Luigi Cabrini, Chair

Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC)
Region: Global
Category: NGO (Voting Member)

Mr. Luigi Cabrini is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council. Mr. Cabrini led several initiatives on sustainable tourism at global level, focusing his activities on tourism and climate change, tourism and biodiversity, observatories for sustainable tourism, the green economy, tourism and heritage and global partnerships. He was the Director of the UNWTO (World Tourism Organization) Sustainable Tourism Programme until 2014 and previously held the positions of UNWTO Director for Europe and Secretary of the General Assembly and Executive Council. From 2014 to 2018 he was an Advisor to the Secretary-General of the UNWTO. Before joining the UNWTO he has been engaged during 20 years in United Nations programmes for development and for protection of refugees, in Guatemala, Mexico, Somalia, Pakistan, Poland and Spain. Luigi Cabrini is fluent in Italian, English, French and Spanish and has basic knowledge of Russian and Polish. He is the author of various articles, speeches and papers.

Dr. Kelly S. Bricker, Vice-Chair

Associate Dean and Director of Hainan University-Arizona State University International College
Region: North America
Category: Academia (Voting Member)

Dr. Bricker is Professor and Director of the Hainan-Arizona State International Tourism College (HAITC), located in Phoenix, Arizona. She completed her Ph.D. research with the Pennsylvania State University, where she specialized in sustainable tourism and protected area management. She has research and teaching interests in ecotourism, sense of place, community development, natural resource management, value of nature-based experiences, and the impacts of tourism. She has authored and edited books on sustainability, which highlight case studies in tourism meeting environmental and societal issues in Sustainable Tourism & the Millennium Development Goals: Effecting Positive Change; educational texts focused on adventure education in Adventure Programing and Travel for the 21st Century and graduate education in De-Mystifying Theories in Tourism Research; and most recently, relevant to current projects, co-edited This Land Is Your Land: Toward a Better Understanding of Nature’s Resiliency-Building and Restorative Power for Armed Forces Personnel, Veterans, and Their Families (Sagamore Publishing, LLC). Dr. Bricker serves the boards of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, the Tourism and Protected Area Specialist Group of the IUCN, and Tourism Unity. With partners in OARS and her husband, she developed an ecotourism operation called Rivers Fiji.

CB (Ram) Ramkumar, Vice-Chair

Director of Green Dreams for the Planet
Region: South Asia
Category: NGO (Voting Member)

CB Ramkumar has been an active GSTC Member for many years, currently serving as the GSTC Program Director for South Asia, and was influential in the adoption in 2014 by the government of India of national sustainable tourism standards which drew heavily from the GSTC Criteria. Ram is an author, speaker, trainer, consultant, an entrepreneur and an expert in applied sustainability. He developed a model for sustainable living when he built the first 100% eco resort – Our Native Village in Bangalore, India. Over the last decade, he has extended his expertise to sustainable living – sustainable food, sustainable health, sustainable service, marketing & branding. Ram had been an advertising and marketing professional for two decades. His long career in the advertising & marketing took him to global companies like Saatchi & Saatchi, Ogilvy & Mather, Publicis and Standard Chartered Bank.

Koko Tang, Treasurer

Co-founder and CEO of Vinetree Tourism
Region: East Asia
Category: Industry (Voting Member)

Ms. Koko Tang is the co-founder and CEO of Vinetree Tourism, a Chinese ecological tourism company, operating the world’s most unique and luxurious wild tent camps and ecological tourist trails. Vinetree has been promoting responsible travel and sustainable tourism in China while committed to immersing people in a culture experience in nature and making high quality ecological tourism experiences. Its projects are showcases in china in terms of small business’s engagement in sustainability practice. Ms. Tang is also the Deputy Secretary General of China Adventure Association (CAA). She was awarded as the 2017 TOP 10 China Tourism Industry Innovative Leader and also be granted as the tourism expert consultant of Shanghai Chongming government think tank in 2018. Ms. Tang graduated from the University of Birmingham, UK with a Master degree of Commercial Law. She has extensive experiences in mergers and acquisitions and cross-border transactions during her 7 years services at King & Wood LLP and Sidley Austin LLP, both are renowned international law firms. She was the founder of Invest in Africa Club during her stay in Zambia between 2014 and 2015.

