Join in on one
of the ATTA Summits’ most popular programs. Each
concurrent session starts with fresh panels of
journalists (including international media
representatives) who will discuss their outlet,
their editorial calendars and upcoming projects.
Each panel is followed by Q & A where delegates
gain insights into how to work with and
effectively pitch travel journalists. Q & A is
followed by one-on-one brief pitch sessions with
targeted media of choice.
 Ellen
Barone, EllenBarone.com
Ellen Barone
did what many of us only dream of doing: at the
age of 35, she traded a successful academic
career for the wild blue yonder and set out to
explore the world and herself. In the decade
since that intrepid decision, she has turned
passion into profession journeying to more than
60 countries in search of evocative images and
life-enriching adventures.
A Fulbright teaching exchange to Scotland in the
early nineties ignited a passionate and
insatiable curiosity about the world, meeting
new people and experiencing the unknown. That
life-changing experience inspired a leap of
faith that has blossomed into an amazing life of
discovery, global connections and creative
pursuits.
Whether she’s sailing across the Atlantic,
crossing the Sahara on camel, surfing Maui’s
swells, dog sledding the Alaskan tundra, cycling
the Sicilian coastline, eating scorpion in
Singapore or hanging out in the tango bars of
Buenos Aires, she strives for vivid photography
and honest storytelling that inspires travelers
to pack their bags and experience our blue
planet for themselves.
As a freelance writer and photographer, Ellen
knows travel. Her work has appeared in National
Geographic Adventure, Outside, Condé Nast
Traveler, Islands, The Los Angeles Times Sunday
Travel Section, Spa, and a wide variety of
regional, national and international
publications. In addition, she’s a gifted
workshop teacher, photo tour leader, speaker and
author of several online columns offering advice
and information for travelers.
Together with award-winning travel journalist,
Judith Fein, Ellen co-authors an adventure
travel column,
The Wild Pair, and edits the
website,
YourLifeIsATrip.com.
Her website,
EllenBarone.com, takes readers to
Ellen’s favorite places, providing the
in-the-know scoop on where to go, what to see
and the best travel technology to get you there.
 Michael
Behar, Freelance Writer
Michael has
been covering adventure travel, the environment,
and innovations in science for more than 15
years. Most recently he was an articles editor
for National Geographic magazine. He was also a
senior editor at Wired magazine from 1995 -
2000.
Michael has reported on wildfire fighting,
extreme kiteboarding in Brazil, the neuroscience
of fear, uncontacted jungle tribes, big weather,
warrior robots, mountain climbing in Costa Rica,
science at the South Pole, rafting in Alaska,
satellite gorilla tracking in Rwanda, trekking
in Peru, Venezuelan hideaways, illegal cypress
logging, remote private islands, pirate treasure
hunting, the search for Steve Fossett,
zero-gravity sex, Google Earth, and secured an
exclusive interview with an electrical engineer
about to implant a microchip in his forearm.
His articles have appeared in several
publications including Outside, Wired, Men's
Journal, Mother Jones, Best Life, Popular
Science, The Economist, Backpacker, National
Geographic Adventure, Discover, Air & Space, and
Smithsonian.
Born in Seattle, Michael has lived in San
Francisco, Santa Fe, Chicago, London, and
visited more than 50 countries. His latest
assignments have taken Michael throughout the
U.S., and internationally to Venezuela, Peru,
New Zealand, Panama, New Guinea, Costa Rica,
Bali, and the Seychelles. In New Guinea, he
accompanied a group of wealthy tourists into the
jungle in search of uncontacted native tribes.
The New Guinea article—first published in
Outside magazine and later reprinted in the
London Observer—attracted international media
attention. National Public Radio, Boston's WBUR,
and Dublin's NewsTalk 106 interviewed Michael
on-air about the jungle trek. He's also
discussed his writing on Radio New Zealand's
"This Way Up," and appeared on CNN and the CBS
"Early Show."
He is member of the American Society of
Journalists and Authors, and his work has been
nominated for a National Magazine Award and the
Grantham Prize for Excellence in Reporting on
the Environment, and featured in the Best
American Travel Writing and The Best of
Technology Writing anthologies.
 Eric
Brodnax, Vice President, Orbitz Worldwide -
General Manager, Away.com & Outside Online
Eric Brodnax is
a Vice President with OWW and serves as General
Manager of Away.com & Outside Online. He joined
Away as part of the founding management team in
April of 1999, was SVP of Marketing & Operations
during the company’s formative years, and
assumed his current role after Orbitz’s
acquisition of the company in January of 2005.
As GM, Eric is responsible for setting the
overall strategy and vision for the company
including high level editorial direction.
Eric has a long standing interest in outdoor and
active pursuits. He grew up on St. Croix in the
US Virgin Islands where he lived a life of
riding horses, sailing, and scuba diving. He
competed in the 1988 Olympic Games held in
Seoul, Korea, and has a strong personal interest
in whitewater kayaking, biking, hiking, skiing,
and off the beaten path travel.
In addition to growing up in the Caribbean and
living/working in Prague in 1992, he has had the
good fortune to visit more than fifty countries.
