Travel. Learn. Connect.
Kenny Porpora is the Co-Founder of HospitableMe, a consulting, marketing and strategy agency specializing in the LGBTQ+ travel and hospitality market. He is also a senior editor at ManAboutWorld magazine, a pioneering gay travel publication built for mobile devices. In addition, he has curated content for some of the largest destination marketing organizations in the world. He is the New York Times best-selling author of The Autumn Balloon and his work has appeared in The New York Times, Buzzfeed, Salon and others. He has traveled to more than 25 countries and is a self-proclaimed puppy dog enthusiast.
Sandi Robinson serves as Director of Sales at The Godfrey Hotel Chicago, overseeing the events and the sales team at the property, as well as day-to-day operations. Sandi joined the hotel team prior to the property’s opening in 2014 as the Senior Events Manager and was then promoted into her current role. In 2017, she was awarded HSMAI’s Director of Sales and Marketing of the Year, which recognizes excellence, creativity, and leadership in hotel sales. Sandi serves on the IGLTA board of directors, and also prides herself on being an integral part of the Chicago community in hospitality and beyond. She is a Board Member Emeritus for the Lesbian Gay Bisexual & Transgender Chamber of Commerce, serves as a Choose Chicago Ambassador, and is a Co-Chair of the Greater North Michigan Avenue Association Lights Festival Committee.
As Senior Vice President — Alliances for Delta Air Lines, Perry Cantarutti is responsible for managing the airline’s network of worldwide alliance partnerships. In addition to building deeper and more integrated partnerships, Perry and his team are working to create an increasingly seamless experience for customers who travel between Delta and its alliance partners. Prior to his current role, Perry was Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of SkyTeam from November 2015 until he returned to Delta in June 2018. Based at the alliance’s headquarters in Amsterdam, Perry was responsible for overseeing the implementation of the strategy and business plan of the alliance, maximizing its value for customers and members airlines. Perry has more than 25 years of industry experience and has held leadership roles based in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Paris, Amsterdam and Atlanta, including serving as Delta’s Senior Vice President – Europe Middle East and Africa and, prior to that, Vice President Reservations Sales and Customer Care. Throughout his career he has a track record of forging successful airline partnerships, including joint ventures, and driving customer-focused results. Perry holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California – Berkeley and a master’s of business administration from Northwestern University. He also serves on the Northwestern University Transportation Center Business Advisory Committee.
George Carrancho joined First in Service Travel in May of 2016 as an independent travel consultant. Currently he is the Managing Director for the West Coast, responsible for all aspects of the operation. Prior to joining First in Service Travel, George was with the Tzell Travel Group, recruited as Director of Business Development upon his retirement after 20 years with American Airlines. At Tzell he provided sales solutions for SME, travel advisors and travel agencies. At American Airlines, Carrancho was the Manager of Diversity Markets, which specialized in outreach in the New York area in diverse consumer markets including Hispanic, LGBTQ+, Black and Asian. On a national level, he represented American’s national partnerships and advertising strategy in the Hispanic and LGBTQ+ segments. The South Texas native is a 1993 graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Latin American Studies. He is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.
On March 14, 2014, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the appointment of Fred Dixon as President & CEO of NYC & Company, New York City's offical marketing, tourism, and partnership organization. With more than 27 years of expereince in the travel industry, Fred has the overall responsibility for developing and implementing New York City's tourism and convention development strategy internationally as well as in domestic leisure and business markets. Joining NYC & Company in 2005, Fred led the aggressive and successful expansion of the City's international marketing efforts. With a strategic focus on growing visitation and visitor spending, NYC & Company focused on emerging global markets rapidly expanding the City's presence from six traditionally strong origin markets to 17 offices covering more than 28 countries. Fred is a respected and valued leader with positions on travel industry association boards, including the U.S. Department of Commerce's Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. He also is the City's primary liaison to the State's travel and tourism industry in addition to Empire State Department and I Love NY. Fred is a graduate of the University of Tennesssee and resides in midtown Manhattan.
Roger leads the U.S. Travel Association, the Washington, D.C.-based organization representing all segments of travel in the United States—an industry that generates $2.5 trillion in economic output and supports 15.7 million jobs. U.S. Travel’s mission is to increase travel to and within the United States. Dow regularly meets with executive branch and congressional leaders to discuss industry priorities, and his efforts have resulted in major legislative victories. He was instrumental in establishing Brand USA, the highly effective national travel and tourism promotion program. Beyond U.S. Travel’s role as chief travel industry advocate in Washington, the association under Dow’s leadership provides essential research, including analysis of travel’s significant economic impact and products such as the monthly Travel Trends Index. U.S. Travel produces annual events that connect the industry, such as IPW—the leading international inbound travel trade show—which drives $4.7 billion in future travel to the United States. For his work to unify the travel industry and increase its effectiveness, Dow is the recipient of multiple honors, including the 2018 MPI Industry Leader Award and the 2008 TRENDS Association Executive of the Year.
