Melissa Andretta is the Director of International Marketing and Aviation Development at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), a position she has served in since 2015. Prior to her time at SFO, she worked for the Icelandic national carrier, Icelandair, for thirteen years. While at Icelandair, she spent seven years leading The Americas Marketing and Communications team and five years leading the UK & Ireland Marketing and Communications team.

Melissa also spent several years in the Washington, DC area working as a Marketing Associate at Berenson Productions, a boutique media training firm.

In his role as Vice President of Marketing & Sales, Stephen Andrews brings more than 25 years of travel and tourism marketing experience to Passport Resorts, a company recognized for developing, managing and marketing luxury destination boutique “resorts with a soul”. Each Passport Resorts property has received international recognition for delivering a luxurious guest experience while promoting environmental and social responsibility as core to the Passport ethos. He is proudly active with Visit California as a member of both the International Marketing and Public Relations committees, the latter which he currently chairs.

Jana Apih is an experienced marketer, strategic planner and sustainable tourism expert. She co-founded GoodPlace, an NGO that established the Slovenian national destination program called Slovenia Green, owned and operated by the Slovenian Tourism Board and managed by GoodPlace. The Slovenia Green program has been a significant contributor to Slovenia’s recognition as a sustainable tourism destination, bringing it a series of awards and titles including the National Geographic Destination Leadership Award.

Luis Araújo is the President of Turismo de Portugal (Portuguese National Tourism Board) since February 2016. Previously, he was a Board Member and Head of Development at Group Pestana, responsible for the Hispanic America hotels operations (Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia and Cuba). He was also Head of Sustainability, since department was created in 2009. Between 2005 and 2007 he was Head of the Cabinet of the Portuguese Secretary of State for Tourism.

Luis Araújo has a Law degree and began his career at the Pestana Group's Law Department, in 1996.

Teresa works to create events geared around the inclusion of underrepresented communities in outdoor spaces. She does this through planned events such as hikes, talks with environmentalists, national and state park engagement, volunteer projects and various outdoor excursions, all of which speaks to cultural relevance, with the ultimate goal being to inspire new land stewards and environmental advocates.

All too often outdoor organizations, agencies and retailers miss the opportunity to speak to the relevant role culture plays in outdoor experiences. Teresa works to change this by connecting underrepresented communities with outdoor opportunities which may lead to a better understanding of one’s responsibility to the planet.

Paul Baribault began his leadership role as President and Chief Executive Officer of San Diego Zoo Global on November 1, 2019. Previously, he worked at The Walt Disney Studios as Vice President of Animation Marketing Operations and Strategy.

Paul led the creation of Disneynature BORN IN CHINA (China Title: Disneynature “We are Born in China”), a wildlife film featuring the remarkable animals of China, including the Giant Panda, Snow Leopards, and Golden Monkeys.

Caroline Beteta serves as president & CEO of the industry-led Visit California, a nonprofit organization created to market California as a premier travel destination to increase the state’s share of tourism-related revenues. She simultaneously serves as the Director of Tourism in California’s Governor’s Office of Business & Economic Development (GO-Biz). Beteta is responsible for implementing Visit California’s $131 million global marketing program and serves as the lead spokesperson for California’s $140.6 billion travel industry. She has shepherded the growth of Visit California into a global marketing franchise delivering millions of visitors and billions of dollars of economic growth to the state every year.

Jessica Blotter is CEO & Co-Founder of Kind Traveler, a speaker, and a journalist. The moment she discovered the love of travel can’t be separated from the state of the world after witnessing poverty on a vacation to Belize, she wondered how the $7-trillion travel industry could be harnessed to benefit local communities and the environment. This experience led her to launch KindTraveler.com, the world’s first socially-conscious Give + Get hotel booking and sustainable travel education platform empowering travelers to positively impact the destinations they visit. As of 2019, Kind Traveler represents 105+ hotels and 60+ charities in 15 countries.

Danica Carey is the Director of Marketing Operations at Seirus Innovative Accessories, a family-run company, based in San Diego. Seirus manufactures cold weather protection for your head, hands and feet. In this role she has helped the brand develop and launch products that bring technical gear to all outdoor enthusiasts. Her lifetime in the outdoors has been mirrored by a longstanding passion for traditional sports, which took her to the University of Nebraska for her collegiate soccer career. Having always been a sports and outdoor enthusiast, she continues to pursue that passion through soccer, ranching, skiing and just about everything in between.