Natalie Kidd, Secretary

Chief People and Purpose Officer, Intrepid Group
Region: Asia-Pacific
Category: Industry (Voting Member)

Natalie Kidd is the Chief People and Purpose Office of Intrepid Travel, the world’s largest provider of adventure travel experiences. Globally recognised as a leader in responsible travel, Intrepid’s portfolio of three specialist tour operators and 25 Destination Management companies take travellers to more than 120 countries on all seven continents. Intrepid supports eight SDG goals, has advocated on issues such as climate action, animal welfare, child protect and gender equality, is a certified B-Corp and has been carbon-neutral since 2010.  Natalie joined Intrepid in 2005 as the founding General Manager of the first vertically integrated DMC, based in Hanoi Vietnam. Over the years she grew this one DMC into a global network of 25 inbound tour operators. In 2020 she moved from the role of Chief Operating Officer to her current role, responsible for the development and implementation of the company’s sustainability strategy.  Natalie holds a Masters of Business Administration (AGSM), a Master of Asian Studies (UNSW) and a Bachelor of Arts/Asian Studies (USyd). In 2018 she completed the Australian Institute of Company Directors’ (AICD) director program and remains a member of the AICD.

Ameet Konkar

Sustainability Director, Airbnb
Region: Global
Category: Industry (Voting Member)

Ameet Konkar is the Director of Sustainability for Airbnb, Inc. Starting in 2007 when two Hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home, Airbnb has since grown to 4 million Hosts who have welcomed more than 900 million guest arrivals in almost every country across the globe. Ameet spearheads Airbnb’s sustainability strategy and execution, helping embed sustainable practices into every home, experience and trip. Before Airbnb, Ameet spent a number of years in the renewable energy sector helping build new businesses, including most recently one providing solar in Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to that he spent 8 years with the premier strategy consulting firm Bain and Co. Ameet has an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business and an MS in Industrial Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Beatriz Barreal Danel

Founder and CEO of Sustainable Riviera Maya
Region: Americas
Category: NGO (Voting Member)

Beatriz Barreal Danel is the CEO and Founder of Sustainable Riviera Maya. Since 2009, Beatriz has dedicated her time with Sustainable Riviera Maya to making Sustainable Tourism the primary engine for development, wealth and the engine of peace; preserving at the same time, natural treasures, local culture and society, as providing a linking platform that encourages seminars, congresses, encounters, processes, training and certifications, in sustainable strategies, solutions and actions in the Riviera Maya. Beginning in 2012, Beatriz led the alignment of Riviera Maya as a GSTC Destination Criteria Early Adopter, and now leading the process towards certification of Playa del Carmen as a sustainable destination through GSTC-Accredited certification bodies. She is also responsible for developing marketing strategies, branding and communication in the corporate field, first as a consultant (Beatriz Barreal Consultancy 1989-2013) and from 1993-2000 the Founder and CEO of Neographika Inc. During 1995-2009 Beatriz supported local NGO’s in the State of Quintana Roo. She dedicated her time to support environmental conservation, empowering women and indigenous groups, and addressing issues concerning teenagers in risk categories due to domestic conditions and health.

Cathy Parsons

Accreditation Panel Chair at GSTC
Region: Global
Category: Assurance Panel (Non-voting Member)

Cathy has been Chair of the Accreditation Panel – now Assurance Panel, since October 2010. She has been actively involved in the evolution to the present day of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council. From 2001 to 2006, Cathy was the Executive Director and then CEO of the worldwide tourism certification program, Green Globe. She was responsible for all aspects of delivering the program to tourism operations in over 50 countries with the objective of achieving a more sustainable tourism industry. During her time in the mid-90s as a senior executive with the Australian Government’s Department of Tourism, she managed the government’s environmental tourism programs. She assisted industry to develop the world’s first ecotourism certification program as well as several other tourism certification programs for different industry sectors.

Dr. Elif Balcı Fisunoğlu

Vice General Manager, Tourism Operations and Development, Türkiye Tourism Promotion and Development Agency (TGA)
Region: Türkiye
Category: Public Authority (Voting Member)

Is currently, the Vice-General Manager of Tourism Operations and Development division in Türkiye Tourism Promotion and Development Agency which founded by Ministry of Tourism and by law and also representative of TGA at UNWTO Board of Affiliate Members.

She has her career in the tourism, travel, hospitality, meetings, and destination marketing industry spans more than 25 years, specializing in tourism product development and destination and nation marketing. A highly regarded advocate for the sustainable development of global tourism with an outstanding reputation, Elif has held a broad spectrum of senior positions in corporate brands, NGOs and DMOs in both Türkiye and Europe.

Glenn Mandziuk

CEO of the World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance
Region: North America
Category: NGO (Voting Member)

Hyun (Hugh) Kim

Executive Director, Jeonbuk Culture and Tourism Organization (JBCT)
Region: East Asia
Category: Public Authority (Voting Member)

Hyun (Hugh) Kim has worked for over 25 years in the tourism, MICE and nature conservation at national, regional and international level. He enjoyed long and successful careers with the Korea National Park Service (KNPS), International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Asia, Gyeonggi Tourism Organization (GTO) and Incheon Tourism Organization (ITO) in several managerial & directorial positions focusing on all facets of sustainable tourism, MICE, and transboundary protected areas management in terms of the Demilitarized Zone tourism as well as the Hanbando Peace Park Initiative between South and North Korea. Hyun, as an Executive Director of Jeonbuk Culture and Tourism Organization (JBCT), provides strategic leadership covering a wide spectrum of thematic programmes in MICE and tourism. He holds BAs in Tourism and is a graduate of the Seoul National University with qualifications in Forest Environment (Outdoor Recreation).

