Alicia comes to the North Dakota Native Tourism Alliance (NDNTA) as a tourism consultant and was recently hired as the tour operations manager for their tour operator company called Native American Cultural Tours. She has extensive experience in travel agency operations, marketing, and broadcasting. She is an enrolled member of the Spirit Lake Nation (Mni Wakan Oyate) of North Dakota.

Alex Reynolds is an American travel photographer, writer, and solo female backpacker whose work has been featured on Lonely Planet, BBC Travel, AP News, and more. She started as a cookie-cutter travel influencer, then realized she might be causing more harm than good. She still blogs at with a responsible twist at Lost With Purpose, but now also works on sustainable tourism solutions in Pakistan with the all-women team behind Root Network, and spends her remaining time crafting educational content about issues in the travel industry with the small international team that is Decolonizing Travel.

Born and raised in New York, Amanda is the Co-Founder and Brand Director of Regenerative Travel. Previously as the founder and Editor-in-Chief of a multi-media lifestyle publication, Amanda honed her craft as a storyteller, producer and creative strategist for luxury hospitality and real estate companies, tourism boards and lifestyle brands with a passion for sustainability. She has spoken as a travel thought leader at conferences including the Global Wellness Summit, TTG Luxury Travel Summit, LE Miami, PURE Life Experiences, Conscious Festival and the Impact Travel Alliance.

Anna Barrera is a sustainable tourism and hospitality consultant with professional experience in strategic planning, product development, marketing, and capacity building with seven years of global experience. Anna has a passion for working with Indigenous tourism organizations to drive economic development in Native communities. She has successfully managed large multi-year tourism projects resulting in inter-tribal partnerships, the development of new cultural tourism products, and meaningful contributions to the body of practical research on Indigenous tourism development.

Anna Pollock, Founder of Conscious Travel has 48 years’ experience in tourism as an independent consultant, strategist, international speaker and change agent and is now an acclaimed thought leader in the emerging field of regenerative tourism. Past clients include the Canadian Tourism Commission, PATA, European Travel Commission, Tourism British Columbia, the Australian Tourism Export Council, Tourism Tasmania, Innovation Norway, Visit Flanders, Rotterdam Partners and departments of industry, conservation and tourism in New Zealand.

Anthony Myint is the co-founder of Mission Chinese Food, The Perennial and Zero Foodprint, named 2020 Humanitarian of the Year by The James Beard Foundation and winner of the 2019 Basque Culinary World Prize. ZFP leads a public private collaboration with regional governments in California and Colorado to scale regenerative agriculture. Restaurants and businesses that participate in Zero Foodprint are directly funding climate beneficial farming projects that transform bad atmospheric carbon into healthy soil carbon.

Aziz Abu Sarah is a peacebuilder, author, entrepreneur, and cultural educator. He is the co-founder of MEJDI TOURS, a social enterprise that uses travel to create meaningful connections. MEJDI won the intercultural innovation award from the UN and the BMW Group for innovating the Dual Narrative™ concept in travel. Aziz’s educational and conflict resolution work throughout the world has earned him the titles of National Geographic Explorer and Ted Fellow. He was named one of the 500 most influential Muslims in the World by the Royal Strategic Centre in Jordan.

Beks Ndlovu, a professional safari guide born and raised in the village of Lupane on the outskirts of Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe founded the 100% owner-run African Bush Camps in 2006. From the start of operations, Ndlovu’s mission has been to operate a portfolio of luxury tented camps and lodges across Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. Ndlovu also created The African Bush Camps Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on conservation, education, and empowerment for the communities that surround the company’s camp locations.

Bill is an internationally recognized planning consultant, design process facilitator, lecturer, teacher, and author in sustainability and regeneration. He is a principal of Regenesis, Inc. – a regenerative design, living systems integrator, and education organization. His work centers on creating the framework for and managing an integrative, whole and living system design process. This work is known as Regenerative Development. The objective: to improve the overall quality of the physical, social and spiritual life of our living places and therefore the planet.

Cyrill is an award-winning designer and brand/product developer. In 1998 he created a method called Cross Intelligence, which brings a culture of collaboration to major organizations. In 2012 he decided to focus on a new client vital to us all: the oceans. He founded Parley for the Oceans as a collaboration network for creators, thinkers and leaders to raise awareness for the beauty and fragility of the oceans and to develop and implement strategies that can end their destruction. Parley and their partners won the Grand Prix for Product Design at Cannes Lions, two D&AD Pencils and an ADCN Grand Prix in 2014.

David is a regenerative (social and environmental) impact entrepreneur and investor, founder of Playa Viva one of the world’s first truly regenerative resorts, and co-founder of Regenerative Travel. Through Playa Viva and Regenerative Travel Inc, David endeavours to leverage hospitality (and real estate investments) to bring capital (social, market, intellectual, natural and financial) to work in improving the ecosystem, both people and planet, to create vibrant, resilient, healthy and profitable systems for all participants. It takes a “slow money” committed investment and it’s working.

Dr. Apisalome Movono joined Massey University in 2020 after ten years serving in various positions at the University of the South Pacific (USP), with a little ‘time out to complete his PhD at Griffith University, Australia. His research draws on postmodernist techniques seeking to improve our understanding of resilience, oceans finance, climate change and tourism development in the Pacific islands. He focuses specifically on how tourism can be reset as a tool for the sustainable and resilient development of Pacific peoples. He is a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Development Studies.

Dr. Keenan Adams is the Forest Supervisor of El Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico’s 2nd most visited place. He started his work in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria where he led the Natural and Cultural Resources Sector’s recovery. Adams facilitated an alternative tourism analysis that evaluated Puerto Rico’s opportunity to regenerate from the hurricanes to a forward-thinking tourism industry. Keenan has always been fascinated with social, ecological, & technological systems and has a passion for working at the intersection of conservation, tourism, and disenfranchised communities.

Holly has been a responsible travel expert and writer since circumnavigating the world without flying in 2010. Former Editor of Green Hotelier and Communications Manager for the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, Holly now writes for the likes of The Guardian and Conde Nast Traveller and is Communications Manager for conservation-led travel organization, The Long Run. Holly’s book, Sustainable Travel: The Essential Guide to Positive Impact Adventures, was published by Quarto Knows in June 2021 and is packed with practical information and inspiration.

After a career as a research scientist in gene expression, DNA replication, cancer, AIDS and designing viral vectors in biotechnology in the United States and in academia in Switzerland, South-African born Jean and his young family settled on tiny Chole Island in the heart of the Mafia Island Marine Park Tanzania. Together with his wife Anne, their company and charitable trust, founded on the principle that tourism should bring real benefits to the local community and support wildlife and cultural heritage conservation.

Jeremy is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and advisor with a passion for travel, health & sustainability. He is the Founder & CEO of Beautiful Destinations, an award-winning strategy & creative agency for the travel industry. FAST COMPANY voted Beautiful Destinations one of the most innovative companies in the world and over 30 million people follow on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Tiktok and Weibo. The Financial Times called him the ‘world’s most influential traveler’ and he has given keynote speeches for the United Nations World Tourism Organization, the World Travel & Tourism Council, and more.

Designer, activist, academic and author, Julia Watson is a leading expert on nature-based technologies for climate-resilient design. Twenty years of travel have culminated in an award-winning book, Lo-TEK: Design by Radical Indigenism, published by Taschen in 2019 – it quickly became a bestseller. Coined by Julia, Lo— TEK defines a movement to rebuild an understanding of local knowledge, technology, and vernacular design featured twice in The New York Times, The Guardian, Monocle, and Architectural Digest.

Hong Kong born Katherine Lo founded Eaton Workshop with her ultimate mission and vision of utilizing her family’s resources to do good in the world through creating and running a purpose-driven global hospitality company, fostering physical and digital spaces as platforms for creativity and collective change. Leading teams around the world and opening two pilot Eatons in D.C. and Hong Kong in 2018, Kat passionately works to advance Eaton’s core values of inclusivity, integrity, and imagination to deliver on its triple bottom line of respecting people, planet, and profit.

Katharine’s work at the intersection of food, hospitality and travel focuses on connecting people to the natural world. An agritourism and rural tourism specialist, Katharine advises businesses, and projects on how to design for positive ecological and social impact. Her international background and training in cultural gastronomy roots her belief in the transformative art of gathering to celebrate and heal. She is managing director of a constellation of women catalysts called Pleiades Network, and is on the Board of Advisors for Yonder. Katharine is a certified transformational coach, a Tedx speaker, and a former Fulbright Fellow in Italy.

Kristin is a fellow of Marketing, with a Bachelor of Business Studies who has worked for some of New Zealand’s best brands in senior management and strategic marketing roles. Until July 2021, Kristin was Chief Executive of a regional Destination Management & Marketing Organisation (DMMO) and has first-hand experience in leading, transforming and marketing a destination. She led the Te Moana ā Toi (Bay of Plenty) region for five years, co-creating and implementing in partnership the exemplar strategy “Te Hā Tapoi | The Love of Tourism”.

O’Shannon is Regenerative Travel’s Ecosystem Steward, working together with hotel members to co-create a vibrant ecosystem where properties can learn and discover opportunities for greater social and environmental impact. She is also a consultant for EplerWood International where she studies and implements solutions to foster the sustainable management of tourism destinations. O’Shannon spent more than a decade at National Geographic collaborating with explorers, spearheading sustainability initiatives, and developing exploratory travel experiences on all seven continents.

After a career in residential design and construction, Patty and her husband Jeff embarked on a new journey, creating the Cedar House Sport Hotel in 2006. The Cedar House was an early adopter in the “greening” of its buildings and usage of best practices, integrating both sustainability and environmentalism into its business mission and messaging. As an avid explorer and adventurer, Patty’s passion for travel is reflected throughout the Cedar House design and ethos.

Entrepreneur and expert in hospitality in rapidly developing markets (specifically LatAm). Since 2015, Portia is the founder of two boutique hotels, three beach clubs, two bars and a not-for-profit foundation in Cartagena, Colombia. Hospitality brands designed for young, affluent and modern travelers seeking luxury in a fun, creative but also culturally sensitive and environmentally responsible setting. The Green Apple Foundation specializes in the promotion of sustainability in the local tourism industry.

Prashant Ashoka is a Singaporean writer, photographer and designer who currently lives in Mexico. Inspired by the ‘tiny-house movement’ he created a fully sustainable mirrored house on an extinct volcano in the central Mexican highlands. The project, Casa Eterea, is a cross between architecture and site-specific installation art. Conceived with the intent to be a fully community-run business that empowers and employs locally, Casa Eterea is a case-study of how even small businesses in the travel industry can adopt regenerative practices.

Born and raised in the Gullah/Geechee Lowcountry of South Carolina in the small town of Pawley’s Island, Sheldon Scott now lives and works in Washington, DC. His art plays in the intersection of race, sexuality and economics, and consists of performance, sculpture, installation, photo-based work, spoken word, creative nonfiction, objects and ephemera. He is also the Global Head of Purpose at Eaton Workshop, a hospitality brand committed to activism and inclusivity.

Stephen Satterfield, host of the critically-acclaimed Netflix docuseries High on the Hog, will share his work to better understand humans and the world through food. Through both his Netflix series and his media company Whetstone, Stephen has traveled the world highlighting food origins and culture, and has worked to redefine food as a means of organizing, activating, and educating.

Zita Cobb is an eighth-generation Fogo Islander, Founder and CEO of Shorefast, and Innkeeper of the Fogo Island Inn. A registered Canadian charity, Shorefast uses business-minded means to help secure economic and cultural resilience for Fogo Island, Newfoundland: a centuries-old settler fishing community off Newfoundland’s northeast coast. Zita graduated high school on Fogo Island before leaving home to study business in Ottawa.