gone the distance to learn the contours of uncharted territory. From a year abroad traversing the ruins of Ancient Greece to a three-year hiatus blue-water sailing from the Caribbean to South America to finding a home on the range in western Montana—to visiting some 50-plus countries in between—she has traveled a long and winding path filled with adventure, risk, adversity, and reward to bring to life and evolve the Educational Travel Conference and mark its place on the modern map.

When asked what spurred her interest in educational travel, she reflects: “It was my freshman study abroad year …and the experiential focus on learning …arriving at Delphi for the first time at dawn …reading Herodotus sitting in the Acropolis …and being ‘transported’ into the living context of the past.”

Having worked in almost every sector of the travel industry, Mara’s advocacy for lifelong learning fortunately directed her to lay the foundation of the Educational Travel Conference. As she authored in a 2007 Transitions Abroad article: “My treks to Delphi have remained a compass point for many subsequent solo expeditions, as well as for professional planning of learning travel programs worldwide. Throughout the years I have seen the design of educational tours continue to evolve as travelers seek more authentic and transformative programs that offer both collaborative educational exchange and the freedom to pursue those spontaneous moments of solo discovery, which uniquely personalize travel. As we move toward new paradigms of what defines the educational travel experience from education that engages the mind to learning connections that engage the soul—facilitated lifelong learning through travel will eclipse the traditional model of managed group travel.”

That adventurous and spirited passion for travel has never left Mara and characterizes her today, as she admits to being the “eternal rolling stone.” She’ll hop on a plane, train, or horse anywhere, having traveled in Saudi Arabia, Syria, Azerbaijan, China, Outer Mongolia, northern India, Dubai, and Mexico in only the span of the last 15 months largely for business and forging ETC connections. Fittingly, it was island hopping in the British Virgin Islands when Mara made the commitment to launch TLC into reality—at that time called Travel Learning Consulting.

Her vision of orchestrating a professional development venue for nonprofit travel planners to network, collaborate, and share best practices had long been percolating in her mind. “Having worked too many a trade show from the supplier side, far removed from the educational content of the meeting, I recognized the lack of professional development and training workshops for all involved with nonprofit travel, particularly the travel planners,” says Mara.She was convinced that “there had to be a better way” to support the growth and diversity of nonprofit travel as well as promote “sustainable” nonprofit and for-profit partnerships. Having bounced around the concept of Nonprofits in Travel for many a year with colleagues Diana Lee Crew (then directing the Denver Museum of Natural History’s travel program) and Bryan DeLeo (then directing the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s travel program), Mara took the plunge in 1987 and launched—with a six-week lead time only—the first Nonprofits in Travel Conference (NPTC) with a brochure and program in tandem with Diana Lee Crew. Mara remembers the decisions and trade-offs requisite to this bold move noting, “I just knew without hesitation that NPTC was an idea whose time had come. So I ignored every marketing principle about measured lead time in promotions, invested all my limited resources and just went for it!”

At that point in time the Conference was a “test” run—without a long-term business plan running on sheer determination and passion for a vision unfolding. In 1987, after the first NPTC conference, Mara set sail for the Caribbean—and what she thought would be a temporary hop from Bermuda to the British Virgin Islands. Her “hop” lasted three years. Between thousands of miles sailing and diving, brushes with Venezuelan pirates and uprisings, she focused on enhancing and expanding the Nonprofits in Travel Conference from the s/v Mandorla.

In the first eight years, Mara convened the first Advisory Council of which Diana Lee Crew was a founding council member, and received endorsements from leading nonprofit institutions: the Denver Museum of Natural History, California Alumni Association, Witte Museum, the Alumni Association of the University of Michigan Alumni, and the Sierra Club. Since these early days, the ETC has evolved to a six-person core team with more than 20 on-site Conference staff, from a 35-person meeting to an international Conference with an audience of 450-plus attendees from over 40 countries, and an ever-growing member constituency in the online community.

“ETC is an extraordinary professional development network,” says Diana Lee Crew. “The fact that the group was founded over 25 years ago and has grown from a simple networking and sharing conference for some 30 nonprofit travel programs to the huge network it is today is an accomplishment worth noting.”

Whereas the constituency focus in the first years of the Conference was exclusively on museums, Mara’s vision was to cultivate the cross-fertilization of ideas across all nonprofit sectors diversifying the attendee base to include alumni associations, continuing education programs, conservation groups, and environmental organizations. With a strategic focus on building a strong and viable nonprofit constituency in the first three years, Mara moved forward to include the other half of the nonprofit travel partnership: tour operators, and then expanding to destinations and travel suppliers in the early ’90s. This strategy included expanding a then one-track travel-planner-only educational conference to a vertically rich and multi-layered offering of concurrent conference sessions to appeal to all individuals within the educational travel market, including the for-profit constituency. Sponsoring partners contributed greatly to an economically viable expansion of educational programming, social venues, and Conference-related online services.

As the Conference continued to grow in size and scope, the Executive Advisory Council expanded to reflect the growing diversity in Conference attendees. Council members were selected on the basis of their expertise in the field of educational and special-interest affinity and alumni/member travel, as well as the industry sector they represent: travel planner, tour operator, tour supplier, destination. An Emeritus Advisory Council was founded in 2004 by former Advisory Council members wishing to remain active and engaged in the ongoing activities of the ETC.

Pushing the technology curve, Mara launched the first online registration for the ETC in 1999, and placed on the agenda, as early as 1995, strong online marketing courses and the first all-day Technology Forum, which was “cutting edge but sparsely attended,” adds Mara with a laugh.

The 1998 ETC Executive Advisory Council meeting held at the Riverview B&B, West Dennis, MA. Pictured from left: Jim Moses, President and CEO, Road Scholar, Amy Kotkin, former Director, Smithsonian Journeys (retired), J. Mara DelliPriscoli, Ralph Janis, former Director, Cornell’s Adult University, Joyce Barkley (retired), former Co-Director of Travel, Tucson Art Museum (retired),Jeanne Cobb, former Director of Travel, Ohio State University Alumni Association (deceased), and Carolyn Sheaff, former Director, BEAR TREKS Travel Program, Cal Berkeley Alumni Association (retired).

Almost from the outset, Mara envisioned the ETC’s activities beyond an annual Conference as a year-round resource and networking forum. As early as 1992, she laid plans for “The Nonprofits in Travel Coalition Resource Room,” which was the precursor for her desire to evolve an online ETC community. The first Networking Database was launched in the late ’90’s and, now, many versions later, it serves as the basis for today’s ETC member website’s search capabilities, which include Organizational Searches, Member Searches, and Destination Reports. It was due to the direct and sustained support of the website’s sponsoring partners that three phases of the current ETC website were able to launch successfully over the past five years. Today the ETC website includes not only its robust search capabilities, but also many tools and resources that Mara has innovated from the personalized “task manager” providing each member with customized reminders and timely information to the recently launched Member Profiles, which are designed to facilitate community-building and networking.

ETC’s website is also an extension of the annual Conference, insofar as it enables members to now listen to digital recordings of the majority of Conference sessions and to access speaker handouts year-round. This evolution has been particularly gratifying for Mara, who, from the outset, aimed to supply Conference content and collateral that could be accessed 24/7 by virtual members.

Every year since its inception, the Conference has focused not only on the issues, concerns and opportunities in nonprofit travel but also on the broader trends and strategic issues of the travel industry, recruiting top marketing and trends speakers, as well as educational travel industry leaders from within the community and candid discourses with industry partners.

“The Conference has never been cookie cutter,” says Mara. “Each year the ETC delivers on the basic how to’s but also brings to the forefront the ever-evolving challenges of staying relevant and creating program distinctions in affinity and alumni travel. Re-thinking travel programs for a rapidly evolving traveler, moving into the digital age of marketing and social networking, strengthening partner relationships are all critical to the growth, leadership, and evolution of nonprofit travel programs.”

In addition to advancing education and professional development, the ETC has also prided itself on its outreach and advocacy over the years. Mara cites the launch of the ETC “Educationals,” in 1990, as a program of which she is particularly proud. The “Educationals” enable experienced travel planners to share their programming expertise with countries furthering the development of educational travel.

The ETC has also made important strides through presentations on tourism as a passport to peace and with the formation, in 1991, of the Nonprofit UBIT tax coalition. Included in its many “firsts,” the ETC hosted the first Voluntourism Forums and served as the first platform for Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to launch co-promotional activities in the U.S. travel industry.

If materializing a vision teaches us anything, humility is among the first of lessons—and it’s one Mara knows well. Even as the founder and president of the ETC, she is the first to tell you her part of the ETC story is but only one small piece. “It is witnessing a community evolving and the commitment of colleagues to raise the bar of professionalism in their industry that inspires and renews my commitment to ETC annually,” says Mara.

She adds: “It is the countless core of volunteer colleagues—participants in the Regional Roundtables…colleagues ‘giving back’ by teaching Jumpstart for the past 22 years…veteran ETC members leading the Executive Forum…delegates developing and leading sessions annually at the ETC…valued sponsors helping to deliver a quality educational platform, fun networking venues, and a growing online communications platform…the strategic counseling of the Executive Advisory and Emeritus Council members, and so many others—who have all tirelessly and heartfully contributed to the face of ETC today.” These are the leaders who Mara believes will set the pace for the next 25 years.

As Mara closes her reflection on the eve of the 25th Anniversary Conference, she is already looking toward the horizon for the next need to be served, the next challenge. When asked what’s ahead on the ETC agenda, Mara doesn’t hesitate: “aggregating industry statistics on the affinity and alumni travel market,” she says passionately. “The growth and development of a community with a leading industry voice is critical,” she says. “I expect that the resulting aggregated data will become an essential resource for researching, benchmarking, and advocacy in years to come.”

2019 Presentation

Session Title: New Directions for Educational Travel: Trends that are changing your business
Session Description: How will educational travel programs based on affinity ensure their continued relevance and competitiveness in an increasingly crowded market place for educational travel? Does the current travel climate give affinities greater flexibility to innovate and rethink their programs? Their operation? Their engagement? What has to change to stay relevant? We need to ask these questions. To spark the debate, Steve Cohen, delivers a look at some of the big picture trends redefining travel among all travelers, the luxury traveler, the millennial traveler and others by life-stage, and the trends that are driving the shift toward purpose and personal fulfillment. Mara and Kathy will share findings from ETC’s recent survey of 50 affinity travel programs and over 90 travel operators that provide key insights into opportunities and challenges for educational travel, long under-recognized as an important segment of the luxury travel continuum. ETC member tour operator respondents provide one-minute commentaries focusing on the trends they see evident in the educational affinity travel space.
Biography: Photo of J. Mara DelliPriscoliJ. Mara DelliPriscoli, ETC Founder and President of Travel Learning Connections, Inc., convened the first ETC conference in 1987. Her vision was to facilitate the growth of a vibrant community of like-minded colleagues to annually—a travel think tank of sorts—to deal with current challenges and future opportunities in educational travel. Once technology had sufficiently advanced, she started to expand this community slowly online. Within this conference and online platform she has facilitated the growth of strategic business partnerships and business-to-business networking of those in the field of alumni, museum, conservation and affinity group travel. With over 38 years of experience in the tourism industry, Mara has worked directly within most sectors of the travel industry in her career, including marketing, sales, tour development and management, hotel operations, transportation, trade and government research and consulting firms. Mara lectures, writes and works with cultural, community and conservation tourism development projects in the US and abroad. She consults in the field of educational, community and special interest tourism development for a variety of US and international organizations. She continues to pursue professional photography and her passion for exploration, blue water sailing, language, ethnic music and dance. Mara holds an M. Ed in Tourism Development with a minor in marketing from the George Washington University, and a B.A. from Barnard College, Columbia University with a major in European history and a minor in three languages. Her freshman year was spent at the College Year in Athens, Greece. A native New Englander, having spent a great deal of her professional life in the Washington, D.C. area, then sailing thousands of nautical miles at sea for three years, Mara has been based in the beautiful Mission Valley, St. Ignatius, MT on the Flathead Reservation for 22-plus years. She still travels extensively globally. Read an article about Mara and the founding of the Educational Travel Community and Conference.

2019 Presentation

Session Title: New Directions for Educational Travel: Trends that are changing your business
Session Description: How will educational travel programs based on affinity ensure their continued relevance and competitiveness in an increasingly crowded market place for educational travel? Does the current travel climate give affinities greater flexibility to innovate and rethink their programs? Their operation? Their engagement? What has to change to stay relevant? We need to ask these questions. To spark the debate, Steve Cohen, delivers a look at some of the big picture trends redefining travel among all travelers, the luxury traveler, the millennial traveler and others by life-stage, and the trends that are driving the shift toward purpose and personal fulfillment. Mara and Kathy will share findings from ETC’s recent survey of 50 affinity travel programs and over 90 travel operators that provide key insights into opportunities and challenges for educational travel, long under-recognized as an important segment of the luxury travel continuum. ETC member tour operator respondents provide one-minute commentaries focusing on the trends they see evident in the educational affinity travel space.
Biography: Photo of Kathy EdersheimKathy Edersheim is the President of Impactrics, a social enterprise that provides consulting to educational institutions to strengthen education through enhanced alumni engagement. Impactrics focuses on alumni engagement and community building to benefit the institution, the students, and the alumni with measurable impact. Prior to forming Impactrics, she was Senior Director of International Alumni Relations and Travel at the Association of Yale Alumni (AYA). Her responsibilities included managing Yale Educational Travel, which offers about 45 faculty-led trips a year. Her broader international responsibilities incorporated the Yale Global Alumni Leadership Exchange (YaleGALE) which, since 2008, has taken alumni delegations to many countries in Europe, Africa and Asia to share best practices in alumni relations with universities, and the Yale Alumni Service Corps, which takes Yale alumni, family, and friends to work in underserved communities providing supplementary education programs, public health education, micro-business consulting, and light construction to support and inspire the communities. She writes and speaks extensively about alumni relations for institutions throughout the world. Prior to joining AYA, she worked as a Financial Advisor and marketing professional. She has an M.B.A. from the Stern School of Business at New York University and a B.A. from Yale University.

2019 Preentation

Session Title: New Directions for Educational Travel: Trends that are changing your business
Session Description: How will educational travel programs based on affinity ensure their continued relevance and competitiveness in an increasingly crowded market place for educational travel? Does the current travel climate give affinities greater flexibility to innovate and rethink their programs? Their operation? Their engagement? What has to change to stay relevant? We need to ask these questions. To spark the debate, Steve Cohen, delivers a look at some of the big picture trends redefining travel among all travelers, the luxury traveler, the millennial traveler and others by life-stage, and the trends that are driving the shift toward purpose and personal fulfillment. Mara and Kathy will share findings from ETC’s recent survey of 50 affinity travel programs and over 90 travel operators that provide key insights into opportunities and challenges for educational travel, long under-recognized as an important segment of the luxury travel continuum. ETC member tour operator respondents provide one-minute commentaries focusing on the trends they see evident in the educational affinity travel space.
Biography: Photo of Steve CohenSteve Cohen is the Senior Vice President, Travel Insights, for MMGY Global. Steve brings more than 25 years of experience in market research and insights to his position at MMGY Global. He leads the agency’s customer insights and industry research, including overseeing the development of MMGY Global’s proprietary surveys, including the Portrait of American Travelers® as well as its custom research programs. He is also responsible for day-to-day operations of the agency’s Orlando office. Prior to working at MMGY Global, Steve led research efforts for the AAA National Office, Marriott Vacations Worldwide, The Ritz-Carlton Club and Walt Disney Parks & Resorts. He has also guided the research for The Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, Destination Cleveland, Visit Tucson, CheapCaribbean.com, the South Dakota Department of Tourism, The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), Visit Savannah, the Japan National Tourism Office, Uber, the Nassau/Paradise Island Promotion Board, and the Jordan Tourism Board, North America. He is regularly interviewed by both mainstream and trade press, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, The Los Angeles Times, Time, CNN, Fox News and Travel Weekly.

2019 Presentation

Session Title: The Power of Local Knowledge: Communities at the top of the tourism paradigm
Session Description: Baba Dioum said “In the end we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught”. Every day you are creating experiences for clients that have the power to transform their lives, their understanding of the world, and their role within it. You not only create experiences for your clients, you’re also impacting the places they visit. Is that impact a positive one? You are in the unique position to change peoples’ lives and literally make the world a better place with increased understanding, awareness, inspiration to be global citizens, and by benefiting the communities you work with – if you do it the right way. Are you?
Self Described: Philanthropists and Environmentalists
Biography: Gerry Ellis is an award-winning environmental photographer/film-maker—including the prestigious Visa pour L’Image for his work on orphaned baby African elephants, Wild Orphans. He has documented the lives of endangered species, indigenous cultures and threatened ecosystems across every continent. Gerry is currently working around the world on a multi-year education and public awareness project called Apes Like Us to heighten concern for survival of great apes. He is the creator and host of the YouTube channel Apes Like Us. His work has encompassed numerous long-term projects for National Audubon, World Wildlife Fund, Chevron PNG, and the Australian government. Gerry’s work has appeared in magazine publications including the Paris Match, Ranger Rick, New York Times, GEO and National Geographic, as well as multiple book projects, including The Outdoor Traveler’s Guide to Australia, and several titles in the highly acclaimed National Geographic Kids Book series. Gerry is founder and President of the education nonprofit GLOBIO.

2019 Presentation

Session Title: The Power of Local Knowledge: Communities at the top of the tourism paradigm
Session Description: Baba Dioum said “In the end we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught”. Every day you are creating experiences for clients that have the power to transform their lives, their understanding of the world, and their role within it. You not only create experiences for your clients, you’re also impacting the places they visit. Is that impact a positive one? You are in the unique position to change peoples’ lives and literally make the world a better place with increased understanding, awareness, inspiration to be global citizens, and by benefiting the communities you work with – if you do it the right way. Are you?
Self Described: Philanthropists and Environmentalists
Biography: Praveen Moman is the founder and CEO of Volcanoes Safaris. He founded Volcanoes Safaris in 1997 to create a unique eco-tourism model, centered around the threatened gorilla and chimpanzee populations of the western rift valley. In 2009, he established the Volcanoes Safaris Partnership Trust (VSPT), a non-profit organization that aims to create long-term, self-sustaining projects that enrich the livelihoods of local communities and promote the conservation of the great apes. Praveen grew up in the wilds of Uganda, where the family was part of the pioneering Asian community that was central to opening up East Africa. He then moved to the UK as the family became refugees with the Amin expulsion. This was followed by a career as a political and policy adviser in the European Union and British Government. He has been involved in and serves on many boards, including: Seva Mandir a respected Indian charity; the Imbabazi Foundation in Rwanda, which supports genocide orphans; the Advisory Boards of the Adventure Travel Trade Association in the USA and The Bodhi Tree Foundation; the Campaign for Arundells; Women Matter and an Executive Member of the Eastern Africa Association. Praveen was educated in Uganda and at London and Cambridge University in the UK. He is a Robert Schuman Scholar of the European Parliament.

2019 Presentation

Session Title: The Power of Local Knowledge: Communities at the top of the tourism paradigm
Session Description: Baba Dioum said “In the end we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught”. Every day you are creating experiences for clients that have the power to transform their lives, their understanding of the world, and their role within it. You not only create experiences for your clients, you’re also impacting the places they visit. Is that impact a positive one? You are in the unique position to change peoples’ lives and literally make the world a better place with increased understanding, awareness, inspiration to be global citizens, and by benefiting the communities you work with – if you do it the right way. Are you?
Self Described: Philanthropists and Environmentalists
Biography: Britt Basel is the Director of Ecothropic. Her work bridges socio-environmental science, educational travel, and change-making media. Her fieldwork spans working with the United Nations Development Program and the Nature Conservancy to direct engagement with small-scale farmers and local resources managers in indigenous and rural communities around the world. She uses community-driven processes incorporating capacity building, ecosystem-based solutions, sustainable livelihoods, social cohesion, and appropriate technology that empower communities to address the challenges they face. Building on 12 years of experience with educational travel for National Geographic and others, Basel designs and runs accredited-programs bringing small groups to the front-lines of climate change to engage with the scientists and community members who are defining socio-ecological solutions. Building on her experience as a visual storyteller (publications include National Geographic Traveller India, the Washington Post, The Outdoor Journal and others) and as a photography and multi-media instructor for National Geographic Student Expeditions and Putney Student Travel, Basel is currently using film to nurture and embolden communities and youth to solve their own social, environmental, and natural resource problems. While she has experience in 42 countries, her work is currently focused in Melanesia, Cuba, and Mexico. Her not-so-secret passion is dancing – especially to afro-Cuban rhythms. Basel has a BA in Anthropology (Colorado University), an MSc in Human Dimensions of Natural Resources (Colorado State University), and an MSc in Conservation Leadership (El Colegio de la Frontera Sur).

