“To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself.”
~Soren Kierkegaard

Shannon’s personal and professional background is well suited for the adventure travel industry. He’s lived in Fiji, trekked Indonesia, Thailand, Burma and China, and has spent time in many places around the world including Taiwan, South Africa, Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, Brazil, Qatar, Norway, Mexico and Canada. Among the diverse adventures he’s enjoyed: summiting Mount Rainier & Mount Hood, diving in Mexico, sitting out a riot in Jakarta, being involved in Fijian kava ceremonies, caving in Thailand, and many more. Shannon is an active traveler, trail runner, swimmer, mountaineer, skier and fly-fisher. He brings a special passion to this industry borne of experience and a desire to see others experience the world in a richer way. His 17+ years of business experience, connections, marketing insight, environmental science, vision and passion for adventure travel have prepared him well to serve and lead as the president of the Adventure Travel Trade Association. Early in his career, with a B.S. Biology from Seattle Pacific University, Shannon worked as a fisheries observer on ships in Alaska for the National Marine Fisheries Service. After a stint on the Bering Sea, and work with the Colorado Division of Wildlife, he spent eight years at an environmental testing laboratory as a biologist/chemist. He was promoted into management to develop and spearhead the company’s international vision and Asian presence with the President of North Creek Analytical International.

Shannon then engaged in the dot-com revolution as a co-founder of Altrec.com, a successful outdoor and adventure travel gear retailer (www.altrec.com). He directed the company’s business development, affiliate marketing and non-profit relations for six years. Despite the dotcom boom and bust, Altrec survived, then thrived. During his time at Altrec.com, he struck deals with Amazon.com, CBS Sportsline, National Geographic and National Geographic Adventure, Backpacker Magazine, Virtuoso, Nike, Gore-Tex, Outward Bound, Virtuoso and Mountain Travel Sobek among many others. He wore many other hats during his tenure, overseeing aspects of marketing, PR, affiliate programs, ad sales, advertising program development and development of Altrec’s sister site, www.Greatoutdoors.com.

Under his leadership as president of the ATTA, the organization has grown into the largest international association of adventure travel companies with more than 700 members and dozens of tourism boards, major corporations and influential individuals helping propel industry initiatives forward. The ATTA also hosts the Adventure Travel World Summits. Shannon also co-authored a book in 2008, published by National Geographic: Riding the Hulahula to the Arctic Ocean- A guide to 50 Extraordinary Adventures.

Committed to non-profit endeavors, Shannon served for four years on the Board of the American Hiking Society. He has also directed several community plays, been the vice-chairman in a community political group and served on the Library Board at his local library. Raised on the Arkansas River in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, Shannon today lives with his two children in the Seattle area.

“My traveling mantra goes something like this: Carry adventure in your soul. Allow your imagination to run wild, always. Let ‘it’ come to you. Keep an open mind and heart. Imbue yourself in and embrace the ways of the peoples and cultures you visit. Empathize. Understand. Learn. Grow. Give back.”

~Chris Doyle

Since 2004, Chris has played a key role in the organization’s strategic direction and development and is actively engaged in the organization’s research, marketing, public relations and communications efforts. Since 2005, he has directed the content and execution for each of the ATTA’s annual Adventure Travel World Summit conferences.

For more than 25 years, he’s offered an array of strategic public relations and business expertise in travel, retail, technology, sports and outdoors, fashion, home furnishings and non-profit sectors. He’s managed corporate reputations and developed extensive national awareness campaigns for retailers and manufacturers, supported the launch of six Internet concerns, worked extensively with trade organizations and industry analysts, launched numerous private-label product campaigns and managed consumer affairs crises.

An active marathoner and avid outdoorsman, Chris, splits his time between California and Sweden with his wife, Emma, son, Aidan and daughter, Moa.

“Adventure, naturally, involves some risk. Risk is, inherently, a challenge. And challenge, ultimately, creates exhilaration.”

~Chris Chesak

Chris ‘Chez’ Chesak has nearly 20 years experience forging corporate partnerships and in organizational development.

Career highlights include:

• Graduated with a B.A. in English and International Politics from Wesleyan University (Middletown, Conn.) and earned four varsity letters in football (American football that is)
• Spent part of 1993 driving solo in a VW around the U.S.
• Worked for a year at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. (where he occasionally worked in Justices’ chambers – and even shot hoops with a Justice one night)
• Was briefly enrolled in the MFA in Creative Writing program at The American University in Washington, D.C.
• Jobs then included stints at the American Hiking Society (where he managed the National Trails Day program and thus met Shannon Stowell in 1998), the venerable The American Alpine Club, and then Winter Wildlands Alliance
• As part of the U.S. Army National Guard, he deployed in 2005 to Iraq for a year with a line unit (and had the dubious ‘luck’ to have his first child born the night he actually flew into Iraq)
• Joined the ATTA in 2006

Chris is an avid climber, skier, backpacker, and writer, having published fictional works in several literary quarterlies and non-fiction in national publications. He lives with his wife Sally and daughters Lillian and Sylvia in Cincinnati, OH.

Chez is a proud part of the ATTA team, helping guide and manage the organization’s membership development and sponsorship relations.

Antonio was born in Mexico in 1974 to a Mexican father and an American mother. He was raised in a bi-national, bi-cultural environment which has made him particularly sensitive to the multi-national issues as seen from local perspectives. He received his formation as a Civil Engineer and later obtained an MBA from Georgetown University in Washington D.C. This led him to become a consultant for the IDB “Inter-American Development Bank” and advisor to a large Private Equity firm in D.C. Some years later, he was invited to collaborate with CEMEX, one of the largest Mexican conglomerates as strategy and planning manager. At this point is where Antonio decides to make a huge leap of faith, follow his passion, and accept a position as Executive Director for Rio y Montaña Expediciones, one of the largest and most reputable adventure travel companies in Mexico.

Manal S. Kelig is one of three co- founders of Gateway To Egypt (GWE) for Travel Marketing in the Middle East & Great Wonders of Egypt for sustainable travel to Egypt, North Africa and the Middle East. She received her B.A. in Egyptology & Tourism in 1992 from the Faculty of Tourism & Hotel Management Helwan University of Cairo. Upon graduation she pursued a career as an Egyptologist and guide, and also worked on a Masters Degree in Modern History. However, through her work she realized that there was a huge misconception, misunderstanding and stereotyping about the status of women in the Middle East and Islamic countries. This encouraged her to change course and chose instead to study the Public & Political role of women in Egypt during the 19th century, which became the subject of her thesis. Her research got her quite involved in various issues of women and the community on the national and international scale. Manal prefers to categorize her research and community work under community development support rather than feminist support. Later on, her academic and professional interests expanded to a higher international scale and it involved bridging the cultural gap between the Western & Middle Eastern civilizations.Since the operation of GWE in 2005, her work in the field of tourism along with her community development interests brought to her attention another urgent issue, which is the preservation of the cultural heritage of Egypt whether ancient or Modern. Since then, Manal and her partners became dedicated to operating only responsible travel to Egypt and the Middle East, and developing programs that foster a culture of peace between the travelers and the locals. Their latest project is launching an initiative known as egyptcharity.org which will collect information on as many of the NGOs, voluntourism and related initiatives in Egypt as possible to be available for all travelers.In the past five years, Manal has conducted voluntary work with United Nations organizations, earned her PHD degree, and pursued more studies in the field of Peace & Conflict studies. Manal is a regular speaker in different events related to the travel industry and History & Politics of the Middle East.

“Adventure, for me, begins with seeing cultures worldwide come together, and, initially, all through the eyes of my laptop. Every day is a new experience filled with the education of new people, cultures, and the power the Internet has in connecting us all. Most importantly, the adventure lies in the future where we just might have the chance one day to meet those on the other side of the globe face-to-face.”

~Jason Reckers

Jason Reckers has more than 15 years of experience providing web strategy guidance and training to professional services firms, trade associations, business and web consulting companies, and a host of industry sectors. With applied experience in website development, online marketing and social media strategy, ecommerce and online transaction processing, and webinar production, he brings a broad collection of knowledge to ATTA and the industry.

Jason joined Shannon and Chris Doyle in 2004 as a consultant to drive the early development of the organization’s website and online strategy including AdventureTravelNews, and then later driving the development of Adventure.Travel and The HUB. More recently, he has helped launch and drive online strategies with Facebook and Twitter. He recently joined the ATTA in a full time capacity to assist with internal operations, organizational growth, as well as continue driving ATTA’s online strategies.

A veteran of the Adventure Travel World Summit, since the inaugural 2005 Summit, Jason has also presented as speaker and panelist a number of times on topics ranging from Social Media and SEO to mapping technologies. He now helps contribute to the development of tech-oriented sessions at the Summit, educational webinars, and articles in AdventureTravelNews and on The HUB.

In his role with ATTA, Jason oversees internal operations, online strategy direction, and technical webinar and educational development. He also serves as ATTA’s technical representative with industry organizations such as the Open Travel Alliance.

Prior to ATTA, Jason was the President and CEO of PixelMill Inc. where he was responsible for partnership development, daily operations and strategic direction, and future vision of the company. Under his direction, PixelMill contributed to the development of more than 65,000 web sites. He also holds a B.A. in Business, Strategic Management from California State University, Sacramento.

“The purpose of life isn’t to get it all done but to enjoy each step along the way.”

Since 1997 Casey has been involved in adventure travel marketing, sales and business development. Her most recent role was as VP, Marketing, Brand, and Sales at international tour operator Zegrahm Expeditions, a leader in small-ship cruising and land-based expeditions to all seven continents. She started with the Zegrahm in their newly-formed space adventures and deep sea voyages division where she was integral to implementing innovative marketing and media communication strategies. In 2000, she led a group of travelers on a Cosmonaut training program in Russia where, along with eight travelers, she completed a parabolic flight that certainly became one of her career travel highlights. From 2001 to 2009 Casey focused on leading Zegrahm’s marketing strategies including completing multiple website launches, email campaigns, client retention and acquisition programs, social media strategy and implementation, leading public relation and communication efforts, and all direct mail marketing efforts. In 2009, her role expanded to include business development and sales which allowed her to continue her long standing relationships with partners such as World Wildlife Fund and The Nature Conservancy to alumni travel providers from prestigious universities such as Harvard, Yale, and Stanford. At around this same time, TUI Travel purchased Zegrahm Expeditions and Casey’s role expanded again as a function of being part of this multi-brand travel corporation.

On a more personal front, Casey has traveled to more than 30 countries covering all seven continents, her passion for wildlife and culture driving her continued search for new places. Growing up in New Hampshire, camping, hiking, skiing, and spending time outdoors were a natural component of her daily life. She has been an advocate for animal and human rights since she was a teenager. Over the last twenty years Casey has volunteered her time to many organizations including Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), Refugee Women’s Alliance, the Northwest Immigrants Right Project, and currently as a board member of Sustainable Seattle and Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. She received her bachelors degree in English from the University of New Hampshire where she also minored in Spanish. In 2004, she continued her education by completing a marketing program through the University of Washington. An avid photographer, scuba diver, gardener and runner, Casey enjoys spending her time outdoors with her two young children and husband.

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”

~Helen Keller

Murray has been hard wired for the world of travel and outdoor recreation since childhood.

He, along with his family, has explored many parts of the world. He has gained indelible impressions of diverse cultures drawn in part from an extended journey to Indonesia – hearing people worship in a foreign tongue, smelling the scents of tea plantations, and observing vast economic inequities. Spending time in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Bali, he realized further that the world’s culture is far broader than he could have imagined. Nothing like a little first-hand experience to awaken the mind.

In college, he leapt at opportunities to leave America’s borders. Though not a Literature Major, he studied South African Literature at its source. During a month’s stay along the southern coast of Africa, he read novels depicting the Apartheid and then saw its lingering effects and an optimistic country in recovery. For his International Business Degree at Seattle Pacific University, he studied for a time at Oxford University in England, and then headed to Barcelona to study at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. In Barcelona, he immersed himself in Spanish culture; he lived with a Spanish family, ate their food, spoke their language, and gradually learned how to fit in well enough to be confused as a Spaniard.

In joining the ATTA, Murray is carrying out his dream to be intimately involved in international business. In 2004, he worked for Agros International, a non-profit organization that empowers indigenous people in Central America through land loans and training. The locals use the new land to cultivate to become self-sustaining, and to establish productive and economically viable communities. He rigorously analyzed the company’s operations in Central America, and then reported to the company’s president how Agros could be more helpful during their frequent service trips and provide the maximum value to the new village and its inhabitants.

Being raised in a family of outdoor enthusiasts, including his father who served as an executive in the outdoor recreation and manufacturing industry, adventure was never far away. Even as young as two months old, Murray, a native of Washington State, could be seen in the mountains.

Active in the Scouts, he learned to appreciate hiking. In his teens, he pursued more serious endeavors, including 50 mile hiking trips in the rugged North Cascades. After earning his Eagle Scout, he did what America’s forefathers did, stepped out a little further and went on to explore the “last” American frontier — Alaska. There, Murray boned up on his glacial ice climbing and white water rafting skills throughout the 24/7 summer sun of Denali National Park. He even chose to attend Seattle Pacific University in a large part for its proximity to adventure. After he and his brother got their first set of climbing gear, he started what really should have been his Major; nearly every sunny day (i.e. every non-rainy day in Seattle) he rock climbed at Washington State’s premier locations: Index Town Wall, Peshastin Pinnacles, or Castle Rock.

Murray joined the Adventure Travel Trade Association in August 2005 in support of the Adventure Travel World Summit. After contributing to this event’s success, he has shifted roles and now coordinates the ATTA membership program.

“Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death.”

~Unknown

Living in the ‘precious present’ is how Amber Silvey lives her life. Originally from British Columbia, Canada, she has lived up and down the West Coast and has settled in the beautiful Northwest of the US. Her passion now is family filled with outdoor activities to pass on her and her husband’s love of adventure to their three children. Free days are spent hiking, camping, traveling, dancing, skiing and exploring.

Amber earned her Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice and has worked in various fields of law, marketing, sales, management, and event planning. In the summer of 2005, Shannon Stowell called and asked her to interview for a Director of Operations position for the first Adventure Travel World Summit in Seattle, WA. She has been with the ATTA ever since and loves every minute of it.

“Live every week like it’s Shark Week.”

~Tina Fey

Growing up with an active, creative and supportive family, Alice spent each winter in Savannah, Georgia and each summer on the coast of Maine. While she did not grow up camping or participating in outdoor sports, something drew her to Jackson Hole, Wyoming one summer to work as a whitewater rafting guide. It was here she discovered her passion for adventure travel. She spent the following year studying and backpacking throughout Tasmania, Australia and New Zealand, combining her love of the arts and her newfound passion for wilderness. Upon her return, she became an editorial intern with National Geographic Adventure magazine, graduated from Sarah Lawrence College, and promptly moved to the West Coast, where the ocean and mountains were calling her name.

She worked a stint onboard a small cruise ship along the Columbia River – no better introduction to the Pacific Northwest! – and edited for The Mountaineers Books. After a few years with a travel and nature stock photography company, she found herself yearning to be the one inside the photos rather than cataloguing them. This desire led her to Adventure Associates of WA, an eco-sensitive tour operator specializing in meaningful worldwide travel experiences for women. Here she developed a strong rapport among trip participants and fellow tour operators, a deep sense of company loyalty, and firsthand knowledge of the challenges involved in niche marketing.

Alice’s passion is to foster sustainable lifestyles and environmental and cultural stewardship within the outdoor recreation industry. Having worked as a guide and in adventure travel media, she brings an insider’s perspective to the ATTA. She is your member advocate and looks forward to speaking with you about making the most of your membership.

Alice lives with her husband in central Washington and enjoys playing outside in a variety of outdoor landscapes year round.

“Travelling is like flirting with life. It’s like saying, ‘I would stay and love you, but I have to go; this is my station.”

~Lisa St. Aubin de Teran

Meredith Guzy comes to the ATTA with a rich history as a travel consultant for Protravel International in Chicago, Illinois. Meredith has a habit of infusing philanthropy into her her professional life. First by serving to sponsor a village in Rwanda; wearing three hats she was office team leader, in charge of promotional item sales, and raised donations. And second, by organizing and recruiting monetary donations & supplies for Ndapona Yashikende Primary School, village of Onekwaya in north-central Namibia, affiliated with the WorldTeach Organization.

Meredith was raised with an appreciation for travel. She grew up in St. Louis, but every summer she and her family would travel up north to Michigan for the month of July. She considered herself fortunate to have nature reserves, sand dunes and Lake Michigan as her backyard growing up. Her family vacations — whether north or south — laid the ground work for her itch to the see the world. At the age 16 Meredith took her first trip to Europe and from that point on she took every opportunity to travel. Attending school sponsored trips, such as ski, volunteer, government studies, and developed into independent trips back to Europe, Canada and Mexico, not to mention the family vacations scattered along the way. Meredith headed to Alabama for college, where she attended Spring Hill College. She graduated with a B.A. in Integrated Communications with a focus in PR and advertising. While in college Meredith was the PR/Promotions Director of Out-of-Order Communications and developed an Integrated Marketing Communications Campaign for the Public Relations Council of Alabama, selected for their 2007 Marketing Plan.

Meredith also has a background in events management and fundraising. She interned with the Bay Area Food Bank and served at the media contact for numerous media outlets as well as working on their event planning team. Volunteering has been a major theme throughout Meredith’s life: while at Spring Hill she worked as a tutor for under-privileged schools in the Mobile area, and served on the Post-Katrina Disaster Relief Clean-Up Committee.

Meredith shifted the direction of her career in September 2010 and joined the ATTA sales team as business development and membership sales. Recognizing that she still wanted to make a career out of her passion for travel, she also realized that she wanted to help strengthen the industry, by contributing to the efforts to develop sustainable tourism. ATTA was a very natural move for Meredith and the opportunity to give back to an industry that has impacted her life since her early childhood.

” . . . the great promise of it is that, traveling, we are born again, and able to return at moments to a younger and a more open kind of self.”

~Pico Iyer

Travel has been an integral part of Rebeca’s upbringing. Since she was a child, every weekend her family van headed off to a different town around Mexico. However, getting to the destination was just half of the fun, since the road offered from breathtaking landscapes, singing performances of heartfelt corridos (old Mexican rural songs) to exciting stories told by the best storyteller ever (Dad), delicious food in little restaurants which happen be by the road, and of course a detailed summary about the place they were heading to provided by Mom the historian.

Traveling made Rebeca conscious of her country’s reality: its beauty, its deep social contrasts, and its cultural and historic richness. Traveling with her parents taught her to respect the people and natural environments she visited, to immerse herself in the moment she was living, to understand how fortunate she was to have the opportunity to be there, to observe and learn other people’s customs, to take the time to know powerful words such as “thank you…” in náhuatl, and to listen, listen, and listen to the stories people had to tell. And as she grew older and the traveling possibilities became wider and the regions further away, she repeated this same pattern of conduct and enjoyment throughout all the places she visited around the world.

Extensive travel through India, Japan, China, Thailand, Nepal, Egypt, Morocco, Europe and America has given her a special sensitivity towards local people and customs. Rebeca studied history in Mexico City, and pursued a Masters in Liberal Studies at Georgetown University in Washington DC. Adventure travel had been part of her life however she had the chance to combine it with more active experiences when she included to her traveling the mountain biking, river rafting, hiking, etc. Finally, she had the chance to work for one of the most important adventure travel companies in Mexico, where she collaborated with its Academic Program that focused on enticing schools to promote scientific and academic travel among their students. It became an ambitious program that allowed the children to leave the classroom and live science, culture and nature first hand. Rebeca developed her PR skills while being the liaison between enthusiastic but sometimes concerned parents and the company.

Afterwards, and totally convinced that adventure travel could combine her strongest passions — traveling and history — Rebeca and her husband created their own tour operator that specializes on custom-made adventure travel experiences around Mexico. From the moment The Muddy Boot was born, it was an ATTA Member. This gave Rebeca a deep knowledge not only about the ATTA itself, but the adventure travel industry around the world — and, how Mexico’s remarkable adventure, natural and cultural resources need to be connected to this network. The Adventure Travel World Summits became her source of inspiration where she could “learn, partner and grow” not only as a business owner but as a person. This commitment to the ATTA, her experience as a tour operator owner and manager, itinerary designer and travel blogger, along with her language skills and understanding of Mexico, allowed Rebeca to naturally decide to join the ATTA’s team as its Executive Director in Mexico.

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today, let us begin.”

~Mother Theresa

Swimming in the brisk waters of the Pacific Northwest, hiking through the Cascade Mountain Range, and camping in a variety of national and state parks, Carrie considers herself fortunate to have grown up in a family that embraced and explored the outdoors. Whether it was sliding down muddy hillsides into creeks, running up and down a soccer field, whizzing past her father on the ski slopes, or going on family bike rides, she lived an active childhood, which laid the foundation for a life full of adventure. Setting out from her family, as a young adult, Carrie had the opportunity to journey on several backpacking trips in the Canadian Rockies and a sailing excursion through the alluring San Juan Islands of Washington State. On these trips Carrie’s eyes wereopened to the mystery, beauty, and majesty of Creation, and a hunger was unleashed to discover the people and places of this world. While an undergraduate student at the University of Washington, Carrie married Tyson who shared these sentiments towards nature. Upon completing a B.A. in Psychology, they moved to Sun Valley, Idaho to work and play…well, let’s be honest, not much work took place with the limitless ski terrain of Bald Mountain as a backyard. During her time in Sun Valley, Idaho, Carrie grew to cherish a slow-paced, small-town lifestyle and integrated the values of living presently and living simply into her being. Other notable outdoor moments have included biking through the captivating countryside of Czech Republic, taking in the marvelous night-lights of Budapest while cruising down the Danube River, snorkeling and swimming in the waterfall-fed lagoons of Maui, and training for multiple triathlons in the outdoor playground of the greater Seattle area.

Professionally, Carrie holds a M.A. in Counseling from Seattle University. She has worked as the Regional Intake Coordinator for Meier Clinics and the Program Coordinator for Monroe Public Schools’ GEAR UP Scholars Project. In her community she has actively served, volunteering as a volleyball coach at the local Boys and Girls Club and as a leader for her church’s youth group. Carrie now lives in Monroe, Washington, where she and her husband welcomed of a beautiful girl to their family in 2007. The prospect of giving back what she received as a child and opening her daughter’s eyes to the wonders of this world is exciting for Carrie.

In the fall of 2007, with the arrival of her daughter, Carrie underwent a career shift and began working with the ATTA in database development. Her focus now includes supporting the Business Development Team and assisting the membership program. It is Carrie’s hope that pairing her enthusiasm for activity and the outdoors with her experience in the human service sector will enable her to make valuable connections and contributions in the adventure travel industry.

“Not all those who wander are lost.”

~ J.R.R. Tolkien

Exposed to a passion for a travel at an early age by her underwater photographer father, Nicole was lucky to spend summer vacations growing up scuba diving with him along their native California Coast and in places like Grand Cayman and the Caribbean.

After graduating with degrees in Literature and Sociology from UC Santa Barbara in 2004, Nicole worked a variety of hospitality and management jobs so she could stay and enjoy the natural beauty of the area’s mountains and beaches. A brief stint as an editorial assistant at ISLANDS magazine made her realize that she wanted to be experiencing the fascinating places and people she was researching firsthand, rather than just writing about them from inside a cubicle. Almost two years later, she took the plunge and spent over a year of enthusiastic vagrancy, surfing and hiking through Costa Rica, volunteering at a daycare and vocational center at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, camping and diving up the coast of Australia, and backpacking through China, Tibet, India and Europe. The more Nicole became acquainted with the cultural insights and, often, the fragility of the various communities she experienced, the more interested she became in how these special places could thrive in the world without giving up what made them unique. She decide to pursue additional education to help her get involved in international business.

She ended up completing her MBA in Aberdeen, Scotland, where she enjoyed life in highlands and a business program that attracted a widely international student base. Within this unique environment she studied international business, cross cultural strategy, E-Business and leadership with people from all over the globe. In her free time in Aberdeen, Nicole participated in the highly competitive Scottish Institute for Enterprise’s Entrepreneurial Bootcamp Program, and then mentored a group of undergraduate entrepreneurs in their business venture.

Upon returning to California post-graduation in 2009, Nicole worked as a freelance social media consultant but remained eager to find a place where she could better fuse her interest in business, culture and travel, and use her creative and communicative skills. After zeroing in on the Adventure Travel World Summit as a key place to learn more about the industry, she joined the ATTA team as volunteer at the Adventure Travel World Summit in Quebec, Canada in 2009 and has since begun working on special projects and as an Assistant Editor for AdventureTravelNews. Nicole looks forward to learning from and becoming an active part of the adventure travel community.

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”

~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Jessica is a Pacific Northwest native, born and raised in the Seattle area. The travel bug hit during her teenage years and kicked off with a trip to South Africa. Mexico and Canada are just a few other places she has had the opportunity to explore and learn. She will never forget the first time she heard a lion roar in the wilds of Africa while on safari, or being welcomed into the kitchen of dear friends in Mazatlan and being taught to cook real Mexican food with their pet Tarantula keeping watch nearby! Being able to help others while exploring the world has drawn her to many locations – from helping doctors provide free medical care in remote populations to building houses for those living in scrap metal shacks; serving has been an integral part of her travel experience.

In 2008, a friend invited her along for a 3-day backpacking trip on the Washington Coast. Ever since then, Jessica has been an avid hiker and backpacker – she cannot get enough of the beautiful world around her!

Jessica earned her B.A. in Business Management from Northwest University in Kirkland, WA. After spending over a decade working in the medical industry, she began to pursue the idea of finding a new career – one that would inspire joy, challenge her in every way, and serve others. Enter the ATTA! After a few good chats with Shannon and other team members and one whirlwind trip to the 2012 ATWS in Switzerland she joined the team and has definitely found her tribe and is excited to serve all members and staff.

Jessica and her Husband/Adventure Buddy/Best Friend, Jerome currently live in Monroe, WA and enjoy finding/building unique-vintage inspired furniture for their home (a favorite piece is the homemade couch made of recycled Volkswagen bus seats), playing and listening to all kinds of music, cooking large meals for everyone they know and of course, adventuring in the great outdoors.

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”

~ Dr. Seuss

Ulrika Larsson, from Sweden, has for most of her active professional life been trying to avoid static jobs like sitting in front of an abacus, a whiteboard, a typewriter, a TV or a computer. Instead, curiosity has been her biggest and most important employer and has offered her exciting and varied jobs and tasks including working in places like Spain, Sweden, Cyprus, the United States and Wales. Quite often she’s been drawn to jobs with a touch of the outdoors.

After having studied Spanish in Spain and Outdoor Education with Ecotourism as her major in Dalarna (in north Sweden), she became one of the driving forces behind the outdoor company Upplevelsebolaget for eight years (2002-2010). This was one of the first tour operators with adventure activities on the Swedish west coast, focusing on sea kayaking, rock climbing, mountain biking and team building. In 2006 the company received that year’s Grand Travel Ecotourism Award.

In 2011 she founded Green Adventures, a sea kayak company on Sweden’s west coast, where guided tours, courses and consultancy are the key components. Sustainability was the green thread running throughout the company’s activities.

In order to not completely drown in the administrative bottomless hole that usually comes with running your own business, she tries to make sure, at irregular intervals, to refill her outdoor adventure account with her own adventures. Bicycle tours across the U.S., solo paddling trips along the Swedish coastline, tidal paddling adventures in Wales, off-piste skiing in Chamonix, scuba diving trips to the far East, mountain bike rides in the forest on the Swedish west coast or long rock climbing days on sun-warmed rocks. Call it a hobby if you want. Ulrika calls it necessary skills-training.

At ATTA, Ulrika is the Member Advocate for Europe, focusing on making sure that our European members get the most out of their membership.

Moementum (www.moementum.com) Founder and Principal Moe Carrick has woven a cohesive and provocative tapestry of personal leadership experiences, Fortune 100 consulting, academic and institutional learning, keynote addresses, authorship, strategic partnering, and masterful facilitation. Her diverse background, which spans more than two decades, makes Moe an ideal partner for those who possess the power and desire to achieve concrete and lasting change for themselves and their organizations.

Moe grounds her approach in a unifying and undeniable truth: successful work is dependent upon human relationships. Moe believes that people and human relationships can stand between our successes and failures when not managed well. Her work begins and ends at the critical juncture where people and organizations must solve root issues while simultaneously sustaining the motivation to become better.

Counted as one of the nation’s foremost leaders in adventure learning, one of Moe’s on-river forays with senior executives on the nation’s most threatening white-water rapid were recorded in Fast Company’s, “Extreme Off-Site” feature story (1999). Straddling mainstream organizational consulting with best-of-the-best wilderness education as faculty for the National Outdoor Leadership School, Outward Bound, and Project Adventure, Moe’s varied contributions to people and organizations have consistently stimulated positive ripple effects with direct and favorable impact to the bottom line.

Her lifelong adventurous spirit and story-telling prowess coupled with her inspirational, witty, and humorous style, earn Moe rave reviews following keynote addresses, training events, and consulting experiences. Her visionary mind allows her to translate her experiences into engaging and interactive presentations, which both predict and reflect emerging trends.

Moe holds a BA from the University of New Hampshire, an MS in Organizational Development from Antioch University, and numerous relevant certifications.

“Adventure travel has given me something I treasure more than the physical: a sense of purpose, clarity, energy and inspiration.”

~Christina Heyniger

Christina is the president of Xola Consulting, Inc and an associate with the Adventure Travel Trade Association. Christina has ten years experience in business management consulting, specializing since 2004 in marketing and development work in the adventure tourism industry. In cooperation with ATTA and the rest of the Xola team, Christina’s current focus is on supporting public and private sector initiatives which seek to create adventure tourism markets as a means of driving human and environmental development.

Christina’s work has supported adventure travel tour operators and governments around the world including Africa, Asia (particularly SE Asia), South America and North America. She speaks regularly at industry and academic conferences on topics ranging from small business management to humanitarian aid and international development through responsible tourism.

Christina earned her Bachelor of Science from Cornell University in 1993; her Master of Arts from Georgetown University in its Communication, Culture and Technology program; and her Master of Business Administration from American University specializing in Entrepreneurship in 2004.

Originally from Anchorage, Alaska, Christina now lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

“Travel around the world, adventure travel in particular, is a wonderful experience that enriches and creates powerful memories you carry for life”

~Hong Zhao

Hong has been in senior management positions over the past 15 years and has been responsible for international technical and engineering management, business development, and venture operation management for several large US and Canadian companies, including AT&T Wireless and Nortel Networks. In those international management roles, he has traveled the world, from Asia to Europe, from North America to Central America. Travel has been an integral part of his business life. In his most recent duty at AT&T Wireless where he served as a senior director of engineering and a senior director of business development, he led his engineering team and implementation team developed and deployed cellular networks in the whole Caribbean region from Bermuda to Curacao, from Cayman to Barbados, explored the from time to time to create paths) for cellsite location selection. He has accumulated rich experiences in government relations, business development and operation management, which he brought in with him to the ATTA. Born and raised in Beijing, Hong speaks Mandarin and English fluently.

Hong’s rich international business experience, bi-lingual capabilities and knowledge of technology and travel make him an ideal team member as the ATTA works with many international governments, NGOs and companies.

When he is at home in the beautiful emerald city of Washington, he enjoys hiking, camping and biking with the family and friends. Hong received his PhD degree in electrical and computer engineering from University of Victoria, British Columbia in 1993 and owns many US patents.

“For me, the best travel pushes my personal limits and helps me discover what I’m capable of.”

~Natasha Martin

Natasha has been traveling her entire life. She was lucky to be born into a family of wanderlusters and has had the good fortune to learn about the world by visiting it. She is very proudly Canadian, and currently lives in Vancouver. However, as the child of a Foreign Service officer, she grew up around the world and has lived in Barbados, Ethiopia, Kenya, the Palestinian Territories, the US, Japan, and Scotland. She travels at every available opportunity and her favorite trips have been diving in Malta, trekking in Ladakh and hiking in Quebec, especially in the Fall.

After graduating with a degree in African History from Concordia University in Montreal, Natasha began to pursue a career in development by interning at the United Nations in Nairobi, working at a Canadian NGO and at the Canadian Senate.

It did not take her long to realize she could not sit behind a desk. She had the good fortune to meet Christina Heyniger in India – and has been working for Xola Consulting ever since.

At Xola, Natasha’s research supports Xola ATDI Feature Adventure Destination assessments. Her adventure tourism market research also includes primary and secondary research into industry trends; in 2008 Xola and ATTA will release her work studying the adventure tourism preferences of “GenY” travelers. In addition, she edits and manages day-to-day operations for Off the Radar. Natasha supports ATTA business development, especially in Spanish speaking countries.

Gustavo Timo is one of the directors at Sextante Ltda, a consulting company specialized on competiveness and innovation, as well as being an ATTA Associate. He has been involved with adventure and nature travel for 16 years.Gustavo has an extensive experience in designing and coordinating capacity building projects for territorial development, industry and market development. He has worked as a project manager and a trainer for international projects.He is one of the Brazilian Adventure Travel and Ecotourism Trade Association founders, and has served as an elected member of ABETA’s Board of Directors and has worked as the organization’s general manager for five year.

At ABETA, Gustavo’s focus is on developing, organizing and converging the adventure travel industry of Brazil. ABETA is at the forefront of establishing standards and building qualifications and certification systems in the main adventure travel destinations of Brazil.Gustavo is a project leader on the Adventure Tourism Working Group on the Tourism Committee at International Standards Organization – ISOTC228 and has been working for the development of international standards for adventure tourism worldwide.

Gustavo has experience as an adventure travel tour operator and consultant in adventure tourism market development in Brazil. Prior to his work at ABETA, he was Executive Director of Brasil Aventuras Expedições for eight years, a Brazilian adventure travel company. At Aventuras Expedições he was responsible for developing new destinations, marketing, establishing strategic partnerships, training adventure travel guides and opening distribution channels in Brazil and internationally. In his work as a consultant he supported the planning, development and marketing of nature destinations in Brazil and training entrepreneurs to manage nature-based tourism.His experience as an expedition leader and guide involves mountaineering, backpacking, canyoneering and overland expeditions all over Brazil for more than seven years.

Gustavo holds a graduation degree in Business Management, a post-graduate degree in project management and a MBA in Business.He is an experienced traveler, an outdoorsman and family man, an active diver, canyoneer, mountaineer and mountain biker, and now enjoy his time introducing his daughters to the outdoor world.