Lynn Carpenter is vice president of Marketing for Visit California. Lynn oversees all of Visit California’s marketing, including advertising, cooperative promotions, travel trade, web and interactive, and publications.

Lynn steers a marketing budget that has grown from $6 million in 2006 to $131 million today. Under her leadership, Visit California has marketed the state as a place of abundance and opportunity. Lynn has added international offices in China, Mexico, and South Korea – among others – to Visit California’s portfolio, spreading the state’s brand around the globe in an effort to grow California’s share of tourism revenues.

Costas Christ is one of the world’s leading sustainable travel experts, whose work has taken him to more than 130 countries. He is an award-winning writer for National Geographic Traveler and Senior Advisor for Sustainability for Virtuoso Travel Network. As CEO of Beyond Green Travel, a sustainable tourism consulting firm, Costas was honored along with Dr. Jane Goodall and Dr. Sylvia Earle as an EcoWarrior for his lifelong work to save the planet. The International Hotel and Restaurant Awards recognized him as a Tourism Visionary and NBC Travel News said: "For the past 30 years, Costas Christ has been at the leading edge of the green travel movement, since way before it was ever called green or even a movement." His articles and essays have appeared in the New York Times, Boston Globe, and Sunday Times of London. His TV and radio appearances include Travel Channel, Good Morning America, BBC, CNN, National Geographic Channel and National Public Radio.

Viveca is the founder of WE Marketing Group, the leading independent marketing services group with over 250 staff across five offices in China. Before starting WE, Viveca was Chairman & CEO of Grey Global Group China/HK, the chief architect in building all of Grey’s integrated capabilities in the region.

Viveca is recognized as a first mover in China advertising, digital, social, CRM, e-commerce and marketing innovation. Her 50+ awards includes Ad Age Global “100 Most Influential Women in Advertising”, “Contributor to China Advertising in past 40 years” and “Digital Marketer of the Decade”. She is Board member of various industry associations.

Roger Dow is president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, the Washington, D.C.-based organization representing all segments of travel in America. Dow regularly meets with administration officials and congressional leaders to discuss important travel issues, and his efforts have resulted in major policy victories for travel and travelers.

Dow leads a team advocating for policies to increase domestic and international inbound travel, including efforts to elevate domestic leisure as well as business and meetings-related travel, and led the creation of the Visit U.S. Coalition, a multi-industry group of 15 trade associations committed to pursuing policies that bolster international inbound travel.

Roy Edmondson is the Executive Director for the Orange County Sports Commission. He has worked in the sports industry for over 23 years including roles with ESPN (Disney’s) Wide World of Sports, the National Hockey League, Royal Sports International, Aviator Sports complex, the Myrtle Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau and the San Jose Convention & Visitors Bureau. He received his bachelor’s degree from Florida State University and previously served on the board of directors for the National Association of Sports Commissions. Edmondson has led Sports Anaheim to the 2016. 2017 and 2018 NASC Sports Organization of the Year.

Adel El Fakir was appointed on June 21. 2018 as Chief Executive of The Moroccan National Tourism Office (MNTO). His main objectives will be to enhance Morocco’s brand globally and put it on the list of the world’s preferred destinations.

Adel El Fakir holds a Master degree from the Moroccan Institute of Business and Management (ISCAE) as well as a Post Graduate degree from the University of Social Sciences in Toulouse, an MBA in International Business from the French National School for Civil Engineering (Ponts et Chaussées) and the Moroccan National School for Civil Engineering (Ecole Hassania des Travaux Publics).

Jeff Fish is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO at Chatly. He also leads the Chatly go to market team helping Chatly customers implement their digital transformation strategies leveraging WeChat. Jeff has worked with a variety of organizations, from hospitality to financial services, and is a frequent speaker on the implications of Omnichannel Chat strategy. He has a seasoned background in social networking, content marketing, mobile strategy and emerging technology. Jeff cofounded Chatly in 2016.

With 25 years of experience, Julie is an expert at creating innovative programs that build and elevate travel brands through media relations, consumer engagement, and strategic partnerships. Julie leads the agency’s public relations, social media and experiential marketing brand, MMGY NJF and MMGY Global’s NYC office. She oversees and provides strategic counsel for the Visit California domestic PR account. In 2018, Julie was named one of PR News’ Top Women in PR, and recently her team took home the 2019 HSMAI Adrian Award  “Best of Show” for their work with the National World War II Museum. Prior to MMGY Global, Julie spent 17 years at Edelman, helping to build their global tourism offering as EVP and deputy global director.

