Advisory Committee – ATWS 2010
Keith Bellows – Editor-in-Chief, National Geographic Traveler
Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and a Canadian citizen, Keith Bellows, 58, was named editor-in-chief of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELER magazine in January 1998 and a vice president of the National Geographic Society in March 2000. Under his stewardship, the magazine has been nominated for two National Magazine Awards, won more than 60 Lowell Thomas Awards for best travel writing (it has been named best magazine eight of his 11 years and this year won as best magazine and best website), and eight Folio Awards for Best Travel Magazine. As a tip of the hat to new media, TRAVELER has won an iTunes People’s Choice Award for Best Podcast of 2006, for which Bellows wrote two scripts. Its “Intelligent Travel” won a 2007 Travvie and a 2009 Lonely Planet Award as best travel blog.
In addition to editing TRAVELER, Bellows developed a major spinoff of the magazine’s website built around the award-winning special issue 50 Places of a Lifetime. He also writes “One on One,” a regular interview column with compelling figures—Al Gore, hotelier Ian Schrager, Steve Case, Dolly Parton, futurist Andrew Zolli, Island Records founder Chris Blackwell—who have something important to say about how we travel and where we go. He helped position TRAVELER as a leader in sustainable travel and has made it the travel photography magazine (it runs the world’s biggest travel-photo contest, the only travel cell-phone contest, and a series of city-based photo seminars regarded as the best in the business). He also helped create journeystreams, an innovative open-source web program to help students tell stories.
Prior to joining National Geographic, Mr. Bellows was developing internet content as early as 1994. He worked for Rupert Murdoch’s Delphi web service; as creative director launched BabyCenter.com (now owned by Johnson & Johnson); was the executive producer of Excite.com; and was founding partner of WestWorld Media, which developed Metallica’s first website and created the college-based Campus Voice.com.
He has written for Esquire, Sports Illustrated, Parenting, AARP, and many other magazines. He also wrote The Canuck Book and the 1998 Winter Olympics ACCESS Guide for ABC-TV. He is now writing 100 Places That Will Change Your Child’s Life, part of a program he is developing to encourage parents, corporations, and schools to view travel as a critical learning tool. It will be published in October 2011.
William L. Bryan, Jr., Ph.D – Co-founder and Executive Director, Rural Landscape Institute
Holds a Ph.D. in resource planning and conservation from the University of Michigan, was the Founder and.Executive Director of the Northern Rockies Action Group, providing technical organizational assistance for cause-oriented nonprofits in the Rocky Mountain West from 1973-1982.
Currently, Bill is the co-founder and executive director of the Rural Landscape Institute: A Catalyst for Food and Agricultural Integrity in the American West, whose mission is to increase the economic viability of farms and ranches, thereby enhancing the health of the land, open space and rural communities. Creating and implementing a seven-state cooperative marketing association, booking service and resource center for agritourism suppliers and customers is of highest priority for the Institute. They operate as a non-profit support group for agricultural organizations and interests in the region.
Bill is also the Chairman of Off the Beaten Path, LLC, a premier travel planning service specializing in planning highly personalized trips for over 21 years to the Rocky Mountain West, Desert Southwest, Alaska and Patagonia. Bryan is the senior author of Sharing Your Home on the Range, a “how to” book for hospitality providers in farm and recreation (published 1991) and is the author of Montana Indians: Yesterday and Today, published in 1986 and again in 1996.
Bill is a founding member and presently vice chairman of the Adventure Collection, a ten member marketing and sharing best practices association in adventure travel. Bill is immediate past-President of the Board of the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman and serves on nine boards and planning councils on a regional and national level. For the last eighteen years, Bryan has consulted with over 1,000 family farmers and ranchers in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Arizona on farm and ranch recreation. Bryan also has been a project director for two federally-funded grants related to farm and ranch recreation directed by the Extension Service at the University of Wyoming.
Bryan is asked on a regular basis to speak on tourism trends, particularly as they relate to custom travel and adventure travel in rural areas of North America. Bill also acts as a consultant to tourism providers and natural resource organizations specializing in the areas of marketing, pricing, site assessment, and appropriate tourism practices, as well as national tourism trends and how they impact the future in tourism particularly in the regions in which Off the Beaten Path operates.
Kathy Dragon – Founder/CEO, TravelDragon
Kathy has more than two decades of experience in the Adventure/Experiential Travel industry. She’s been leading, designing, selling and operating small group adventure trips and has personally escorted over 3000 guests and worked with hundreds of guides and tour operators worldwide to design trips targeting particularly the North American boomer market.
As the founder and CEO of TravelDragon.com, a currated source and search engine for over 6,000 unique itineraries offered by 500+ of the best small tour operators in the world, she hopes to help tour providers distribute their products through targeted networks. Kathy has been involved with the travel development section of with two substantially funded .com’s (WholePeople.com – a Whole Foods Market Company and EONS.com – a social networking site for age 50+ consumers) as well as growing well established adventure travel companies: Vermont Country Cyclers and Country Walkers.
Kathy is a frequent international speaker, consultant, strategist and SME (subject matter expert) in the categories of Boomers, Prime Time Travelers (50-70) & Women as they relate to and interact with TRAVEL, Technology, Social Media, Green, Sustainability, Outdoors, and Natural Foods. She continues to design and lead limited custom departures through her own adventure travel company The Dragon’s Path.
