Andrew Nelson is a writer, educator and author of the new National Geographic book "Here Not There" (2024), a collection of unexpected travel destinations. Until the closing of Nat Geo Traveler he served as the director of its editorial projects. He now writes for outlets such as NGT, the WSJ and USA Today with a focus on cities and overseas destinations. His multi-platform production with partner Tourism New Zealand was named one of the "10 Best Branded Partnerships in 2017" by Ad Age. In 2016 his feature on Bulgaria for the magazine garnered the gold for best destination travel article from NATJA. A longtime educator, first at Loyola University New Orleans' School of Mass Communication, Nelson currently teaches a class in storytelling at the College of Charleston. Nelson feels passionately about instilling young writers with an appreciation of travel, culture and place.

In 2012 Nelson won a NATJA medal for “The Social Network,” that documents the rising share economy of San Francisco. Andrew is also twice winner of the Lowell Thomas Award. His work has also appeared in Cincinnati Magazine, Salon, ReadyMade, the New York Times and San Francisco Magazine. The latter featured Nelson's monthly history column for more than six years.

As a co-founder of the 1990s award-winning computer gaming company, CyberFlix, he's an old hand at applying disruptive technology to old school media having built the first digitally navigable model of the Titanic for the game Titanic: Adventure Out of Time, named \“Game of the Year," He has also served as a senior producer for Britannica.com in San Francisco and Chicago. Andrew's most satisfying accomplishment, however, was restoring an old adobe by hand in the Big Bend near Marfa, Texas. A graduate of Syracuse University, he received a masters from the University of Missouri's School of Journalism.

Angela leads the consumer public relations team at integrated marketing agency R&R partners, including Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Association.

She most recently spent 15 years at TURNER public relations.

Barbara Golden is communications manager for the St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra & The Beaches Visitors and Convention Bureau where she shares responsibility for marketing Florida's Historic Coast as a visitor destination through media communications and promotional programs.

"What I love most about my job is hearing people express their amazement when they experience the history and outdoor adventures and learn about the incredible stories of the people (today and 450 years ago) that have made Florida's Historic Coast one of the most fascinating places in Florida."

Ms. Golden has more than 30 years experience in marketing Florida tourism and has been with the St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra & The Beaches Visitors and Convention Bureau since 2005.

Prior to her becoming part of the team that markets the oldest city in the U.S., she was employed as a Florida Marketing Manager with Amtrak, and the Vice President of Tourism Development for Putnam County Chamber of Commerce and Marketing Director for Ripley's Believe It or Not St. Augustine.

Barbara is an expert on visitor experiences (dining, outdoors, lodging, history and more) in St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra and The Beaches in Northeast Florida. Barbara sits on the Advisory Board for the North American Travel Journalist Association, and serves as the Associate Representative on the SATW Eastern Chapter Board.

As the Director of Public Relations for Sonoma County Tourism, Birgitt is responsible for the communications and public relations strategy. Over 20 years in the tourism industry, Birgitt is known for cultivating media relationships, creating initiatives, managing tradeshows and events, and driving brand awareness. Successfully positioned Sonoma County as the wine & food capital in the world's most sustainable wine region in top outlets, she strives to get it recognized as the go-to well-being destination. Originally from Germany, she always thinks of the glass being half-full, preferably with Sonoma County wine.

Cathy Keefe Reynolds works in U.S. Travel's renowned public affairs department, where she is responsible for conveying the association's public affairs, research and advocacy initiatives to political, business and trade media, both domestic and international. She also oversees all aspects of press operations for IPW (formerly International Pow Wow), including management of the popular all-day Media Marketplace. Nearly 500 international and domestic business and consumer media from 70+ countries attend IPW.

She has been with U.S. Travel for more than two decades, holding positions in their market research, communications and tourism awareness departments.

Keefe-Reynolds has extensive media experience and has appeared live on CBS This Morning and ABC's World News Tonight, as well as many local network and national cable news programs. Born and raised in the Washington, DC area, she holds a bachelor's degree in speech communications from George Mason University and is an active member of the Public Relations Society of America. She and her husband reside in Fairfax, VA.

Chris Moyer is the director of communications at Visit Detroit, where he leads media relations, communications strategy, and community relations. Visit Detroit proudly welcomes millions of travelers to the region every year.

Chris joined Visit Detroit in 2022 after spending more than a decade working at the nexus of clean energy, public policy, smart cities, and mobility. Most recently, Chris worked as the director of communications for the Detroit Regional Chamber, where he led critical economic vitality programs for Southeast Michigan. Before that, he was the Industry Principal for Zpryme Research, a market research, media, and events company based in Austin, Texas. In this role, Chris helped launch the “Cities of Future” research practice and event. He led work on how digital transformation will be the catalyst for renewable energy adoption and a clean energy transition.