Lisa Furfine has extensive experience in the sports industry with responsibilities that include publishing, corporate marketing, promotion, live and broadcast events, destination marketing, strategic partnerships and fund-raising. Prior to launching her own company, Furfine was the associate publisher of SportsTravel magazine and show manager for the TEAMS Conference & Expo, which grew more than 600 percent under her management.

Furfine served on the board of Destinations International and presented at travel and hospitality industry conferences that include the US Travel Association, Travel and Tourism Marketing Association and the International Association of Exhibitions and Events. Current clients include the Bermuda Tourist Authority, FieldXperience, Carnival Corporation, San Francisco Travel Association and Maritz Global Events.

Evelina is an expert in location intelligence and serves as head of data analytics for UberMedia. Her passion lies in helping businesses solve complex real world problems with the use of mobile data. She has worked with a variety of companies, including tourism boards, major retail brands, and real estate, to onboard mobile data as a key piece of their toolkit for location analysis.

José G. González is the Founder of Latino Outdoors. He is an experienced educator as a K-12 public education teacher, environmental education advisor, outdoor education instructor and coordinator, and university adjunct faculty. He is also an illustrator and science communicator.

His commentary on diversity and environmental/outdoor equity has been featured by High Country News, Outside Magazine, Earth Island Journal, and Latino USA, and he engaged in collaborations with the White House Council on Environmental Quality, U.S. Department of Interior, and the National Park Service during the Obama Administration. He also represented Latino Outdoors in several coalitions including the Latino Conservation Alliance, the Next 100 Coalition, and California Parks Now.

Danny brings an extensive history working with the Visit California Communications team dating back to his time as an in-house destination marketing and hospitality public relations expert. Currently Danny serves as a strategic counselor and senior level advisor to the MMGY NJF team dedicated to Visit California's domestic PR program. As Vice President, Group Director and General Manager of MMGY Global's Los Angeles practice, Danny oversees an office of 50, generates new partnerships for the global firm, and leads an integrated marketing client portfolio including advertising, branding, digital, public relations and representation work under three  MMGY Global agency brands.

Mo is a senior communications & marketing counselor providing timely, data-driven counsel to mission-driven corporations, non-profits, and emerging technology companies. Known for his agility and flexibility, Mo’s approach to communications and marketing synthesizes Madison Avenue creativity, Bay-area innovation, and Motor City grit.

Mo was previously the Chief Executive Officer of Unison, a media monitoring firm that blended advanced data science capabilities with management consulting offerings. Unison was successfully acquired in February of 2018. Over the course of his career, Mo has played a variety of roles in the technology, industrial, and healthcare ecosystems, often leading marketing, product development, and sales.

Kat Haro leads Mering’s Performance Marketing team, guiding social and programmatic strategy and campaign execution. A master of media process and champion of cross-department collaboration, Kat also keeps the agency abreast of new functionality, trends and best practices across social platforms.

When she’s not caught in the TikTok rabbit hole, you’ll probably find Kat in the kitchen, the wilderness or an art museum. California is her first love, New Orleans is her soul mate.

A proven, mission-focused entrepreneur and startup advisor with success in building engaged communities, Brian is the CEO and Co-Founder of The Outbound Collective - the industry’s fastest growing online platform for discovering and planning modern adventures - which was used by more than 15 million travelers in 2019. Raised in southern California and a graduate of Stanford University, Brian is a lifelong California resident and is the product of a bi-racial family, which has proudly shaped his perspectives on business, community building, happiness, and success.

JD serves as Editor-in-Chief of Entertainment Weekly, the world’s leading media brand covering entertainment and popular culture. As EIC, he has repositioned EW as the voice of the new golden age of showbusiness, with a deluxe monthly magazine, a news driven website and growing extensions in social media, audio, television and events.

JD has frequently been featured on camera, serving as an entertainment expert on various broadcast programs and hosting live red carpet shows for PeopleTV.

JD serves on the board of City Year LA, an organization committed to educational equity for at-risk students. He lives in Los Angeles with his family.

Anna is a content expert who loves tackling her clients’ toughest digital marketing problems. In case you were wondering, her last name is pronounced “her-ROCK.”

Anna is an ad agency veteran, and for more than a decade she’s been developing super-smart content strategies for companies ranging from up-and-coming startups to Fortune 500s. Her experience includes pretty much any industry you can think of, including some of the world’s biggest brands, including Nike and Farmers Insurance.

Kent Jarrell, an independent consultant and former global head of APCO Worldwide’s Crisis Management and Litigation Communications practice, currently assists CEOs, general counsels, other executives, and boards of directors on the preparation for unfolding material events.