Verónica Napurí Peirano – Executive President, Tucano Reps. Perú
Veronica Napuri is the Executive President of Tucano Reps. Perú, a DMC and Tour Operator established in 1993. Veronica studied Tourism Administration, recently earning specialization in Quality Management Standards. She is an active member of Peru’s most prestigious associations and government institutions. Veronica spent five years working in Europe, where she joined Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA-Europe) and established an office in the UK representing worldwide providers of adventure and nature holidays from USA-Asia-Europe-South America-Oceania.
Veronica, while living in Europe, was appointed Director for the Peruvian Tourism Board in the United Kingdom where she spent 2 years leading this dynamic office, before returning to Peru. She has been re-elected on two different occasions as Peru’s Chapter President of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA).
Currently, Veronica is the Executive Director of the Peruvian Association of Adventure and Ecotourism (APTAE –Peru).
In addition to this, for the Women’s International Celebration Day, Veronica received from the Peruvian Congress this year , a special medal recognizing her dedication in developing sustainable and fair travel in Peru through her company Tucano Reps Peru.
Chris Noble – General Manager, WorldNomads.com
Chris Noble is the General Manager for WorldNomads.com, a leading global travel insurance company and a co-founder of The Footprints Network, an alliance of e-commerce businesses funding community poverty alleviation around the world. Chris’ passion for travel, marketing, social media, travel philanthropy and customer engagement has helped position WorldNomads.com as one of the most innovative travel services companies online.
Chris has developed a number of successful travel programs from a documentary series currently screened on Nat Geo Adventure, travel scholarships and ambassador programs that engage an active adventure community of over 2 million travelers. When he’s not wrestling with his kids and twittering from obscure locations, he can be found travelling off the beaten track, shooting documentaries and wishing he could hold a tune in Karaoke.
Ray Rodney – Special Projects Manager, Wilderness Travel
As Wilderness Travel’s Special Projects Manager, Ray spends much of the year organizing and managing educational “special events,” including archaeology, natural history, total solar eclipse, and other theme programs. These events may involve discussing wildlife conservation issues with world-renowned experts in African game reserves, joining the world’s top Egyptologists for special access to the treasures of the Pharaohs, or watching an eclipse in a remote corner of the world with top astronomers. Past guests have included Jane Goodall, Sir Edmund Hillary, Mary Leakey, Egyptologist Zahi Hawass, wildlife biologist George Schaller, mountaineers Reinhold Messner and Conrad Anker, and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl.
Ray resided in Kathmandu, Nepal, for over 10 years, where he directed academic study programs, taught English, consulted in development projects, and joined the adventure travel world as a Wilderness Travel trekking guide. He has explored and trekked in some of the most remote parts of Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, India, Mongolia, and other far-flung regions of that continent. He has an extensive knowledge of Asian history, ecology, and religion, and is particularly knowledgeable about Tibetan Buddhism, holding a BA in Philosophy and Religion from Antioch College. He has led numerous Wilderness Travel trips in Asia, in addition to operating many special events, including some of the first trips to Tibet and to remote Mt. Kailas.
Trish Sare – Founder and Director, BikeHike Adventures
Trish is the founder and director of BikeHike Adventures, an award winning outbound tour operator specializing in multi-sport adventures worldwide. All trips have a strong focus on culture and sustainable tourism. This year marks BikeHike’s 17th successful year of operation. Trish has a wealth of background in adventure tourism and is a passionate outdoor enthusiast with 25 years experience as a world traveler. Her first overseas trip was a solo five year stint working her way around the world. For three of those years, she lived in Thailand, as a local and gained a deep understanding of the developing world. She then returned to Canada to study tourism management and fitness leadership and upon graduation was whisked to Costa Rica, where she lived and led trips for two more years. She has guided and developed adventure trips in over 30 destinations worldwide. In her Vancouver office, she has her hands in every aspect of running her company from the business development, research and development, sales and marketing, social media, technology, legal aspects, finances, human resources, risk management, etc. She is constantly upgrading her skills through educational events and seminars, conferences and industry events. In her spare time, she is usually outdoors either mountain biking, hiking, sea kayaking, trail running or climbing. Trish has a passion for the world and all of the amazing cultures that inhabit it and does her best to immerse herself directly into their distinctive lifestyles.
Timo Shaw – President, Country Walkers
Timo Shaw is the President of Country Walkers, the world’s premier purveyor of active adventures based in Waterbury, Vermont. A sales, marketing, and management professional with more than two decades of experience in the travel industry, Shaw is responsible for all operations and development at Country Walkers, which currently offers more than 75 Guided, Self-Guided, and Private & Custom itineraries around the globe.
With an impressive background in specialized travel prior to joining Country Walkers, Shaw was Director of Sales and Business Development at Travcoa and TCS Expeditions. He also held key management and executive positions at an array of travel industry notables, including Cruise West, Expedia, Air New Zealand, and the New Zealand Tourism Board.
A native of New Zealand, Shaw has spent the past 14 years in America. He resides in Waterbury, Vermont, with his wife, Melody, and son, Alec. He brings his passion for all things Kiwi to every endeavor—inside and outside the office!
