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Featuring:
(hover to read bios)
Dr. Sakena Yacoobi
Executive Director
Afghan Institute of Learning
Dr. Sakena Yacoobi is Executive Director of the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL), an Afghan women-led NGO she founded in 1995. Established to provide teacher training, education and health services to women and children, over 7 million have benefited from AIL’s programs to date. Sakena’s vision of a healthier Afghanistan evolved after watching her mother give birth to 15 children, only to have 5 children survive. Under Sakena’s leadership, AIL has established itself as a visionary organization which works at the grassroots level and empowers women and communities to bring education and health services to poor rural and urban girls and women, as well as other disenfranchised Afghans. AIL was the first organization to offer human rights and leadership training to Afghan women in the 1990s. AIL supported 80 underground home schools for 3000 girls in Afghanistan during the Taliban regime. AIL was first to open Women’s Learning Centers for Afghan women—a concept now copied by many organizations throughout Afghanistan. Dr. Yacoobi has received multiple recognition-of-service awards in Afghanistan.
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.
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.
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
Neil Fiske
President & CEO Eddie Bauer LLC
Mr. Fiske has served as President and CEO of Eddie Bauer LLC since June of 2007. During his tenure he has led the effort to bring the company back to its roots and reclaim its place as an American icon.This includes the launch of First Ascent in 2009, “the most significant line of outerwear in a generation”, built by some of the world’s best known mountain guides. First Ascent’s final testing ground was Mt. Everest in May 2009. And, as part of this, Eddie Bauer produced near real-time daily video coverage of its Return to Everest Expedition – a first in Everest’s history. Mr. Fiske has also pulled the company’s rich heritage forward bringing the quality, value, and style of its product back to the standards set by the company’s founder, Eddie Bauer, in 1920.
Mr. Fiske has over 20 years’ experience in retail and related industries. Before his role at Eddie Bauer, Mr. Fiske was chief executive officer of the Bath and Body Works, a division of Limited Brands. Prior to Limited Brands, Mr. Fiske spent fourteen years at Boston Consulting Group focused on the Consumer Goods and Retail sector.
Mr. Fiske is the author of “Trading Up: The New American Luxury,” a Business Week bestseller and winner of the American Marketing Association’s Newberry award for best marketing book. He was also recognized as “Marketer of the Year” and “Retailer of the Year” in 2004 and 2005 by Women’s Wear Daily. Mr. Fiske is a graduate of Harvard Business School and Williams College. He is an avid skier, climber, and outdoorsman.
Ellen Bettridge
Vice President, U.S. Retail Travel Network
Ellen Bettridge’s responsibilities at the U.S. Retail Travel Network include the management and growth of the company-owned U.S. travel service offices, in addition to overseeing sales, account management, card integration and product development initiatives for the U.S. Representative Travel team. Bettridge takes on the additional responsibility of leveraging the strengths of both the company owned and Representative Travel Network offices to form a combined Retail Travel Network. This retail presence in the marketplace is a tremendous asset in promoting both the visibility and expertise of American Express Consumer Travel as a luxury travel provider.
Since 2002, Bettridge has grown the Representative Travel Network, implementing a pricing structure and servicing strategy based upon the needs of the member agencies. She has used innovative ways to grow the business, using the purchasing power, revenue generating and cost savings programs of American Express to attract major agencies. Agencies such as Morris Murdock with 14 locations in three states; The Travel Authority with 52 locations in five states; and Cruise Planners from Coral Springs, Fla., with over 400 home-based cruise specialists in 42 states have joined the network under her leadership.
In her 17 years with American Express, Bettridge has held a variety of roles in both the Travel and Corporate Card businesses, including director, account development, field performance manager for the eastern region in Corporate Services, as well as manager of account development in Corporate Services.
Nicky Fitzgerald
Luxury adventure travel industry veteran
Nicky Fitzgerald opened her first hotel in 1982 at the southernmost tip of Africa and since then has opened, operated and marketed over 60 luxury safari lodges and boutique hotels across South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Tanzania, Kenya and India.
In 1994 she was employed by Conservation Corporation Africa (CC Africa) as Operations Director and moved across to Sales and Marketing in 2001. Nicky was part of the team that grew CC Africa from 3 to 50 lodges across sub Saharan Africa, and later in India, in all the great wilderness high spots – Masai Mara, Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti, Okavango Delta, Victoria Falls, Namib Desert, Kruger National Park, Kahna and Bandhavgarh National Parks, to name but a few. The company employed 2,800 people and also ran successful tour operations business in 15 African countries. Many CC Africa lodges are award winning (Ngorongoro Crater Lodge was voted 2nd best hotel in the world by UK Conde Nast Traveller magazine in 2005) and the company has been honored with multiple prestigious ecotourism awards – including global winner of British Airways Tourism for Tomorrow Award. In 2008 she was responsible for the rebranding of CC Africa to &Beyond and repositioned &Beyond’s travel business from being a tour operator to becoming a luxury travel provider specialising in fulfilling high ticket trips off the website. Nicky departed from &Beyond in October after 15 years with the company and is currently exploring the many opportunities that the luxury travel industry offers especially in Latin America. Together with her husband Steve she is a founding partner of Pangaea Associates, a consultancy focusing on the development of ecotourism in the developing world.