Mr. Jarrell is currently litigations communications advisor for a global health care company in the ongoing opioid litigation. He has also worked on cases for Disney, Merck, Ford, eBay, Alaska Airlines, Hewlett-Packard, and ExxonMobil. He was advisor and spokesman for the Liquidation Trustees for MF Global Inc. and Lehman Brothers, Inc. and advised the President of Mexico during the H1N1 epidemic in Mexico City.

Andrés is Director of Network Planning & Scheduling at Icelandair. Icelandair, founded in 1937, has its hub in Keflavik, Iceland, and serves the transatlantic market along with to and from Iceland.

Andrés joined Icelandair in 2007 as a Revenue Management Analyst, became Sales Manager for Sweden in 2010 and a General Manager for the U.K. & Ireland in 2014. He then became Director of Western Europe in 2018 before being promoted to his current position in May 2019. In his current role, he focuses on leading a team who is developing a robust and sustainable network around Icelandair´s hub in Keflavik, Iceland.

Kerry Krasts leads multiple creative teams in the development of original, breakthrough and strategically sound creative expressions for brands of all shapes and sizes. Whether its consumer activations, social-first series or 360 video, Kerry guides our teams and clients to beautiful, impactful work from concept through final production.

Kerry can be counted on for weird travel stories, random wellness facts, good restaurant recommendations and throwing a pretty solid spiral with a Nerf football.

Latona is the Group Account Director for VCA’s China brand marketing agency WE Marketing Group based in Shanghai. She manages a team to develop and launch VCA’s integrated brand campaign in 2019 featuring a new celebrity ambassador. With great support from VCA and Mering, the campaign utilized a highly localized approach with use of new media platforms to generate great results.

Aside from being an integrated brand management leader and a China digital marketing explorer, she is also an avid explorer who hitch-hiked from Tibet to climb the Annapurna Base Camp, and just had a road-trip along Highway One!

Kimberly is Associate Director of Business Development for Tencent’s International Business Group. In her role, she heads the company’s Tencent/WeChat Ad Solutions business and team in North America. Her mission is to work with brands and agencies in market, helping them realize their potential and optimize spend across Tencent social products, which occupy ~50% of China mobile internet usage in terms of time spent.

Before recently returning to the United States, she spent almost two years at Tencent’s Hong Kong office where she led regional brand initiatives for Tencent’s new International products across APAC. Prior to that she orchestrated several WeChat partnership campaigns while on the WeChat US team in the Bay Area. Her past experience also includes time at The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta serving in a World-Wide Public Affairs and Communications capacity.

As a licensed architect and urban planner with the University of Alabama Center for Economic Development, Matt applies design thinking strategies across a wide variety of projects that embrace the principles of sustainability. Matt was the Director of Design and Planning for the Gulf State Park Enhancement Project, a $143 million destination masterplan to redevelop Gulf State Park into an international benchmark for economic and environmental sustainability that demonstrates best practices for visitor management, outdoor recreation, education, and hospitality. This six-year multi-stakeholder project included an Interpretive Center pursuing certification under Living Building sustainability standards, an environmental education Learning Campus, coastal dune restoration, and a 28-mile trail network.

Based in Byron Bay, Australia, Matt is the founder of traveltochangetheworld.com and karryon.com.au and a passionate change-maker driven by the endless possibilities of travel with purpose.

With a background in brand communications and advertising and twenty-plus years’ experience of working in the global travel industry, Matt has travelled, lived and worked in numerous countries around the world.

It’s Matt’s belief that that travel can be the transformative force to educate and inspire people to change their perspectives while promoting ethical choices for the sustainability of the planet.

Kulmeet Makkar, in his current role as the Chief Executive Officer of Producers Guild of India is responsible for hosts of initiatives involving development of the film, television and new media production sector focusing on regulations, policy matters, co-productions treaties, film festivals, filming facilitation, production incentives and alliances with other industry associations and film commissions across the world.

An entertainment industry professional with over 30 years of work experience in the Media & Entertainment Industry, Kulmeet is a committed professional and is keen on developing the craft of content production by way of global affiliations, workshops, networking opportunities, panel discussions and participation in summits, festivals, etc.

Mr. Mann joined Campbell-Hill Aviation Group in February 2015 as a Vice President and has more than 20 years of wide-ranging aviation consulting and Washington experience.