As a writer and analyst, he brings industry experience from the U.K., EU, and North America. Early in his career, Chris worked in public affairs and campaign politics for several candidates in Virginia, the U.K, and Colorado as a speechwriter and policy advisor. Chris serves on several boards, including Global Ties Detroit, The Heat and Warmth Fund (THAW) in Detroit, and as Secretary of the Downtown Development Authority for Grosse Pointe.

Chris is passionate about his family and dogs, travel, Detroit sports, soccer, and public service.

As vice president of communications, Denise Spiegel leads the communication strategy and development of organizational messaging that supports Visit Orlando’s mission, vision, business objectives and values, and delivers them to internal and external audiences. Before joining Visit Orlando, Denise started her career at a global public relations agency, Fleishman Hillard.

Georgia is responsible for finding new and impactful ways to show the US and Canadian traveler set that there is nothing like Australia

She brings extensive experience building internal and external programs for multinational brands including Virgin, Mazda, ASICS, Hilton Hotels and Booking[dot]com, from a career spent in the Australian, UK and US markets. She has a strong track record of creating perception changing campaigns that drive customer and employee engagement and cement a company’s reputation as a market leader.

Georgia holds advanced expertise across corporate and consumer media relations, internal communications, blue chip brand partnerships, high profile ambassador contracting, event and experiential marketing, and visual content creation — an integrated skillset she credits to the 10-plus years she spent in progressive agency environments.

Originally hailing from vibrant Melbourne, Georgia now calls Los Angeles home (and is always on the hunt for tips on the best places to eat, drink, and hike).

Heather Greenwood Davis is a trailblazer. She is the first (and only) Black woman to have a travel column in both of Canada's national newspapers, The Toronto Star and The Globe & Mail. For 20 years she's told travel stories that encourage parents to raise global citizens without sacrificing their own travel dreams. Her stories have always gone far beyond family travel, to embrace a "transformational travel" philosophy in luxury spaces. Culture, HIstory and Human connection are at the centre of her work. That award-winning writing appears in National Geographic (where she has been a Contributing Editor, Contributing Writer and Columnist), AFAR, Travel + Leisure and Condé Nast Traveler, among many others.

Heather has appeared on, and hosted, travel segments on television shows across North America including CTV's The Social; CHCH Morning Live, Good Morning America and CBS Sunday Morning. Her work with brands on SMTs and sponsored content always reflect a genuine partnership. She is also a frequent guest on podcasts and radio programs. She hosted the award-winning podcast Tarmac Warriors, and was a guest columnist on CBC's The Last Chapter.

Among her many awards, National Geographic's 2012 "Travelers of the Year" honour, awarded to her family after their yearlong, non-stop, family trip around the world, remains a treasured acknowledgement of her work. She has also been honoured with awards from SATW, TMAC, ASJA and the FTA, where she was named 2020's Person of the Year.

Jim grew up in California but has lived in Toronto for more than three decades. He covered sports, politics and other issues for the Toronto Star for 32 years. The last five years of his career at the Star were served as Travel Editor. He left the paper to begin a freelance career in 2013.

His work is now featured in 44 Postmedia and Sun Media newspapers and websites across Canada, with daily circulation of almost 2 million. He is also a regular contributor to Expedia.ca and Zoomer Magazine in Canada and has had stories published with Porter Airlines magazine, WestJet Magazine and EnRoute, the Air Canada magazine. He also contributes to the Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle and the Australian, as well as Canadian Traveller and other publications.

Jim tries to bring the world to his readers with a bit of a Canadian perspective and a generous dose of humour. He specializes in Canada, the U.S., the Caribbean and Europe.

John E. DiScala (a.k.a. Johnny Jet) travels around 150,000 miles and visits over 20 countries each year. He and his website JohnnyJet.com have been featured over 3,000 times in major publications, including USA Today, Time, Fortune and The New York Times, and he has appeared on ABC, CBS, CNBC, CNN, FOX, MSNBC, NBC, PBS and recently hosted "Hot Spots 2012" on the Travel Channel. JohnnyJet.com has been named "one of the top best money-saving web sites for travel" by Budget Travel Magazine, while the L.A. Times calls it "one of the top 10 essential travel resources on the internet.