John Sterling
Executive Director, The Conservation Alliance
John Sterling has spent the past 17 years in the conservation field, and has been involved with The Conservation Alliance since 1996. The Conservation Alliance is a group of 170 outdoor industry companies that work together to protect threatened wild places throughout North America. John was Director of Environmental Programs at Patagonia, Inc. until 2002, and represented the company on the Alliance board.
He left Patagonia to launch a career to help businesses engage in meaningful conservation work. John was hired as Executive Director in 2005, and has helped The Conservation Alliance build its membership and profile within the outdoor industry. Prior to his time at Patagonia, John was a staffer at Earth Island Institute. He serves on the boards of the Oregon Natural Desert Association, based in Bend, Oregon. John is an avid climber, telemark skier, and backpacker, and an aspiring birder. He can be found most mornings walking along the Deschutes River with his daughter, Lily and son, Ian.
Dr. Sakena Yacoobi
Executive Director
Afghan Institute of Learning
Dr. Sakena Yacoobi is Executive Director of the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL), an Afghan women-led NGO she founded in 1995. Established to provide teacher training, education and health services to women and children, over 7 million have benefited from AIL’s programs to date. Sakena’s vision of a healthier Afghanistan evolved after watching her mother give birth to 15 children, only to have 5 children survive. Under Sakena’s leadership, AIL has established itself as a visionary organization which works at the grassroots level and empowers women and communities to bring education and health services to poor rural and urban girls and women, as well as other disenfranchised Afghans. AIL was the first organization to offer human rights and leadership training to Afghan women in the 1990s. AIL supported 80 underground home schools for 3000 girls in Afghanistan during the Taliban regime. AIL was first to open Women’s Learning Centers for Afghan women—a concept now copied by many organizations throughout Afghanistan. Dr. Yacoobi has received multiple recognition-of-service awards in Afghanistan.
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.
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.
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
Neil Fiske
President & CEO Eddie Bauer LLC
Mr. Fiske has served as President and CEO of Eddie Bauer LLC since June of 2007. During his tenure he has led the effort to bring the company back to its roots and reclaim its place as an American icon.This includes the launch of First Ascent in 2009, “the most significant line of outerwear in a generation”, built by some of the world’s best known mountain guides. First Ascent’s final testing ground was Mt. Everest in May 2009. And, as part of this, Eddie Bauer produced near real-time daily video coverage of its Return to Everest Expedition – a first in Everest’s history. Mr. Fiske has also pulled the company’s rich heritage forward bringing the quality, value, and style of its product back to the standards set by the company’s founder, Eddie Bauer, in 1920.
Mr. Fiske has over 20 years’ experience in retail and related industries. Before his role at Eddie Bauer, Mr. Fiske was chief executive officer of the Bath and Body Works, a division of Limited Brands. Prior to Limited Brands, Mr. Fiske spent fourteen years at Boston Consulting Group focused on the Consumer Goods and Retail sector.
Mr. Fiske is the author of “Trading Up: The New American Luxury,” a Business Week bestseller and winner of the American Marketing Association’s Newberry award for best marketing book. He was also recognized as “Marketer of the Year” and “Retailer of the Year” in 2004 and 2005 by Women’s Wear Daily. Mr. Fiske is a graduate of Harvard Business School and Williams College. He is an avid skier, climber, and outdoorsman.
Ellen Bettridge
Vice President, U.S. Retail Travel Network
Ellen Bettridge’s responsibilities at the U.S. Retail Travel Network include the management and growth of the company-owned U.S. travel service offices, in addition to overseeing sales, account management, card integration and product development initiatives for the U.S. Representative Travel team. Bettridge takes on the additional responsibility of leveraging the strengths of both the company owned and Representative Travel Network offices to form a combined Retail Travel Network. This retail presence in the marketplace is a tremendous asset in promoting both the visibility and expertise of American Express Consumer Travel as a luxury travel provider.
Since 2002, Bettridge has grown the Representative Travel Network, implementing a pricing structure and servicing strategy based upon the needs of the member agencies. She has used innovative ways to grow the business, using the purchasing power, revenue generating and cost savings programs of American Express to attract major agencies. Agencies such as Morris Murdock with 14 locations in three states; The Travel Authority with 52 locations in five states; and Cruise Planners from Coral Springs, Fla., with over 400 home-based cruise specialists in 42 states have joined the network under her leadership.
In her 17 years with American Express, Bettridge has held a variety of roles in both the Travel and Corporate Card businesses, including director, account development, field performance manager for the eastern region in Corporate Services, as well as manager of account development in Corporate Services.
Nicky Fitzgerald
Luxury adventure travel industry veteran
Nicky Fitzgerald opened her first hotel in 1982 at the southernmost tip of Africa and since then has opened, operated and marketed over 60 luxury safari lodges and boutique hotels across South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Tanzania, Kenya and India.
In 1994 she was employed by Conservation Corporation Africa (CC Africa) as Operations Director and moved across to Sales and Marketing in 2001. Nicky was part of the team that grew CC Africa from 3 to 50 lodges across sub Saharan Africa, and later in India, in all the great wilderness high spots – Masai Mara, Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti, Okavango Delta, Victoria Falls, Namib Desert, Kruger National Park, Kahna and Bandhavgarh National Parks, to name but a few. The company employed 2,800 people and also ran successful tour operations business in 15 African countries. Many CC Africa lodges are award winning (Ngorongoro Crater Lodge was voted 2nd best hotel in the world by UK Conde Nast Traveller magazine in 2005) and the company has been honored with multiple prestigious ecotourism awards – including global winner of British Airways Tourism for Tomorrow Award. In 2008 she was responsible for the rebranding of CC Africa to &Beyond and repositioned &Beyond’s travel business from being a tour operator to becoming a luxury travel provider specialising in fulfilling high ticket trips off the website. Nicky departed from &Beyond in October after 15 years with the company and is currently exploring the many opportunities that the luxury travel industry offers especially in Latin America. Together with her husband Steve she is a founding partner of Pangaea Associates, a consultancy focusing on the development of ecotourism in the developing world.
John Sterling
Executive Director, The Conservation Alliance
John Sterling has spent the past 17 years in the conservation field, and has been involved with The Conservation Alliance since 1996. The Conservation Alliance is a group of 170 outdoor industry companies that work together to protect threatened wild places throughout North America. John was Director of Environmental Programs at Patagonia, Inc. until 2002, and represented the company on the Alliance board.
He left Patagonia to launch a career to help businesses engage in meaningful conservation work. John was hired as Executive Director in 2005, and has helped The Conservation Alliance build its membership and profile within the outdoor industry. Prior to his time at Patagonia, John was a staffer at Earth Island Institute. He serves on the boards of the Oregon Natural Desert Association, based in Bend, Oregon. John is an avid climber, telemark skier, and backpacker, and an aspiring birder. He can be found most mornings walking along the Deschutes River with his daughter, Lily and son, Ian.
Part I
Imagine
John Lennon’s “Imagine” conveyed his strong belief in peace for all of humankind. It was and remains a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal)! What will you imagine for your business? For the Adventure Travel industry? We’ll build upon the October 4th “Creativity – Give Birth to a Dancing Star” to help us imagine possibilities – starting with the end in mind.
Innovate
In the midst of intense competition, hyper-speed changes in our businesses and in the world, increased responsibilities we all bear as stewards of people, planet and profit, as well as the ever-shifting attitudes and behaviors of the very people we serve, we must innovate or perish. What does it means to innovate? What does it lead to? What does it cost? Gain guidance on the strategies, tools, mechanisms and mindset required to be an effective innovator.
Share
Sharing intelligence, product ideas and even financials and resources is often perceived as a threat because of its assumed effect on one’s profitability and competitiveness. New perspectives on sharing are important in that sharing is known to stimulate ideas, inspire, create “power in numbers”, reveals potential, and can lead to lasting bonds between yourself and your peers. Passing along knowledge, vulnerabilities, and letting people grow with the giving of your expertise or resources help you and others grow, both within and outside your sphere of influence.
Part II
Cooperate
We pick up where the Transformative Thinking topic, “Share” left off. Once we’re in the mindset of sharing, we need to develop our “cooperative IQ” – to learn how to cooperate despite our innate tendencies, to cooperate in the face of competition, to look outside our industry and current circles where we navigate, and how to effectively do so to yield greater mutual results for consenting entities. Innovation and Creativity, coupled with increased interest in Sharing, can lead to powerful and fruitful alliances with unlikely individuals, businesses and organizations.
Nurture
In uncertain times, under competitive pressures, when the business is suffering or thriving, or when we question our own abilities, we may seek support and encouragement from others – mentors who are there to help us through tough periods or simply when we seek professional development support. Adventure Travel industry veterans, large and successful global adventure operators, and influential leaders in the public, academic and non-profit sectors, possess experience and knowledge available nowhere else. Let us train, educate and develop youth and entrepreneurs (regardless of age) to help nurture a new wave of responsible tourism professionals.
Inspire
Storytelling inspires. More than 500 Delegates learned at the 2009 Adventure Travel World Summit in Quebec, Canada, about the inspirational powers of Storytelling. At this, our 2010 ATWS, we’ll look at why and how we should inspire our staff, business partners, clients and travelers, media and the next generations which will take adventure travel forward. We’ll look at inspiration as incredibly powerful motivator, catalyst of creativity, and productive engine on the financial front. Conveyed through “case-in-point”, we’ll show how the proverbial mountain can be moved through the power of inspiration at the right times and right places.