Mr. Mann specializes in air service development, strategic planning and regulatory policy to airport, airline and industry clients for airports around the world.  Mr. Mann and the team at Campbell-Hill have created and implemented strategies to grow and retain traffic for both incumbent and potential new entrant carriers at airports around the world including selected projects in San Francisco, Sacramento, Santa Barbara, Orange County and Ontario as well as previous work in San Diego, San Jose and Oakland.  Mr. Mann has an in-depth comprehension of market data from government and community sources, an understanding of the changing business models of air carriers and forecasting skills to work with carriers on expected performance.

As the founder and driving force of Mering, a consumer action agency with offices in Sacramento and San Diego, Dave Mering has personally had a hand in building some of the most high-profile tourism brands in the world. Resorts, municipalities, island nations and the most visited state in the union have benefited greatly from his hands-on approach, strategic leadership and brand stewardship.

Outside of work, Dave is a connoisseur of good living and travel. He can often be found sipping a nice glass of Napa Valley Cabernet while orchestrating next season's harvest of his very own homemade olive oil. 

Oscar Munoz is chief executive officer of United Airlines. He brings to this position deep and broad experience in both the transportation industry and large consumer brands.

Previously, Oscar served as president and chief operating officer of CSX Corporation, a premier freight transportation company. He also served as a director at CSX. During his tenure, CSX transformed itself into an industry leader in customer focus, reliability and financial performance. CSX was named one of Institutional Investor’s Most Honored Companies for a decade of excellent financial performance, including increasing its operating income by nearly 600%.

Dr Kris Naudts trained as a medical psychiatrist in Belgium, holding degrees in medicine, general and forensic psychiatry and psychology, and a PhD in neuroscience. Kris left his career in psychiatry to pursue his passion for entrepreneurship, culture and creativity, founding a travel company, Culture Trip. After years of bootstrapping, Kris raised over $100m in funding to propel Culture Trip into growth. Kris has spoken at a multitude of global business, travel and tech conferences, speaking (and reading) Dutch, English, French and German. When not working, you can find him reading, travelling, at the theatre, jazz club or art gallery.

Greg Oates is Senior Vice President of Innovation at MMGY NextFactor, which develops destination master plans and tourism strategy plans for cities worldwide. Primarily, Greg works with the public and private sectors to align tourism, community and economic development initiatives. He also produces the industry-standard DestinationNEXT research for Destinations International — a global trade association for tourism organizations. Previous to joining MMGY NextFactor, Greg led tourism-related research and brand partnership development at Skift.

Dr. Lori Pennington-Gray is the Director of the Tourism Crisis Management Initiative at the University of Florida and Professor in the Department of Tourism, Recreation and Sport Management. Her current research primarily focuses on crisis management strategies for the tourism industry.

Civil Engineer from Coimbra University in Portugal, with a PhD in Airline Business from Coimbra – MIT Portugal. Over the last 7 years, João held several positions at GRU Airport where he currently serves as Head of Airline Business. At GRU Airport the biggest challenge is to continuously growth the business in a dynamic market, with the ultimate goal of making São Paulo International Airport one of the global hubs for passengers and cargo. He also serves as a focus person to promote Tourism to and from São Paulo. João has been appointed to the World Airport Slot Board.

Dennis oversees strategy development for Havas clients in the Greater China region. He manages teams in five Havas Villages: Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Taipei and Hong Kong. As such he advises clients how to grow in the fast developing Chinese market. Clients include Bank of Communications, LG, Emirates, OSM, Swarovski, Remy Martin, IKEA, Hershey's, Net a Porter, Hermes and Hugo Boss. During his career, he spent many years in marketing on the brand side. He worked for several FMCG and retail companies including Friesland Campina, Nestle and Ahold / Delhaize. After Hong Kong, he is currently based in Shanghai.

Leona Reed serves as the Associate Vice President of Global Marketing for Visit California. She leads the international marketing team and oversees brand advertising, cooperative marketing, digital content, travel trade and public relations initiatives for Visit California’s 13 target international markets: China, United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Brazil, Japan, Germany, France, South Korea, Italy, Scandinavia and India.

California welcomes over 17 million international visitors annually who infuse more than $25 billion into the state’s economy through direct spending. In her 17 years working to promote California tourism and grow the international program, Leona has represented Visit California across the world as a spokesperson, strategist and collaborative marketer.