Karyl Leigh Barnes is President of the Tourism Practice at Development Counsellors International (DCI). DCI's current public relations client roster includes:

• International: Barbados, Belize (Canada-only), Monaco, US Virgin Islands, Vienna
• States: Florida (US-only)
• Cities: Chattanooga (TN), Chickasaw Country (OK), Jackson (MI), Kissimmee, (FL), Loudoun (VA), Louisville, (KY), Miami (FL), Redding (CA), San Antonio (TX), San Francisco (Canada-only), San Luis Obispo (CA), St. Louis (MO)
• Meetings/Conventions: Scotland, Seattle (WA), Thailand
• Attractions & Products: Expedia.ca, Northgate Resorts - Camp Fimfo

Development Counsellors International (DCI) is the expert in how North American travelers and business executives select destinations. We partner with destinations to increase visitor arrivals, disperse visitors, augment daily spend and increase business investment. Since joining DCI in 1998 from a New York State DMO, Karyl Leigh has led destination strategy and campaign implementation for destinations on every continent except Antarctica.

Kristen works primarily with U.S. and Canadian media. Originally from Michigan, Kristen moved west in 2007 and immediately fell in love with the Golden State. After nearly 15 years in the California tourism industry, that love has only grown. In her role at Visit California, she manages the organization’s domestic public relations agency and all media and influencer relations programming. She also works closely with Visit California’s marketing, content and social teams on all Visit California campaigns and channels, and aids in expanding the organization’s global media messaging across 13 international markets.

With over 20 years of marketing, public relations and communications experience in luxury and lifestyle hotels, Kristi has worked for such notable brands as Four Seasons, Starwood Hotels, Loews Hotels and Highgate. In her current role, Kristi oversees PR in North America for Kempinski Hotels, Europe’s oldest luxury hotel group.

Laurie represents three fascinating places: 1.) Visit Tuolumne County in California's Gold Country and High Sierra; 2.) Visit Lake Tahoe in partnership with Weidinger Public Relations; and 3.) Jack London State Historic Park in Sonoma County, California.

Laurie was previously with San Francisco Travel (22+ years); Vice President-Communications at the Palm Springs Desert Resorts Convention & Visitors Bureau; and Director of Public Affairs with the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority. Other experiences include Marineland and the MGM Grand Hotel-Reno.

Laurie joined SATW in1986 and was awarded Marco Polo membership in 2012.

Malcolm brings 20+ years of travel and destination marketing expertise to TURNER's New York City office. He draws upon his experience with leading destination brands, working in-house and in a representation capacity, to develop a results-orientated earned media strategy as a part of integrated marketing efforts to reach travel trade, business tourism decision makers, and the end consumer.

Malcolm is also a Certified Destination Management Executive (CDME) accredited by Destinations International and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Tourism Management from the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. After living in Brazil for six years as VisitBritain's Country Manager 2016 - 2022, he is also fluent in Portuguese.

Marcus represents the city of Portland, Oregon and the surrounding area to leisure and business travel media and trade publications. As a former journalist, he is committed to helping media find the newest and most interesting stories for their readers.

Travel Portland is the city's Convention and Visitor Bureau.

Paul directs the regions’ strategic and operational efforts across communications, travel trade, partnerships, public diplomacy and government relations with offices in Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, Sao Paulo, and Sydney. Paul is one of three International Deputy Directors covering global operations in the senior leadership team.

Paul is particularly proud of his work with diversity and inclusion and introduced the LGBTQ+ campaign – ‘Love is GREAT Britain’ after same sex marriage was made legal in England and Wales. In 2023 he was recognized by OUT Magazine as one of the top 100 most influential and impactful LGBTQ+ people of the year in the world.

Paul has also helped spearheaded the organization’s ‘Screen Tourism’ efforts utilizing film and television to showcase the destination over the past two decades and the next marketing campaign will focus on this specific theme called - ‘Staring Great Britain’ in 2025.

Terry is based in Tampa, Florida, and also contributes regularly to additional print and online outlets including CNN, National Geographic, and Travel+Leisure. She covers adventure, culture, luxury travel, family travel and scuba diving.

Tiffany Townsend is the VP of marketing and communications for the New York Wheel, where she oversees the development of marketing programs and media roll-out for the world's largest observation wheel opening in 2018.

Prior to joining New York Wheel, she was a Partner at Vine Communications, a public relations firm specializing in travel and hospitality clients. From 2007-2012, she was VP of communications and government affairs for NYC & Company, New York City's tourism marketing organization. There, she spearheaded campaigns including NYC Restaurant Week, Fashion's Night Out, and Just Ask the Locals.

She started her career in government having worked for the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, the New Jersey Governor's office and the U.S. State Department. Living on the east side of Manhattan, she is active in her community. She also teaches about communications at Pratt Institute.