Dr. Ioannis Pappas

CEO of Green Evolution SA
Region: Europe
Category: Industry (Voting Member)

Dr. Ioannis Pappas is a GSTC authorized Trainer. He is the CEO of Green Evolution SA, an experienced professional engineer, with over 25 years of work in several fields of science, focusing on sustainability and tourism, energy and environmental efficiency in infrastructure and buildings. He is also auditing and advising on standardization of companies and technological implementation of climate adaptation and mitigation methodologies. Dr. Pappas is Co-founder and a Board Member in a number of organizations (Sustainable Building Council of Greece, Hellenic Passive House Institute, Hellenic Start Up Association) as well as Co-founder of the Hellenic Ecotourism Society. He worked with the Joint Research Center-IE of European Commission and was a Greek representative as the expert for ITL at UNFCCC.

Ingunn Sørnes

Special Adviser, Innovation Norway
Region: Europe
Category: Public Authority (Voting Member)

For the past two decades, Ingunn Sørnes has been with Innovation Norway, the Norwegian Governmental organization for innovation and development in industries in Norway, including tourism. She was earlier employed in the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture, then the State Bank of Agriculture before entering the Norwegian Industrial and Regional Development Fund (SND). From a position in rural development and diversification in agriculture in the Ministry she moved to funding, research coordination and training in the State Bank and the SND before being appointed to Innovation Norway to lead the work towards a more sustainable tourism. Her work includes policy development, measures and incentives to increase sustainability within tourism in Norway. This includes developing and implementing a national standard for sustainable tourism at destination level (GSTC-Recognized Standard) with all assisting tools and instruments.

Kate Heiny

Vice President of Sustainability, Booking Holdings
Region: Global
Category: Industry (Voting Member)

As Booking Holdings’ Vice President of Sustainability, Kate Heiny leads sustainability across Booking Holdings’ operations, products and communities. She is responsible for leading the company’s strategy to help build a more sustainable travel industry as a global leader in the industry, in addition to deepening strategic alignment and impact across the company’s brands. Since joining Booking Holdings from German e-commerce fashion company Zalando, she has overseen Booking.com’s Travel Sustainable program’s system achieve GSTC-Recognized status. The Travel Sustainable program was strategically aligned to GSTC Criteria from its inception, and this continues with every iteration of the program. Throughout her career, Kate has been active on the Board of Directors at Higg Co, an integrated digital platform that enables brands, retailers, and manufacturers to accelerate their sustainability progress.

Kathrin Möllers

Director Sustainability & ESG, TUI Group
Region: Europe
Category: Industry (Voting Member)

Kuniko Takasaki

Managing Executive Officer, Chief DEIB Officer, JTB Group
Region: Japan
Category: Industry (Voting Member)

Ms. Kuniko Takasaki is the managing executive officer leading JTB Group’s DEIB, and is responsible for driving sustainability and diversity across the group. At the JTB Group, the commitment to upstanding corporate citizenry is reflected in its Mission: ‘We strive to foster peace and global interconnectedness through the creation of opportunities for meaningful human interaction’. By accelerating diversity, which is the foundation of sustainability, and strengthening internal and external communication regarding sustainability, she strives to ensure that our management policies and commercial activity contribute to the long-term health and viability of our industry, our society and the planet as a whole.

Matt Callaghan

Chief Operating Officer at easyJet holidays
Region: Europe
Category: Industry (Voting Member)

Matt Callaghan is easyJet holidays’ Chief Operating Officer and member of the management board, responsible for all aspects of customer experience and business operations as well as the development and implementation of the easyJet holidays’ Sustainable Tourism Programme, which launched in September 2021. Matt has worked in the travel industry for eleven years, in roles spanning risk, customer experience, commercial development, operations and strategy. Prior to easyJet holidays, Matt held senior leadership roles at easyJet and British Airways, having joined from Deloitte’s risk advisory services. Matt is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales, and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography.