Miguel Sanz Castedo graduated with a degree in Business Studies in the United Kingdom, where he also completed an MSc in Politics and Economics in Latin America at the London School of Economics. He has lived and worked in various countries in Europe, the USA and Latin America. Over the course of his professional career in Spain he has worked on a range of cultural communication and marketing projects, such as the first MediaLab team in Madrid. He served as Director of Madrid Tourism Marketing and Promotion for the Community of Madrid and Director of Marketing and Partnership at Madrid Destino (Madrid City Council) before being appointed General Manager of Tourism of the City of Madrid.

Virna is the Strategic Insights Manager for the Americas at GlobalWebIndex. Working across both the Trends and Insights teams, she uses GlobalWebIndex data to help clients with strategic business goals and decisions. Additionally, she contributes to GlobalWebIndex reports, infographics, thought leadership, blog series, press interviews, and podcasts. Her interests include consumer psychology, gender representation in media, and the relationship between society and technology.

Jamie Simpson develops and implements the global public relations and crisis response programs for Los Angeles Tourism, most recently activating the latter during the 2019 wildfires. Since joining the organization in 2015, Simpson and her team have tripled the value of positive worldwide media coverage for the destination.

Throughout her career, Simpson has handled PR for nearly every type of industry business, from home-sharing brands, airlines and OTA’s to hotel chains, loyalty programs and city-, state- and country-level DMO’s.

Simpson first turned her passion for travel into a career at The Zimmerman Agency upon graduation from the University of Florida.

Born to a martial family with deep roots in aristocratic Rajasthan, Kishore Singh was educated in cantonment towns across India as well as in a residential school in the Himalayas, before studying English literature at university. Author, editor and columnist, he has written numerous books on subjects as varied as travel, history, business and art. As founder-editor of several magazines, Kishore Singh has a deep understanding of design, architecture, art, luxury, fashion and food, areas as much of personal as well as professional interest. He has also scripted documentaries, most notably on the life and times of the Maharaja of Jodhpur. He currently heads the exhibitions and publications programme for India’s largest art institution, and most recently curated a museum-exhibition in Kolkata inaugurated by the Prime Minister of India. Recent books include authorship of M F Husain, The Journey of a Legend, which was launched in St Moritz, and India’s Rockefeller Artistson the relationship between Indian modernists and the John D Rockefeller III Fund. He enjoys reading, collects art, and lives with his family in New Delhi NCR.

Christopher L. Thompson is president and CEO of Brand USA, the nation's public-private partnership dedicated to increasing international visitation to the United States through marketing and promotional efforts. In this role, Chris is responsible for accelerating the organization’s efforts to build and execute effective marketing strategies to increase U.S. travel exports, create jobs, strengthen the economy, and help enhance the image of the United States with people all over the world. Under Chris’ leadership, Brand USA has nearly tripled its partnership network and more than doubled its partner contributions and program offerings.

Dylan Thuras is the cofounder and creative director of Atlas Obscura, a series B funded travel start-up, co-author of two New York Times bestsellers books, road trip correspondent for NPR’s All Things Considered, and speaker on the importance of travel dispersal and the potential of overlooked travel destinations. His fascination with non-traditional travel began as a teenager exploring abandoned buildings in the Midwest and eventually took him to Budapest for a year, where he and his wife Michelle Enemark explored Eastern Europe’s obscure and wondrous locales. He lives with his wife Michelle and their two children, Phineas and Jean, in New York. Visit him online at @dylanthuras or atlasobscura.com.

Mike Testa is the President and CEO of Visit Sacramento, leading a talented team that’s dedicated to promoting Sacramento as an attractive travel destination, while enhancing Sacramento’s image as a dynamic place to live and work.

Through Mike’s vision, community collaboration and consistent innovation, Sacramento’s identity has evolved from a sleepy Gold Rush town to a relevant food destination, recognized nationally as America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital. Mike’s ability to see Sacramento’s heritage and reimagine its identity as a food and agriculture leader has brought millions of dollars in both revenue to local businesses and earned media exposure for the City & County.

A seasoned tourism executive with more than 35 years of experience in the industry, Don Welsh serves as the President and CEO of Destinations International. Since joining the association in March 2016, Welsh has implemented a strategic realignment for the association through a renewed commitment to focus on member needs to deliver the resources members have determined to be essential to the success of their organizations.

Prior to joining Destinations International, Welsh served as the President and CEO of Choose Chicago. Welsh also held the CEO position at the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association and the Seattle Convention & Visitors Bureau. Prior to joining the destination marketing industry, Welsh served as senior vice president for Westin Hotels at its corporate headquarters and has held senior leadership positions in sales and marketing for Westin Hotels and Resorts, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and the MGM Grand Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas.