The Premier Industry Event for Active & Adventure Travel Trade	Edward J. Bergman, Executive Director Africa Travel Association Eddie was recently appointed Executive Director of the New York headquartered Africa Travel Association (ATA), the premiere international travel industry trade association, promoting tourism to the African continent and intra-Africa travel and partnership since 1975. ATA membership includes African Ministries of Tourism, Tourism Boards, airlines, hoteliers, travel agents, tour operators, media, public relations firms, NGOs, and other individuals actively engaged in the promotion of travel to the African continent. Eddie serves as a part-time faculty member at the City University of New York (CUNY) - Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn lecturing on Tourism and Entrepreneurship. Eddie co-founded and serves as Executive Director of Miracle Corners of the World, Inc. (MCW), a non-profit organization, which serves young people worldwide, primarily through programs of leadership training, community center and housing development, and healthcare outreach, with a special focus on Africa. He received his Masters from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study with a major in “Social Entrepreneurship” and his BS in Hotel and Tourism Management from NYU’s Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management, where he was a Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholar. Eddie serves on the board of directors of several international organizations in the non-profit, education and travel trade sectors including Shared Interest Inc., The Synergos Institute, the advisory boards of the International Crisis Group, the NYU SCPS Center for Global Studies, the NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Studies and the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service Reynolds Foundation Program in Social Entrepreneurship graduate scholars selection committee. He has received several humanitarian awards. David L. Brown Executive Director, America Outdoors David L. Brown has been Executive Director of America Outdoors since shortly after its formation in 1990. America Outdoors is an international association of adventure travel companies with 600 company members operating in 40 states and 50 foreign countries. David has served as a representative of various adventure travel and outfitter organizations since 1980. He has served on the Board of Directors of American Rivers, the Governor’s Task Force on Reform and Liability Insurance (TN), the American Recreation Coalition, the Curriculum Advisory Board for the College of Natural Resources at Virginia Tech University and was Chairman of the Mayor’s Waterfront Task Force in Knoxville, TN. He has testified before Congress more than 14 times on a number of recreation policy and public land management issues from the hearings on the Forest Service Budget, National Park Service concessions Reform legislation, the Federal Land Recreation Enhancement Act bill and similar bills. He is a licensed property and casualty insurance producer in the state of Tennessee. He also writes for several national publications, produces the annual tradeshow and convention for America Outdoors and oversees member benefits, marketing and risk management programs for the organization. David has kayaked, canoed and hiked throughout the America’s, including a 400-mile, 24-day canoe trip on the Coppermine River to the Arctic Ocean in Northwest Territories in 1979. He is married and lives with his wife and daughter in Knoxville, TN. Costas Christ President, Adventure Council; ATPRO Conference Chairman In addition to his role as President of the Adventure Council, Costas Christ serves as Chairman of the Adventures in Travel Expo Conferences and also writes a monthly travel column for National Geographic Adventure magazine. His desire for exploration has led him to more than 100 countries including expeditions to some of the world’s most remote wilderness regions and archeological sites. Along the way, he has worked for Dr. Richard Leakey in Africa, joined National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, Dr. Sylvia Earle, in helping to establish a new marine reserve in Belize, and got to know legendary British explorer, Wilfred Thesiger, to name a few of the extraordinary people he has met in his life. An internationally recognized expert on sustainable tourism, Costas also serves as the Chairman of the World Travel and Tourism Council’s Tourism for Tomorrow Awards, which recognizes leading examples from around the world of environmentally and socially responsible travel. He is a founding member and former Chairman of the Board of The International Ecotourism Society and was appointed the Peace Corps Director in Uganda where he worked on community-based tourism as an economic development strategy. As the Senior Director for Ecotourism at Conservation International, Costas supervised projects in 18 countries. In addition to his monthly travel column in National Geographic Adventure, Costas' articles and essays on travel and tourism have appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Boston Globe and Sunday Times of London. He is the lead author of Tourism and Biodiversity: Mapping Tourism’s Global Footprint and a contributing author in Wilderness: Earth's Last Wild Places. Costas has appeared many times on television and radio, including CNN, BBC, National Public Radio, ABC News, and PBS to talk about adventure travel. Kathy Moyer Dragon Founder and Owner The Dragon’s Path; ActiveWomen.com Kathy Moyer Dragon, Founder and Owner of The Dragon's Path, and ActiveWomen.com, has spent the past two decades in the center of the active and adventure travel industry. Having researched, designed, marketed, sold and then personally escorted and facilitated the travel experiences of over 3000 guests on small group adventure and cultural trips around the globe Kathy has developed front line experience that few marketing experts in the world can match. 2/3rds of these customers were Boomer Women and many of the trips were Women Only departures. These natural focus groups proved to be the ideal arena for defining the growth of the active woman’s market; from how women select a trip, to why they are traveling; from what products they love (can’t stand or wish for) to how different generations of women perceive themselves in an active environment. All these questions and answers have changed over the past decade as the Active Woman & Boomer Women’s markets has evolved and yes, exploded. As a passionate entrepreneur, Kathy has been instrumental in the growth of niche companies including Vermont Country Cyclers, Country Walkers, Whole Journeys (a Whole Foods Market Company) and her own company The Dragon’s Path. She now adds to her portfolio her position as Marketing Director for Whole Foods Market in Boulder, CO. Kathy has a reputation as a trusted leader in all aspects of the active/experiential travel industry. Her leadership innovation with Whole Foods Market’s web portal WholePeople.com and her current involvement in the Natural/Organic Foods Industry as well as her direct experience with over 2000 Boomer Women Consumers on adventures around the world offers a rare and coveted lens. Kathy is a frequent national speaker and consultant on the influence of women in the travel, outdoor, and retail industries as well to industries attempting to reach women in the active, boomer and mature market categories. She has presented at key marketing conferences including the Marketing to Women (M2W.biz), and J.Walter Thompson’s Mature Market Conference. Industry specific speaking includes the Adventure Travel World Summit , the National Ski Area Association , the Travel Society National Convention and the GORE Women’s Council. Kathy is a contributing author of BOOM: Marketing to the Ultimate Power Consumer—The Baby Boomer Woman, which is fast tracked for fall 2006 as well as JWT LiveWire Spring 2006 Magazine. Richard G. Edwards Executive Director, Trusted Adventures Richard G. Edwards is Executive Director of Trusted Adventures, an alliance of experienced adventure travel companies recognized as world leaders in their respective regions and areas of expertise, including Europe, Africa, the Americas, and East Asia. Richard has been working in the field of sustainable tourism and development for the past 15 years, including nearly ten years as a natural resource and sustainable development economist and marketing specialist in Costa Rica and throughout Latin America for the Organization of American States, incorporating rural tourism as an integral component of development planning. More recent work has been focused on the private sector, and marketing and sales specifically, including heading the sales of a pioneering inbound ecotourism operator and many consulting experiences with operators, boutique hotels and ecolodges to effectively market their projects in a technology-driven marketplace. Other consulting work includes the complete development of an ecotourism program for EARTH University in Costa Rica. Currently he is Vice President of Wildland Adventures, one of the most highly regarded and awarded sustainable tour operators in the world, where among other duties he oversees all aspects of technology-based marketing of tours worldwide, focusing on Latin America and Africa. Recently, he was named a 2006 Top Travel Specialist by Conde Nast Traveler magazine for his efforts in sustainable tourism in Central America. Francis X. Farrell Vice President and Publisher, National Geographic ADVENTURE magazine Francis X. Farrell was named publisher of National Geographic Adventure magazine in June 2003 and was promoted to vice president in January 2006. National Geographic Adventure, winner of four National Magazine Awards, including the 2003 Award for Leisure Interests and the 2002 Award for General Excellence, was launched in 1999 as a quarterly to serve an audience of active, adventurous readers and to propel the National Geographic Society’s mission of exploration and discovery into the new century. The magazine has rapidly expanded in both publishing frequency and circulation size and is currently publishing 10 times a year with a guaranteed circulation of 525,000. Before joining National Geographic Adventure, Farrell was general manager/senior vice president/publisher of The Sporting News. He represented Times Mirror Magazines in its sale of The Sporting News to Paul Allen’s Vulcan Ventures. Previously, Farrell held a variety of management positions at American Express Publishing with Food & Wine and Travel & Leisure magazines. He began his publishing career in ad sales with Country Living and Southern Living magazines. Farrell, an avid hiker, cyclist and cross-country skier, also serves on the board of directors of Harlem RBI. Farrell, his wife Denise and their five children reside in Yorktown Heights, N.Y. Amber Hayes CEO Adventure Engine Adventure Engine provides online reservation, inventory management, e-commerce, marketing and distribution solutions to the Adventure Travel industry. One of Amber’s roles with Adventure Engine is to work with industry players to create powerful, easy to use solutions that capture the long range trends of the travel, end consumer and technology environments. She enjoys finding creative solutions to match the uniqueness found in the Adventure Tour Operators business models and making them a valuable reality for clients. Equally enjoyed is the creation of partnerships to expose and sell those tours to new distributors in novel ways as demonstrated by WestJet Airlines Adventure interface. When she is not trapped behind her computer Amber can be found enjoying adventures in the mountains of British Columbia with her daughter and husband - a professional guide and tour operator himself. Nadia Le Bon Director of Special Programs, Mountain Travel Sobek – The Adventure Company Nadia Le Bon has been involved in trekking and adventure travel since 1978. She started leading treks to Asia for an Italian trekking company while still living in her home country, and later moved to California in the early 80s. She has worked with Mountain Travel Sobek since 1985 in different functions, while traveling extensively on trips and expeditions around the world. For many years she has held the position of Director of Operations, supervising all aspects of field operations as well as office management. She is currently Director of Special Programs, handling public relations, special events and polar operations. She loves hiking, sailing and kayaking in the San Francisco Bay Area and in cool places around the world. Hitesh Mehta Director of Ecotourism, E.D.S.A. Hitesh is an Environmental Planner, Landscape Architect and Architect and works for EDSA, a Landscape Architecture and Planning firm based out of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. EDSA is the largest sustainable tourism and ecolodge design office in the world and has a portfolio of projects in China, India, Bali, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, DR Congo, Turks and Caicos, Egypt, Galapagos, Mexico, Gabon, Fiji, Bahamas, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, USA and Puerto Rico. Hitesh is one of the world’s leading authorities and researchers on ecotourism physical planning and both the landscape architectural and architectural aspects of ecolodges. Hitesh is the main editor of the International Ecolodge Guidelines and the author of the chapters on “Site Planning” and “Architectural Design”. Hitesh regularly conducts research on international trends in Ecolodges and is currently writing a new book on Best Practice Ecolodges. He sits on the Board of The International Ecotourism Society, advisory boards of Adventure Council, Green Travel Magazine and BIOSFERA (Brazilian Environmental Society) and is one of the founding members of The Ecotourism Society of Kenya. Hitesh is also the International Advisor for the Japan Ecolodge Association. Mr. Mehta has a distinguished history in academia. Apart from being an adjunct professor at several universities in Southern Florida, he was also the Chairman of Landscape Architecture Section, Department of Architecture, University of Nairobi and conducted studios in sustainable planning and design for five years. Currently, Mr. Mehta conducts one-of-a kind Ecoplanning and Design Workshops and Charettes (for George Washington University and The International Ecotourism Society) around the world and which are attended by, amongst others Deans, Professors and Students. Mr. Mehta is/was selected to be a judge and on-site inspector for the Tourism for Tomorrow (WTTC) Awards, World Legacy Awards for Heritage Tourism and Ecotourism (National Geographic/Conservation International), Ecotourism Awards (Conde Nast Traveler) and Green Hotelier Awards (Caribbean Hotel Association). Hitesh is also a Professional Photographer and an ex- Cricket Captain of Kenya and was in September 2004 named by Men’s Journal, a New York based Magazine as the "25 Most Powerful People in Adventure" in the world. Peter Montoya National marketing icon; Author, The Brand Called You Shared Keynote with Travel Institute’s National Forum) After graduating from the University of California, Irvine with a degree in political science, Peter went to work for a nationally-recognized sales trainer. During the next five years, he lived in 25 major cities and performed over 2,000 training sessions for workers in a broad range of industries. Then came a turning point: he was hired by a Southern California advertising agency to offer seminars for Realtors, focusing on a radical concept: Personal Marketing. When increasing numbers of service professionals began attending, Peter realized the country was begging for a marketing revolution. Soon after, he left to start his own firm: Peter Montoya, Inc. Peter Montoya Inc. employs top-drawer strategists, designers and writers to craft the most innovative, effective Personal Branding strategies and tools in the country for thousands of clients from financial advisors to bestselling authors. In addition, Peter educates tens of thousands of professionals yearly in his public seminars and private workshops, delivers more than 100 speeches a year, and spends six months a year on the road working directly with clients. In April 2002, Peter and his co-writer, Tim Vandehey, published The Personal Branding Phenomenon, quickly heralded as the definitive work in Personal Branding. They followed this with The Brand Called You in May 2003. In addition to running Peter Montoya, Inc. and regularly appearing as a Personal Branding commentator on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News, Peter is also the publisher of Personal Branding magazine. But his true passion is leading the Personal Branding revolution, transforming professionals from salespeople into master marketers. Keith W. Sproule Independent Consultant & Past-Chairman of The International Ecotourism Society Keith Sproule has worked and traveled in over 90 countries, including many of the premier ecotourism destinations around the world. He is recognized for his expertise in ecotourism planning and has worked as a contract consultant with private ecotourism investment projects, international development banks and government agencies. He has been an advisor to governments on three continents. Keith served two terms as Chairman of The International Ecotourism Society (TIES), the oldest and largest international organization working to promote ecotourism principles. He recently served as a field judge for the World Travel and Tourism Council’s Tourism for Tomorrow Awards. Keith will be speaking in his capacity as a consultant to several emerging destinations with adventure products, including Saudi Arabia and North Cyprus. Kathryn W. Sudeikis, CTC Vice President of Corporate Relations, All About Travel Kathryn W. Sudeikis, Vice President of Corporate Relations for All About Travel in Mission, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, served as ASTA’s National President and CEO from October 2004 until September 2006. A working travel agent, Sudeikis appeared in the 2002-2006 editions of Travel and Leisure magazine as one of their “Super Travel Agent” recommendations to their readers. She was featured with her specialty of intergenerational family travel. Sudeikis was recognized as the 2002 “Travel Agent of the Year” by the readers of Travel Trade magazine. In 2005, Sudeikis was nominated as “Travel Association Personality of the Year” at the World Travel Awards in London and in December 2005, received Travel Weekly magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award. A 35-year industry veteran, Sudeikis is frequently quoted in national publications, including the Kansas City newspapers, The Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times and USA TODAY. She has appeared on numerous national television programs including FOX News, “The News Hour with Jim Lehrer,” “The Today Show” and “CBS This Morning.” She has also appeared on several radio programs, including National Public Radio, Radio Free Europe and the Armed Forces Radio Network An accomplished speaker, Sudeikis has addressed groups at many industry events, including the National Tour Association (NTA), the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA), the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) and the Travel Agent Associations of India, South Africa, Australia and Germany and Korea. Sudeikis earned her Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) distinction in 1976 from The Travel Institute (formerly the Institute of Certified Travel Agents) and was awarded a lifetime membership in 1983. She is currently serving on Travel Agent Advisory Boards for Classic Vacations, the German National Tourist Office, Rail Europe, Thrifty Car Rental and Viking River Cruises. Sudeikis in the past has consulted on a variety of boards including: The American Express Travel Agent Advisory Board, The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company, Disney Attractions and the State of the Maine. Before serving as President and CEO, Sudeikis was a member of ASTA’s Board of Directors representing the Missouri Valley and Upper Midwest Chapters. Sudeikis has also served the Society as presiding officer of ASTA's Chapter Presidents Council. She appeared in Travel Agent magazine’s “100 Most Powerful Women” in travel. Sudeikis was the lead issue manager on ASTA’s consumer awareness campaign. In that role she oversaw the Society’s efforts to promote the value of the travel agent and spearheaded the public relations campaign, with the slogan, “Without a travel agent, you’re on your own.”