Matthias Beyer

CEO, Mascontour
Region: Europe
Category: Industry (Voting Member)

Matthias has been working as an international consultant and trainer for sustainable tourism for destinations, the private sector, policy makers and development cooperation for over 20 years. In 2005, he founded the consulting company mascontour, which under his leadership has supported projects in over 60 countries on the path to sustainable tourism development. His company has been a GSTC Member and a GSTC Training Partner for many years. Both as a GSTC trainer and in his project work, he actively promotes the cause of GSTC and encourages partners all over the world to use the GSTC Criteria as a basis for improving their sustainability performance. In addition, it is important to him to give his own impulses to the global sustainability debate through numerous lectures, presentations and articles. Recently, he and his team developed a resilience model for destinations and companies, which has already been used in practice. He is also involved as a member in various international organisations for sustainable tourism. For Matthias, sustainability in tourism is not an idealistic claim, but the maxim of his daily consulting work.

Netsai Bollmann

Programme Manager, Kavango Zambezi (KAZA) Transfrontier Conservation Area Secretariat
Region: Southern Africa
Category: Intergovernmental Organization IGO (Voting Member)

Netsai is the Programme Manager of the Kavango Zambezi (KAZA) Transfrontier Conservation Area Secretariat based in Kasane, Botswana, where she is responsible for providing strategic leadership across the spectrum of KAZA operations i.e., biodiversity conservation, tourism business and regional development, stakeholder networking, and partnerships. Before joining the KAZA Secretariat Netsai worked for 14 years in Southern African sustainable development, working for organisations including the Hillside Dams Conservancy Trust, ResourceAfrica, Fair Trade Tourism, and a SADC and GIZ partnership programme as a long-term sustainable tourism expert and team leader. Netsai has extensive experience in Southern African partnership development with civil society, public and private sector organisations including the Regional Tourism Organisation of Southern Africa (RETOSA), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat, various SADC Transfrontier Conservation Area Structures, Tourism Ministries, Tourism Boards, national parks agencies and some of the region’s leading private sector tourism associations and sustainable tourism certification organisations. Netsai Bollmann holds an MBA from the University of Southern Queensland and a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a specialisation in Law from London Metropolitan University.

Randy Durband

Chief Executive Officer of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC)
Region: Global
Category: CEO (Non-voting Member)

Randy Durband has had two careers in travel and tourism – twenty-plus years in senior leadership positions at some of the finest U.S. tour operators, having served as President for Travcoa, INTRAV, and Clipper Cruise Lines, (brands within TUI Travel plc), plus Executive Vice President of Tauck World Discovery. Following that, in his second travel and tourism career, Randy advanced the work of Sustainable Tourism as an advisor, consultant, and speaker. He brings his knowledge of the business of travel, his global network of travel professionals, and a passion for sustainability to support the GSTC and the general sustainable tourism movement.

Rika Jean-François

Founder, MissionRespo. Former CSR Commissioner ITB
Region: Europe
Category: Industry (Voting Member)

Rika Jean-François holds a Master Degree in Social Anthropology and Iranian Studies with an expertise on ethnic identities, sustainable development and diversity issues from the Free University of Berlin, Germany. She started to work in tourism as a tour guide in Greece, while studying at the University of Crete and as an incoming agent in Athens. Back in Germany she became counselor at the University’s International Academic Exchange Office and travelled as a researcher to Iran, Malawi and Haiti. Ms. Jean-François obtained an additional qualification in Quality Management, working on the evaluation of development aid workers’ education for the German Development Service. Since 2004 she has been with Messe Berlin and vitally developed ITB’s Corporate Social Responsibility. As ITB’s head of CSR she is a passionate speaker at sustainable tourism events internationally. Putting an emphasis on human rights and diversity, she has spearheaded ITB’s implementation of the LGBT+ travel segment and was member of the board of directors of the IGLTA (International Gay&Lesbian Travel Association) for 5 consecutive years – currently she serves on the board of the IGLTA Foundation. She is also a board member of PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association) and supports many international sustainability committees and is a jury member at several global responsible tourism contests.

Dr. Yasemin Biro Kirtman

Knowledge and Learning Coordinator at the Policy, Partnerships and Operations Unit, Global Environment Facility (GEF)
Region: Global
Category: Multilateral Environmental Fund (Voting Member)

Yasemin Biro Kirtman is an environmental economist with 20+ years of experience in global environmental finance and sustainable development, including climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity conservation and environmental valuation. Yasemin received her PhD in Energy and Resources at the University of California at Berkeley, her MA in Economics at Tulane University and her BA in Economics and International Relations at Cornell University. She also attended the London School of Economics, focusing on development economics. Yasemin joined the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in 2000, and currently works at the Policy, Partnership and Operations unit of the multilateral environmental fund, leading its Knowledge Management and Learning Function. Originally from Turkey, Yasemin speaks English, Turkish and Spanish, and is familiar with German. As a GSTC Board member, Yasemin aims to raise awareness of GSTC and its criteria amongst multilateral institutions, including international finance institutions, international conventions such as the UNFCCC, UNCBD and UNCCD as well as UN organizations and NGOs whose work is related to sustainable tourism.