2019 Presentation

Session Title: Why We Travel?: The Compassionate Journey
Session Description: How do you change the world? Advocating for justice and mercy, Bryan Stevenson challenges us to take an inspiring journey toward real change in our communities and society. Bryan’s message is riveting, inspiring and not to be missed. Making a strong connection to the travel experience, embracing hope, with a commitment to discomfort, and being open to new cultures, travel provides an opportunity for powerful experiential learning and is a tool for changing our narratives.
Biography: Bryan Stevenson is the founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) in Montgomery, Alabama. Mr. Stevenson is a widely acclaimed public interest lawyer who has dedicated his career to helping the poor, the incarcerated and the condemned. Recognizing that injustice comes in many forms, Stevenson continues to fight for justice and truth, whether from our shared past or from the present day. Through his work with the nonprofit Equal Justice Initiative (EJI} Stevenson has been able to help transform the landscape of the criminal justice system. guided by a belief in the power of being equal before the law. Under his leadership, EJI has won major legal challenges eliminating excessive and unfair sentencing, exonerating innocent death row prisoners, confronting abuse of the incarcerated and the mentally ill and aiding children prosecuted as adults. EJI has also created and launched the new National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum for education about the legacy of racial inequality and for the truth and reconciliation that leads to real solutions to contemporary problems.
Mr. Stevenson has won numerous awards including the prestigious MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Prize, the National Medal of Liberty from the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Olaf Palme Prize in Stockholm, Sweden for international human rights. A 1985 graduate of Harvard, with both a master’s in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government and a JD from the School of Law, Bryan Stevenson joined the clinical faculty at New York University School of Law in 1998. Mr. Stevenson has received 29 honorary doctoral degrees including degrees from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Oxford University. He is the author of the critically acclaimed New York Times bestseller, Just Mercy, which was named by Time Magazine as one of the 10 Best Books of Nonfiction for 2014 and has been awarded several honors including the Carnegie Medal by the American Library Association for the best nonfiction book of 2014 and a 2015 NAACP Image Award.

2019 Presentation
Session Title: Seeking Higher Ground: Who we as travelers can become
Session Description: Through our lives and travels near and far, let us see others, feel others and celebrate others, respecting them for who they are and who they can become. In so doing, we will recognize the nobility that lies in the heart of the every man, including ourselves.
Self Described: Civil Rights Activist
Biography: Peggy Wallace Kennedy is a Montgomery-based civil rights activist who is recognized as one of America’s most important voices for peace and reconciliation. Born into one of the most powerful political families in the history of the American South with her father (George Wallace) and mother (Lurleen Wallace) both serving as Governors of Alabama, Peggy Wallace Kennedy now stands apart from her past. Her life’s story demonstrates the notion that while none of us can be held responsible for the circumstances of our birth, each of us will be held responsible for who we can become. With the creation of a new and different legacy for her and her two sons, Mrs. Kennedy challenges us to believe in ourselves so that we too can walk to higher ground. As a national speaker, Mrs. Kennedy has participated in programs at the National Archives, Congressional Forums with Congressman John Lewis and on the 50th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March, joined Reverend Bernice King, the daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King, on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol as a living testament to the power of change and reconciliation. Mrs. Kennedy’s own personal journey to redemption and her call for justice through reconciliation will one day be viewed as the most important and lasting public service of the Wallace/Kennedys of Alabama.

Máirtín de Cógáin from Cork, Ireland gets no more joy out of life than the telling of stories. Twice All Ireland Champion storyteller, he has been traveling the world telling the tales of Ireland, singing the ballads of old and playing his Bodhrán (Irish Drum). He has played with his own musical groups; The Fuchsia Band, Gailfean & The Máirtín de Cógáin Project, was asked to play with The Chieftains, Cherish the Ladies & Gaelic Storm, threaded the boards off Broadway with his own show De Bogman and shone on the silver screen in the epic movie The Wind That Shakes The Barley. Máirtín was brought up in a bilingual house, earned a Degree in the Irish language from University College of Cork and is a fluent speaker of Gaelic. http://www.mairtinmusic.com

Dawn Rodney is Vice President Innovation and Chief Marketing Officer for the National Wildlife Federation. She is responsible for leading innovation, amplifying brand awareness, creating new revenue streams, developing content, and transforming the organization’s current catalog and licensing divisions. Prior to joining the National Wildlife Federation, Dawn was Senior Vice President of Marketing and Brand for the National Geographic Society. Dawn was responsible for leading the global brand, engaging digital natives across the world on all platforms, launching new digital products, and driving awareness of National Geographic’s science, education, and storytelling priorities. While at National Geographic, Dawn also led strategic marketing and creative for the National Geographic Channels. She was integral to building and launching NGC, Nat Geo WILD, and Nat Geo Mundo – transforming them from start-up networks to global, world premiere brands. Dawn also had various supervising producing positions at Animal Planet and Discovery Health. She started her career as a producer at local television stations. Dawn has won many industry awards for her work including an Emmy Award for National Geographic’s “Next Generation of Explorers” campaign and Webby Award for Best Homepage. Dawn is a graduate of Duquesne University.

Dr. Janet Ferguson is the Executive Director of the Lifelong Learning Centre, Bermuda College. Prior to her current role, Dr. Ferguson designed and facilitated workshops and learning events for a wide cross-section of private and public sector clients in the United Kingdom and Bermuda. In addition to her current work in curriculum development and administration for late-life learning, she is interested in the exploration of the distinctive nature of the learning and developmental experiences of mature adults. Dr. Ferguson has taught extensively in multiple jurisdictions and holds graduate qualifications in Commonwealth Area Studies, Marketing and Teaching and Course Design for Higher Education. Her doctoral degree is in the area of Continuing Education (Warwick, 1998).

Todd Duncan is the Director of Safety, Security and Emergency Preparedness for the Sierra Club where he manages operational risk and crisis response. Prior to this role, he served two years as the Director of Safety and Student Life for the School for Field Studies (SFS), a university international semester abroad provider which [expand title=”offers”] hands-on environmental learning to students. He has also served with the Wildlife Conservation Society as manager for Glover’s Reef Marine Research Station in Belize. Todd has guided and directed adventure, research, and education programs on six continents. He is a native of Montana and graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Brian Anderson is the Director of National Outings at the Sierra Club. He is responsible for directing staff and volunteers in the operation, planning, and management of 250 to 300 trips per year worldwide and ensuring that trips have strong conservation messages that tie to the organization’s mantra of Enjoy, Explorer, Protect. Years in the field as a whitewater rafting guide, adaptive ski instructor, rock climbing, and backpacking guide have given him a well-rounded field and office work history from various organizations. Brian graduated with his Bachelor’s degree from Western Colorado University and Masters from Regis University. Brian joined the Executive Advisory Council in 2020 and represents national non-profit organizations. https://content.sierraclub.org/outings/

Gerry Ellis is an award-winning environmental photographer/film-maker, and founder and Executive Director of the conservation education nonprofit GLOBIO. Gerry’s history in travel spans four-decades as a photographer, writer and international guide; he now oversees GLOBIO’s new project-based travel program, linking donors through travel to GLOBIO’s work across Equatorial Africa and Borneo/Sumatra. In 2020 under Gerry’s oversight GLOBIO launches the Educator’s Travel Scholarship Initiative to give educators firsthand international experiential-learning opportunities to inspire life-long learning with which to impacts in their students. For GLOBIO, Gerry is filming around the world on a multi-year education and public awareness project called Apes Like Us, to heighten concern for the survival of great apes. He is the creator and host of the YouTube channel Apes Like Us. Gerry’s film/photo work has encompassed numerous long-term projects for National Audubon, World Wildlife Fund, Chevron PNG, and the Australian government. His work has appeared in magazine publications including BBC Wildlife, Paris Match, Ranger Rick, New York Times and National Geographic, as well as multiple book projects, including The Outdoor Traveler’s Guide to Australia, and several titles in the highly acclaimed National Geographic Kids Book series.

Duke University Students and Facilitators
Spearheading Sustainability: Duke University Master Students’ Project
Tuesday, February 4, 12:50-1:30 pm

Facilitator: John Francis is former Vice President for Research, Conservation and Exploration at National Geographic Society. A marine biologist and National Geographic grantee, John began his career studying behavioral ecology of seals and sea lions on remote islands in North and South America. A film on his work led to his role as a producer of wildlife films, covering everything from chimps and tigers to whales and sharks. From that he took on the grant making side of National Geographic supporting explorers around the world and pushing their stories through diverse NG media. Outside of his National Geographic Society responsibilities, Francis served on boards and committees for the US National Park System, the Commission for Education and Communications of the IUCN, and the US National Commission for UNESCO. He now serves on Sustainable Travel International and the Congo Basin Institute boards and advises the NG/Lindblad Fund supporting marine projects visited by shipboard travelers. John has a deep commitment to communication of the potent ties between humans and the rest of the natural world and is currently focused on citizen science and sustainable tourism as two key engines for change. John holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) in Behavioral Ecology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Duke University Students and Facilitators
Spearheading Sustainability: Duke University Master Students’ Project
Tuesday, February 4, 12:50-1:30 pm

Courtney McCorstin is a Master of Environmental Management Student pursuing a concentration in Business and the Environment with a specialization in Conservation Management. She is an environmentalist at her core, with a B.S. in Wildlife Biology and minors in Sustainability and Water Resources. Her passion for travel became apparent as she was working as a conservationist on a Game Reserve in South Africa. She discovered the way to connect her passion for wildlife and experience in business was through travel. It was for this reason that she decided to pursue a Master’s Project focused on Sustainable Travel.

Duke University Students and Facilitators
Spearheading Sustainability: Duke University Master Students’ Project
Tuesday, February 4, 12:50-1:30 pm

Samantha Burch is focused on using the power of impact strategy and communication to help drive sustainable business. She is currently pursuing a Master of Environmental Management degree, specializing in both Business and Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Prior to graduate school, she worked as an International Education Professional at UGA, where the intersection of sustainability and travel (and its tangled supply chain!) first peaked her interest. Through her Master’s Project, she’s gained further insight into the travel world and is now dedicated to redefining how we travel through: improved standardization practices, strategic partnership development, and effective marketing and communications. Samantha earned her B.A. in Environmental Studies and International Studies at Elon University (’16).

Duke University Students and Facilitators
Spearheading Sustainability: Duke University Master Students’ Project
Tuesday, February 4, 12:50-1:30 pm

Annabelle Mercer is a biologist turned corporate sustainability strategist. Having spent several years researching the world’s rarest plants and animals, she is now dedicated to understanding how we can use the resources of the private sector to protect the planet’s biodiversity. Annabelle works with companies to measure and manage their environmental impact, pairing her passion for the environment with business management know-how. Annabelle received a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Duke University in 2017, and is now eagerly continuing her Duke experience as a Master of Environmental Management Candidate studying Business and Environment.

A Voice for the Voiceless
Tuesday, February 6, 2020 – 8:45-9:30am

Biography:
Joel Sartore is a photographer, speaker, author, teacher, conservationist, National Geographic fellow and regular contributor to National Geographic magazine and National Geographic Photo Ark Founder. His hallmarks are a sense of humor and a midwestern work ethic.

Sartore started the Photo Ark some 11 years ago in his hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska. Since then he’s visited 40 countries in his quest to create this photo archive of global biodiversity. Sartore has produced several books including RARE: Portraits of America’s Endangered Species, Photographing Your Family, and two new National Geographic Photo Ark books: The Photo Ark and Animal Ark.

In addition to the work he has done for National Geographic, Sartore has contributed to Audubon magazine, Life, The New York Times, Sports Illustrated and numerous book projects. Sartore and his work have been the subjects of several national broadcasts, including National Geographic’s Explorer, NBC Nightly News, NPR’s Weekend Edition, Fresh Air with Terry Gross and the PBS documentary series, Rare: Portraits of the Photo Ark. He is also a regular contributor on the CBS Sunday Morning Show.

Sartore graduated from the University of Nebraska with a degree in journalism. He currently lives in Nebraska with his wife and children.

Peter Yesawich is Vice Chairman of MMGY Global and leads all of MMGY’s efforts in consumer insights. Listed in “Who’s Who in America,” Yesawich is the recipient of the World Travel Award from the American Association of Travel Editors, The Albert E. Koehl Award and named one of the “25 Most Extraordinary Marketing Minds” from the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI), and the Silver Medal from the American Advertising Federation. He is a frequent commentator on travel trends in publications such as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Time, Newsweek and Business Week, and has been featured on CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, BBC World and National Public Radio. He is a coauthor of “Marketing Leadership in Hospitality” published by Prentice Hall. Yesawich is a member of the International Society of Hospitality Consultants and serves on the board of directors of the Travel Industry Association of America. Yesawich received three degrees from Cornell, including a doctorate in Applied Psychology, and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at Yale. Mr. Yesawich has spoken at many ETC conferences, including 2002, 2003, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, and 2015.

Essdras M. Suarez is a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer with almost two decades of experience as a photojournalist. Until October 2014, he was a staff photographer for the Boston Globe. He recently relocated to Alexandria, VA and works as a freelance photographer working for publications like the Washington Post, New York Times, and TIME magazine as well as commercial clients. He is the recipient of several national awards including Headliners, Editors & Publishers, Gerald Loeb Award UCLA Anderson School of Management, American Travel Writers Foundation, to name a few. Suarez teaches photography workshops focused on improving the participant’s ability to better “see” while using their devices or DSLRs to capture the world around them. He is a US Department of State Expert Speaker in Photojournalism for Latin America. In recent years, he has led Road Scholar groups to Cuba and private groups to Africa. He has become a sought-after speaker with appearances in Panama, Costa Rica, Venezuela and Puerto Rico. He has also given presentations to institutions of higher learning such as Boston University, where in 2013 he was an adjunct photojournalism professor, Northeastern University and MIT among many others. Suarez graduated from the University of Florida with a BS in Journalism, specializing in Photojournalism. He received the title of Alumnus of Distinction from the University of Florida in 2010.

Sree Sreenivasan (@sree) is the first Chief Digital Officer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the latest step in what he calls “a three-decade, one-way love affair with the world’s greatest museum.” At the Met, he leads a world-class team on topics he loves: digital, social, mobile, video, apps, data, geolocation, email and more. He joined the Met after spending 20 years at Columbia University as a member of the faculty of the Columbia Journalism School and a year as the university’s first Chief Digital Officer. He will continue to teach a digital media course there each semester. In 2009, he was named one of AdAge’s 25 media people to follow on Twitter and in 2010 was named one of Poynter’s 35 most influential people in social media. You can find him on Twitter at twitter.com/sree and on Facebook at facebook.com/sreetips and on Instagram at instagram.com/sreenet and on the web at http://sree.net. His blog posts are at https://www.facebook.com/SreeTips/. Mr. Sreenivasan spoke for the first time at the 2014 conference.

2019 Presentation

What’s New in Social Media for Travel?
Wednesday, February 5 – 8:45-9:45am
Biography: Sree Sreenivasan is a leading consultant, speaker and trainer for nonprofits, corporations, startups and executives, specializing in digital innovation and social media. He was named one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2015; the world’s most influential Chief Digital Officer by CDO Club in 2016; and one of Poynter’s 35 most influential people in social media in 2010. In the last year, he’s worked internationally with Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District; UNHCR, the UN refugee agency; the Pulitzer Prizes; Louvre Abu Dhabi; TheWrap entertainment news; U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum; American Museum of Natural History; and the National Ballet of Canada, to name a few.
Sree has been Chief Digital Officer of major institutions in multiple industries: City of New York; Columbia University; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Before joining the Met, he spent 20 years as a full-time professor at his master’s alma mater, Columbia Journalism School. He was recently named the inaugural Marshall R. Loeb Visiting Professor of Digital Innovation at Stony Brook University School of Journalism. Sree is delighted to return to ETC after a gap of three years.

Brian Skerry is a photojournalist specializing in marine wildlife and underwater environments. Since 1998, he has been a contract photographer for National Geographic Magazine covering a wide range of subjects and stories. Skerry has also worked on assignment for or had images featured in magazines such as Sports Illustrated, US News and World Report, BBC, Wildlife, GEO, Smithsonian,Esquire, Audubon Men’s Journal. His latest monograph Ocean Soul, released in 2011, has received worldwide acclaim. Skerry frequently lectures on photography and conservation issues having presented at venues such as TED Talks, The National Press Club in Washington, DC, Royal Geographical Society in London and the Sydney Opera House in Australia. He is also a regular guest on programs such as NBC’s TODAY Show, CBS’s Sunday Morning, and ABC’s Good Morning America. In 2010, National Geographic magazine named one of Skerry’s images among their 50 Greatest Photographs Of All Time. In 2012, he was honored with the Peter Benchley Award for excellence in Media. An exhibit of his work, Portraits of Planet Ocean, is currently on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. Mr. Skerry spoke for the first time at the 2014 conference.

Peter Shankman is a bestselling author, entrepreneur, and speaker. He is recognized worldwide for radically new ways of thinking about the Customer Economy, Entrepreneurship, Social Media, PR, marketing and advertising. Shankman is the founder of ShankMinds: Breakthrough, an online entrepreneurial community. His Customer Economy and Corporate clients have included American Express, Sprint, the US Dept. of Defense, United Airlines and many more. Shankman is the author of four books, among them: “Zombie Loyalists: Using Great Service to Create Rabid Fans” and “Nice Companies Finish First: Why Cutthroat Management is Over, and Collaboration is in.” He is a frequent keynote speaker and workshop presenter at conferences and tradeshows worldwide, including South By Southwest, TEDx, Affiliate Summit, BlogWorld and TBEX to name a few. A marketing pundit for several national and international news channels, including Fox News, CNN and MSNBC, Shankman is frequently quoted in major media and trade publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press and others. He is a proud graduate of Boston University and lives in New York with his wife and daughter. Shankman was a featured keynote speaker at ETC’s 2017 conference.

Joe Pine is an internationally acclaimed author, speaker and management adviser. A visiting scholar with the Design Lab at MIT, he co-founded Strategic Horizons LLP to help businesses conceive and design new ways of adding value to their economic offerings. Mr. Pine is frequently quoted in such places as Forbes, The New York Times, Wired, Business 2.0, USA Today, Investor’s Business Daily, ABC News, Good Morning America, Fortune, Business Week, and Industry Week. Mr. Pine spoke at the ETC conference in 2005 and 2011.

Richard Olivier is Founding Director of Olivier Mythodrama, a unique leadership development consultancy. Richard has been a leading theatre director for over ten years, and directed Henry V for the opening of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London in 1997. His work today centers on bringing theatre and the arts into the development of authentic leaders. He is the founding voice within Mythodrama, a new form of experiential learning, combining great stories with psychological insights, creative exercises and organizational development techniques. Mr. Olivier spoke at the ETC 2006 conference.

Andrew McCarthy is an editor at large at National Geographic Traveler magazine. He has written for The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, Afar, Bon Appetit, Travel+Leisure, Town & Country, and Men’s Journal, among others. The Society of American Travel Writers named him “Travel Journalist of the Year” in 2010. His travel memoir, The Longest Way Home, became a New York Times bestseller, with the Financial Times of London naming it one of the Best Books of 2012. Despite all this, he is best known as an actor, having appeared in dozens of movies, including such iconic films as Pretty in Pink, St. Elmo’s Fire and Less Than Zero. Mr. McCarthy spoke for the first time at the 2014 conference.

Peter Matthiessen was a world-renowned novelist, naturalist, and environmental activist, and a founder of “The Paris Review.” He was the author of eight novels and many powerful works of nonfiction, most of which appeared in “The New Yorker,” and also the controversial “In the Spirit of Crazy Horse.” Matthiessen was the only writer to win the National Book Award in both fiction for “Shadow Country” and in nonfiction for “The Snow Leopard.” He was the recent recipient of the William Dean Howells Medal awarded by the American Academy of Arts and Letters for “the most distinguished work of fiction in the previous five years.” Mr. Matthiessen spoke at the ETC 2011 conference. Peter passed away April 5th, 2014. He will be dearly missed and fondly remembered.

Richard Louv is a journalist and author of eight books about the connections between family, nature, and community. His next book is “The Nature Principle: Human Restoration and the End of Nature-Deficit Disorder” (May 2011, Algonquin), which offers a new vision of the future, in which our lives are as immersed in nature as they are in technology. “Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder” (Algonquin), translated into 10 languages and published in 15 countries, has stimulated an international conversation about the relationship between children and nature. Louv is also the Chairman and Co-founder of the Children & Nature Network, an organization helping build the movement to connect today’s children and future generations to the natural world. Louv coined the term Nature-Deficit Disorder™ which has become the defining phrase of this important issue. In 2008, he was awarded the Audubon Medal, presented by the National Audubon Society. Among Louv’s numerous awards, he is also the recipient of the Cox Award for 2007, Clemson University’s highest honor, for “sustained achievement in public service” and has been a Clemson visiting professor. Louv has written for “The New York Times,” “The Washington Post,” “The Times of London,” and other major publications. He has appeared on many national TV shows, and served as an advisor both to the Ford Foundation’s Leadership for a Changing World award program and to the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. He is on the board of directors of ecoAmerica and a member of the Citistates Group. Mr Louv spoke at the ETC 2011 conference.

Dr. Clint Laurent is the founder and chief executive of Global Demographics which has offices in London and Hong Kong and clients in every major market. Dr. Laurent is an experienced advisor to multinational businesses and a speaker at international conferences. He is an analyst of and commentator on global population and socio economic trends and their impact on the world economy. He founded Asian Demographics in 1997 and transformed the organization into Global Demographics in 2006, as its geographical coverage increased. Dr. Laurent moved to Hong Kong in 1976, initially with Hong Kong University and then as a Director of Price Waterhouse, where he built up a market research and consultancy group. Author of Tomorrow’s World (Wiley 2013), Dr. Laurent has a Ph.D. in Marketing and Statistics from Bath University in the UK, and a Master of Business from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Mr. Laurent spoke for the first time at the 2014 conference.

Jeff Hoffman is a successful entrepreneur, proven CEO, worldwide motivational speaker, published author, Hollywood film producer, and a producer of a Grammy winning jazz album in 2015. In his career, he has been the founder of multiple startups, he has been the CEO of both public and private companies, and he has served as a senior executive in many capacities. Hoffman has been part of a number of well-known companies, including Priceline.com. uBid.com, CTI, ColorJar, and more. He serves on the global board of directors of Global Entrepreneurship Week, the US State Department’s GIST program, the APEC Startup Initiative, and many others. He is a member of the board of directors of The Unreasonable Group, and he supports the White House, the State Department, the United Nations, and similar organizations internationally on economic growth initiatives and entrepreneurship programs. Hoffman is the author of the book SCALE, a how-to guide for growing your business. He is a featured business expert seen on Fox News, Fox Business, CNN, CNN International, Bloomberg News, CNBC, ABC, and NPR, and in publications including Forbes, Inc., Time, Fast Company, the Wall Street Journal, and more. In 2015, he was honored with the Best of the Best Award from the national CEO association (Collegiate Entrepreneurship Organization) as well as receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award and being inducted into the Entrepreneurs Hall of Fame for his contributions to the field of entrepreneurship. He also received the Champion of Entrepreneurship Award from JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, and Rising Tide Capital, as well as receiving the George Brown Award for International Cooperation. Hoffman spoke at the 2017 conference.

Pico Iyer is a Distinguished Presidential Fellow at Chapman University, a longtime essayist for Time magazine, and a constant contributor (for more than 20 years now) to The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, Harper’s and dozens of other magazines worldwide. He is also the author of 10 books, from “Video Night in Kathmandu” to “The Man Within My Head,” the fashioner of TED talks and World Economic Forum lunches and the author of film-scripts and Leonard Cohen liner-notes. Born in Oxford, England, to parents from India, he was educated at Eton, Oxford and Harvard and has been based for the past 26 years in rural Japan. Mr. Iyer spoke at ETC 2006, the year of the 20th anniversary of the Conference, and again in Boston for ETC 2015.

Perry Hewitt is the Chief Digital Officer for Harvard University. She is charged with leading digital strategy for communications and engagement, as well as exploring ways that organizations effect digital transformation. Hewitt drives best practices for new capabilities required by rapid digital, mobile and social changes, and attracts leaders and builds teams who can bring these capabilities to fruition. She is an established leader in digital strategy and marketing communications, with deep experience in the corporate and not-for-profit sectors. Hewitt advises, writes and speaks on topics including digital transformation, marketing and content strategy, user experience, mobile, women and leadership, and the social web. Hewitt has held significant marketing, editorial, and client services roles at firms including Crimson Hexagon, Razorfish, Harcourt, and Lotus Development Corporation. She has been a consultant to major media companies for online product development, and began her career in publishing at the Houghton Mifflin Company. She was a winner of a 2013 “50 on Fire” award for inventors, disrupters, luminaries, and newsmakers in Boston, and her digital work has won Webby, CASE, MITX Interactive and Innovation, and UCDA Awards. Hewitt holds an A.B. from Harvard University in Russian and Soviet Studies.

Sue Hershkowitz-Coore is an internationally recognized communications specialist. She helps audiences increase their profitability, professionalism and productivity through improved communications. Her customized sessions engage, educate and entertain to ensure authentic communications and amazingly successful client relationships. Hershkowitz-Coore has authored two books, Power Sales Writing (McGraw-Hill) and How to Say It to Sell It! (Prentice Hall/Penguin). She is a past officer and board member of the National Speakers Association, a founding member of Meeting Professionals International’s Women’s Leadership Initiative, has been designated an MPI “Platinum” speaker for 9 consecutive years and named “Best in Class – 2010-2013” by the Professional Convention Management Association. Hershkowitz-Coore received her BA from the University of Bridgeport, MC from Arizona State University and a Fellowship from UC Berkeley.

2019 Presentation

Session Title: Take Your Customer Service to the Next Level: Creating happy travelers and brand advocates
Session Description: How good are you? Do your clients do business with you despite unintentional obstacles? What do they really think about your service? Keep your travelers engaged before and after their trip to create raving fans
Self Described: Global Leader in Sales & Communication Training
Biography: Sue Hershkowitz-Coore is an internationally recognized communications specialist. She helps audiences increase their profitability, professionalism and productivity through improved communication. Her customized sessions engage, educate and entertain to ensure authentic communications and amazingly successful client relationships. Her clients include The Ritz-Carlton; The Savoy, London; Mandarin Oriental, Marriott, Hyatt and Hilton Hotels. Hershkowitz-Coore has authored two books, Power Sales Writing (McGraw-Hill) and How to Say It to Sell It! (Prentice Hall/Penguin). She is a past officer and board member of the National Speakers Association, a founding member of Meeting Professionals International’s Women’s Leadership Initiative, has been designated an MPI “Platinum” speaker for 9 consecutive years and named “Best in Class” by the Professional Convention Management Association. Hershkowitz-Coore received her BA from the University of Bridgeport, MC from Arizona State University and a Fellowship from UC Berkeley. Hershkowitz-Coore was a speaker at ETC 2014, 2015 & 2018.

John Hendricks is the Founder and Chairman of Discovery Communications, the parent company of the Discovery Channel. Before launching Discovery Channel in 1985, Hendricks founded and served as president of the American Association of University Consultants (AAUC), a private consulting organization that specialized in television distribution, marketing, and fundraising for educational programs and services. Hendricks has been honored with a Primetime Emmy Award and with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ highest honor, the Governors’ Award, for conceiving the TLC series, Great Books. Hendricks has also been recognized as the first corporate leader to receive the National Education Association’s Friend of Education award for “innovations in education and technology and greatly expanding educational opportunity for America’s schoolchildren.” Hendricks serves on the board of directors of a number of non-profit organizations including the National Forest Foundation and the United States Olympic Committee. Hendricks also serves on the Advisory Board of Lowell Observatory and the University of Maryland Foundation Board of Trustees. Most recently Hendricks serves as the Founder and Chairman of Experius, an innovative new enterprise designed to provide exceptional educational and recreational experiences to individuals who possess a lifelong curiosity about the world. Hendricks’ commitment to experience-based learning comes to life in May 2010 with the opening of Experius Academy, based at Gateway Canyons Resort in the red rock canyons of western Colorado. Mr. Hendricks spoke at the ETC 2011 conference.

Jack Hanna explores the corners of the globe as one of the most respected animal ambassadors. His enthusiasm and “hands-on” approach to wildlife conservation has won him widespread acclaim as a conservationist, television personality, author and Director Emeritus of the Columbus Zoo and the Wilds. Beginning in 1993, Jack Hanna’s Animal Adventures ran for ten years and is still currently in syndication. 2007 saw the launch of a new TV series, Jack Hanna’s Into the Wild. Just one year after its launch, Into the Wild received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s Series. Hanna’s third TV venture was launched on ABC in September 2011. Entitled Jack Hanna’s Wild Countdowns, the episodes showcase some of his favorite experiences with the world’s rarest, most endearing and fascinating animals. Although the press of media appearances persuaded Hanna to relinquish his fourteen-year directorship of the Columbus Zoo in 1992, he then became Director Emeritus, a position he still enjoys today. Mr. Hanna spoke at the ETC 2012 conference.

Peter Greenberg is the nation’s preeminent expert on travel and travel-related issues and an Emmy award-winning writer, investigative reporter, and producer with more than 11 million miles of direct experience under his belt, covering thousands of stories in hundreds of countries around the globe. He is Travel Editor for CBS News, appearing on The Early Show and across many CBS broadcast platforms. His nationally syndicated radio show, Peter Greenberg Worldwide, is broadcast each week from a different remote location around the world. He is heard on more than 150 stations, Sirius/XM radio and Armed Forces Radio. Greenberg’s other current titles include Travel Editor at Large for “AARP,” Contributing Editor for “Men’s Health” magazine, and contributor to “Parade,” ForbesTraveler.com, and MSN.com. He has been a featured guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, The View, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Dr. Phil, and Larry King Live. Greenberg is the author of “The New York Times” best-selling Travel Detective series. His latest book, “Tough Times, Great Travels,” offers his expert advice and insight on how to travel efficiently–and well–during difficult economic times. His website, PeterGreenberg.com, is one of the fastest-growing travel news sites in America. When he’s not working, Greenberg trains six times each year in state-of-the-art aircraft simulators, and he remains active as a volunteer fireman in New York. He lives in New York, Los Angeles, Bangkok, and most major airports around the world. Mr. Greenberg has spoken at many ETC conferences, including 2001, 2002, 2005 – 2010, and 2014.

Wade Davis is Professor of Anthropology and the BC Leadership Chair in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk at the University of British Columbia. Between 1999 and 2013 he served as Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society and is currently a member of the NGS Explorers Council. Davis is an author of 17 books, including The Serpent and the Rainbow, One River, The Wayfinders and The Sacred Headwaters. His latest book, Into the Silence, received the 2012 Samuel Johnson prize, the top award for literary nonfiction in the English language. His many film credits include Light at the Edge of the World, an eight-hour documentary series written and produced for the National Geographic. Davis is the recipient of 11 honorary degrees, as well as the 2009 Gold Medal from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society for his contributions to anthropology and conservation, the 2011 Explorers Medal, the highest award of the Explorers Club, the 2012 David Fairchild Medal for botanical exploration, and the 2013 Ness Medal for geography education from the Royal Geographical Society. He holds degrees in anthropology and biology and received his Ph.D. in ethnobotany, all from Harvard University.

Jeremy Shaw is the owner and managing director of Iberian Wine Tours, which he founded in 2010. He has developed and hosted food, wine and educational tours for a global clientele into Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Greece as well as Chile, Argentina, California and Uruguay. He has also created a Gourmet Celtic tour route in Ireland and Scotland. Prior to his current role, Jeremy worked as an employment lawyer in London and also for Natwest Banking Group in strategic consulting and new business development. He also worked for British Telecom in Northern Ireland in a variety of capacities over ten years, including corporate business development, relationship management and business improvement. During his time with BT, Shaw revived his expertise in wine and achieved a distinction in the WSET advanced exams. Jeremy and his wife Marisa and daughter Laura split their time between the family farm in Northern Ireland and a summer base in Salamanca, Spain. Jeremy is a graduate of Exeter University and Chester College of Law, as well as having a diploma from Sorbonne and an MBA from Warwick Business School. Jeremy joined the Executive Advisory Council in 2020 and represents ETC Inbound Tour Operators.  www.iberianwinetours.com

Laura Saeger, CMP, CMM, is the Business Tourism & Group Development Executive USA for Tourism Ireland, where she promotes Ireland for corporate, incentive, association, and group programs. Prior to her current role, she was Director of Sales with Bermuda Tourism Authority, preceded by a decade as Business Tourism Manager for South African Tourism. Her expertise in event design and management has garnered several BizBash Events in Excellence Awards as well as accolades from the International Special Events Society and Meeting Professional International. In her earlier career she worked as a soil scientist at Research Triangle Institute, managed the Friday Center for Continuing Education at the University of North Carolina, and helped launch Exploris a first-of-its-kind interactive venue designed to inspire interest in an ever-evolving global society. She enjoys designing compelling itineraries for incentive and group programs and has always loved to travel, experiencing new cultures, landscapes, and cuisines. She enjoys stargazing, hiking, baking, herbology, and exploring anywhere she goes. She is a graduate of North Carolina State University and currently lives in New York City with two naughty felines, Emma and Max. Saeger is new to the EAC and represents Destination constituents. https://www.ireland.com/en-us/

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“Each year, though I should know better by now, I am surprised anew by the amount of information presented at the conference, and by the fact that it is attended by dozens of educational institutions offering travel programs. This conference is, every year, an incredible achievement. This is the only professional development conference I attend. It has everything I need in one place and is always presented by experts in whatever information I’m seeking—marketing, legal issues, travel trends, finding capable travel providers. This conference is INVALUABLE to me.”

For the past few months, the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), along with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), the Zoo and Aquarium Association Australasia (ZAA) and the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) have been working with Expedia to develop their animal welfare policy, especially with regards to our members.

We are pleased to share that after numerous discussions, Expedia has launched its animal welfare policy and will only promote zoos and aquariums which are members of WAZA and/or of WAZA’s recognised regional and national association members.

We applaud Expedia for collaborating with the zoo and aquarium community to ensure the best animal welfare outcomes and for underpinning their policy with sound scientific evidence. As their policy states:

We believe that the individuals who have spent their lives studying and researching animals and spend time regularly observing and helping them are best positioned and most qualified to evaluate the welfare of animals as well as the facilities that house them.

We will only work with zoos and aquariums that are members of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) or have membership and/or accreditation via one of their 24 regionally recognized associations around the globe.

You can read the full policy here.

Through our 2023 Animal Welfare goal we will continue to promote and raise standards of animal welfare around the world. And we are pleased to be recognised as a world leading association whose members strive for high standards of animal welfare and care.

WAZA is also currently in discussions with other travel companies and we will continue to represent our members’ best interests.

Yours sincerely,

Prof Theo B. Pagel
WAZA President

Non-Profits in Travel: Issues, Concerns and Opportunities in Alumni and Museum Study Travel

Tuesday, February 4th, 2020

11:15am – 12:15pm  Global Security and Safety Trends: What are top-of-mind security concerns for travelers today? WATCH

12:50pm – 1:30pm  BOLD Talk – Harnessing the Power of the ETC Community: A Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment Master’s Project WATCH

Wednesday February 5th 2020

8:45am – 9:45am  Morning BOLD Talk – What’s New, Good to Know, and Worth Your Time in Digital WATCH

Thursday, February 6th 2020

8:45am – 9:45am  Closing BOLD Talk-Beyond Our Boundaries WATCH

videos are being added daily, so please check back.

Non-Profits in Travel: Issues, Concerns and Opportunities in Alumni and Museum Study Travel

Tuesday, February 4th, 2020

10:00am – 11:00am  Risk Management: Challenging Travelers and Situations: Traveler annotation, suspension and/or removal VIEW HANDOUT 

11:15am – 12:15pm  Animal Interactions: How can we mitigate animal abuse in the tourism industry?  VIEW PRESENTATION

11:15am – 12:15pm  Global Security and Safety Trends: What are top-of-mind security concerns for travelers today? VIEW PRESENTATION

12:50pm – 1:30pm  Luncheon BOLD Talk: Harnessing the Power of the ETC Community: A Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment Master’s Project VIEW PRESENTATION

Wednesday, February 5th, 2020

10:00am – 11:00 am  Traveler Agreements: Waivers and other contract language – The essential review   VIEW HANDOUT

Thursday, February 6th 2020

8:45am – 9:45am  Closing BOLD Talk-Beyond Our Boundaries VIEW PRESENTATION

Monday, February 3rd 2020

6:45pm – 7:45pm  CONFERENCE WELCOME Remarks & Opening Presentation  LISTEN

Tuesday, February 4th, 2020

8:45am – 9:45am  Morning BOLD Talk: A Voice for the Voiceless with Joel Sartore NOT AVAILABLE

10:00am – 11:00am  Educational Travel Trends: Sorting through the chaos – What’s changed and what hasn’t LISTEN

10:00am – 12:00pm  Intensive Workshop: Building Your Brand Story and Driving Growth LISTEN

11:15am – 12:15pm  Global Security and Safety Trends: What are top-of-mind security concerns for travelers today? LISTEN 

11:15am – 12:15pm  Animal Interactions: How can we mitigate animal abuse in the tourism industry?  LISTEN

12:50pm – 1:30pm  Luncheon BOLD Talk: Harnessing the Power of the ETC Community: A Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment Master’s Project LISTEN

1:45pm – 2:45pm  Destinations Discovery II: IGNITE!  LISTEN

1:45pm – 2:45pm  Instagram: Building community through visuals LISTEN

Wednesday, February 5th, 2020

8:45am – 9:45am  Morning BOLD Talk: What’s New, Good to Know, and Worth Your Time in Digital with Sree Sreenivasan  LISTEN

10:00am – 11:00am  Traveler Agreements: Waivers and other contract language – The essential review LISTEN

11:15am – 12:15am Beyond Instagram for Planners: How to do social and digital media in 2020 on a budget and without staff  LISTEN

1:45pm – 2:45pm Beyond Instagram for DOS: How to do social and digital media in 2020 with a limited budget and staff LISTEN

1:45pm – 2:45pm Overtourism: Why it’s Growing: What we can do about it? LISTEN

Thursday, February 6th 2020

8:45am – 9:45am  Closing BOLD Talk: Beyond Our Boundaries: Rethinking educational travel LISTEN

Todd Womack is the president and CEO of Bridge Public Affairs. In this position he helps clients navigate the nexus of policy, politics and strategy in successfully achieving their state, national and international business objectives. He was the former chief of staff and staff director for U.S. Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Womack gained first-hand insight about world hotspots and other facets of U.S foreign policy, having accompanied Corker, other U.S. senators, and diplomatic officials on dozens of investigative trips throughout the world. On Capitol Hill, Womack served as the Republican chair of the bipartisan chief of staff organization, focused on creating dialogue and interaction between the 100 Senate chiefs of staff. He previously led the bipartisan chiefs of staff study group in partnership with the Council on Foreign Relations and also led the Faith and Politics Institute’s bipartisan chiefs of staff study group. In Tennessee, Womack was involved in multiple economic development initiatives benefiting communities across the state and integrally involved in the successful recruitment of Volkswagen’s North American Manufacturing operation to Chattanooga.

Casey Butler is a Senior Coordinator for Special Interest Groups at Odysseys Unlimited, Inc., a small-group tour operator based in Newton, Massachusetts.  At Odysseys, Casey is responsible for arranging special on-tour events and assisting with logistics and operations for Special Interest Groups clients.  By organizing these bespoke experiences and opportunities, Casey has been able to enhance her clients’ travel experiences and help foster a deeper connection between these travelers and their institutions.  As an avid traveler, Casey relishes the opportunity to work with vendors all over the globe to create memorable experiences for others.  She also coaches softball at both the high school and collegiate level, and through this, she has had the opportunity to travel across the country recruiting, coaching, and mentoring.  When not coaching or traveling, Casey enjoys spending time with her puppy, Blue, who she adopted while in Aruba.  Casey is a graduate of Bryant University and resides in Boston, Massachusetts.