Personal favorites among these experiences
include exploring the jungles of Belize,
observing wildlife at Waterburg Plateau and
Skeleton Coast National Parks in Namibia,
meandering through the wine country of South
Africa’s Cape Province, and hitchhiking through
the Sahara desert in Algeria.
Eric currently serves as a member of the Board
Advisors of the Adventure Travel Trade
Association, has thirteen years of total online
business experience, and has held positions
prior to Away that include being President and
co-founder of a wine importing company focused
on South African brands, working as a management
consultant in Czechoslovakia, and running
marketing and business development for an online
market research company. He holds an MBA from
the Wharton School of the University of
Pennsylvania, and a BA from Princeton
University.
Eric is married and lives in Washington, DC with
his wife Leigh and children Sarah and Anders.
 Michael
Brown, President, Serac Adventure Films
When asked what
separates Michael Brown from other adventure
filmmakers, Erik Weihenmayer (the first blind
person to summit Mount Everest) remarks that the
award-winning director has an incomparable level
of focus, skill and commitment. “There are only
a handful of candidates with the athletic
ability and tireless drive to pull off what
Michael accomplishes routinely,” says
Weihenmayer. “The pool of candidates narrows
even further when you consider Michael's eye for
assembling the subtle pieces of a story.”
Brown’s tenacity and upbeat attitude have
brought him to the summit of Mount Everest four
times—once while shooting and directing
Farther Than the Eye Can See
which documented Weihenmayer’s historic ascent.
The acclaimed film marked the first time a
high-definition (HD) video camera was brought to
the mountain’s peak. On Brown’s most recent
summit in 2007 he co-directed MacGillivray
Freeman Films'
Return to Everest
in 3D IMAX. Outside the Himalaya, he’s made
first kayak descents of wild rivers in places
like Bhutan and Chile and summited remote peaks
on all seven continents, all with the camera
rolling.
Brown, a pioneer of adventure filmmaking,
founded Serac Adventure Films in 1992 both to
make original documentaries and to lend his
production and adventuring skills to filmmakers
like MacGillivray Freeman Films, for whom he was
Director of Mountain Photography on the
award-winning IMAX film
Alps: Giants of Nature.
Brown was also a specialty cameraman on the
critically-acclaimed film
BLINDSIGHT;
on A&E’s show “Touch the Top;” and on a number
of feature films.
Since starting Serac, Brown has received over 40
international film festival and industry awards,
including three national Emmys from five
nominations. But making films is about more than
winning awards and exploring uncharted
territories. Serac is committed to “giving back”
to their subjects in some profound way while
capturing the intense emotion that make their
films so powerful. Few who have seen them forget
the poignant moment in
Light of the Himalaya
after the bandages are removed from the eyes of
a Nepalese woman once blind with cataracts; or
the elated exhaustion of 10 women in
3
Peaks 3 Weeks
as they push beyond pain to achieve their goal.
While Brown has always loved telling stories (he
grew up in family of adventure filmmakers), he
also has a passion for science–especially
climate, weather and geography, all of which he
studied at the University of Colorado at Boulder
while working at the National Snow and Ice Data
Center. He’s put that knowledge into practice
during productions for National Geographic
Television, NBC, CBS, ABC, ESPN, OLN, the BBC,
Rush HD, and the Discovery Channel.
With camera in hand, Brown goes into some of the
world’s most hostile environments—where there’s
little room for error—and comes away with
stunning visual footage and stirring stories
that remind us of our shared humanity. He
believes that if you can imagine a goal, you can
achieve it, and he brings that spirit,
intensity, and invaluable expertise, to every
project that Serac takes on.
He's the only guy I know who can tell a funny
joke at 26,000 feet, beat all of his teammates
in chess, carry a 25-pound camera to the summit
of Mount Everest, create an award-winning
documentary, and through it all, remain just one
of the guys, pouring every bit of his heart and
soul into getting his team to the top,” says
Weihenmayer. “[He] is the most accomplished
filmmaker with whom I've ever worked.”
 John
Canning, MediaSherpa, LLC.
John Canning ’s
career has spanned media production, delivery
and platforms for over 20 years. Canning runs
MediaSherpa Consulting and Productions that
focuses on digital media and game strategy and
technology consulting for major companies such
as Mary Margaret Network, Disney as well as
small startups. In addition, MediaSherpa
Productions has done work for the likes of the
Vatican, the Monaco Film Festival and ARC – The
A&R Channel. John currently serves as the
executive producer and videographer for Green
Living Project.
Prior to MediaSherpa, John held several
production roles including Senior Producer and
Project Manager for Yahoo! Studios and Yahoo!
News overseeing original productions as well as
Director of Content Distribution and Field
Producer and photographer for Richard Bangs
Adventures.
Before Yahoo, John was a Technical Evangelist
for Microsoft’s eHome Division where he led
external evangelism for applications and
services for eHome, working with external third
parties in the areas of media and data
distribution, content, and whole home control
and services. In addition, he was Product
Manager for the Microsoft TV division where he
was responsible for VOD, interactive services,
conditional access and billing integration into
the MSTV Server solution.
Canning’s career in media-focused technology
began on the hardware side at Scientific
Atlanta, where he was an RF Engineer and
Application Architect in the Set Top Box and
Cable Modem divisions. Since then, his career
has spanned the gamut of media technologies,
providing him with unique insight into the
influences and balances among those
technologies, and how they can best be employed.
 Susan
Cosier, Senior Editor, Audubon Magazine
Susan Cosier is
a senior editor at Audubon Magazine where she
listens for the rumblings of the newest
environmental trends and covers subjects from
politics to tourism. She is also the magazine’s
Green Guru, advising readers on everything from
how to deice their front steps without killing
plants to what eco-friendly insulations can keep
out the cold. Her work has also appeared in
Scientific American Mind, the Utne Reader, E,
the Environmental Magazine, and Scholastic’s
Science World.
Before taking her position at Audubon, she
worked as an editor at Plenty, an environmental
lifestyle publication, editing, blogging, and
writing regularly about critical environmental
issues like carbon sequestration, over fishing,
and advances in wind turbine technology.
Cosier received her undergraduate degree from
Wesleyan University in Earth and Environmental
Science and later entered New York University’s
prestigious master’s program in Science, Health,
and Environmental Reporting.
 Anne
Dimon - Publisher/Editor, Travel to Wellness
The e-publisher
and editor of
Traveltowellness.com and Traveltowellness
Canada (the first editorial online travel guide
to Canada as a spa and wellness destination) is
travel writer and international spa industry
journalist Anne Dimon. A professional magazine
and newspaper writer/columnist for the last 18
years, she has travelled the world for a variety
of publications.
In additional to being the editor of
traveltowellness.com, she currently
contributes to other publications including
Clean Eating Magazine, Spa Business (published
in the U.K.), Spa Asia, Metro Toronto News (one
of Toronto's largest dailies), Hotelier Magazine
and others. She was a travel columnist with the
Toronto Star for close to nine years; as well as
a travel columnist for the Calgary Herald and
Halifax Herald. She compiled the annual Best
Spas in Canada for Glow Magazine for three years
and now publishes her annual list in numerous
categories at Best Spas Canada .
Dimon has also contributed to Michelin
Publications and is the writer of Michelin's
2004 Must Sees of Toronto guide book. Prior to
her life as a journalist, she was president of
her own public relations company. In her early
career, she worked in broadcasting - radio and
television - both on-camera and behind the
scenes.
Anne is also the creator of a line of
multi-functional travel fashions called Arrivez
which loosely translates to "you've arrived."
A member of the Society of American Travel
Writers (SATW), she was the 2003 recipient of
the Travel Media Association of Canada's (TMAC)
Professional Integrity Award presented by
Starwood Hotels & Resorts, and in 2004 she
received TMAC's Business Travel Award presented
by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. In a former
television campaign, she was an anti-smoking
spokesperson for Ontario's Heart & Stroke
Foundation, and is a former media spokesperson
for Ontario Blue Cross. She is included in the
Ontario Free-Tobacco Network for her
contribution to the implementation of the
Smoke-Free Ontario Act on May 31, 2006. She just
completed her first Half Marathon, coming in
"second" in her age category.
SUMMIT EMCEE
Francis
X. Farrell, Former Publisher, Men's Journal and National Geographic Adventure
Fran Farrell will act as Emcee for the 2009 ATTA World Summit.
Fran has spent most of his career in the communications industry, most
recently as the publisher of multimedia brands such as
Men’s Journal and
National Geographic Adventure.
Farrell has been a featured speaker on marketing sustainable tourism and
adventure travel at BITE Travel Conference in Cuenca, Ecuador, The First
National Conference on Ecotourism in Bar Harbor, Maine, and The
Adventure Travel World Summits in Seattle, Washington and in Whistler,
B.C. He has delivered keynote addresses for events such as the Alaska
Wilderness Recreation and Tourism Ecotourism Conference in Seward,
Alaska and the Adventure Travel Professional Symposium (ATPRO) in
Orlando, Florida. He served as a judge for the 2008 World Tourism &
Travel Council’s prestigious Tourism for Tomorrow Awards in Dubai,
United Arab Emirates.
Prior to joining National Geographic in 2002, Farrell was general
manager/senior vice president of
The Sporting News. He represented Times
Mirror Magazines in its sale of The Sporting News
and Sportingnews.com
to Paul Allen’s Vulcan Ventures. Previously, Farrell held a variety of
management positions at American Express Publishing with
Food & Wine and
Travel & Leisure magazines. He began his publishing career in ad sales
with Country Living and
Southern Living magazines.
Farrell is a member of the Leadership Council for Harlem RBI (former
board member) and has served on boards for the Adventure Travel Trade
Association, The Adventure Council and Sustainable Travel International.
He conceived and continues to support The Conservation Alliance’s media
auctions which just completed their third successful year.
Farrell is an avid hiker, cyclist and nordic skier. He lives with his
wife, Denise, and their five children in Yorktown Heights, N.Y.
 Judith
Fein, International Travel Journalist
Judith Fein is
an award-winning international travel journalist
who lives to leave. She resided for more than
ten years in Europe and north Africa, and has a
passion for adventures that are exotic,
authentic, quirky, historic and immersed in
local culture. She has written travel articles
for more than 80 magazines and newspapers
including
The L.A. Times, National Geographic
Traveler, The Boston Globe, Sierra, Hemispheres,
Travel Age West Magazine (for travel agents),
Robb Report, Art and Antiques, Intermezzo,
Continental, The Denver Post, New Mexico
Magazine, The Dallas Morning News, Executive
Traveler, Dreamscapes, TravelandLeisure.com. She
was a regular reporter for
"The Savvy Traveler"
on national public radio for 6 years and writes
a regular column for Spirituality and Health
magazine called "Transformative Travel." She has
been an acclaimed speaker for many venues like
the Educational Travel Conference, Women in
Communication, Northern New Mexico Press Women's
Association, A Taste of Honey (Albuquerque), the
Hospice Organization. With her photojournalist
husband Paul Ross, she produces travel videos,
slideshows and does travel performances. The duo
teach travel writing and photography around the
globe. Her website is:
www.GlobalAdventure.us and she helms
www.YourLifeisATrip.com and
www.thewildpair.wordpress.com with partner
Ellen Barone.
 Jeff
Gayduk, Founder, Premier Tourism Marketing
When he
recognized that the rapidly changing group
travel industry wasn’t being addressed by
conventional group travel publications, Jeff
Gayduk founded Premier Tourism Marketing in
1999. It was through his own company Jeff was
able to specifically address the challenges
facing the group travel industry, as well as the
opportunities that lie ahead.
He started the company out of his spare bedroom,
with a black & white magazine titled “Senior
Group Travel.” Like anything people favor, word
spread fast about the “industry news” readers
were devouring on a regular basis and the
magazine quickly gained in page counts,
readership and popularity.
Since then, the vision to keep group traveler
organizers informed on “industry news” has taken
on new meaning. With five print publications and
over a dozen websites and online directories, we
are the trusted resource to deliver the “who,
what, where, when and how” on all facets of the
group travel industry. Premier Tourism Marketing
has become the leading print and online
publisher in the group travel industry.
 Caren
Osten Gerszberg, Writer
Caren Osten Gerszberg writes about travel,
education and women's issues for a variety of
publications. An avid adventure traveler who has
schlepped her husband and children around the
world--from rappelling in Israel's Judean desert
and rock climbing in the Dolomites to rafting in
the Canadian Rockies and hiking in the
rainforests of Belize and Nicaragua--Caren lives
for her next adventure. Her latest focus is rock
climbing and adventure courses, which she has
recently experienced in Yosemite, the Gunks,
Corsica and the Berkshire mountains.
Caren’s travel articles appear regularly in
The New York Times
Travel and Escapes sections, and her work has
been published in
Travel
& Leisure, National Geographic Traveler, Town &
Country Travel, Cosmopolitan, Time Out NY,
Child, Parents, Cookie, The International Herald
Tribune
and others. She has also written for a number of
website publications, including
Family
Fun and Family Travel Forum.
When she's not traveling, Caren writes a column
for the New York Times blog, "The Choice," about
the college application experience, teaches
non-fiction writing, and is a co-editor and
founder of a blog called "The Drinking Diaries"
about women's relationship with alcohol.
 Regina
Fraser and Pat Johnson -
Grannies on Safari
The
Grannies have traveled to more than 100
countries over the last three decades. In 2003,
they came together for this television series
which brings their extraordinary travel
adventures to a national viewing audience. Both
Pat and Regina have grown children and are proud
grandmothers – Pat, a grandmother of two and,
Regina, grandmother of one.
Regina
Fraser, Marketing, Media
and Communications Strategist
Regina is a
marketing, media and communications strategist.
She held management positions in corporate
communications, video production, advertising
and marketing during her 31 years with United
Airlines, and is the president of the Art
Explorers, Inc.
As a loaned executive to the Americans for the
Arts and the White House Millennium Council in
1999, she developed a cultural exchange program
for the 50 largest cities in the United States.
Regina is an energetic traveler, and her
interest in the arts has taken her to more than
35 countries. Currently, she is a member of the
City of Chicago Durban, South Africa
International Sister City Program and chairs the
sub-committee on Arts & Culture.
Pat
Johnson, Arts
Administrator
Pat is a career
arts administrator who comes to the Grannies on
Safari television series from San Francisco
where she was the Founding Director of the new
Museum of the African Diaspora. Prior to that
assignment, she was an Assistant Commissioner
and Director of the City of Chicago Artists
International Program (CAIP), a division of the
Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs.
Her career also includes tenure as Executive
Director of the Jamaica Center for the Arts in
New York and Founding Director of the South
Dallas Cultural Center in Texas. She has been a
nationally recognized leader in
multi-disciplinary arts management for
organizations such as UNESCO and the U.S.
Department of State.
Pat has traveled to more than 70 countries on
six continents and is an avid collector of
international folk art as well as supporting
artists in cooperatives in Latin America and
West Africa.
 Annika
Hipple - Writer, Editor, Travel Photographer
A dual citizen of the U.S. and Sweden, Annika
Hipple grew up bilingual and bicultural. She
took her first plane trip before the age of six
months and has been traveling ever since. She
has backpacked alone through much of East and
Southern Africa, Latin America, and South Asia,
and has led trips throughout the world as a
freelance tour manager. She continues to lead
several trips a year for museum, nonprofit, and
alumni travel programs. Recent adventures have
taken her to such destinations as Mongolia,
Egypt, Patagonia, Easter Island, the Galapagos,
Italy, and Japan.
As a freelance writer, editor, and photographer,
Annika specializes in travel, the environment,
and international development. Her work has
appeared in numerous print publications
including
The
Christian Science Monitor, Trip Magazine
(a
Seattle
Times
publication),
Northwest Meetings + Events Magazine,
and
Conscious Choice Magazine.
She is the international travel columnist for
the Seattle edition of Examiner.com and has
contributed to a variety of other online
publications. In addition, Annika has written
for a wide range of nonprofit and business
clients including Expedia and Travel Channel
Media.
Annika also writes two blogs, Crossing Time
Zones: Where Travel and Global Issues Meet (www.crossingtimezones.com)
and Real Scandinavia: Travel, News, and Culture
in the Five Nordic Countries (www.realscandinavia.com).
Annika holds a B.A. in environmental studies
from Middlebury College and spent a semester in
Ecuador on a comparative ecology program run by
the School for International Training. Fluent in
Spanish, she fell in love
with Latin America and went on to earn an M.A.
in Latin American studies from the University of
Arizona. Her master’s thesis examined the
relationship between environmental groups and
the media in Mexico. She also studied
international development as a Fulbright grantee
at Uppsala University in Sweden.
She currently lives in Seattle, Washington. Her
website is
www.annikahipple.com.
 Tom
Holm, Executive Producer, Endangered
Destinations
Tom Holm’s
career is a unique blend of public service,
world-wide adventure and automotive achievement.
He is described as, “a champion for the
automobile industry who is awakening mankind to
alternatives in living and new methods to
preserve our natural resources.” – General
Motors. “Mr. Holm sets an amazingly high
standard of integrity and performance.” -
Mitsubishi.
While still in college, Tom founded Transcom, a
company that builds and operates medical
vehicles that bring health care to thousands of
people unable to reach hospitals. Transcom has
also executed mobile promotions for Disney,
Pepsi, GM, Ford, Mitsubishi Paramount Pictures
and many other movie studios and television
networks. Tom has worked with the auto, marine,
motorcycle, RV and trucking industries to build
award-winning “excursion-style” vehicles that
are both powerful and
“environmentally-considerate.” He has designed
mobile medical units, first response vehicles,
research vessels, 4x4s, hot rods, RVs and
big-rigs, all of which set the highest standard
of eco-considerate vehicles.
Tom used his degree in journalism to write, host
and produce the
Adventure Highway
TV series that took him to the Maldives,
Micronesia, Indonesia, Mexico, Hawaii and all
over America documenting adventure sports
worldwide. Adventure Highway always included the
importance of sustainable travel and was one of
the most acclaimed series on the Outdoor Life
Network (OLN) for three years.
Tom dual careers in the transportation and media
industries inspired him to become the founder
and executive director of the EcoTrek
Foundation, a non-profit that promotes
sustainable travel and eco-tourism through
worldwide media programs. Through the EcoTrek
Foundation, Tom currently produces and hosts the
Endangered Destinations TV series that
highlights locations, cultures and wildlife that
face the pressures of a modern world. This
series will be broadcast world-wide through
various broadcast partners and on the
endangereddestinations.com website. Home video
versions are also being distributed globally.
Tom volunteers his time and vehicles for
eco-tourism, disaster relief, environmental
clean-up and eco-reclamation activities
throughout the world.
 Stirling
Kelso, Assistant Editor, Travel + Leisure
Magazine
Stirling Kelso
is an assistant editor at
Travel
+ Leisure,
where she edits T+L’s annual Design Awards, the
T+L 500, America’s Favorite Cities, and a range
of editorial packages. She contributes regularly
to the magazine’s Strategies and Insider
sections. Kelso also helped create and edit
T+L’s Responsible Travel issues.
Prior to this, Kelso was a contributing writer
for
Fast
Company
magazine and
Austin
Monthly
magazine. She interned at
Texas
Monthly, New York,
and at the National Geographic Society in the
Television and Film department. She also worked
as a production assistant on MTV’s Road Rules
and Real World Challenge,
the
Gauntlet.
Kelso has appeared on a variety of television
outlets including CNN, Fox, WNBC, WCBS, and New
York 1.
Kelso is a graduate of The University of Texas
and currently resides Brooklyn, New York.
Originally from Arlington, Virginia, she has
also lived in Austin, Texas, Seville, Spain, and
London.
 Elisabeth
Kwak-Hefferan, Assistant Editor, Backpacker
Magazine
Elisabeth
Kwak-Hefferan edits the Skills department,
writes features and packages, and heads up a
weekly blog for
Backpacker Magazine, a five-time
National Magazine Award-winning publication
(including a win for General Excellence in
2008). She also writes the “Love on the Rocks”
column for
Women’s Adventure Magazine and has
contributed to Trail & Timberline, Nation’s
Restaurant News, and Chicago’s Daily Herald.
Prior to Backpacker, Kwak-Hefferan covered
small-town athletics for a rural Colorado
newspaper, gave ranger presentations on wildlife
at Rocky Mountain National Park, and taught kids
about ecology in the Smokies.
Kwak-Hefferan has an undergraduate degree from
the University of Pennsylvania (where she was
also an All-American volleyball player) and a
master’s degree from Northwestern University’s
Medill School of Journalism.
 Christian
Levesque, Editor, Espaces Magazine
Christian
"Chris" Levesque is the Editor of
Espaces
Magazine, Quebec's
biggest outdoor and adventure media
(www.espaces.qc.ca | 60 000
copies | 6x per year). Recently, he became in
charge of two new
magazines:
Parabolik
(for ski enthusiasts:
www.parabolik.ca | 130 000
copies | 3x per year) and
Adventura (the English
cousin of Espaces:
www.adventuramag.ca | 60 000 copies | 4x per
year). Chris is also a
freelance photographer/videographer and just
loves to go on adventures
for work and for the fun of it. Climbing or
kiteboarding during his free
time, he helped build a Web-based university
radio in 2001. For more,
visit his website:
www.christianlevesque.com.
 Don
Mankin, Writer
Don Mankin is
the co-author with Shannon Stowell of the
National Geographic book, Riding the Hulahula to
the Arctic Ocean: A Guide to 50 Extraordinary
Adventures for the Seasoned Traveler, a
collection of personal, psychologically-rich
descriptions of exotic, remote trips for
adventure-hungry baby boomers. He is also the
president and founder of Adventure
Transformations, Inc.
(www.adventuretransformations.com), and
regularly writes travel articles for the on-line adventure travel site,
AdventureUs.com, and for the on-line and print editions of the quarterly magazine for active seniors, ActiveOver50. Don has
filled many different roles in his professional
life – aero space engineer, psychologist,
educator, futurist, writer, executive coach and
management consultant. After working for 35
years in these roles, he decided to chuck it all
about three years ago for his new career as
travel writer and “adventure psychologist.”His
most recent work focuses on the “transformative
power of adventure travel.” In this project, which he has been
conducting in collaboration with Shannon Stowell, he has been interviewing
people whose lives, work and relationships have been impacted, changed or
transformed by adventure travel (several ATTA members have
already been interviewed for this project). The goal of the project is to
identify the ways in which travelers have been changed by their
experiences, the kinds of conditions that helped produce these
experiences, and how this can be applied to trip design and marketing in the
travel industry, as well as to how people in general live and work.
When he isn’t traveling, Don lives with his wife
in the heart of Venice Beach, an urban adventure Mecca where he spends
many hours observing the behavior of travelers from around the world.
 Jamie
Martin, Senior Editor, Experience Life
Jamie Martin is
a senior editor with
Experience Life,
a whole-person, whole-life health and fitness
publication based in St. Paul, Minn.
Experience Life
— which enjoys a circulation of 600,000 plus —
aims to empower readers to become their best,
most authentic selves and to support their
enjoyment of a healthy, balanced, deeply
satisfying way of life. No gimmicks, no hype.
Just in-depth and articulate coverage of health,
fitness and quality-of-life topics.
Originally hired as an editorial intern in 2005,
Jamie has held many hats since first joining the
magazine: researcher, fact checker, associate
editor. Her current role as senior editor leaves
her responsible for both editorial and online
initiatives: She’s the assigning editor for
several regular departments, including Head Out
(travel and adventure), and the Web lead, which
which includes day-to-day maintenance of the
magazine’s Web site, ExperienceLifemag.com, and
long-term strategic development and planning.
She lives in St. Paul, Minn., with her husband
and their German shepard, Velo.
 Everett
Potter
Everett Potter
is a columnist for
USA Weekend magazine,
Diversion and Laptop magazines, a contributing
editor to
Ski, and publishes Everett Potter's
Travel Report.com. He is a frequent contributor
to
National Geographic Traveler, New York
Magazine, Travel &Leisure online,
ForbesTraveler.com, Forbes Life, Virtuoso Life
and Culture & Travel. Potter wrote a weekly,
nationally syndicated column for The New York
Times Syndicate for nearly two decades and was a
founding contributing editor at
SmartMoney: The
Wall Street Journal Magazine of Personal
Business. The Society of American Travel Writers
awarded Potter the Lowell Thomas Gold Award in
1993, 1994, 1995 and the Bronze Award in 1998
for his travel journalism. Potter is the author
of The Best of Brazil (Crown) and serves on the
board of the ATTA.
 Gigi
Ragland, Freelance Travel & Food Writer
Gigi Ragland specializes in travel and food
writing. Her path began when she worked as a
catering manager for a premier caterer in the
Napa/Sonoma Wine Valley where her appreciation
for all things gourmand was cultivated. She then
followed her heart to San Francisco where she
worked for the legendary Kimpton Hotel and
Restaurant Group. Her enthusiasm for hospitality
and travel culminated into her desire to write
about the great experiences she encountered. She
then began writing lively, energetic articles
describing her adventures abroad and at home.
After moving to Colorado in 2002, Gigi was
offered a job at a travel agency consortium as
senior writer for their monthly themed editorial
newsletter/magazine. Writing towards a travel
agent audience helped hone her skills
considerably by understanding not only what
hotels and vendors offer the client but
ultimately what information serves both the
agent and the client. Since her tenure with them
the publication has won several awards.
Her passion for travel, adventure and the
culinary arts has always directed her career.
She now enjoys freelance writing on a fulltime
basis. Gigi Ragland has published numerous
feature, destination and profile articles. She
has written for regional, national and
international publications on a variety of
subjects from culinary getaways to
llama-trekking to green hotel design. Recently,
in addition to her travel writing, Gigi has
taken on a new project. She is penning a
children’s book series which involves food and
travel.
 John
Rasmus, Editor in Chief, National Geographic
Adventure
National Geographic Adventure
Editor in Chief John Rasmus has been
instrumental in shaping the direction of
contemporary adventure journalism. Formerly the
editor of
Outside
and
Men’s
Journal,
Rasmus led the launch of
National Geographic Adventure
in April 1999. As founding Editor in Chief of
Adventure, he has continued to help define the
genre, publishing articles that have surprised
readers, stirred debates, and made headlines.
Since its launch and under John’s watch,
National Geographic Adventure
has amassed a remarkable twelve National
Magazine Award nominations and has won the Award
four times, including General Excellence in
2002. This year, Adventure was recognized as
Best Travel Magazine by the Lowell Thomas Travel
Journalism Competition. It won the same award in
2002. The magazine has also won gold for Best
Consumer Sports & Leisure Magazine at Folio’s
Editorial Excellence Awards. John leads an
active lifestyle and has trekked in the
Himalayas, white-water rafted in South America,
and hiked extensively in the U.S. and Europe.
 Paul
Ross, Filmmaker, Freelance Journalist
Paul Ross is an
award-winning travel journalist and photographer
whose specialty is travel as seen through the
lens of anything funny, exotic or edible
(preferably all three together!). He has
contributed to sixty publications including
Men's Journal,
the
LA
Times, New Mexico Magazine, the Boston Globe,
Fiery Foods and Barbecue Magazine, the Sun
Monthly, the Fortean Times, Robb Report,
Intermezzo, Organic Spa, the Dallas Morning News.
Paul has a strong background in advertising,
voice-over and filmmaking and currently makes
films and gives travel talks with wife Judith
Fein. Based in Santa Fe, he's schlepped gear
from Cape Horn to Cappadocia, and teaches travel
photography along the way.
 Heidi
Siefkas-Cassemiro, Vice
President of Marketing & PR, .travel
With
over ten years in the hospitality and travel
industry, Heidi is currently the Vice President
of Marketing and Public Relations of .travel. As
an international ambassador for .travel, Heidi
builds strategic alliances with travel and
technology organizations and creates marketing
campaigns and initiatives that increase the
awareness and usage of .travel.
Heidi has previously held key leadership roles
in various hospitality and travel related
companies in the Fort Lauderdale area.
Originally from the Midwest, Heidi graduated
from the University of Wisconsin and earned a
Masters from the University of Massachusetts in
Boston.
 Veronica
Stoddart, Deputy Managing Editor for Travel, USA
TODAY
Veronica
Stoddart is USA TODAY's Deputy Managing Editor
for Travel. Previously, she was founding editor
of Caribbean Travel & Life magazine, which she
edited for 10 years. She has worked as a
contract editor for the National Geographic
Society, as travel editor of Americas magazine,
and has contributed to numerous publications
during 25 years in travel journalism. She is
also on the faculty of the SATW Institute for
Travel Writing & Photography.
She has received the Marcia Vickery-Wallace
Award for Excellence in Travel Journalism, the
Westin Award from the North American Travel
Journalists Association, and seven Lowell Thomas
Awards from the Society of American Travel
Writers.
Veronica is a graduate of Wellesley College.
 Theresa Storm, Travel Journalist and
Photographer
An award-winning travel writer and photographer,
Theresa Storm’s passions are adventure,
ecotourism and sustainable travel, culture, and
journeys off-the-beaten-path. Based in Calgary,
Alberta, her adventures take her around the
world. She is a recognized Caribbean and Mexican
specialist and is currently exploring Central
and South America, most recently Guyana and soon
Ecuador.
She also loves to tell the stories of people and
their communities in words and photos, giving
those who need so a voice. Her most memorable
project was volunteering in Thailand after the
tsunami documenting the work of international
volunteers and the people they helped. A
text/photo feature followed in
Reader’s Digest
Canadian, Thai, and Spanish editions. Theresa’s
work also became an audiovisual presentation for
Calgary schoolchildren, who raised thousands to
help Thai children impacted by the tsunami.
Theresa welcomes similar opportunities with
non-profit nature and humanitarian organizations
and tour operators contributing to the people
and places in which they work.
For 14 years, since ditching her
PR/communications power suit to pursue her
dream, Theresa has been penning and shooting
travel features for CanWest newspapers, the
largest Canadian news chain. For more than three
years (until the budget was axed), she wrote a
monthly adventure column about trying something
new – from learning to scuba dive and snorkeling
with sharks to fly fishing and caving. Her fun,
down-to-earth point-of-view targeted the average
Joe/Jane, intending to convey anyone can embrace
adventure with proper guidance, not just the
kamikaze few. More than 42 Canadian newspapers
have published her tales, including national
dailies the
Globe and Mail and the
National
Post, as well as papers internationally. Her
travel blog for
The Calgary Herald/CanWest
commences later this fall.
Her articles and photographs have been published
in numerous magazines including
Reader’s Digest,
Islands, Dreamscapes, Today’s Parent, Sunquest
Good to Go, Open, Passport to Travel, Travel
Canada, Specialty Travel Index, Travel & More —
Your Airmiles Magazine, and
Common Ground. She
has also written for travel websites
SearsTravel.ca, Canada.com and
AOL Canada and
for trades
Travelweek, GSA, and
OpenJaw.com. She
is author of the
Marco Polo Calgary guidebook
and contributor to
DK Eyewitness Caribbean
(November 2009), coffee table book
Caribbean
Escapes, and
The Fun Also Rises Travel Guide
North America.
She has won seven travel writing awards
including four for excellence in Caribbean
writing, best Canadian article, best article
written for a website, and excellence in
ecotourism reporting.
She is a member of the Travel Media Association
of Canada and the Society of American Travel
Writers.
 Abe
Streep, Senior Editor, Outside magazine
Abe Streep is a senior editor at
Outside
magazine, where he covers travel and media. For
Outside,
he has reported features, traveled throughout
the American West and British Columbia, and sat
through all twelve hours of Ken Burns's
The
National Parks: America's Best Idea
in one sitting. He has also worked as an editor
at
Men's
Journal.
His writing has appeared in
The New
York Times, Mother Jones, Popular Science, The
San Francisco Chronicle,
and elsewhere. Before taking up journalism, he
played music for a traveling circus.
 Greg
Sullivan, CEO and Editorial Director, AFAR Media
Greg started
his career as a corporate securities attorney
and later an investment banker before launching
a series of successful entrepreneurial ventures.
In 1989, he started a business designing and
manufacturing international arcade games,
including the world’s largest selling
coin-operated basketball game. After selling
that company, Greg led a car retailing and
finance company, growing it into a $750-million
operation with 76 dealerships across the
country. After selling his interest in that
business in 2006, Greg began traveling the
globe, searching for his next entrepreneurial
opportunity.
While on a trip to India, Greg and AFAR's
co-founder Joe Diaz realized that there was no
media voice for cultural explorers, those
seeking to broaden themselves by going beyond
the typical tourist haunts and connecting deeply
with local people and places. Thus was born the
inspiration to launch AFAR Media, a media
company focused on experiential travel that
helps people experience every destination as
local residents do.
 Alistair
Wearmouth, Senior Editor, Away.com
Alistair Wearmouth is a senior editor at Away.com, where
he develops content and products for sites
including Away.com, GORP.com, GORPTravel.com,
Outside Online, and Orbitz.com. He is
responsible for Away.com’s social-media
strategy, including blogging, outreach on
social-networking sites like Facebook and
Twitter, and expansion of the site’s
user-generated content base. Prior to joining
Away.com in 2002, Alistair lived and worked in
London and Japan. A Scot born in Hong Kong, a
lifetime of travel has taken him through
countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle
East, and North America. In particular, he
enjoys exploring the outdoors on foot or by
bike, though a masochistic streak would land him
back in the rain-soaked Scottish Highlands if he
had the choice. In addition to his work for the
Away.com family of sites, Alistair has also
written for online and print publications
including Backpacker, The Washington Post, and
Smithsonian.com. He lives in the Washington,
D.C., area with his wife and two young children.
 Anne
"Kat" Yates, Independent Editor/Filmmaker
Anne "Kat"
Yates is an energetic and passionate independent
editor/filmmaker with 19 years of experience. In
1990, she began her NYC editing career at
Backstreet Edit, a boutique commercial editing
company. The relationships she established
during her six years at Backstreet felt more
like a cherished family than a 'just a job' and
she values the opportunities it provided.
When it was time to face new challenges, Anne
pursued freelance editing with numerous
television and commercial editing companies. In
2000, an opening at the Smith Barney/Citigroup
Media Resources Department presented itself and
she decided to accept. It was there that she
developed an appreciation for the art of finance
and whole-heartedly agreed with the company's
motto "Lead by Example." In 2004, she joined the
"Never Generic" video team at Cline Davis Mann,
a pharmaceutical ad agency, as the Post
Production Supervisor. During 2007, her
Grandparents in Ohio became housebound and she
decided to take a six week personal leave of
absence from CDM. Those six weeks provided time
for reflection about life and what new roads
were out there to be traveled.
After leaving CDM, favorable circumstances led
Anne to take an educational trip to China in
which she brought her video camera. It was on
that trip she that she discovered a new career
path - the travel video documentary. Currently,
she is in post production with her personal
documentary, "Finding Myself in China."
Anne continues her freelance editing career and
loves the fact she can edit 'just about
anywhere' !!! She is honored to be a part of the
ATTA and is thankful for the new partnerships,
contacts and colleagues in this community of
adventure travelers.
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