Umut Dursun is a former Marine, award-winning saxophonist, and highly requested speaker at conferences across the country. His great passion is to open conversations that empower people to express themselves authentically and bring awareness to changes needed in order to create equality for all individuals. He is an educational consultant for YES Institute, a Miami-based organization that works to prevent suicide and ensure the healthy development of all youth through powerful communication and education on gender and orientation.
Nicolas Graf, PhD, is the associate dean of the NYU School of Professional Studies Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality. Prior to this, he served as chief academic officer of Les Roches Global Hospitality Education, managing director at Alain Ducasse, and professor and director of the IMHI Center at ESSEC Business School in Paris. He earned his PhD from Virginia Tech and is a graduate of the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne. He has published in numerous academic journals in the fields of finance and strategy, including the International Journal of Hospitality Management, The Real Estate Finance Journal, and the Journal of Retail & Leisure Property. Over the past 20 years, he has delivered executive education courses for various companies in Asia, MEA, North and South America and Europe, and he has conducted several consulting projects in the fields of asset management, strategic planning, and business development.
Charlie Gu is CEO and Co-Founder of Kollective Influence, a California-based marketing agency that helps brands and travel destinations deliver culturally authentic storytelling through the power of influencers. Before founding Kollective Influence in May 2018, Charlie was Director at China Luxury Advisors where he crafted China market strategies for clients such as Beverly Center, Utah Office of Tourism, SFMoMA, Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. Charlie has delivered over 50 China-Ready trainings on behalf of DMOs including Brand USA, Visit California and Discover Los Angeles. Charlie is currently serving on the board of PFLAG China, the country’s largest LGBT non-profit with over 120,000 registered members and 62 local chapters.
Before establishing Hansen&Partner and the ELLA International Lesbian Festival, Kristin earned a degree in Tourism and Hotel Management and worked internationally at luxury hotel chains like Kempinksi, Bayerischer Hof, and St. Regis Hotels. She has always been a humanitarian at heart with a strong interest in women's and development issues. For more than 12 years, she has dedicated her career to creating quality offerings for lesbian women and helping companies and destinations interested in being positioned as lesbian-friendly. Her new project, ELLA Global Community, is an association committed to promoting the lesbian cause, as well as for all women that fall outside the socially accepted definition of gender identity and sexual oritentation—including bisexual women. Currently actions are being held in Costa Rica in collaboration with various international NGO's and the local government. She also is greatly inspired by Senegal, where she spent a lot of time growing up and serves as First Deputy for the local aid organisation Aide Gandiole. Kristin is now based in Mallorca, Spain, and Munich, Germany and is fluent in English, German, Spanish, and French.
Caro Hernandez has been sharing her story with YES Institute since 2011. The organization, founded as a community initiative in 1996, provides action-oriented dialogue and quality research-based education on gender and orientation. In 2003, YES Institute added education courses on gender and each year, coducts over 200 presentations for a wide variety of communities. Caro was born and raised in Miami where the organization was founded, and is currently a copywriter in New York City.
Dan Howell is President and Owner of Dan Howell Travel (DHT), located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Prior to founding Dan Howell Travel, Dan had widely diverse experiences in customer service. After graduating from college with a bachelors in Hotel and Restaurant Management, Dan went to work for a large department store chain, eventually being promoted to Director of Food Services. When his position was eliminated he decided to pursue his love of travel as a profession. Dan learned the travel business working with a good friend who owned a travel agency. To learn more about gay travel, he joined the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA) in 1992, and was elected to its Board of Directors in 1996. After spending 10 years working for his friend’s agency, Dan decided to break out on his own. Since its founding in 2005, Dan Howell Travel has become the largest seller of Atlantis & RSVP cruises in the nation DHT's business plan consistently focused on supportive customer service, specializing in the gay and lesbian travel market and establishing Vacation Gay and BearCruise. Thirteen years ago, DHT started with just Dan and a part-time employee; it currently employs 4 full-time & 4 part-time employees. Dan Howell Travel continues to grow as a full-service agency specializing in gay/lesbian leisure and group travel.
Peter Jordan is a consultant and researcher specialised in the curation and interpretation of consumer trends, for diverse clients from inside and outside the tourism industry. In a career spanning over a decade, he has built a strong reputation for delivering insights on tourism, marketing, and consumer trends that are trustworthy, thought-provoking, and inspire people to take action. Peter started his career in 2008 creating market trends reports at the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in Madrid and has also managed research projects at the WYSE Travel Confederation and PATA. Since 2013, he has worked successfully as a consultant in tourism trends analysis, industry education and forward-planning, with a variety of market-leading brands in Europe and Asia. He is a respected author and commentator on LGBTQ travel, having authored both editions of the UNWTO's Global Report on LGBT Tourism produced in collaboration with IGLTA and the IGLTA Foundation, and has spoken at numerous events on the subject.
Mara Keisling is the Founder and Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. Since 2003, she has led organizational and coalition efforts that have won significant advances in transgender equality, including the inclusion of gender identity in the U.S. Employment Non-Discrimination Act from 2007 onward and countless other federal- and state-level wins. As one of the leading voices for transgender equality in the U.S., Mara is regularly quoted in major media outlets. A proud Pennsylvanian, Mara received her bachelor's degree from Pennsylvania State University and did graduate work in American Government at Harvard University.
As ASTA’s president and chief executive officer Zane Kerby reports directly to the board of directors on all internal and external ASTA business and is the primary spokesperson for ASTA. Kerby moved to ASTA from a successful career with the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA).
Beginning in 2009 he held the position of senior vice president with responsibility for all aspects of GBTA’s global annual convention. Previously he was Deputy Executive Director, Vice President of business development and held a series of other posts of progressively greater responsibility beginning in August, 1999.
Kerby earned a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Arts from Brigham Young University. He and his wife have five children and he currently is an assistant coach of a U12 basketball team. Cycling, swimming and reading are just a few of his favorite activities.
Mr. Kenneth Kwok is the Founder of Global Citizen Capital, based in Hong Kong. The company currently provides one-stop-shop, off-shore and cross-border financial investment and asset management solutions to investors from more than 12 countries across Asia, Middle East, and Europe. Such solutions include secondary citizenship and residency programs, foreign company establishment, off-shore banking accounts set-up, family office formation, and estate planning. Kenneth has worked over 10 years across UBS Investment Bank, Deutsche Bank, and Goldman Sachs in the investment banking and equities divisions, and have originated more than USD 3.5 billion of fundraising for clients across China and Southeast Asia. Kenneth studied at Columbia University and Univeristy of Pennslyvania / The Wharton School of Business, and speaks fluent English, Manadrin, Cantonese, and conversational French. Kenneth is also passionate about charity work through his privately-founded Better Together Foundation, which supports miniority communities, including that of the LGBTQ+, and related initiative across 6 countires in Asia. Lastly, Kenneth also serves on the Board of Gay Games Hong Kong, which looks forward to hosting the international LGBTQ+ sporting event in 2022.
Dr. Fred Mayo currently teaches part-time at New York University, while operating his own training, coaching, and consulting firm, working with clients in hospitality, research, manners, food service, and hospitality and culinary education. For the last 45 years, he has led programs and consulted in the areas of faculty development, teaching skills, program design, group dynamics, communication, leadership, management development, train the trainer, public speaking, organizational change, small business management, strategic planning, and board development. During the past several years, he taught Applied Research Methods for NYU, taught several CHE courses in Hong Kong, led a workshop for PhD students on Networking and Optimizing Relationships for Research at Dublin Institute of Technology, and consulted for USAID in Jordan. He also served as the Acting Executive Director for the Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center for six months and Board President for the year. For the last 10 years, he has served full-time as Clinical Professor of Hospitality and Tourism Management, teaching research and management courses for NYU at the Robert Preston Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management. His book, Planning an Applied Research Project in Hospitality, Tourism and Sports is now used in the research courses at New York University and colleges across the country.
As Vice President of Global Brand Marketing at Hilton, Amy is responsible for leading the marketing strategy for Hilton’s 16 trading brands globally, as well as any new brands in the pipeline. Amy and her team are focused on consumer insight development, global positioning strategy and integrated campaigns that build brands and drive business results. She is a seasoned marketer, with 20+ years of experience building global brands and driving performance through high-impact, omni-channel marketing and advertising across the customer journey. She has experience leading teams and campaigns in North America, EMEA and APAC for public companies and franchise organizations. Prior to joining Hilton, Amy oversaw the advertising, creative and social media strategy for Choice Hotels, where she led the parent brand's relaunch, oversaw the national advertising strategy and campaign implementation, and led the brand's multicultural marketing initiatives across African American, Hispanic and LGBTQ+ segments. She earned a bachelor's degree in communications from Hood College in Frederick, MD, and an MBA from George Washington University. She is a keen traveler, reader, diver, horse rider and cook.
As a Head of Industry for Travel at Google, based in New York, Dougal is focused on helping companies across the industry transform their business to stay ahead of the changes in consumer behavior resulting from advancements in technology. Prior to joining Google in 2010, he spent a decade at Procter and Gamble but left to find somewhere he could get an email address that rhymed with his name. Dougal has both law and commerce degrees from his native homeland of Auckland, New Zealand. A passionate traveler, Dougal is now two for three in living in his favorite cities: Sydney, New York, and Barcelona.
Montano joined the Travel Corporation in 2017 as Vice President of Marketing for two of its guided vacations brands, Insight Vacations and Luxury Gold. His career in tourism has been evolving for more than 20 years, bringing innovation in marketing to travel agents and consumers in the USA and globally. He has created demand in the ever-changing guided vacations space, managed substantial advertising budgets, developed digital campaigns, forged relationships with most global tourism boards and successfully developed brand position strategies in the USA, Canada, and Australia regions. Before joining TTC he served as the Vice President of Marketing at CIE Tours International. With a reputation in the industry as a progressive problem solver, a tactful negotiator, and a strong leader always ready to embrace change and the future, Montano says: “The travel industry is diverse and needs to build safer and immersive travel choices for the LGBTQ+ community.”
Aisha Moodie-Mills has led and won campaigns that build political power for people of color, LGBTQ+ people and women for close to 20 years. Most recently, she was a driving force behind 2017's historic "Year of the Trans Candidate" leading the effort that elected more transgender officials across the country than ever before. A trailblazer in her own right, Aisha was the first African American woman to lead a national LGBTQ+ organization as President & CEO of the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund and Institute. She was also a key strategist and spokesperson on behalf of same-sex marriage in the District of Columbia, where as President, she led the marriage equality campaign to victory in 2009. Aisha and her wife Danielle were among the first same-sex couples to receive a marriage license in the District, and their wedding was the first lesbian wedding ever featured by Essence magazine. A nationally respected voice on Democratic politics and diversity, she appears regularly on MSNBC, and is the author of dozens of policy reports and cultural analyses on the intersection of race, class and sexuality. After spending over 20 years in Washington, D.C., she and Danielle now call Brooklyn, NY home.
Kwin Mosby is an established editorial team leader, content manager and strategist with more than 20 years of proven experience in journalism and digital media. He drives the end-to-end planning and execution for content strategies on Vacation.com, a demand generation marketing website that focuses on luxury travel experiences, destinations and trends—with emphasis on the travel advisor as an important part of the trip-planning process. Kwin has also worked as a contributing writer for LGBTQ+ and mainstream brands and publications, including Travel Channel, TVOne, Marriott Traveler, Bear World Magazine and Lavender Magazine.
David Paisley is CMI’s Senior Research Director, and has been with Community Research & Insights for 24 years. He coordinates the company's quantitative and qualitative client research projects and professional educational programs. Paisley's work represents a wide variety of corporate, nonprofit and government entities including Hawaii Tourism Authority, Visit Florida, NYC & Company, For Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Kimpton Hotels, Chicago History Museum, Wells Fargo, Target Brands, AARP, Aurora Health Care, WNBA, Kaiser Family Foundation, Aetna, American Cancer Society and the United States Census Bureau. He is also a featured speaker at LGBTQ sales and marketing conferences, and conducts training webinars for corporations throughout North America and beyond. He lives in Joshua Tree and Palm Springs.
Ophelia Pastrana was born in Colombia in 1982, but from 2000 onwards she began to combine her studies with travel, going to Bogotá, Miami, Sydney and México City while completing her bachelor's degree in physics and then her master's degree in economics. She also worked for several digital media consulting companies but eventually ended up doing on-camera work. According to Business Insider, Ophelia was listed as #69 among the "most influential women in technology, worldwide." Twice a TEDx speaker, she was nominated for an Eliot Award on digital influence. Forbes placed her on a "top 100 most powerful women in México" list, which is quite the accomplishment considering she is a transgender Colombian woman. She is a dedicated digital culture promoter. In addition, she was production director for Nerdcore Podcast, a popular technology show in México; and PlatziLIVE, the Platzi flagship show, an important entrepreneurial educational effort in Latin America. She has had her own columns at VICE, FayerWayer and Belelú.
Kimahli has a wide range of experience in the nonprofit sector and has spent over 15 years advocating for social justice, youth, arts and culture. Since joining Rainbow Railroad as Executive Director, he has guided the organization through its first strategic plan, and led its transformational growth, including successful interventions in Chechnya and Egypt. Prior to Rainbow Railroad, Kimahli held director-level positions at the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, Dignitas International, the Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film and Video Festival and the YMCA. Among career highlights he helped launch the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network's legal challenge to Jamaica's anti-sodomy law and led community engagement initiatives, including the Human Rights Networking Zone, at multiple international AIDS conferences. Kimahli and Rainbow Railroad have been recognized with several awards, including the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association’s Pathfinder Award, the Mark S Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies 2018 Award, and the 2018 Inspire Award for Community Organization of the Year. He was listed in Out Magazine's 2018 Out 100 profile of influential LGBTQ+ people and will be accepting an honorary doctorate of laws from the University of Victoria in November.
Thomas Roth, Founder and EVP of Community Marketing & Insights, has served the LGBTQ+ tourism and hospitality industry for over 25 years. Tom and his team have developed a spectrum of products and services to skillfully lead the company's global clients to their goals. Tom is now primarily dedicating his industry-leading expertise to head up the research division, which produces the annual LGBTQ Tourism & Hospitality Survey and the LGBTQ+ Community Survey, as well as custom consumer research studies for a variety of market leaders in tourism, hospitality, banking, retail, pharmaceutical, beverages, real estate, insurance, government, etc., and conducts educational seminars for corporations and organizations.
Robert Sharp is Owner of Out Adventures, a global tour operator and the premiere provider of active, cultural and luxury LGBT tours. Over the past decade, the company has amassed a loyal and dedicated clientele due to its personalized approach to travel. He also co-hosts The Gay Travel Podcast – the world’s first LGBT travel podcast, and has a fascination with digital marketing, social media, community involvement, and responsible travel.
Monty Swaney is a travel industry veteran and co-president of Tzell Travel Group, where he works in tandem with Cindy Schlansky to oversee Tzell’s strategic and day-to-day operations. Since 1996, Tzell Travel has been providing customized traveler services to its corporate, entertainment and leisure clients from its headquarters in New York City and 20 offices across the U.S. and U.K. Monty has extensive experience in both the operations and sales sides of the business making him a strong partner to guide Tzell Travel advisors to success. He began his career as a front-line corporate agent at a large hotel brand. Moving to the agency side, he worked at Linden Travel before joining Tzell Travel in 2009.
John Tanzella is the President/CEO of the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association, the global leader in advancing LGBTQ+ travel. He has led the association since 2005, overseeing membership expansion to more than 80 countries, a growing staff based in Fort Lauderdale, Washington, DC, Madrid, London, Paris, Sao Paulo, Bogota and Cape Town, and volunteer representatives in 20 countries/regions.
Under his guidance, IGLTA took a giant stride forward and established the IGLTA Foundation as a means to both give bak and raise the profile of the LGBTQ+ tourism community worldwide. The Foundation focuses on research, education and providing leadership opportunities for future LGBTQ+ leaders in tourism. Leading up to this, IGLTA became the first LGBTQ+ organization in the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Affiliate Member program.
John holds an ex-officio seat on the board of directors of both IGLTA and the IGLTA Foundation. Additionally, he serves on several boards including Stonewall National Museum & Archives, Belmond's LGBTQ+ Advisory Council, and the French National Tourism organization Atout-France (although he speaks Italian, not French).
Daniela Wagner is Director of Group Business Development for Jacobs Media Group in the UK, where she has had great success expanding their global brand thanks to her commercial creativity and ability to apply her entrepreneurial and interpersonal skills effectively in large corporate and start-up environments. Fluent in both German and French, she has an extensive network of top-level industry contacts around the globe. She is also Director for Europe, Middle East and Africa for PATA, where she is responsible for driving strategic relationships with international institutions and private companies as well as coordinating European PATA chapters, recruiting and retaining members, coordinating key events (including the PATA Advocacy dinner) and securing sponsorship. During ITB Berlin 2018 she was honored at “Celebrating Her,” the third annual Global Awards for Empowered Women in Tourism, for her contributions to the industry.
Photo by: © 2018, Gene Phillips, Courtesy of ACVB & AtlantaPhotos.com
Clovis Casemiro, IGLTA’s Membership Coordinator-Brazil, visited Atlanta for the first time prior to the pandemic and shares his impressions of IGLTA’s 2021 convention host city.
By John Tanzella, IGLTA President/CEO, [email protected]