Dawn is founder and CEO of travel consultancy MOSTE, Inc. and President of subsidiary Dawn Drew Independent Productions, both based in New York City. A career publisher, Dawn has worked at the Atlantic Monthly, NY Times Company, and for nearly 16 years as Vice President/Publisher of National Geographic Traveler at the National Geographic Society. Dawn’s consultancy and production company have focused on building and communicating authentic cultural experiences and marketing strategies for destinations to encourage community-based sustainable travel among consumers, and to educate the trade.

Daniel L. Richards has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Global Rescue since he founded the company in 2004. He also serves as the President of Crisis Services Company, a Vermont-based captive insurance company. Mr. Richards has been a featured speaker on CNN, Fox News, NPR and other major media outlets regarding crisis response, mitigation and travel risk management topics. Prior to founding Global Rescue, Mr. Richards spent a decade in the private equity and financial services industries. He previously worked at the $1.3 billion private equity affiliate of Thomas Weisel Partners and in various positions at Thoma Cressey Equity Partners, Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette and Deutsche Banc Alex Brown. Over the last two decades, he has been involved in financings and private equity investments for more than 30 companies. Mr. Richards is a graduate of Middlebury College where he played football, rugby and was a competitive power lifter. He received his MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College where he has served as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence. He currently serves on the board of Global Wildlife Conservation, a science-based environmental conservation organization.

Barbara Tucker is the Director, Travel Program and Senior Advancement Officer at Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. Barbara has been organizing trips for CMP since February of 2001. She has designed and tailored trips for CMP to many domestic and international venues and has worked extensively with CMP curators and experts from other institutions. Prior to joining CMP, Barbara had a career in the hotel industry. She graduated from the Hotel School of Lausanne, Switzerland and worked in hotels in Europe and New York before joining CMP first as Travel Program Manager, and now as Director, Travel Program and Senior Advancement Officer. Barbara speaks French fluently and serves as the President of the Alliance Française of Pittsburgh and President of the French Nationality Room at the University of Pittsburgh. She has led trips to Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Cuba, England, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Scotland, Spain, India, Russia and many destinations throughout the United States.

Karen Kuttner-Dimitry is Vice President of Affinity and Charter Sales at Lindblad Expeditions. Kuttner-Dimitry has been in the adventure travel/luxury cruise industry for nearly 30 years. She launched her career in the travel industry in 1987, where she spent five years on board cruise ships as a Social Director. In 1993, she became the Director of Sales, Mid-Atlantic States for Lindblad Expeditions. After three years of rapid growth in regional sales revenue, she focused on the development of affinity and travel agency accounts nationwide. Seeking new challenges, Kuttner-Dimitry left for Natural Habitat Adventures in Boulder, Colo., in 1997, to direct all sales, and marketing for affinity and incentive markets. In 2003, she became the Director of Sales at Grand Expeditions responsible for all affinity sales and marketing. She returned to Lindblad Expeditions in 2004 to expand the affinity and charter business nationwide. Kuttner-Dimitry holds a M.Ed. in Counseling Psychology and a M.A. in Personnel Administration, both from Columbia University. She lives with her husband and three children in New Jersey.

Karen Ledwin is Vice President, Program Management, Smithsonian Travel where she oversees product development, tour operations and customer service for over 300 educational tours each year. While Karen has worked at the Smithsonian for almost five years, she has worked with Smithsonian several times in her career as a tour operator, including at TCS as VP, Business Development and Sales; Saga International, as VP, Educational Programs (overseeing Saga’s Road Scholar and Smithsonian Odyssey Tours); and Academic Travel as VP, Marketing. Ledwin also spent 8 years at National Geographic Expeditions as Vice President, Programming and Operations, during which time the National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions Alliance was formed. Karen has also been involved in teacher, student, and study abroad travel at various points in her career including a Smithsonian-WorldStrides university student travel program, NEA travel program, and SUNY Stony Brook study abroad programs in Poland. Ledwin is a graduate of Vassar College and been a graduate student at Indiana University and Warsaw University.

Christa LeeVan is the Travel Director for the Notre Dame Alumni Association. She believes that it is a privilege to learn from other cultures, and has had the opportunity to lead many Notre Dame trips. Some of her favorites include: Tanzania, Australia & New Zealand and the Greek Islands & Turkey. Seeing the Notre Dame travelers experience these incredible trips first-hand and the camaraderie that is developed among the groups continues to be a real highlight for her. Christa and her husband, Steve, live in Granger, Indiana. They, along with their two children, share an interest in other cultures. Christa looks forward to continuing to link Notre Dame alumni and friends to the world through travel. She is new to the EAC and represents Independent schools.  www.my.nd.edu/travel

Shelley Norton is the Director of Travel for Texas Exes- the alumni association of The University of Texas. Prior to her current role, Shelley worked for multiple travel companies as a Cruise Director, Tour Director, and Director of Sales. She has worked in the travel industry since 1996, and her travels have taken her to over 85 countries and all 7 continents. Some of her favorite destinations are Southeast Asia, France, and Egypt. She enjoys home renovation projects, running, and drinking wine with friends. Shelley is a graduate of the Freeman School of Business at Tulane University.

Joanna “Jojo” Aguiar is the Senior Director of the Cal Discoveries Travel Program at the Cal Alumni Association/University of California, Berkeley. Jojo is responsible for all financial, programmatic, and operational aspects of the program as well as overseeing a team of five employees. Jojo has worked for Cal Discoveries for almost 12 years and has experience in customer service, marketing, database management, website management, and travel planning. Prior to working for Cal Discoveries Jojo worked in the Cal Alumni membership office and as the retail manager for the Lair of the Golden Bear, the Cal Alumni family camp. She lives in Oakland, California with her husband and two young kids and her love of travel began after studying abroad in Siena, Italy. Jojo is a graduate of the University of California, Davis.

Since 2016, Kate Heilman has been a Manager for Special Interest Groups at Odysseys Unlimited, Inc., a small-group tour operator based in Newton, Massachusetts.  Kate is responsible for overseeing the delivery of high quality tours while effectively developing and maintaining on-going relationships with clients who run the travel programs of non-profit organizations, particularly alumni associations. This includes overseeing the sales, marketing, and operational needs of each institutional account. Prior to joining the team at Odysseys Unlimited, Kate worked at the University of Chicago as the Associate Director of Travel and Education in Alumni Relations and Development.  Her work experience includes more than twenty years of managing projects, including international initiatives.  Prior to joining the University of Chicago, Kate had worked extensively with international non-profits, including as the Senior Manager of Operations at the Chicago Sister Cities International Program. Kate has lived and worked abroad in Russia and is proficient in Russian.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hamilton College and a Master of Arts Degree from The Ohio State University.

Meg Stark is the Programs Director for GLOBIO where she is responsible for GLOBIO’s conservation and education partnerships with in situ organizations in Equatorial Africa and Indonesia, as well as outreach and donor engagement. Prior to her current role, Stark managed the Vervet Monkey Foundation in South Africa and Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary in Gainesville, Florida. Within both of these roles, she oversaw daily care of the resident primates and volunteers, as well as fundraising, outreach and advocacy campaigns. She has previously volunteered and conducted research with several nonprofits around Sub-Saharan Africa, including animal-oriented organizations in Sierra Leone, Botswana and South Africa. Stark is a graduate of Lawrence University, with certificates in Nonprofit Leadership from University of Notre Dame.

Chris Bensley is the Vice President of Partnerships and Marketing for Holbrook Travel. Chris has more than 25 years of experience in the travel industry. His affinity for educational travel developed from a year living in France on a family sabbatical. At Holbrook, Chris leads the marketing and business development teams with a focus on strategic partnerships. Before Holbrook, Chris led the interactive group at Vantage Travel and was founder of a travel technology startup, Tripzon. His career includes marketing, product and business developments roles at Vantage, Paul Gauguin Cruises, and Overseas Adventure Travel. Chris has an MBA from UCLA, a BA from Dartmouth, and has ventured to over 44 countries and 7 continents.

Fred Ackerman is the Chief Shepherding Officer for Black Sheep Adventures, the adventure travel business he founded in 2002. Ackerman is actively involved in every aspect of his business and still personally guides a select number of tours each year. Prior to starting BSA, he worked as a Trip Specialist for Backroads designing and leading bicycling and multisport trips around the US and Europe. Ackerman was formerly a strategy management consultant with Mars & Co. working mostly in Australia. After graduation, he worked for Schlumberger, a multinational oilfield services company, where he spent nine months on an offshore oil rig training to become an oil rig manager. His entrance into the travel industry was the result of a “quarter–life crisis” when he happily left the relative security of the corporate world to focus on travel. Ackerman holds a BS degree in mechanical engineering from MIT. Ackerman served three years on the ETC Executive Advisory Council and is now an active member of the Emeritus Council.

Anu Taranath, presenter at ETC’s 2020 conference, is the author of Beyond Guilt Trips.

Summary:
Every year, hundreds of thousands of young people pack their bags to study or volunteer abroad. Well-intentioned and curious Westerners—brought up to believe that international travel broadens our horizons—travel to low-income countries to learn about people and cultures different from their own. But while travel abroad can provide much-needed perspective, it can also be deeply unsettling, confusing, and discomforting. Travelers can find themselves unsure about how to think or speak about the differences in race or culture they find, even though these differences might have fueled their desire to travel in the first place.

Buy Beyond Guilt Trips here

Jason Halal is the Associate Director of Marketing and Digital Content for Sierra Club Outings. He has been with the program since 2009. In this role, he oversees all Outings marketing strategies, products, and initiatives, including web content and design; publications, promotions, and advertising; and other tools to build the Outings brand and promote our trips to Sierra Club members and new audiences. He is also a co-leader of our Strategic Marketing Task Force as well as a committee to increase the number of young leaders and participants in our program.

Cindy Todd is Vice President, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for the Tennessee Aquarium.  She leads an award-winning, in-house marketing team that is responsible for building the Aquarium’s brand and reputation, and generating revenue through attendance, membership, sponsorship, and facility rental.

Additionally, Cindy has found great joy in leading a number of nature-themed donor cultivation trips, from Africa to Australia, during her 28 years at the Aquarium. Her deep love of outdoor adventure fuels her passion for the Aquarium’s mission to connect people with nature and inspire them to make informed decisions about water and wildlife.

Cindy is driven by a cause, and believes the Aquarium can continue to make an enormous difference in three areas: the Chattanooga economy, education and conservation science.  A graduate of Texas A&M University, Cindy transferred to Chattanooga in 1986 with CBL & Associates as the first Director of Marketing for Hamilton Place.  Cindy and her husband Terry just celebrated their 29^th wedding anniversary.

Jim Staples is President and CEO of Orbridge LLC. Orbridge specializes in small-group, immersive travel programming and works within the affinity marketplace to provide educational tours on top-rated small deluxe ships and hotels. Prior to starting Orbridge seven years ago, Staples spent 13 years in the educational travel industry in various roles including program creation, operations and sales. Staples holds a BA from the University of Michigan and a MBA from Northwestern University.

Brooke Gorman, Ph.D. joined the Tennessee Aquarium as the Director of Science Education in August 2017. She oversees the Education Department, which includes education that happens on the floor at the Aquarium, on field trips and outreach for school groups, and education volunteers. Prior to her work at the Aquarium, Brooke spent 10 years at a nonprofit organization in Colorado which focuses on science education. There, she began as a Science Educator and over time became a Senior Science Educator and Director of Instructional Materials Development. She spent time both developing science curriculum materials and doing professional learning for teachers, working both nationally and internationally. She also served as the programming chair for an effort to start a science center in Colorado Springs during that time. Brooke has a passion for helping all people feel a spark of excitement about science, whether they are 2 or 92 years old. She uses best practices and research-based strategies to ensure that people feel a connection to the place they are visiting or the program they are attending. Brooke also loves helping others learn the best ways to engage people in different situations to ensure they have extraordinary experiences.

Gerry Ellis is an award-winning environmental photographer/film-maker, and founder and Executive Director of the conservation education nonprofit GLOBIO.  Gerry’s history in travel spans four-decades as a photographer, writer and international guide; he now oversees GLOBIO’s new project-based travel program, linking donors through travel to GLOBIO’s work across Equatorial Africa and Borneo/Sumatra. In 2020 under Gerry’s oversight GLOBIO launches the Educator’s Travel Scholarship Initiative to give educators firsthand international experiential-learning opportunities to inspire life-long learning with which to impacts in their students.  For GLOBIO, Gerry is filming around the world on a multi-year education and public awareness project called Apes Like Us, to heighten concern for the survival of great apes. He is the creator and host of the YouTube channel Apes Like Us.  Gerry’s film/photo work has encompassed numerous long-term projects for National Audubon, World Wildlife Fund, Chevron PNG, and the Australian government. His work has appeared in magazine publications including BBC Wildlife, Paris Match, Ranger Rick, New York Times and National Geographic, as well as multiple book projects, including The Outdoor Traveler’s Guide to Australia, and several titles in the highly acclaimed National Geographic Kids Book series.

Andrew Lockwood is President/CEO of Pacific Islands Institute (PII) based in Honolulu, Hawaii. His mother started the company in 1989 with his assurance that he would join her after his Air Force commitment. He returned home to Hawaii, and for over 25 years, has led the organization in its mission of providing positive cultural interactions, protecting and sustaining indigenous cultures and environments, and giving back to local communities. Expanding PII’s client base from affinity and school organizations to associations, boardroom and donor groups, Andrew enjoys matching the rich cultural and eco-resources of a destination with the needs of each client. Having traveled extensively throughout the islands of Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia, he has built lasting relationships with industry suppliers to village chiefs through his authenticity and ethics. An Amherst College graduate with an MBA from Chapman University, Andrew also has his CMP (Certified Meeting Professional) and believes travel should have a multiplier-effect benefitting not only the traveler but also the people, local communities and environments of the place. He and his wife are passionate about travel, learning, and sustainability and have passed the appreciation for these interests on to their three children.

Andrew Doherty is the Manager of Special Interest Travel at Thomson Safaris, a Tanzania safari and Kilimanjaro trek operator with offices in Watertown, MA and Arusha, Tanzania. In this role, Andrew partners with a variety of universities, museums, conservation organizations, zoos, photography workshops, celebrity chefs and other special interest groups to offer the most environmentally sustainable and socially responsible safari and trek programs available. Before stepping into his current role, Andrew acted as account manager for Thomson’s VIP safari partnerships and specialized in product design, sales, marketing and operations. Having logged considerable hours in both the national parks and within the communities of East Africa, Andrew has developed a close relationship with the various stakeholders in the safari industry. He is passionate about educating travel organizations about new opportunities, especially those which benefit Africa’s wildlife and people. Andrew is happily married to his wife Alisa and together they share 3-year-old daughter, Oona. Andrew is a graduate of St. Michael’s College.

Eric Meyers
Eric was appointed as the Executive Director of the Chattanooga Design Studio in March 2017. In this role he oversees strategic development, fiscal performance, and is the Studio’s primary spokesperson to the media and the general public. Under his leadership, the Studio has begun to strengthen relationships with various outside organizations and has aligned the studio’s program focus to help the Board of Directors engage on specific mission related opportunities. A native of Maryland, Myers is a LEED accredited registered architect and urban designer with a broad ranging background and breadth of experience in Chattanooga and the Southeast. For over 22 years Eric has practiced architecture and urban design in Chattanooga. Prior to joining the Chattanooga Design Studio, Eric founded a design firm and through his 10 years of leadership, the organization helped create urban housing, commercial retail and offices, healthcare facilities, historic preservation efforts, as well as urban design and neighborhood structure plans. Eric was also urban design coordinator at the community’s legacy studio which operated from 1980 until 2005. >He holds a bachelor of architecture degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Eric currently serves on the Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise Board of Directors. He is the immediate past president of Cornerstones, Inc. and past president of the Chattanooga Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Myers also served a 2014 to 2017 appointment to the Chattanooga- Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission.

Matt Web
Matt is the founding principal of WMWA. In 2013, after spending twelve years working at award winning firms in Virginia and Washington, DC, Matt returned to the region where he was raised to start the firm. When Matt was 17, his high school art teacher told him he should study landscape architecture.  Landscape architecture is his third profession after working as a butcher during undergrad and managing production of cutting edge drug delivery polymers after. His bachelor’s degree in biology/chemistry from the University of Alabama in Huntsville focused on plant ecology. Matt again focused on ecology and plant communities while earning his Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Georgia’s School of Environmental Design. This lifelong interest in ecology and natural systems heavily influences his work as a landscape architect. Matt loves the outdoors, good food, and is fascinated by plants. Apples, in a roundabout way, brought Matt to Chattanooga after a Thanksgiving with his friend Tom Burford. Tom, world renowned apple and fruit expert, told Matt to go to Chattanooga and start a firm. When Tom Burford tells you to do something, you do it. While Tom introduces Matt as the only Burford approved orchard designer in North America, Matt heavily consults with Tom when any orchard design is happening.

Stacy Richardson
Stacy began serving as Chief of Staff to Mayor Andy Berke in 2015. Prior to that, she served as the Chief Policy Officer and Senior Advisor to the mayor. Her background is in both politics and policy, serving as the campaign manager for the Berke for Mayor Campaign and as a research fellow at the Ochs Center for Metropolitan Studies. Over the years, Stacy has worked alongside numerous public and private partners to help implement several key mayoral initiatives, including growing Chattanooga’s innovation and technology economy through the Innovation District, ensuring families have the opportunity to succeed through Baby University, and coordinating the work and policy directives of the Mayor’s Council for Women. A native to Chattanooga, Stacy graduated with both departmental and university honors from The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Most recently, Stacy obtained a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of Southern California’s Sol Price School of Public Policy.

James McKissic
James McKissic is the newly appointed President of ArtsBuild. Prior to this, he spent a year as Chief Operating Officer at the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga. For six years from 2013 – 2019, he served as Senior Adviser to the Mayor and the Director of the City of Chattanooga Office of Multicultural Affairs. His role for the City included linking diverse businesses to city government contracting opportunities, improving the City’s supplier diversity efforts, and working to promote justice, inclusion, and equity among the employees and citizenry of Chattanooga. The values of family, community, the arts, and philanthropy have guided James’ personal and professional endeavors. Heavily influenced by creators like Marta Morena Vega, Margaret Burroughs, and ArthurMitchell and committed to the idea that marginalized people must establish their own cultural programs and institutions, James founded Friends of African American Art, which funded purchases of art by Kerry James Marshall and Sam Gilliam for the permanent collection of the Hunter Museum of American Art. James loves Chattanooga, and is excited to support the City’s Arts sector in his new role at ArtsBuild.

Katelyn Kirnie
Katelyn Kirnie has served as the Director of Public Art Chattanooga, the City of Chattanooga’s public art division, since 2016. She moved back to her hometown after several years in Boston, MA where she was Visual Arts Manager for the Rose Kennedy Greenway. While there, she established a highly acclaimed, rotating mural program, The Greenway Wall, currently in its seventh season. Katelyn got her start in the public art field, working for international sculptor, John Henry as his Exhibition Manager and went on to earn her Master’s Degree in Arts Administration from Boston University. She has spent her entire career working with artists to bring extraordinary ideas to life and has an extensive background in project management, producing exhibitions, artworks and interventions in the public realm since 2007. As Director of Public Art Chattanooga, most recently, she completed a community-wide planning process and 10 year public art strategic plan for the City. Katelyn was hooked early on by the transformative power of public art and its ability to create community and place. Now, as a mother of two girls, ages 5 and 6, she enjoys seeing how art in public spaces can spark wonder and joy in the most unexpected ways. 

Kim White
Kim White is a proven leader with a passion for making a difference in communities. For the past 11 years, she has put her passion into practice as the president and CEO of River City Company, the non-profit development organization with a 33-year history focusing on the economic growth and development of Downtown Chattanooga. With the influence of her leadership, Chattanooga has seen a renewed focus on downtown housing, better connections with UTC and the development of great public spaces. Private investment over the last five years helped implement the City Center Plan and redevelop Miller Park. While her focus has been on downtown, her impact has been much broader. Kim served on the Erlanger Board of Trustees for six years. She remains connected to her alma mater, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where she has served as the chair of the UC Foundation – the 2nd woman in 50 years to hold the position. She is a former president of the UTC Alumni Board and the Chancellor’s Roundtable. Kim was appointed by Gov. Haslam to the UT Board of Trustees in 2018 and serves on the Executive and Finance Committees. 

Rick Franz is President Emeritus of Thomas P. Gohagan & Company, headquartered in Chicago. He began his stint at Gohagan & Company in sales in 1991; and he is still one of the company’s four salesmen working with alumni association and museum client organizations throughout the country. Prior to his career at Gohagan & Company, Franz worked in the cruise industry in sales and marketing with Cunard Line, the former Royal Cruise Line and the former American Hawaii Cruises. He began his career as a travel director with Alumni Holidays, Inc., and he has worked in broadcasting both in the Chicago area and in northern California. He earned a B.A. from the University of Cincinnati, and he attended the University of Stockholm for two years. He has a passion for travel, mountain bicycling, hiking and wines of the world.

Jill Sala is the National Accounts Manager of the Affinity Groups department of G Adventures where she oversees a fast-growing team of private groups sales managers and national account. Sala sits on the Standards Committee of the Wellness Tourism Association (WTA), and was instrumental in the creation of G Adventures popular Wellness travel style.

With 19 years in the tourism and hospitality industry, she has a passion for sustainable tourism and changing lives through travel. Her past career experiences have provided her with great working knowledge of responsible, sustainable, and adventure travel. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, fitness the outdoors and of course traveling.

Katya d’Angelo is the marketing assistant at Boundless Journeys, a tour operator specializing in adventure travel around the world. Although generally working on marketing efforts, content creation, and website troubleshooting, she has also had the opportunity to help develop new tours to Norway, the Azores, and hopefully the Faroe Islands in the future. Prior to moving to Vermont and joining Boundless Journeys, she worked in the Boston area at a private K-12 school in marketing, teaching, and coordinating two high school tours in Italy. Before entering the marketing and travel realm, she worked for a few years as a baker. Katya enjoys cycling, Nordic skiing, mountain views, crafty things, the banjo, and of course, traveling. She seeks out local favorites and off-beat sites unknown to most tourists, and is looking forward to April when she will go exploring in Denmark. She holds an undergraduate degree from Connecticut College and a graduate certificate from Boston University.

Enrica Cazzin is the Sales Executive for Target Travel, an Italian tour operator specializing in the organization of tailor-made and customized tours all over Italy and Europe. She has been working in the tourism world for 20 years in various capacities in the leisure market and in the meeting, events and incentive market.

Born in a small village near Venice, Italy in 1974, Enrica fell in love with travel at a very early age. Her first journey was to Venice, the city that even now, she considers the most beautiful in the world.

She earned a Diploma in Tourism and a Degree in Oriental Languages and Literature at Venice Cà Foscari University and lived for a while in Tokyo, where she learned to love Japanese culture and people.

Enrica carries a passion for challenges that include travelling and creating new travel programs, trekking and scuba diving.  Her motto: “the shore is safer, but I prefer fighting with waves”.

Kate Simpson is President of Academic Travel Abroad (ATA), an educational travel and study
abroad organization. Kate began her career at ATA in 1988 as the China Program Manager and is now a proud owner of the business, along with her partners Chase Poffenberger and Mark Lenhart. Kate works with organizations like CREST and RESPECT to advocate for a more enlightened policy on travel to Cuba and has spent two decades navigating the complex world of OFAC Cuba regulations. Kate spent most of her youth in France, where she was born. Kate has lived and studied in Australia, Algeria, Ireland and Taiwan. Kate holds a degree in East Asian Studies from Yale and pursued a post-graduate fellowship in Chinese Literature at Taiwan National University before settling in Washington, D.C. In 2008, Kate completed a three-year executive education program for owners and presidents at Harvard Business School. Kate has served on the Board of the NTA (National Tourism Association) and is a founder of the Fund For Education Abroad, a non-profit that provides scholarships for under-represented students to study abroad.

Jim Friedlander is the president of Arrangements Abroad, which he joined 19 years ago to direct and manage all facets of the company. After graduating from Wesleyan University he began his career as a loan officer in the International Banking Group of the Irving Trust Company. After receiving his M.B.A. in marketing and finance from Columbia University, he spent more than 10 years assisting companies that were experiencing significant financial or operational problems. This past year Friedlander has traveled widely to Cuba, Norway, Russia, Finland, Panama, Columbia, Italy, France and Cuba either accompanying groups and/or researching new programs. Recently, he founded and serves as president of the Havana Heritage Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to protecting and preserving the architectural and cultural heritage of Havana. He also serves on the US Advisory Board of Taj Hotels and Resorts as well as Books & Authors, Inc. Friedlander has served as one of the trainers in the annual ETC Jumpstart Seminar for many years, in addition to developing the programming for new DOS attendees. He is married to Liz Irwin who serves as the Firm’s General Counsel and advocates for women’s rights as a representative to the United Nations. Together, they have 2 adult children. Friedlander served on the EAC representing the interests of the U.S. Tour Operator constituents, with a focus on art and culturally-based travel and is currently an ETC Emeritus Council Member. www.arrangementsabroad.com

Todd Nielsen is the President and Director of Eos Study Tours (Eos), and has held this position since 1993. In this position, he is responsible for providing the most comprehensive and risk-free planning and management service for faculty and curator led trips that align with the mission of each organization. Todd has been planning, directing and managing non-profit, educational tour programs for alumni organizations, museums, and institutes since 1979. Todd is an avid reader and life-long learner, who has traveled to more than 70 countries, many of them multiple times. He is a founding member of the Educational Travel Community (1987) and an ETC Emeritus council Member. He has been invited to speak and moderate sessions on a wide variety of subjects at the annual ETC conference.

Keira Powers is the Managing Director of Spirit of Africa, a pioneering South African travel company that services African destinations.  At Spirit of Africa she pushed the purpose and profile of social-impact tourism and travel with a high education quotient for professional and student delegations. Ms. Powers has ensured that authentic tourism gained definition and that her commercial operation engaged with, and supported, social enterprises and community organizations, making it the most in-touch travel operation at a grass-roots and cross-sector level country-wide.  Keira is on the board of the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (SATSA) and chaired their “Animal Interactions in Tourism” project committee that released its report, findings and practical tool for the industry in October 2019.

Ms. Powers steered the company through South Africa’s re-emergence into international tourism after Apartheid isolation and grew her family-staffed and owned operation into a thriving medium sized business. Earlier, she helped establish the now-flourishing environmental education division of the Environmental Management Department of Cape Town’s local government.  She received her Bachelor of Social Science (dual major Political Science and Environmental and Geographical Science) and a Post Graduate Diploma in Organization Management at the University of Cape Town.

Margaret Devlin is the Managing Director of Thalassa Journeys, which she established in 2018 with the founders of Travel Dynamics. Her passion is to introduce travelers to peoples and places through a unique lens that focuses not only on treasures of the past, but also on contemporary life, through people-to-people encounters, music, art, gastronomy, and other venues for experiential learning. A veteran in the field of educational travel, Margaret Devlin began her career in the travel industry as a tour manager for Travel Dynamics International, the company that pioneered the concept of thematic educational travel for many of the country’s leading alumni associations, museums and cultural and scientific institutions. In this capacity, she led tours to over 40 countries throughout the world, from the Mediterranean Sea to the North Cape, and from the Galapagos Islands to Southeast Asia, China and beyond. Transitioning from the field to sales, Margaret developed collaborative relationships with numerous alumni associations and non-profit institutions throughout the United States, offering enriching thematic journeys that showcased their faculty and curators, while providing their members with singular educational travel experiences.

Pablo Palacios is the Chief Executive Officer and founder of Southern Expeditions Ecuador, a tour operator that owns Amautas Ecuador (Educational field trips) and LatinAmerica Experiences (bespoke Andean travel). Before starting as an entrepreneur, he was appointed Director of Tourism for the Galapagos Islands by the Ministry of Tourism. Prior to this, he worked for the Charles Darwin Foundation as a researcher, investigating the social and environmental impacts of tourism on the Galapagos National Park and the Marine Reserve. He has also collaborated with developmental and conservation projects in the Yasuní and Machalilla NPs in the mainland of Ecuador. As a consultant for the Keto Foundation in Costa Rica, he assessed tourism management projects at the Marino Ballena NP.  He enjoys traveling around the planet in search of tourism projects that benefit local communities, governments and business owners. His academic training includes master’s degrees in Sustainable Tourism at Monash University and Environmental Management & Ecotourism at the University of Costa Rica.

James (Jim) Ogden, III is a native of St. Mary’s County, Maryland.  Interested in the Civil War since childhood, he obtained a degree in American History through the Civil War period and American Military History from Frostburg State College.  During college, he worked summers for the Maryland Park Service at Point Lookout State Park, site of the largest Civil War prison, where historical interpretation and research were among the many positions he held.  As part of a college internship, he worked for four months at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, West Virginia, researching and writing on an aspect of that site’s Civil War history that had not been addressed previously.

Beginning work with the National Park Service in 1982, he has been stationed at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Georgia and Tennessee, Russell Cave National Monument, Alabama, and Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, Virginia.  In November, 1988, he returned to Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park as the Staff Historian, the position he presently holds.

He speaks regularly on aspects of the Civil War to historical organizations across the eastern half of the U. S. including Civil War Round Tables in New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Birmingham, New Orleans, and Austin.  In addition to doing tours of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga battlefields, he periodically takes groups to Shiloh, Perryville, Stones River, some of the Atlanta Campaign sites (including Dalton, Resaca, Cassville, New Hope, Pickett’s Mill, and Kennesaw Mountain), and Franklin and Nashville.

He has taught a number of Civil War history courses for the Continuing Education Department of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and in the Spring Semester of 2012 he taught UTC’s for-credit Civil War and Reconstruction course.  He has published a number of short articles in several local publications and has appeared on Greystone Communications/Arts and Entertainment Network’s “Civil War Journal,” the History Channel’s “Civil War Combat,” PBS’s “History Detectives,” and C-SPAN.

Since 1986, he has been an instructor for over six hundred groups of officers of the U. S. Army conducting Staff Rides (an in-depth analysis of a historical military event) at Chickamauga and Chattanooga.  For a decade, his Staff Ride clients even included two to six hundred officers annually from the British Army’s Joint Services Command and Staff College.

The recognition of his contributions to Civil War History and Preservation include the Friends of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park Drew Haskins, Jr., Memorial Service Award (1998), Civil War Trust Chairman’s Award for Excellence in Preservation (2011), Chattanooga Area Historical Association Dr. James W. Livingood Historian of the Year Award (2014), University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Department of Communication 22^nd Annual Symposium on the 19^th Century Press, The Civil War, and Free Expression Dr. Hazel Dicken-Garcia Distinguished Scholarship in Journalism History Award (2014), the Civil War Round Table of Chicago Allan Nevins-Douglas Southall Freeman Award (2014), United States Army Commander’s Award for Public Service (2017), Civil War Trust’s National Park Service Preservation Advocate Award (2017), and the Department of the Army’s Superior Public Service Medal (2019).

Jim, his wife Lora, and their son James (born on the133rd anniversary of the Battle of Fredericksburg) live in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia.

Máirtín de Cógáin from Cork, Ireland gets no more joy out of life than the telling of stories. Twice All Ireland Champion storyteller, he has been traveling the world telling the tales of Ireland, singing the ballads of old and playing his Bodhrán (Irish Drum). He has played with his own musical groups; The Fuchsia Band, Gailfean & The Máirtín de Cógáin Project, was asked to play with The Chieftains, Cherish the Ladies & Gaelic Storm, threaded the boards off Broadway with his own show De Bogman and shone on the silver screen in the epic movie The Wind That Shakes The Barley.  Máirtín was brought up in a bilingual house, earned a Degree in the Irish language from University College of Cork and is a fluent speaker of Gaelic.  http://www.mairtinmusic.com

Catharine Hamm is the Travel Editor for “The Los Angeles Times” Travel section, a position she has held since 2003. Prior to 1999, when she joined the “LA Times” Travel section, she was the editor of the newspaper in Salinas, Calif.; the managing editor of “The Sun” in San Bernardino County, Calif.; and the deputy managing editor of “The Kansas City Star,” where she also served as the travel editor for five years. She launched the “On The Spot” travel consumer column in early 2007, and it now appears in newspapers and on websites across the country. The “LA Times” Travel section has won the Lowell Thomas Award for best newspaper section nine times during her tenure as travel editor. Hamm earned a B.A. in Spanish while she lived in Kansas.

Leila Derstine has served as Alumni Travel Study Coordinator for Williams College since 2016. She oversees all aspects of a robust faculty-led program comprising 20 educational trip offerings each year. From 2011-2015, she worked as Assistant Director of Travel and Education for the Penn State Alumni Association. In this role, she developed alumni education programs featuring some of the finest museums and intellectual spaces in the country. She also managed an in-house Civil War Study Tour for 100 travelers each year and supported Penn State’s alumni travel program. Prior to her work with alumni populations, Leila held positions in study abroad and international education at Penn State and the College of William & Mary. As a student herself, she studied abroad in St. Petersburg and in Madrid. She holds a master’s in Higher Education Administration from William & Mary and a bachelor’s in Journalism from Georgia Southern University. Leila originally hails from Statesboro, GA but currently resides in Berlin, NY with her husband, two daughters, and many farm animals.

Melissa Gresh is the Director of the MIT Alumni Travel Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has been on staff at MIT and has worked for the Travel Program for over 28 years, emphasizing alumni connections around the world and lifelong learning. In 2018, Gresh earned the Alumni Association Manager of the Year award; in 2013 the MIT Alumni Travel Program received MIT’s prestigious Leading the Way award; and the Program earned recognition from the CASE Awards Program for its marketing and its innovative programming. Prior to MIT, Gresh worked at World Class Incentives, an incentive travel firm, where she created tour programming. Gresh has two teenagers and enjoys spending time with family, hiking in the White Mountains, yoga, and cooking. Favorite trips include explorations of Tanzania, Turkey, and Ireland; that said, her favorite place above all is Paris. She received a BS in geography from Salem State University and spent part of her senior year studying abroad in Caen, France. She has attended the Educational Travel Conference for 27 years. Gresh is an emeritus member of the ETC Executive Advisory Council.

Kenny Burnap is the Chef/Owner at Kenny’s Southside Sandwiches. Kenny was born in Anaheim, CA  into a family who loves food. He was named after his grandfather Ken Burnap, the first winemaker to grow Pinot Noir in the United States at Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard. Kenny grew up in Ringgold, GA for most of his childhood and was heavily influenced by his grandmother, Betty Lunsford, cooking traditional southern foods, all sourced from her garden.

He went on to graduate from the Oregon Coast Culinary Institute in 2004, where he gained an even deeper appreciation for wild foraged and locally grown foods. Kenny started at Chattanooga’s prestigious St. John’s Restaurant just a few years later in May 2007 and since has grown his appreciation for butchery. He worked at St. John’s for over 11 years under James Beard nominated chefs Daniel Lindley and current Executive Chef Rebecca Barron.

In June 2018, St. John’s owner Josh Carter and Kenny opened Kenny’s Southside Sandwiches in Chattanooga, TN. Kenny’s was recently featured in the 2019 summer issue of Garden and Gun magazine.

Kenny is married to Erin Burnap and has two daughters, Charlotte and Olivia.

Karl Egloff is the Director of WWF’s Travel and Conservation Program. He oversees WWF’s member and major donor travel programs, and the relationships with its primary operators to collaborate on marketing and operating nature-focused travel programs. Prior to his current role, he worked with CI-Sojourns, Conservation International’s major donor travel program. He grew up in Alaska before attending Montana State University and later started his career guiding and managing educational and adventure travel programs around the world. After settling in the Washington D.C. area, he received a Master Degree in Tourism Administration from The George Washington University. As someone who loves the outdoors, nature and travel, he is thrilled to help people travel to remarkable natural areas that create meaningful lifelong experiences. He lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and four children.

The Domestic Travel Conundrum
Establishing a Relationship with a New Operator
Institutional Branding

Down and Dirty of Domestic Travel
Engaging and Fundraising: Can It Be a Marriage Made in Heaven?
What’s Hot — NACZ
As Time Goes By: The Art of Pre- and Post- Tour Communications
2015 Botswana with Photos

Lead Trainer:

Pauline Ranieri, Director, UW Alumni Tours, University of Washington Alumni Association

Trainers:

Janet Moore, Owner, Distant Horizons
Lauren Summers, Director of Marketing, North America, Visit Wales
Gina Carmo, Director, Inspire Travel, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

PowerPoint Presentation:

How the Travel Industry Works for You

PDF of Powerpoint Presintaion:

How the Travel Industry Works for You

Lead Trainer:

Martin Ludwig, Director of Travel, Georgia Tech Alumni Association

Trainers:

Jennifer Bohac, Director – Travel Programs, Association of Former Students, Texas A&M University
Scott Gerloff, CEO/President Heritage Travel, LLC, National Trust for Historic Preservation
Lisa Hill, Travel and Special Programs Manager, Santa Barbara Museum of Art

PowerPoint Presentation:

Marketing: Your Travel Program and Your Tours

PDF of Powerpoint Presintaion:

Marketing: Your Travel Program and Your Tours

Lead Trainer:

Pauline Ranieri, Director, UW Alumni Tours, University of Washington Alumni Association

Trainers:

Joseph Small, President, AHI Travel
James Gallagher, President, USI Travel Insurance Services
Rodney Gould, Attorney, Rubin, Hay & Gould, P.C.

PowerPoint Presentation:

Risk Management

PDF of Powerpoint Presintaion:

Risk Management

Lead Trainer:

Pauline Ranieri, Director, UW Alumni Tours, University of Washington Alumni Association

Trainers:

Aleks Matic, Associate Director of Member Travel, Art Institute of Chicago
Melissa Gresh, Director of Alumni Travel Program, MIT Alumni Association
Kris Jameyson, Cal Discoveries Travel, Cal Alumni Association
Dan Stypa, Associate Director of Alumni Engagement, Association of Rice Alumni, Rice University

PowerPoint Presentation:

The Nuts and Bolts of Educational Travel

PDF of Powerpoint Presintaion:

The Nuts and Bolts of Educational Travel

Lead Trainer:

Martin Ludwig, Director of Travel, Georgia Tech Alumni Association

Trainers:

Mary Ann Hunt, Assistant Director, Dartmouth Alumni Travel, Dartmouth College, Office of Alumni Relations
Aiza Keesey, Development Officer, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Bobbi Collins, Director, Membership and Business Operations, U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association

PowerPoint Presentation:

The What, Why, and How of Educational Travel

PDF of Powerpoint Presintaion:

The What, Why, and How of Educational Travel

Risk Management: Documentation and Emergency Planning

Legal Documents and Agreements

Now that you have chosen the trips you would like to offer, what documents might you need to formally create a partnership with a tour operator? Below are examples. Institutions label these documents differently but the overall documents usually share the same information.

• Tour Operator Agreements – This is a contract between the tour operator and the institution sponsoring the trip. These are legal agreements that clearly explain the partnership expectations between both partners when planning a tour. Some institutions have formal retainer agreements in place that spell out the general terms, expectations, and legal framework of the working relationship with specific addendum contracts for each individual trip that lay out the details (allotments, pricing, etc) pursuant to only that trip. Examples: Cal – ETC tour operator manual, Cal – Tour information form, Sample Contract.
• Mailing List Agreements (sometimes included in the tour operator agreements) – Many tours are marketed via direct mail. The tour operator (or its mailing house) is supplied a mailing list from the sponsoring institution. These agreements explicitly explain what a tour operator can and cannot do with these mailing lists. This signed agreement is important for the confidentiality of your alumni / constituents’ information. These agreements do not need to be separate and can be part of your tour operator agreement.
• Institutional Disclaimer or Tour Operator terms and conditions – The Institutional Disclaimer is printed on the brochure or on a web site. The institution’s wording is usually created with input from the institution’s risk management office or legal counsel. The tour operator will also have general terms and conditions. Planners can opt to add their institution as part of the operator’s terms, rather than create their own. Cal – 2017 terms and conditions
• Passenger Release Forms – These forms are completed by the passengers before departure. They are important both for liability reasons and to alert a travel planner to any potential traveler issues that could be addressed before departure. Many planners do not generate their own release form; most tour operators send these out to the trip participants. What legal and medical documents are necessary for passengers to complete and sign? Examples: Sierra – individual waiver

Emergency Response and Communications Plans

• On-site emergency plans – As part of vetting a tour operator, be sure they have an up to date emergency plan in place and ask to have a copy. Their home office staff and trip leaders should be part of this plan.
• Institutional emergency response plans – Does your travel program have an emergency/communication plan? Does it clearly define what an emergency is? Does it tell your host / faculty how to implement the plan? Does it provide contact information for both resources on the ground and at the home institution? Does your institution have an emergency plan? Can you learn from that or work from that plan? Examples: Sierra – safety plan, Emergency Plan
• On-site emergency forms – Used on site to record what transpired, including all contact information for staff, times/dates, who was present, and the outcome. Examples: Sierra – emergency response card, Mass Casualty Form, Medical Report Form

Please note, other forms for this section are forthcoming!!

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Justifying Your Travel Program

Whether you have twenty years of data or just a few years of data, showing your travel program’s institutional worth is important. Though it may seem overwhelming, the data you need may be as simple as a data pull from your database and then cataloging the information. Having this information readily available is an easy way to explain the benefits of the travel program to your manager, a trustee or the institution’s president.

Measures for Success

Depending on what your institution values, there may be many data points to consider. This is a sample of what could be measured and documented year by year, and at the ready to show higher-ups:

• Number of engaged; participation numbers (could also include those who have simply raised their hands as being interested – keep track of those who have inquired!)
• Number of people who have traveled with a study leader.
• Percentage of repeat travelers.
• Percentage increase from year to year in overall participation.
• Percentage of travelers who have given to your institution (and we hope it is a more favorable figure than the total percentage of donors).
• Percentage of travelers whose only activity is the travel program and who have not participated in other institution events.

If you compare your constituency to the whole and find that your travelers’ overall behavior with your institution is favorable, that is a win. Also, think about how your colleagues measure success within their programs (other events staff or fund raisers) and mirror their measurement practices as appropriate.

See some ways in which institutions have justified their program

• MIT – Annual demographic
• Rice – Summary of Travelers Engagement Report

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Marketing

Questions to consider when developing your marketing plan

• Many tour companies create and mail a direct mail piece, anywhere from 5K to 18K pieces per trip, per institution. You will provide the mailing list for them. Have you segmented your database and know the size of your community? How can your database be better segmented for marketing purposes?
• What marketing efforts can you undertake based on resources available?
• What electronic resources are at your disposal that will reach your target audience? Can you create a travel program Facebook page? Can you get real estate on an institutional page? (ie. Alumni Association)
• How many times a year / month can you email past travelers, potential travelers and/or the whole database? Have you accessed Google Analytics to review the success of an email blast? Can you create a plan from the information garnered from Google Analytics to further market a tour?
• Have you surveyed your passengers to know how they found out about the tour and use this information for future marketing initiatives?
• In-person marketing can be effective. Will you offer a past traveler gathering / reception?
• How can you engage your institutional community to help market the travel program and tours?

Resource of marketing ideas

• Brown – Travelers_Ad
• UWash – marketing calendar
• UWash – Tour Promotion Schedule
• Duke – Smugmug Photoshare Email
• Philadelphia Zoo – Inquiry response letter
• Philadelphia Zoo – Travel Interest Survey

Host / Faculty Interactions

If you are working with faculty and staff hosts, here are some items for consideration

• How do I communicate to these two different constituencies, pre and post tour?
• How are their obligations different while on a tour?
• Do I have a faculty member / institutional representative that may serve as a faculty lecturer? What is their area of expertise? Where may they like to travel? What connections may they have that would help create a unique itinerary?
• What expenses does my Travel Program cover for traveling faculty? Can faculty bring a guest? Does your institution have protocol for this type of expense? Will your faculty be paid/or not?
• What expenses are covered for a staff host? What are your guidelines for who is invited to host a trip?

Some Travel Planners use these types of documents

• Lecturer Agreement Form – A form that is given to lecturers before formally being enrolled on the trip. It clearly states the lecturer’s responsibilities while on tour and asks them to sign the agreement.
• Staff Host Manual – These documents clearly outline expectations and details of the trip for a staff host.
• Faculty Host Manual – These documents clearly outline expectations and details of the trip for a faculty lecturer. Please note differences between the host and faculty manuals.

Lecturer agreement:

• Rice – Agreement Lecturer
• Cal – Lecturer Agreement

Staff host manual:

• Rice – Agreement host
• Philadelphia Zoo – Host manual for post-trip

Faculty host manual:

• Cal – Lecturer handbook
• Duke – Faculty Agreement
• Duke – Faculty and Host Selection Process
• Philadelphia Zoo – Medical report form
• Philadelphia Zoo – Orientation set up

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Communication with Confirmed Passengers

Questions to consider when developing your communications strategy with passengers

• Who is my audience and would online communication a good option?
• How can I engage my passengers beyond the trip?
• What can I learn from passengers and their trip feedback to help with future trip planning?

Here are some typical types of communication that is sent out from the planners

• Initial Confirmation Letter
• Letter of introduction from the faculty leader, if applicable. Recommended reading list, if applicable. Articles and other items of interest related to the trip, if applicable. Final Farewell Mailing
• Welcome Home Letter and Tour Survey

Confirmation letter sample

BROWN – Insurance Letter

Evaluations

• Philadelphia Zoo – Evaluation for Multi day trip
• Philadelphia Zoo – Host Evaluation Form
• Philadelphia Zoo – Passenger info form

Creating an Annual Trip Calendar

Questions to consider when developing your annual calendar

• What times of the year do I want my trips to depart? Ensure that your trips are planned throughout the year and not in conflict with other important dates for your institution or potential traveler base.
• How do I best organize my tours while I am planning my yearly calendar?
• Are there areas of the world which the travel program has not traveled for a period of time, but proved to be successful in the past?
• What destinations are trending? What are colleagues from like-institutions offering?
• Consider seasons, weather, and optimal times. Ask your tour operator and do research on optimal times to visit a location. Sometimes off-season touring may help your trip, depending on the content of the trip itself. Sometimes you may want your group to visit during a festival or another sort of occasion.
• Do you work and report out on activity from a fiscal year, or a calendar year? How might that affect your planning?
• Does your mission statement include revenue as a goal? …participation numbers? Whatever the main focus of your program, ensure that the planned trips help you reach your goals.

Calendar planning document

• UWash – Annual planning Doc
• MIT – Calendar Year Trip Planning

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Organizing Your Travel Data

Questions to consider when determining how to organize your travel data

• How should I organize my passenger and tour information?
• How should I organize my financial and budgetary information?

This tracking will play a big role in your own tracking, will help make future planning easier and clearer, and will support you in the event that you are asked to justify your program (covered in section #8).

Reservations

Customarily, Travel Program staff track reservations, by trip, based on either a fiscal year or a calendar year. Further, you can track reservations month by month in order to measure against the following year’s progress; and some track the flow of reservations received, related to when brochures drop, to understand booking trends. Also, tracking confirmed reservations against the allotment given to you by the tour operator will help you for future planning and to negotiate for more space in the future if you met or exceeded the allotted space you were given.

Demographics

It is important to understand your audience, so when you have accumulated reservations for numerous trips, do an analysis of who has opted in—those who have confirmed reservations and those who have expressed interest only—and continue to analyze and review this information as your constituency grows in order to better understand your demographic.

Keeping Track

Many in the industry use a travel program database, Excel, or Filemaker to manage this information.

Financials

It is important to draft budget projections for the year including trip by trip expenses and revenue as well as any overhead costs to run the program.

Some helpful documents

• UWash – Reservation summary report
• UWash – TravelBudget_manual update
• MIT – Financial History for ETC

Choosing Tour Operators

Questions to consider before committing to a tour operator

• How many total trips should the travel program offer? As a new program, consider the staff resources available for the travel program and the time commitment for each trip added. Each additional trip adds additional phone calls from potential travelers, additional marketing efforts, additional passenger mailings and passenger follow-up. If the institution sends a host, there is also host preparation.
• How many tour operators can the travel program manage and effectively work with? The more partners you have, the more time and resources it takes to implement your yearly calendar. Too few, and you run the “all your eggs in one basket” risks.
• Do I need tour operators who specialize in a certain kind of travel or in a certain destination?
• Which operators provide the right price point for my program? What overall pricing strategy will work best to achieve my mission? Are my trips at different price points to reach different audiences? Do I have a consistent range of prices to signal a certain type of product that travelers can expect from our program?
• Have I vetted the tour operator to ensure they are a good partner for my institution? Are they willing to sign the institution’s contract? Will they name the institution as additional insured on their professional liability insurance? Do they have an emergency plan in place? What is their contingency planning?

Helpful document / vetting a new tour operator

Philadelphia Zoo – Criteria for tour operators

A Day in the Life of a Planner

Travel planners need to be adept at juggling many tasks and planning well in advance. Two main tracks of planning efforts need to take place at one time: planning a year’s worth of trips for the future and planning efforts for each individual trip, leading up to departure. From there, sub-tracks of planning also need to be established to support your overall effort, including planning for marketing, confirming faculty hosts, budgeting etc. Here are some questions for consideration and below are some helpful documents:

1. Does your office plan by fiscal year? How would this affect your trip planning, while ensuring that your trip line-up looks right to your members/customers?
2. How much lead time do you want to have to marketing a trip prior to the departure? And prior to that, how much time is needed to plan the trip?
3. What sort of communication will be sent from your office prior to departure? Will you communicate once? Twice? More? What can your office sustain?
4. Are you going to work in a post-trip communication with recent travelers?
5. Do you have a general annual communication?
6. How can you streamline trip preparation with travelers and the tour operator, customer communications, program data gathering, trip inspections?

Here are some useful planning documents

• Rice – Trip Flowchart
• Rice – Reservation Flowchart
• Rice – Ship inspections
• Rice – Faculty & Host Selection process
• MIT Pre-Trip meeting questions

Creating Your Mission Statement

Questions to consider when developing your mission:

• Are you a revenue based travel program with an educational mission?
• Are you strictly building relationships through the educational travel program?
• Are you cultivating relationships but also teaming with development to continue cultivation?
• How does the travel program highlight University / Institutional goals and strategic missions?
• Is a priority to connect alumni, faculty, and/or staff in a more intimate way?
• Is a priority engaging international alumni with the travel program?

Resources:

• 7 Reasons Why Your Travel Program Needs a Clear, Written Mission Statement
• Source: The Growth Coach Houston
• 5 Tips for a Useful Mission Statement
• Source: INC

What Does Your Company Really Do?

Examples of Travel Program Mission Statements

JUMPSTART Table of Contents

1. Creating Your Mission Statement
2. A Day in the Life of a Travel Planner
3. Choosing Tour Operators
4. Creating an Annual Trip Calendar
5. Organizing your Travel Data
6. Communication with Confirmed Passengers
7. Host / Faculty Interactions
8. Marketing
9. Justifying your Travel Program
10. Risk Management: Documentation and Emergency Planning

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JUMPSTART

This Jumpstart manual contains documents generously shared by fellow travel planners. The aim is twofold:

• Help new travel planners begin a travel program and/or resurrect a dormant program
• Serve as a resource for veteran travel planners who may want to update their program’s materials

Each subject heading is accompanied by a series of questions. These questions are posed so the travel planner can better understand the processes inherent in creating or maintaining a program.

If you have any questions or would like to add materials to this manual, please contact Abby Jansen Busdeker at abby@educationaltravel.travel.

CONFIDENTIALITY: The Jumpstart Manual – and all parts therein – are made available only to current ETC members that are travel planners. Members are respectively asked not to share the manual – or forward documents to any other non-ETC member other than their internal institutional team. To do otherwise would quickly undermine the ability to sustainably provide this invaluable resource online for members as well as the commitment to contributors that this information be accessible to travel planner ETC members only.

If a travel planner wants access to the Jumpstart information they can easily become an ETC member for a modest fee which helps defray, but not cover, the extensive hours required to update Jumpstart materials, administrate the online tutorials and post and host both online annually.

Thank you!

A special thanks to these institutions for contributing to the manual. As the community’s culture is open sharing, please use these documents as inspiration for your program but please ensure your documents reflect your institution’s brand.

Brown University
CAL Berkeley
MIT
Philadelphia Zoo
Rice University
Sierra Club
University of Washington

Delivered at the Annual Conference 2018

Audio Recordings:

• Intensive: Expecting the Unexpected: Dealing with potential problems before they become an emergency or legal issue
• Understanding Safety Management Plans: No longer an option, but an imperative

Session Handouts:

Understanding Safety Management Plans: No longer an option, but an imperative and related document: Sample Safety Management Plan

Delivered at the Annual Conference 2017

Deliver at the Annual Conference 2016

Sunday, February 12

Monday, February 13

Tuesday, February 14

Wednessday, February 15

Tuesday, February 6

Wednesday, February 7

Thursday, February 8

Tuesday, January 29

Wednesday, January 30

Sunday, February 12

Monday, February 13

Tuesday, February 14

Wednessday, February 15

Monday, February 5

Tuesday, February 6

Wednesday, February 7

Thursday, February 8

Monday, January 28

Tuesday, January 29

Wednesday, January 30

Thursday, January 31

Nichole McGrew is the Associate Director for the University of Washington Alumni Tours program where she manages tour sales, customer service efforts, and stewardship for the UW Alumni Association. Prior to her current role, McGrew worked in product development & operations for several years at Globus, an international tour operator for the Globus, Cosmos, Avalon and Monograms Family of Brands. Before transitioning into tourism, she led strategic marketing and communication efforts in Colorado for organizations in corporate, non-profit and government industries, including Arapahoe County’s Open Space, Parks, & Trails department. Having grown up in Australia, she enjoys international travel, as well as hiking, dancing, and reading. McGrew is a graduate of the University of Denver.

Padgett Arnold is co-owner and director of sales & customer relations at Sequatchie Cove Creamery along with her husband, cheesemaker Nathan Arnold.  Her first career as a market gardener and active member of the local food and farming community in Chattanooga, TN lead into farmstead cheese. Their passion for regenerative agriculture & food with a relationship to the land lead Padgett and Nathan to Italy for Slow Food’s Terra Madre in 2004, where their interest in cheese and its unique expression of place was born. She and Nathan founded the Creamery in partnership with Sequatchie Cove Farm in 2010, where they began making raw cow’s milk cheeses originally inspired by the traditional Alpine styles of Europe, with a new vision to capture the character and flavors unique to their particular part of Tennessee. Padgett’s role in the business is tied to the people – from the dairy & creamery staff to customer service and business administration.  Her goal is to create a thriving agricultural enterprise founded on ethically crafted food with utmost respect for farmland, natural resources and the humans & animals behind the products.

Diana Lee Crew is currently a consultant to nonprofits and for profit educational organizations focusing on developing strategic relationships and consulting in a variety of capacities. Some of her more recent work includes sales consulting and product implementation training with StudySync, an innovative reading and writing Educational Technology company; photography and video work, including recent ETC conferences. From September 2005 to January 2010 she served as Director of Strategic Partnerships with Immersion Learning in Mystic, CT, which was founded by oceanographer and explorer Dr. Robert Ballard as a state-of-the-art communications and robotics technology program bringing yearly ocean-going research expeditions live to school kids, museums, science centers, aquariums, and participating Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Previously, she worked at the JASON Foundation of Education, where she spent over nine years as its Director of Sales for a leading science distance learning program. Prior to JASON, she was with the Denver Museum of Natural History for 18 years, where she developed and directed its museum travel and youth education programs, managed an active travel program, and was an institutional co-founding sponsor of the Nonprofits in Travel Conference, now evolved to ETC, and co-designer of the early Nonprofits in Travel Conference agendas. She also served as President of the Rocky Mountain Direct Marketing Association. She holds an M.A. in Public Information and Communication from the University of Denver and a B.A. from Scripps College in Claremont, CA

JD Harper is a Literary Advocate, Author, Health Care Professional, Outdoor Enthusiast, History Buff and Bookworm

She has enjoyed a career in Physical Therapy for over 25 years, volunteered as co-coordinator of the Chattanooga Youth Gallery, served as board member for the Council for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services (CADAS), volunteered with KelCurt Foundation, mentored with TNAchieves Scholarship program, and spends her free time outside reading, gardening, scuba diving, writing, climbing, and hiking.

Her goal is to promote the joys of literature to young adults in Chattanooga through seminars, book writing, and sharing stories about how she discovered an unshakable love for reading.

The power of reading is invaluable.  From expanding education to creating empathy, she has always cherished the opportunity to continuously grow through literature.  She want to ensure these positive life experiences endure in Chattanooga’s younger generations.  

Glint, serves as an outlet where she could release creative energy while simultaneously promoting readership to a young adult audience through historical fiction adventure.

Amy Spear’s love of traveling started as a small child, when her parents began the quest to take her to almost all 50 states in the nation, along with Canada and Mexico.  Then, as a young adult, she had the exciting chance to live and work abroad in several cities throughout Europe. After returning to the United States, she began a dynamic career in the travel industry working for the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corporation (NCVC) as part of the vibrant sales team that skyrocketed Nashville to the top of travel destinations.  After 7 ½ years at the NCVC, Amy received the exciting opportunity to become Director of Sales for Sweet Magnolia Tours- the American South’s premier receptive tour operator. Amy’s passion is to bring visitors to the South, specifically Tennessee, where she was born and has lived most her life. When asked what Amy loves most about her job, she says “I love planning trips and tours where visitors can experience the fantastic genuine ‘Southern hospitality,’ rich cultural history, fabulous authentic music scene and delicious southern cuisine that encompasses many of the things I love about my great state of Tennessee!” 

Donna is a native of Chattanooga. Her parents helped her discover her love of travel when they explored Jamaica in the 1960’s for a vacation. She has continued traveling from group tours to Europe, the USA, Canada, and the UK to backpacking through Europe and the UK. After a career as a teacher and educational consultant, Donna graduated from the International Travel Management Institute. She has been leading tours in Chattanooga and beyond since 2017. She has her Washington, DC and New York City guide licenses. She has led student tours on the east coast. She has led adult tours in the US South and Northeast.

Check out this pamphlet about Peru!

How to discover a country through its gastronomy!

Check out some of the luxury experiences in Peru

Check out the Lima Tourist Guide!

Check out this brochure about some of the amazing birds of Peru!

Check out this Brochure about how to help the sustainable tourism movement continue advancing!

Debbie Vargo has been the Director of Alumni Tours for The Ohio State University Alumni Association since 2008 after beginning as the manager in 2001. She and her two colleagues manage approximately 30 trips per year performing all aspects of the registration and communications processes with alumni travelers to maximize affinity-building and working with numerous tour operators in on-the-ground execution. Prior to Alumni Tours, she spent the first 14 years of her career working on behalf of college students, including six years as director of student recruitment for the Alumni Association. During her tenure with Alumni Tours, she has been to numerous, amazing countries with experiences ranging from cheering on the Iditarod in Alaska, to appreciating cherry blossom season in Japan, to shopping for stackable dolls in Russia, to eating haggis in Scotland, to drinking Chianti in Italy, and so much more! Debbie lives in Columbus with her husband Bill, dog Piper, and enjoys gardening, traveling, reading, and a good laugh. Her life is greatly enriched by her family and friends. Debbie graduated from both Ohio University and The Ohio State University.

Steve Wellmeier is Managing Director of Poseidon Expeditions USA, a polar expedition cruise operator. He has 35 years of experience in marketing and communications, public affairs, crisis media management, and member association management in the cruise and tour industry. Steve has served as executive director of the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO); public affairs liaison at the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) 9/11 World Trade Center Recovery Office; and vice president of marketing at INTRAV/Clipper Cruise Line. Steve holds an MA in English Literature from the University of Cincinnati and a BA in English Literature from Saint Louis University.

Janet Moore founded Distant Horizons in 1985 to combine her passion for travel with her love of learning. Since its first program for the Denver Art Museum in 1986 to China, Distant Horizons has operated hundreds of customized programs for institutions including Harvard University, Johns Hopkins and the Nature Conservancy. Many of Distant Horizons’ programs are aimed at donor groups providing a high level of access and curated experiences. Prior to starting Distant Horizons, Janet obtained a Master’s in Public Policy at the University of Michigan. During her undergraduate and graduate studies, she worked as a tour manager for the American Council for International Studies, organizing High School programs for students and teachers in Europe. In 1983 she moved to Los Angeles to open their California office. For the last several years she has been voted as part of the “A-LIST Travel Operators” by Travel and Leisure Magazine. She has contributed to NPR’s “The World” and is frequently interviewed by prominent national newspapers on travel issues. Janet lives by the ocean in Long Beach, CA and is married to physician David Larson and has four children. Janet has held numerous board positions including the Downtown Long Beach Alliance and the Intellectual Virtues Academy.

Bridget St. Clair is the Executive Manager Princeton Journeys, Princeton University. Bridget brought her extensive background in both international experiential learning and higher education program administration to the Princeton Journeys team in 2015. Previously, she served as a senior program officer for the Foreign Fulbright Program at the Institute of International Education in New York, where she was responsible for all aspects of program operations. Prior to her tenure at IIE, she worked at Travel Weekly magazine in Sydney, Australia. An intrepid explorer, enthusiastic runner, daily meditator and self-professed ‘old soul,’ Bridget is an alumna of the University of Miami and holds a Master’s in International Studies from the University of Limerick in Ireland. She is new to the EAC and represents the Ivy Plus. www.tigernet.princeton.edu/Education/

Katherine Redington is the Vice President of Social Impact Journeys and Business Development at Elevate Destinations where she oversees all institutional travel for non-profits clients including donor trips, impact investing trips, board retreats, political will journeys, and charity challenges.  She has worked on over 120 donor trips and delivers presentations and workshops throughout the United States to help non-profits maximize the positive benefits from these journeys. Prior to her current role, she worked at Visions Global Empowerment supporting post-conflict teacher training in Sri Lanka and social enterprise financing for tourism development programs that benefit those living at the bottom of the economic pyramid. She also worked for Rustic Pathways as a Country Manager overseeing all aspects of their educational travel program in Fiji. Katherine believes that donor travel can be a catalyst for positive transformation for non-profit organizations and local communities if done thoughtfully and responsibly. She holds a Masters in International Education and Development from Columbia University and is certified by the UNWTO in sustainable practices for tourism development. She lives in Washington D.C. with her family and can be found creating Halloween costumes for her family and friends year-round!

Jonathan Tourtellot specializes in sustainable tourism and destination stewardship. He works to help destinations and NGOs combine tourism, stewardship, and sense of place into a sustainable strategy and communicate it accordingly.  Jonathan runs the nonprofit Destination Stewardship Center (DSC), successor to the National Geographic Center for Sustainable Destinations that he founded and ran 2001-2010. A senior editor for three decades, he now blogs for National Geographic and other media, and collaborates on the new short-form video series World’s Inspiring Places. He is a member of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO, the international Sustainability Leaders Research Panel, and the National Press Club.  Mr. Tourtellot has addressed numerous groups, including the U.N. World Tourism Organization, UNESCO, the World Bank, and the World Travel and Tourism Council. Recently he has focused on the growing challenge of overtourism and governance issues related to it, providing talks, webinars, and contributions to an upcoming book on the topic. He originated the concept of the geotourism approach, “tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place—its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and the well-being of its residents.” An education at both Phillips Exeter Academy and Antioch College instilled a mixed Ivy-League/counterculture perspective helpful in the world of tourism and its impacts. When not traveling, he divides his time between Washington, DC and his home on a mountainside near Lovettsville, Virginia.

Dr. Anu Taranath brings both passion and expertise to her work as a speaker, facilitator and educator. A professor at the University of Washington for the past 18-years, she teaches about global issues, race, gender, identity, and equity. A four-time member of Humanities Washington Speakers Bureau, she has also received the Seattle Weekly’s “Best of Seattle” recognition, the UW’s Distinguished Teaching Award, and multiple US Fulbright Fellowships to work abroad. As a racial equity consultant and facilitator, Dr. Anu deepens people’s comfort with uncomfortable topics to work toward greater equity and social justice. Her new book Beyond Guilt Trips: Mindful Travel in an Unequal World was named one of Fodor’s Travels best “13 Books to Inspire Your Travels,” featured in YES!, AFAR, and Bitch Media, the national podcast “To the Best of Our Knowledge,” and “Travel with Rick Steves” radio program.

Caliopy Glaros is a fundraising and intercultural communication expert who helps organizations transform their donor engagement strategies through international travel. She has designed and delivered customized trainings and workshops at some of the biggest universities and medical institutions in the state of Oregon. In her day-to-day consulting work, she supports executive directors, development officers, travel planners, and boards in creating trips that put donors in direct contact with the causes they champion. Caliopy understands that a successful donor travel program needs expert fundraising strategy, smooth logistics, and intercultural acumen. Caliopy has on-the-ground experience in over thirty countries and has facilitated programs in more than fifty nations on five continents. She is a certified trainer in Intercultural Communication, experienced public speaker, and Chair of the Association of Fundraising Professional’s Diversity Committee. As a former third culture kid, Caliopy speaks three languages and has perpetual difficulty answering questions like “where are you from?” She currently lives between Portland, Oregon; Taipei, Taiwan; and Ikaria, Greece where she enjoys spending time with her partner, daughter, and a bevy of Greek, Taiwanese, and American relatives.

Dan Stypa serves as a Director of Sales with Orbridge. Prior to joining Obridge in the summer of 2019, he served as the Associate Director of Alumni Programs at Rice University (Houston, TX) where he worked for nearly 8 years. Stypa was responsible for the Rice Alumni Traveling Owls program, as well as all other lifelong learning and international engagement initiatives and managed affinity and constituency groups. Prior to his role at Rice, Stypa worked at the University of South Florida and coordinated faculty engagement programming for on-campus residential students. Stypa has presented at a variety of national, regional and statewide conferences. He is passionate about dogs; he has two of his own – Frieda and Knightro – and is active with K-9 Rescue Angels – a nonprofit dog rescue committed to rescuing and rehoming dogs in the greater Houston area. Stypa is originally from Ohio and has a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Bowling Green State University (OH) and a Master of Science in Higher Education Administration from the University of Tennessee. 

Kathy Edersheim is the President of Impactrics, an international alumni relations consulting company. Prior to forming Impactrics, she was Senior Director of International Alumni Relations and Travel at the Yale Alumni Association. Her responsibilities included managing Yale Educational Travel, which offers about 45 faculty-led trips a year. Her broader international responsibilities incorporated the Yale Global Alumni Leadership Exchange (YaleGALE) which, since 2008, has taken alumni delegations to many countries in Europe, Africa and Asia to share best practices in alumni relations with universities, and the Yale Alumni Service Corps, which takes Yale alumni, family, and friends to work in underserved communities providing supplementary education programs, public health education, micro-business consulting, and light construction to support and inspire the communities. Prior to joining Yale, Ms. Edersheim served as President of the Yale Club of New York City, worked as a Financial Consultant and as a marketing professional. She has an M.B.A. from the Stern School of Business at New York University and a B.A. from Yale University.

Catherine Hansen-Stamp is an attorney in private practice in Golden, Colorado. She advises recreation, adventure, sport and/or experiential program providers and related organizations on law, liability and risk management issues. Hansen-Stamp speaks and writes frequently on these issues, both regionally and nationally. She has presented at the Annual Wilderness Risk Manager’s Conference since its inception in 1994, and is currently on the Steering Committee. She co-authors articles regularly (with Charles ‘Reb’ Gregg) for American Camp Association’s CampLine. She has authored a variety of other publications as well. Her clients have included camps, schools, outfitters and guides, dude ranches, ropes and challenge course builders and facilitators, tripping programs, resort owners, science and environmental programs, competitive event sponsors and others. Hansen-Stamp graduated from The Colorado College in 1981 and received her Juris Doctor from the University of Wyoming in 1985. She is a member of both the Wyoming and Colorado Bar Associations and currently serves on the University of Wyoming College of Law Advisory Board.

John Francis is former Vice President for Research, Conservation and Exploration at National Geographic Society. A marine biologist and National Geographic grantee, John began his career studying behavioral ecology of seals and sea lions on remote islands in North and South America. A film on his work led to his role as a producer of wildlife films, covering everything from chimps and tigers to whales and sharks. From that he took on the grant making side of National Geographic supporting explorers around the world and pushing their stories through diverse NG media. Outside of his National Geographic Society responsibilities, Francis served on boards and committees for the US National Park System, the Commission for Education and Communications of the IUCN, and the US National Commission for UNESCO. He now serves on Sustainable Travel International and the Congo Basin Institute boards and advises the NG/Lindblad Fund supporting marine projects visited by shipboard travelers. John has a deep commitment to communication of the potent ties between humans and the rest of the natural world and is currently focused on citizen science and sustainable tourism as two key engines for change. John holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) in Behavioral Ecology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Rodney E. Gould is a partner at the law firm of Smith Duggan Buell & Rufo in Lincoln, MA. Mr. Gould has practiced in the travel law arena for over 40 years.  He represents tour operators and other travel professionals located in many countries, as well as trade associations, in all aspects of travel-related law.  He has taught at various Massachusetts area law schools as an adjunct professor.  He has written and lectured extensively on travel-related issues before numerous groups and associations.  He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, several United States Courts of Appeals, many United States District Courts, and the courts of Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and California, and he has litigated travel-related cases in numerous states as well as serving as an expert witness in many travel litigations throughout the country.  Mr. Gould graduated from Columbia Law School magna cum laude, was an editor of the Law Review and a James Kent Scholar. He graduated from Colby College, cum laude, after being elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Heather Hardwick Rhodes is CEO and co-founder of TravelStyles LLC, a market research and strategy consulting firm that serves the travel and tourism industry exclusively. She is also the owner and lead author of the TravelStyles® multi-client research program–a family of quantitative consumer studies conducted since 1986 with international pleasure travelers in selected markets including the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina. Rhodes has more than 20 years of travel industry experience as a strategy consultant, helping travel organizations identify, assess, and realize opportunities for growing market share. She has directed dozens of consulting engagements focused on strategic planning, market assessment, branding and positioning, and product development for destinations, tour operators, cruise lines, airlines, and other providers of travel services in the Americas, Europe, Pacific Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Rhodes has unparalleled knowledge of travelers’ motivations, behavior, and attitudes, and a particularly strong expertise in the educational, health and wellness, adventure, river cruising and group travel segments. She is a frequent speaker at industry events; this is her 15th year speaking at ETC. Rhodes is a graduate of Stanford University.

Spearheading Sustainability: Duke University Master Students’ Project
Tuesday, February 4, 12:50-1:30 pm

Annabelle Mercer is a biologist turned corporate sustainability strategist. Having spent several years researching the world’s rarest plants and animals, she is now dedicated to understanding how we can use the resources of the private sector to protect the planet’s biodiversity. Annabelle works with companies to measure and manage their environmental impact, pairing her passion for the environment with business management know-how. Annabelle received a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Duke University in 2017, and is now eagerly continuing her Duke experience as a Master of Environmental Management Candidate studying Business and Environment.

Samantha Burch is focused on using the power of impact strategy and communication to help drive sustainable business. She is currently pursuing a Master of Environmental Management degree, specializing in both Business and Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Prior to graduate school, she worked as an International Education Professional at UGA, where the intersection of sustainability and travel (and its tangled supply chain!) first peaked her interest. Through her Master’s Project, she’s gained further insight into the travel world and is now dedicated to redefining how we travel through: improved standardization practices, strategic partnership development, and effective marketing and communications. Samantha earned her B.A. in Environmental Studies and International Studies at Elon University (’16).

Courtney McCorstin is a Master of Environmental Management Student pursuing a concentration in Business and the Environment with a specialization in Conservation Management. She is an environmentalist at her core, with a B.S. in Wildlife Biology and minors in Sustainability and Water Resources. Her passion for travel became apparent as she was working as a conservationist on a Game Reserve in South Africa. She discovered the way to connect her passion for wildlife and experience in business was through travel. It was for this reason that she decided to pursue a Master’s Project focused on Sustainable Travel.

Facilitator: Beth Ray-Schroeder is Director of Duke Alumni Travels in the Office of Alumni Affairs at Duke University. At Duke since 2005, Ray-Schroeder has also alumni education initiatives and priorities of the alumni travel program. She now organizes more than 40 educational travel programs annually, which comprise vendor itineraries and in-house customized programs showcasing unique Duke entities and are led by Duke faculty. Prior to coming to Duke, Ray-Schroeder lived and worked in Spain and Germany for 17 years. She held positions as a software developer in Madrid, as international systems project manager at Deutsche Lufthansa AG in Frankfurt am Main, and as an organizational consultant in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. She holds a B.S. in Computer Science and the equivalent degree in Psychology from Duke University, and a M.S. in Organizational Psychology from Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz. Ray-Schroeder is currently serving on the ETC Executive Advisory Council representing the interests of alumni association travel planners in the southeastern United States.

Facilitator: John Francis is former Vice President for Research, Conservation and Exploration at National Geographic Society. A marine biologist and National Geographic grantee, John began his career studying behavioral ecology of seals and sea lions on remote islands in North and South America. A film on his work led to his role as a producer of wildlife films, covering everything from chimps and tigers to whales and sharks. From that he took on the grant making side of National Geographic supporting explorers around the world and pushing their stories through diverse NG media. Outside of his National Geographic Society responsibilities, Francis served on boards and committees for the US National Park System, the Commission for Education and Communications of the IUCN, and the US National Commission for UNESCO. He now serves on Sustainable Travel International and the Congo Basin Institute boards and advises the NG/Lindblad Fund supporting marine projects visited by shipboard travelers. John has a deep commitment to communication of the potent ties between humans and the rest of the natural world and is currently focused on citizen science and sustainable tourism as two key engines for change. John holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) in Behavioral Ecology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Dr. Janet Ferguson is the Executive Director of the Lifelong Learning Centre, Bermuda College. Prior to her current role, Dr. Ferguson designed and facilitated workshops and learning events for a wide cross-section of private and public sector clients in the United Kingdom and Bermuda. In addition to her current work in curriculum development and administration for late-life learning, she is interested in the exploration of the distinctive nature of the learning and developmental experiences of mature adults. Dr. Ferguson has taught extensively in multiple jurisdictions and holds graduate qualifications in Commonwealth Area Studies, Marketing and Teaching and Course Design for Higher Education. Her doctoral degree is in the area of Continuing Education (Warwick, 1998).

Dawn Rodney is Vice President Innovation and Chief Marketing Officer for the National Wildlife Federation.  She is responsible for leading innovation, amplifying brand awareness, creating new revenue streams, developing content, and transforming the organization’s current catalog and licensing divisions. Prior to joining the National Wildlife Federation, Dawn was Senior Vice President of Marketing and Brand for the National Geographic Society.  Dawn was responsible for leading the global brand, engaging digital natives across the world on all platforms, launching new digital products, and driving awareness of National Geographic’s science, education, and storytelling priorities.  While at National Geographic, Dawn also led strategic marketing and creative for the National Geographic Channels.  She was integral to building and launching NGC, Nat Geo WILD, and Nat Geo Mundo – transforming them from start-up networks to global, world premiere brands.  Dawn also had various supervising producing positions at Animal Planet and Discovery Health.  She started her career as a producer at local television stations.  Dawn has won many industry awards for her work including an Emmy Award for National Geographic’s “Next Generation of Explorers” campaign and Webby Award for Best Homepage.  Dawn is a graduate of Duquesne University.

Todd Duncan is the Director of Safety, Security and Emergency Preparedness for the Sierra Club where he manages operational risk and crisis response.  Prior to this role, he served two years as the Director of Safety and Student Life for the School for Field Studies (SFS), a university international semester abroad provider which [expand title=”offers”] hands-on environmental learning to students. He has also served with the Wildlife Conservation Society as manager for Glover’s Reef Marine Research Station in Belize.  Todd has guided and directed adventure, research, and education programs on six continents.  He is a native of Montana and graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Brian Anderson is the Director of National Outings at the Sierra Club. He is responsible for directing staff and volunteers in the operation, planning, and management of 250 to 300 trips per year worldwide and ensuring that trips have strong conservation messages that tie to the organization’s mantra of Enjoy, Explorer, Protect. Years in the field as a whitewater rafting guide, adaptive ski instructor, rock climbing, and backpacking guide have given him a well-rounded field and office work history from various organizations. Brian graduated with his Bachelor’s degree from Western Colorado University and Masters from Regis University. Brian joined the Executive Advisory Council in 2020 and represents national non-profit organizations. https://content.sierraclub.org/outings/

Marc McPherson, ETC Videographer, is a Filmmaker and Creative Director at Fresh Cut Studios. He first worked with the ETC team in 2013 during their EAC Meetings in Alberta and has been shadowing and filming their every move ever since. Marc graduated in 2002 with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications, which included a semester abroad at the Universidad de Alicante in Spain. At the beginning of his career, Marc gained a vast amount of international TV and film production experience working in Canada, the UK and United States as a Filmmaker. Now, he combines his background in filmmaking with his communications & cultural studies skills to create video based communications, marketing and eLearning for a number of companies and organizations locally and abroad. Marc is a drummer, soccer player and loves to hike in the mountains with his wife and two sons.

Spearheading Sustainability: Duke University Master Students’ Project
Tuesday, February 4, 2020, 12:50-1:30pm

Biography:
John Francis retired as Vice President for Research, Conservation and Exploration at National Geographic Society. A marine biologist and National Geographic grantee, John began his career studying behavioral ecology of seals and sea lions on remote islands in North and South America. A film on his work led to his role as a producer of wildlife films, covering everything from chimps and tigers to whales and sharks. From that he took on the grant making side of National Geographic supporting explorers around the world and pushing their stories through diverse NG media. Outside of his National Geographic Society responsibilities, Francis served on boards and committees for the US National Park System, the Commission for Education and Communications of the IUCN, and the US National Commission for UNESCO. He now serves on Sustainable Travel International and the Congo Basin Institute boards and advises the NG/Lindblad Fund supporting marine projects visited by shipboard travelers. John has a deep commitment to communication of the potent ties between humans and the rest of the natural world and is currently focused on citizen science and sustainable tourism as two key engines for change. John holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) in Behavioral Ecology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Adrian D’Amico, Esq., M.B.A., is a practicing corporate attorney specializing in building leading legal technology solutions for global law firms and international companies. He currently serves as a legal technology consultant for Thomson Reuters. Adrian has practiced in-house technology law for some of the world’s largest organizations, including FedEx, where he was instrumental in billion-dollar technology negotiations. In addition, in 2008, Adrian started his own successful digital marketing and web services firm, E3 Media, LLC, providing solutions for some of the largest brands in the northeast of the United States. He is also a successful social media content creator, with an audience of over 95,000 visitors. Adrian earned his B.A. from Emory University and then simultaneously earned his juris doctorate and Master’s of Business Administration from the University of Pittsburgh. His academic specializations include corporate law, software licensing law, information technology management, and strategy management. He currently resides in Pittsburgh, PA.

What’s New in Social Media for Travel?
Wednesday, February 5 – 8:45-9:45am

Biography:
Sree Sreenivasan is a leading consultant, speaker and trainer for nonprofits, corporations, startups and executives, specializing in digital innovation and social media. He was named one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2015; the world’s most influential Chief Digital Officer by CDO Club in 2016; and one of Poynter’s 35 most influential people in social media in 2010. In the last year, he’s worked internationally with Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District; UNHCR, the UN refugee agency; the Pulitzer Prizes; Louvre Abu Dhabi; TheWrap entertainment news; U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum; American Museum of Natural History; and the National Ballet of Canada, to name a few.

Sree has been Chief Digital Officer of major institutions in multiple industries: City of New York; Columbia University; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Before joining the Met, he spent 20 years as a full-time professor at his master’s alma mater, Columbia Journalism School. He was recently named the inaugural Marshall R. Loeb Visiting Professor of Digital Innovation at Stony Brook University School of Journalism. Sree is delighted to return to ETC after a gap of three years.

A Voice for the Voiceless
Tuesday, February 6, 2020 – 8:45-9:30am

Biography:
Joel Sartore is a photographer, speaker, author, teacher, conservationist, National Geographic fellow and regular contributor to National Geographic magazine and National Geographic Photo Ark Founder.  His hallmarks are a sense of humor and a midwestern work ethic.

Sartore started the Photo Ark some 11 years ago in his hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska. Since then he’s visited 40 countries in his quest to create this photo archive of global biodiversity. Sartore has produced several books including RARE: Portraits of America’s Endangered Species, Photographing Your Family, and two new National Geographic Photo Ark books: The Photo Ark and Animal Ark.

In addition to the work he has done for National Geographic, Sartore has contributed to Audubon magazine, Life, The New York Times, Sports Illustrated and numerous book projects. Sartore and his work have been the subjects of several national broadcasts, including National Geographic’s Explorer, NBC Nightly News, NPR’s Weekend Edition, Fresh Air with Terry Gross and the PBS documentary series, Rare: Portraits of the Photo Ark. He is also a regular contributor on the CBS Sunday Morning Show.

Sartore graduated from the University of Nebraska with a degree in journalism. He currently lives in Nebraska with his wife and children.

Peter Shankman is the founder of ShankMinds: Breakthrough, an online community of business professionals from around the world who come together to give and get advice, increase their business, and improve their lives. Shankman is also the founder and CEO of The Geek Factory, Inc., a boutique Social Media, Marketing and PR Strategy firm located in New York City, with clients worldwide. His Customer Service and Social Media clients have included American Express, Sprint, Sheraton, Walt Disney World, Abercrombie and Kent, The Ad Council, Discovery Networks, Napster, Juno, Harrah’s Hotels, and many, many others. An author, entrepreneur and corporate keynote speaker, this “worldwide connector” is recognized worldwide for radically new ways of thinking about customer service, social media, PR, marketing, advertising, and ADHD. Shankman has authored five books including his latest, “Zombie Loyalists: Using Great Service to Create Rabid Fans.” A marketing pundit for several national and international news channels, including Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC, he is frequently quoted in major media and trade publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Daily News, The Associated Press, Reuters and USA Today. He is a graduate of Boston University.

ZombieLoyalists.com

Zombie Loyalists sold here!

Clint Laurent, PhD, is Founder and Managing Director of Global Demographics Ltd, formerly Asian Demographics Ltd. Dr. Laurent moved to Hong Kong in 1976, initially with Hong Kong University and then as a Director of Price Waterhouse, where he built a market research and consultancy group. His book, Tomorrow’s World, maps out the world’s near future through the lens of demography.

OpenMarkets Interview

Don George is currently Editor at Large for National Geographic Traveler.  National Geographic has called Don George “a legendary travel writer and editor.” George has been Travel Editor for the San Francisco Examiner and Salon.com, and Global Travel Editor for Lonely Planet. He has visited more than ninety countries on six continents, has published hundreds of articles in dozens of magazines and newspapers around the world, and regularly speaks, teaches, and consults at conferences, campuses, and companies from San Francisco to Singapore to London. George’s most recent book is the highly acclaimed The Way of Wanderlust: The Best Travel Writing of Don George.  He has been exploring new frontiers as an author, editor, and adventurer for almost four decades, and is also an acclaimed teacher, speaker, and tour leader. He has received dozens of awards for his writing and editing, including twelve Lowell Thomas Awards from the Society of American Travel Writers. He is a highly sought-after speaker, workshop leader, and consultant nationally and internationally on travel and social media. George is co-founder and host of the award-winning San Francisco-based reading series Weekday Wanderlust, and co-founder and chairman of the celebrated Book Passage Travel Writers & Photographers Conference. He is a graduate of Princeton University and the Hollins College graduate program in creative writing.

The Way of Wanderlust sold here!

Pico Iyer is a Distinguished Presidential Fellow at Chapman University, a longtime essayist for Time magazine, and a constant contributor to dozens of other magazines worldwide. He is also the author of many books including Video Night in Kathmandu, The Man Within My Head, Abandon, and The Open Road. Mr. Iyer spoke at ETC 2006, the year of the 20th anniversary of the Conference, and returned to keynote in 2015.

Pico Iyer Amazon.com Author Page

David Meerman Scott‘s The New rules of Marketing & PR, is now available in 25 languages. A prolific author, marketing strategist, advisor to emerging companies, and professional speaker on marketing, social media and leadership topics, Scott devoted his ETC 2013 keynote presentation to what he has laid forth in this book.

DavidMeermanScott.com

Meerman Scott Downloads

The New Rules of Marketing PR sold here!

Richard Louv is a journalist and author of eight books about the connections between family, nature, and community. His latest book is “The Nature Principle: Human Restoration and the End of Nature-Deficit Disorder” (May 2011, Algonquin), offering a new vision of the future, in which our lives are as immersed in nature as they are in technology, was preceded by his best seller. “Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder” (Algonquin), translated into 10 languages and published in 15 countries, has stimulated an international conversation about the relationship between children and nature.

RichardLouv.com

Last Child in the Woods sold here!
The Nature Principle sold here!

Andrew McCarthy is an editor at large at National Geographic Travelermagazine. He has written for The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, Afar, Bon Appetit, Town & Country, and Men’s Journal, among others. The Society of American Travel Writers named him “Travel Journalist of the Year” in 2010.  His travel memoir, The Longest Way Home, became a New York Times bestseller, with the Financial Times of London naming it one of the Best Books of 2012. Though he ventures from the treacherous slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro to an Amazonian riverboat and the dense Costa Rican rain forests, McCarthy’s real journey is one of the spirit.

More of Andrew McCarthy’s writing to enjoy.

Lee Cockerell, one of our best-received keynote speakers at ETC 2012, has published The Customer Rules. This follows his first book, Creating Magic.

The Customer Rules sold here!
Creating Magic sold here!
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Peter Greenberg is the nation’s preeminent expert on travel and travel-related issues and an Emmy award-winning writer, investigative reporter, and producer with more than 11 million miles of direct experience under his belt, covering thousands of stories in hundreds of countries around the globe. His newest book, The Best Places for Everything: The Ultimate Insider’s Guide to the Greatest Experiences Around the World is the definitive guide for thrill-seekers and armchair travelers alike. No matter what’s on readers’ wish lists, they will always end up in the perfect spot.

The Travel Detective

The Best Places for Everything sold here!

Art Markman is the Annabel Irion Worsham Centennial Professor of Psychology and Marketing at the University of Texas at Austin and Founding Director of the Program in the Human Dimensions of Organizations.  Art has written over 150 papers on topics including reasoning, decision making, and motivation.  He brings insights from cognitive science to a broader audience through his blogs at Psychology Today, Fast Company, and Inc and his radio show/podcast Two Guys on Your Head produced by KUT radio, the NPR affiliate in Austin.  Art has written several books including Smart Thinking, Smart Change, and Habits of Leadership.  His latest book, written with his podcast co-host Bob Duke is called Brain Briefs.

Smart Change sold here!
Brain Briefs sold here!

Lois Geller, returning keynote speaker for ETC 2013, shares the latest direct marketing tips and techniques in the age of the Internet.

Blog, archives, and tips
Forbes

Response sold here!
Customers for Keeps sold here!
Direct Marketing Techniques sold here!

Brian Skerry is a photojournalist specializing in marine wildlife and underwater environments. Since 1998, he has been a contract photographer for National Geographic Magazine. He was a keynote speaker for ETC 2014. With his book, Ocean Soul, Brian showcases his stunning photography and describes his adventurous life in a gripping portrait of the ocean as a place of beauty and mystery.

Brian Skerry Photography

Peter Yesawich biannually returns to ETC with his latest appearance as a keynoter at ETC 2015. Along with Stowe Shoemaker and Robert C. Lewis,  he is the co-author of Marketing Leadership in Hospitality and Tourism: Strategies and Tactics for Competitive Advantage now in its 4th edition.

MMGY Global

2013 Portrait of American Travelers

Marketing Leadership in Hospitality and Tourism sold here!

Richard Louv is a journalist and author of eight books about the connections between family, nature, and community. His latest book is “The Nature Principle: Human Restoration and the End of Nature-Deficit Disorder” (May 2011, Algonquin), offering a new vision of the future, in which our lives are as immersed in nature as they are in technology, was preceded by his best seller. “Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder” (Algonquin), translated into 10 languages and published in 15 countries, has stimulated an international conversation about the relationship between children and nature.

RichardLouv.com

Last Child in the Woods sold here!
The Nature Principle sold here!

Joemy Wilson is a tour director and the author of “Coming Up on Your Left: A Tour Guide’s Guidebook.” She has led tours on five continents and traveled to all seven. For Academic Arrangements Abroad, Wilson has managed study trips to such destinations as Ireland, Egypt, and the Galapagos. During her twelve years at Tauck World Discovery, she led tours in Russia, Japan, South Africa, the Alps, the Western Mediterranean and other destinations. She assisted Tauck with new program development in Europe and Africa and aided the program operations department as Regional Operations Assistant with logistics for European tours.  Wilson has taught at ITMI (the International Tour Management Institute) since 2000. She serves as a docent for The Glendale Historical Society at the Doctors’ House, a Queen Anne-Eastlake Victorian house museum. A firm believer in busman’s holidays, Wilson traveled to Churchill, Manitoba, last November with Frontiers North Adventures to photograph polar bears. She and her husband will explore Morocco on a study tour with Road Scholar in March 2015. Wilson holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Barnard College.

Coming Up on Your Left Sold Here!

Pico Iyer is a Distinguished Presidential Fellow at Chapman University, a longtime essayist for Time magazine, and a constant contributor to dozens of other magazines worldwide. He is also the author of many books including Video Night in Kathmandu, The Man Within My Head, Abandon, and The Open Road. Mr. Iyer spoke at ETC 2006, the year of the 20th anniversary of the Conference, and returned to keynote in 2015.

Pico Iyer Amazon.com Author Page

Keith Bellows, Senior Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of National Geographic Travel Media, was one of ETC 2013’s keynote speakers. His newest book is 100 Places That Can Change Your Child’s Life. The book was released in 2013.

Beth Ray-Schroeder is Senior Director of Duke Travels with Duke Alumni Engagement and Development at Duke University. At Duke since 2005, Beth has also launched and directed several mainstay alumni education initiatives. In 2014, she began to focus solely on the priorities of the Duke Travels program. Since then, the program has seen a 50% increase in the number of programs offered and a 100% increase in the number of travelers annually, including approximately 2500 first-time travelers. She now organizes more than 45 educational travel programs annually, which comprise vendor itineraries and customized programs, and are primarily led by Duke faculty. Beth is leading an initiative to align the mission and goals of Duke Travels with the climate commitment of Duke University. Since 2018, she has partnered with Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment as a client in three projects and strives to operate a carbon-neutral travel program by 2024. She holds a B.S. in Computer Science and the equivalent degree in Psychology from Duke University, and a M.S. in Organizational Psychology from Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany. Beth is an active member of the ETC Executive Advisory Council. www.duke-travels.com   

Peter Russell Voll
July 3, 1943 – December 14, 2012

Below is a draft of the obituary that Peter’s wife Suzanne submitted to the San Francisco Chronicle:

Peter Russell Voll passed peacefully at his home in Palo Alto on Friday, December 14, 2012. He was surrounded by his wife and four children. He was known as “Pete” to his family and friends and as “Papa Pete” to his seven grandchildren. Peter is survived by his wife of 34 years, Suzanne Hardt Voll, mother Alva Stanford, stepmother Nona Voll, daughters Vicki Voll of Capitola and Sara Voll of Hawaii, stepson Jay Backstrand of Palo Alto, step daughter Kendall Nash of Mill Valley, grandchildren; Ian, Kaylor, O’rian, Alden, William, Jay, and Dylan, and by brothers; John Voll, Bob, Tom, and David Staniford, and step sister Lynne Chase. Peter was an avid reader and never missed his daily New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and San Francisco Chronicle. He was passionate about travel, politics, history, culture, and good food.

Born July 3, 1943 in Imperial Valley, CA, Peter grew up in the town of Coalinga in the San Joaquin Valley and was a proud fourth generation Californian. In high school, Peter was Student Body President his senior year and a gifted athlete. He competed in track, football, and basketball and was the conference high jump champion in 1961. He was also the starting quarter back his senior year, and had a lifelong love of football that he shared with family and friends.

In 1962, Peter moved to Palo Alto, CA to attend Stanford University. After receiving his B.S. in political science in 1965, he worked as a campaign consultant in eight Congressional races, the 1972 Presidential Primary, and a 1982 U.S. Senate race. In 1972 Peter joined the Stanford Alumni Association as a marketing executive for the Stanford Alpine Chalet and soon after became the Business and Advertising Manager of the Stanford magazine. In 1974 he became director of the Association’s fledgling Travel/Study Program, where he spent the next 18 years developing it into one of the premier alumni travel programs in the United States.

Peter’s professional vision was to open the roads to understanding of different societies and cultures through tourism. In 1992 he left Stanford to devote full time to Peter Voll Associates (PVA), which was merged in 2002 with another educational tour operator, High Country Passage. During his career, Peter designed and implemented more than 200 different educational tours to U.S. and worldwide destinations. He launched a number of travel industry firsts including tourist trips to the People’s Republic of China, alumni tours to Burma (now Myanmar), and tours to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In 2002-3, PVA operated several trips to Cuba for alumni associations and museums. In 2007 Peter organized the first Global Warming and Climate Change Symposium in the Russian Arctic on the icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov, led by Tom Brokaw and Forrest Sawyer. In 2009 he designed the first World Leaders Symposium in the Arabian Gulf led by former Secretaries of State and Defense James Baker III and William Perry. Peter also served as a consultant in developing itineraries and educational tours for a number of tour companies, including Special Expeditions (now Lindblad Expeditions), Clipper Cruise Line, TCS Expeditions, and Zegrahm Expeditions.

After retiring from High Country Passage, Peter served as a consultant to the National Geographic Society and the Discovery Channel in the development of their travel programs. He set up and managed the Chief Executives Organization’s cruise program in the Arabian Gulf and was advisor to the FORTUNE Global Forums Cultural Tours. Peter was dedicated to his field and his community and had deep sentiment for his family and roots. He was a two-time member of the Advisory Council of the Educational Travel Conference, served on the Travel Committee of the Commonwealth Club of California, and was for decades a devoted member of the Palo Alto University Rotary Club. He was married for 34 years to Suzanne. Suzanne was his constant companion, providing tremendous support to Peter throughout his career. Peter loved his family deeply. He was a cherished friend and respected mentor to many of his colleagues. His enthusiasm to know and understand the world he lived in was contagious. His family and friends find solace in knowing that Peter is just off scouting another amazing trip. He will be missed.

Memorial donation suggestions:
Foundation for College Education
The Rotary Foundation, Rotary Centers for Peace and Conflict Resolution
Stanford Historical Society

Job Opening: Educational Travel Consultant

Holbrook Travel is an experienced provider of educational, natural history, and specialty travel programs to groups and individuals. Major channels of distribution include educational institutions, nature and birding organizations, alumni associations, and a wide array of special interest and affinity groups.
Our primary areas of expertise are Central and South America, Africa, and Polar Regions. Countries such as Costa Rica, Belize, Chile, Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands, Peru, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa are some of the places in which we create our own programs through direct negotiation. Holbrook also owns and operates Selva Verde Lodge and Private Reserve in Costa Rica.
The ideal candidate would be passionate about educational travel and hold a strong belief in the value of travel for experiential learning. Candidates could come from a variety of backgrounds; teaching, travel, non-profit, development, and natural resources. Experience with educational travel, being technologically savvy, able to travel, and have ties to educational communities – these are all important ingredients.

ABOUT THIS POSITION

The position on our Sales consulting team requires a broad range of skills and an organized and motivated individual. Applicants must have excellent verbal and written communication skills and work well within in a team environment. Experience in a commercial Sales environment, Marketing background, international travel experience, science background are considered a huge plus for applicants.
Position is Home-based or in our Gainesville, Florida office.

Essential Job Responsibilities:

• Sales to Travel planners and leaders from organizational partners
• Networking in Education, Museum, and Alumni communities and other affinity organizations
• Client Account Management
• Developing and presenting proposals and working with internal departments to deliver high quality, impactful programs

Required Skills, Knowledge, Must Haves and Experience of “A” Player:

• Travel experience (Latin America, East Africa, other points that Holbrook offers)
• Previous successful sales experience OR a strong interest in a selling role
• The desire to meet and exceed measurable performance goals
• Initiative, self-starter, willing to build client portfolio
• Contacts and/or network in client communities a plus
• Enthusiasm, desire to connect with others
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Organizational/Time Management Skills: Job may require working on multiple concurrent accounts and processes.
• Must be able to keep work organized to meet deadlines.
• Supporting the cultivation of leads and building relationships within the mission and structure of the company
• Support and influence the processes for client management efficiency and data management
• Building and nurturing relationships with colleagues in the office and our international network
• Proficient knowledge of MS Word, MS Outlook, MS Excel, CRM systems.

BENEFITS

• Salary: Base salary commensurate with experience, plus structured commission plan
• Benefits package: 50% health insurance premiums covered first and second year of employment for employee, 75% the third year, then 100% after completing 3 full years
• Dental coverage, which includes 2 cleanings per year, x-rays, and additional benefits for more extensive procedures
• Other benefits including company 401K and travel opportunities

TO APPLY

Send your resume and a thoughtful cover letter explaining why you’d like to work for Holbrook Travel in the Educational Travel Consultant position to chris@holbrooktravel.com. Applications without a cover letter will not be considered. Current references will be required in the final round. If your qualifications meet our needs we will contact you, and in addition, retain your resume on file for 90 days. Holbrook Travel is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to a diverse and inclusive work environment. We look forward to learning what you can bring to our team!

Get field reports, speaker publications, destination micro-sites, and connect with conference presenters.

More.

• Winter 2019 Newsletter (coming February 2019)
• Fall 2018 Newsletter
• Summer 2018 Newsletter
• Winter 2018 Newsletter
• Fall 2017 Newsletter
• Summer 2017 Newsletter
• Spring 2017 Newsletter

• December 5, 2018 – Sweet Home Alabama Welcome
• December 12, 2018 – CONNECTS is Open
• December 19, 2018 – Hotel Overflow
• January 9, 2019 – We’ve added Space
• January 16, 2019 – We are eager to welcome you to Montgomery!
• January 16, 2019 – We are eager to welcome you to your first ETC Conference (Newcomers)

Visual and print exposure as soon as delegates check in to the conference hotel. With customized images and messaging on the official hotel’s key cards, your brand is put in front of delegates daily.

Sold Out.

Showcase your commitment to sustainable travel during the conference and beyond.  Your brand will be seen during three days of conference and taken home by delegates for even more exposure.

ABOUT THE ROLE

This position requires a self-motivated individual with excellent communication skills, and ability to multi-task with the highest level of efficiencies in a fast-paced sales and service environment. The Group Sales Coordinator’s role is to close sales, provide exceptional guest service and sales support to the company’s group business. This individual must be detail-oriented and organized with the ability to understand and manage sales agreement terms, effectively manage bookings and maintain/develop professional relationships with group partners. This individual will be interacting and coordinating with the Travel Partners from various organizations as well as with the Lindblad Sales, Marketing, Operations, Reservations and Inventory Control teams.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Serve as the primary contact for inside group sales and service for all organizations including university alumni/donor, museums, conservation, membership, travel agency groups plus other non- traditional niche markets.
• Manage group space reservation blocks per the terms of the contract.
• Prioritize and respond to all booking requests.
• Reconcile incoming payments with group invoices, and coordinate commission payments with accounting.
• Liaise with the operations team to ensure proper distribution of all pre/final and post travel documentation.
• Manage guest manifests, information forms, flight questionnaires, medical forms, credit card forms, and other pertinent documentation required to complete bookings and service guests.
• Review and understand the terms of the group brochure for reach organizations prior to promotion.
• Participate in reservation/operations pre-marketing briefings as needed.
• Participate in pre-trip briefings with faculty leaders and travel partner for each organization as needed.
• Liaise with the group travel coordinator and the Lindblad operations and staffing teams to plan and execute the group experience onboard
• Manage all incoming calls and email communication and respond in timely manner
• Handle and resolve conflicts or guests service issues by recommending and /or providing alternative solutions

DESIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor’s degree preferred
• Group travel experience and knowledge of expedition travel or applicable geographic regions and cultures preferred
• Positive attitude and a will to succeed independently as well as part of a team
• Excellent written and verbal interpersonal skills
• Proficient with MS Office, specifically Office and Excel
• Occasional participation at sales events will be required as needed

For more information and to apply click here.

Job Title: Reservations Specialist
Department: Client Services
Supervisor: Assistant Manager for Reservations
Salary: $36,000 plus approximately $2,000 in yearly sales incentives
Application Deadline: June 7, 2019
Start Date: June 17, 2019