Board of Directors

TIES Advisory Board comprises of ecotourism experts and industry leaders. Representing diverse groups of ecotourism and sustainable tourism stakeholders, the Advisory Board will serves as an effective venue to support TIES mission. TIES aims to collaborate with Advisory Board members to help increase the organization's potentials through new projects and outreach initiatives.

Deirdre Campbell Owner The Tartan Group Canada

The owner of The Tartan Group, Deirdre has been a communications professional in Canada for 20 years. Together with her team of five coworkers, Tartan is committed to helping businesses and organizations become more sustainable and substantially raise their community, national and international profile through marketing communications and public relations including reputation management, stakeholder relations, media relations, event management, advertising, promotion and community partnerships. Today, Tartan represents clients in Seattle, BC, Alberta, Manitoba, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua and has offices in Vancouver, Victoria and New York. In 2003, Deirdre completed her MBA in PR/Communications through Royal Roads University and the focus of her MBA Occupational Consulting Project was the development of a culinary tourism program for Tourism BC.

Richard Edwards Director, Planeterra Foundation Co-Chair, Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference Canada

Richard is the Director of Planeterra, a non-profit dedicated to supporting sustainable community development through travel, where he is responsible for the overall direction of the organization and creating ways to better link travelers and local communities around the globe. Planeterra was founded by Gap Adventures, where Richard is a member of the executive management team, helping to oversee the company’s rapid growth and partnerships with high profile brands such as Discovery Communications, Expedia and STA Travel. Richard has worked in key management positions and as a consultant with several award-winning adventure companies, where he has been responsible for exponential increases in sales and online presence. He's also assisted large travel industry veterans, such as Hilton, Wyndham, Harrah's and American Express in developing their green and carbon management strategies.

Shadia Garrison Consultant, Writer, Project Manager USA

Shadia Garrison's interest in eco-tourism stems from her career in social justice, education in anthropology, and love of travel. With over 15 years of experience in program management and development for nonprofit organizations and institutes of higher learning, Shadia hopes to use her skills to further demonstrate to potential funders and partner organizations TIES' clear leadership role in eco-tourism and the ways ecotourism projects can benefit many constituencies: local or host community members, tourists, governments, schools, businesses, and providers. Shadia is the founder and head writer at The Mindful Tourist, an online magazine dedicated to socially conscious travel, recently named one of the ten smartest travel blogs. She is often asked to write for other travel sites and review travel memoirs and books. A citizen of the United States, Shadia is fluent in Spanish and travels frequently to Latin America where she and her Chilean husband are embarking on the development of a small eco-retreat center.

Glenn Jampol President Finca Rosa Blanca Coffee Plantation and Inn Costa Rica

In 1985, Glenn founded and created the first "Boutique" hotel in Santa Bárbara de Heredia, Costa Rica, based on the best sustainable standards of the day, Finca Rosa Blanca Coffee Plantation and Inn, which is now considered one of the best hotels in the world, according the New York Times, Conde Naste Traveler and others. The hotel also has 35 acres of certified shade grown organic coffee which is grown, picked and roasted on premises. In 2003, Finca Rosa Blanca won the coveted Tourism for Tomorrow Award, and in 2009 was chosen as one of the top 10 eco-resorts in the world by the readers of TripAdvisor. Glenn was on of the founding members and team in the development of the Certification for Sustainable Tourism (CST). In 2003, Finca Rosa Blanca became the first and only hotel to earn the highest classification of 5 green leaves in the CST program and in 2008 received a perfect 100% ranking. Glenn is presently the president of the board of directors of the National Chamber of Ecotourism (CANAECO).

Ariane Janér Co-Founder EcoBrasil Brazil

Ariane Janér is a Dutch zoologist with a MBA who has been living in Brazil since 1988. Working in the area of ecotourism and sustainable development since 1991, she has consulted projects in many parts of Brazil. In 1993, she helped found EcoBrasil, the Brazilian Ecotourism Society and has been actively involved with this NGO since 1993. As a consultant she looks for challenging projects that become a practical benchmark or mean constructing a platform for change and often remains involved after completing her assignment. Ariane builds on her wide experience in marketing and finance acquired through a previous career at Royal Dutch Shell, as a free-lance consumer market researcher for Euromonitor, as a financial analyst for Baxter Straub and as owner/director of a small ecotourism operator. She is a regular speaker at events in Brazil and also internationally and has contributed to various publications.

Karen Lewis Owner Lapa Rios Ecolodge Costa Rica

Karen Lewis grew up in Minneapolis and has been involved in Girl Scouting, the American Field Service (Chile) and was a Peace Corp Volunteer in Kenya. For over 20 years, Karen was a professional keyboard musician and educator in Minnesota and holds degrees in music and geography from the University of Minnesota. In 1990, she and John Lewis took their bird watching avocation to a contributory level and purchased over 1,000 acres of tropical rain forest in the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica. To maintain this bio-diverse reserve, and only use the land as an economic and educational vehicle to sustain the Osa community, they created Lapa Rios Ecolodge. Lapa Rios demonstrates and educates sustainable tourism standards to its over-60 staff members and its guests. These efforts received the highest rating by the Certification for Sustainable Tourism (CST), a renowned auditing system.

Kimberly Lisagor Journalist, Author USA

Kimberly Lisagor is a journalist who covers travel and the environment. She is co-author (with Heather Hansen) of the award-winning book, Disappearing Destinations: 37 Places in Peril and What Can Be Done to Help Save Them. Based in San Luis Obispo, Calif., she teaches journalism at Cal Poly and chairs the International Service Committee for the Rotary Club of San Luis Obispo Daybreak.

Rick MacLeod Farley Principal Consultant MacLeod Farley & Associates Canada

Rick MacLeod Farley has twenty years of experience in developing and securing financing for ecotourism, heritage tourism and community economic development projects. Rick has both Irish Canadian and French Canadian ancestry. As a youth, Rick had a volunteer work opportunity living for three months in a remote Quechua village in southern Bolivia. This had a profound impact on him, kindling a passion for working together with Aboriginal communities. From 1990 through 1994 Rick lived in Moose Factory, Ontario working as a Regional Economic Coordinator for Mushkegowuk Cree Tribal Council. Since then, through his firm MacLeod Farley & Associates, he has specialized in Aboriginal ecotourism development and financing. Rick has helped his clients secure $29 million in grant funding to date. In 2007, his firm placed in the top ten in the Proposal Writing World Championships. Rick has an Honours Bachelor Degree in Economics, and has completed courses towards a Masters Degree in Rural Planning and Development. He has appeared as a speaker at numerous TIES events and Aboriginal tourism conferences.

Hitesh Mehta Architect, Landscape Architect and Ecotourism Planner HM Design USA/Kenya

Mr. Hitesh Mehta is one of the world’s leading authorities, practitioners and researchers on ecotourism physical planning and both the landscape architectural and architectural aspects of ecolodges. He also has vast experience in protected area physical planning and has worked on sustainable tourism plans for national parks that protect the last remaining endangered species such as Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda and DR Congo, Chimpanzees in Uganda and Rwanda, Giant Pandas in China, Tigers in India and Rhinos in Kenya. After ten years of working with EDSA (Florida), the world’s largest landscape architecture and planning firm, he has re-started his firm HM Design which began in Kenya in 1991. He is the main editor of the International Ecolodge Guidelines and the author of the chapters on "Site Planning" and "Architectural Design."

Paul Radchenko Tourism Development Planner Canada

Paul is the Tourism Development Planner for the Government of Alberta where he is responsible for working with federal and municipal jurisdictions as well as industry stakeholders to develop and represent sustainable tourism positions during land and resource management policy, planning and implementation processes. Originally trained as a teacher, Paul went on to specialize in outdoor education and sustainable tourism management, concentrating his studies in ecotourism and nature-based tourism while based in Australia. Upon his return to Canada, he successfully led an Ecotourism and Outdoor Leadership college degree program in southeast Alberta where he combined his technical experience with his commitment to student-centered education. As program director and full time instructor, he facilitated interactive and engaging learning experiences designed to prepare students for careers in the field of sustainable tourism and ecologically friendly practices.

Wolfgang Strasdas, PhD. Professor University of Applied Sciences Eberswalde Germany

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Strasdas is the director of the bilingual Master’s program Sustainable Tourism Management at the Eberswalde University of Applied Sciences near Berlin. This program is the only one of its kind in Germany and has a strong focus on ecotourism, sustainable business management, and integrated destination development. He holds a Master’s degree in environmental management and a PhD in ecotourism management. He has worked for many years as a freelance consultant, researcher and trainer in Latin America, Africa and Central Asia, mostly on behalf of German development cooperation agencies (GTZ, InWEnt) and the Ministry of the Environment of Germany. The environmental and social implications of mass tourism, outdoor recreation, nature-based tourism and community-based tourism have been major topics throughout his work. He is an avid ecotourist, hiker and cyclist himself and a member of several non-profit organizations such as Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) and the German Cycling Club (ADFC).

Masaru Takayama Executive Director, Japan Ecolodge Association Founder/Director, Spirit of Japan Travel Japan

Masaru Takayama is the Executive Director of the Japan Ecolodge Association. He is currently working as a certified energy conservation advisor under the national energy conservation program, as well as a free lance ecolodge consultant. Masaru tries to apply his knowledge ecolodge design to improve sustainability and reduce energy consumption. His passion for ecotourism and ecolodges started in Costa Rica in 1998. Since then, he has been working to promote conservation of nature and responsible tourism from the perspecitve of sustainable development of ecolodges. He holds a degree in oceanography with a minor in geology and worked as a trainer and a consultant in Asia Pacific, Latin America and Africa.

Albert Teo Chin Kion Managing Director Borneo Eco Tours Malaysia

A graduate in Economics (Honours) from the University of London in 1977, Albert Teo has been in the tourism industry for over three decades, as a hotelier, tour operator, lodge and backpacker owner and operator, photographer, author, publisher, conference organizer, ecotourism consultant, speaker and lecturer. He has trekked over 1,000 km in Borneo and published over 150 postcards designs of Borneo, published ten books including the best selling Sabah -Land of the Sacred Mountain, Journey through Borneo, Saving Paradise-The Story of Sukau Rainforest Lodge and the latest book, A Souvenir of Sabah Malaysian Borneo. His companies Borneo Eco Tours and Sukau Rainforest Lodge have won numerous international ecotourism awards. The success of Sukau Rainforest Lodge has encouraged him to share his experience of running the lodge in “Saving Paradise” which he co-authored with Carol Patterson in 2005 which documented the ten years of operation of the lodge.

Annie Vanderwyk Indigenous Business, Education & Research Partner, Youth Connections Principal Cultural Consultant, Wild Earth Expeditions Australia/South Pacific Region

Annie Vanderwyk is a graduate of the University of Newcastle, Australia (1st Class Honours, Anthropology/Law) and is in the final stages of her doctoral thesis on Indigenous Tourism and Sustainable Indigenous Community Economic Self-Determination. Her doctoral research has led her to many Australian Indigenous and South Pacific nations engaging with sustainable small business development and culturally appropriate Indigenous tourism management and training. Annie has worked closely with Wild Earth Expeditions in the development of a 'whole of business' responsible and sustainable tourism framework, which has stimulated international expedition industry interest. Annie is a lecturer in Indigenous Leadership at Macquarie University, Sydney and works as the Indigenous Business, Education & Research Partner for YouthConnections.com.au in the development and implementation of a cutting-edge experiential learning facility - Green Central & Indigenous Skills Centre - to provide training for youth in environmentally sustainable building trades, hospitality and tourism, and small business development. Annie continues to work toward grassroots capacity building for and by Indigenous communities in the pursuit of equitable futures for Indigenous peoples.

Mei Zhang Founder WildChina China/USA

Mei Zhang is Founder of WildChina, a premium sustainable travel company offering distinctive, ecologically sensitive journeys to all corners of China. A native of Yunnan province in southwest China, Mei earned her MBA from Harvard Business School (HBS) and worked as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company until she found her true passion in sustainable travel. Mei left a management consulting career to start WildChina in 2000, inspired by the clash she perceived between economic development and conservation of both nature and culture in Yunnan. She strongly believed that there was a for-profit solution to this: providing sophisticated interpretation of Chinese culture and nature, and therefore creating an experiential travel that was unheard of in China. She built WildChina on the mission to assist travelers to experience China differently.