Chair

dougal mckenzie

Dougal Mckenzie Google

Dougal Mckenzie is industry head of travel at Google, based out of the New York Office and working with east coast-based partners. He joined Google in 2010 in the Sydney, Australia office where he worked until moving to New York a year ago. Prior to his current role, Dougal managed businesses across Australia and New Zealand in the travel and telco industries. Before joining Google, he spent a decade at Procter and Gamble but left to find somewhere he could get an email address that rhymed with his name. Dougal has both law and commerce degrees from his native homeland of Auckland, New Zealand. Dougal serves on the board of the IGLTA Foundation and enjoys traveling, weightlifting, skiing and spending time with his husband and dog.

Vice Chair

Meg Ten Eyck

Meg Ten Eyck EveryQueer

Meg Ten Eyck is the CEO of EveryQueer. EveryQueer is LGBTQ+ Travel. Through detailed travel content, brand consulting, curated lesbian parties, and worldwide LGBTQ tours our team teaches queer travelers how to safely see the world. Meg has been cited in two consecutive UNWTO Reports on LGBTQ Tourism as a leading expert and in the ETC's Report on LGBTQ Tourism. Meg is regularly a featured speaker and subject matter expert at travel conferences worldwide. In 2019, Meg was selected as the International Woman of the Year for Facebook’s initiative with Girl Gone International for her work in LGBTQ-inclusive travel. Meg serves on the Board of Directors of the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association and on the LGBT advisory board of Belmond Hotels and Resorts. Since starting in the LGBT travel industry, Meg has visited 65+ countries, spoken at LGBTQ conferences on five continents, published her first book, and had her content read by more than ten million people.

Co-Treasurer

Josh Good

Josh Good Cruise Lines International Association

In his role as senior vice president, global finance and operations, Josh Good is responsible for organizational strategy, financial planning, reporting, and daily operations for CLIA, as well as management of the organization's finance team across North America, Europe, Brazil and Australasia. Josh joined CLIA in 2017 as vice president of international finance, and was promoted to senior vice president, global finance in 2018 and his present position in 2019. Prior to joining CLIA, Josh was senior director of finance and controller for Global Impact, a nonprofit organization that provides advisory, intermediary, fundraising, and business services for partners across the private, nonprofit, and public sectors. In this position, he oversaw all finance and reporting activities. Previous to his leadership position at Global Impact, Josh spent five years with Marriott International, Inc., where he was part of the financial management team and provided financial expertise and insight for sales, marketing, brand management, innovation, human resources, and global operations. Josh started his career in public accounting, and throughout his career has supported various clients in a range of sectors, including government, for profit and non-profit. A Certified Public Accountant, Josh earned his bachelor’s degree from Penn State and currently lives in Washington, DC.

Co-Treasurer

Norma Dean

Norma Dean Delta Air Lines

Norma Dean is a 37-year Delta veteran who began her career in New Orleans Delta Reservations Sales. Since that time, she has held jobs of increasing Field Sales responsibility including Account Manager in Baltimore, and District Sales Manager in SW Florida. From her field experience, Norma came to Delta's headquarters in Atlanta and was promoted to National Account Manager, overseeing association sales in Washington, New York City and Chicago. Thereafter, she held the position of Global Account Manager- Corporate Sales and then went on to serve as General Manager - Corporate Sales for the Northeast region and General Manager of Specialty Sales. In her current role as Director- National Specialty Sales, Norma manages (Pre-COVID) $2.5B in Delta segmented and leisure revenue, including Military & Government, Meetings, Convention & Incentive Sales, Sports & Universities, and Leisure/Tour Operator/Cruise/Ski Sales. She is an active industry leader serving on several segmented advisory boards and committees. Norma was named GBTA WinIt GBTA Female Mentor of the year. She is a native of New Orleans, LA. She is a graduate of Louisiana State University. So it should come as no surprise she loves food, LSU, and New Orleans Saints Football!

Secretary

Burcu Kisakurek

Burcu Kisakurek Unison Travel & Events

Burcu Kisakurek is the founder and has been the Managing Director of "Unison Travel & Events" since 2011, where she has dedicated herself to the international business landscape for over two decades. Throughout her career, she has held various roles, including business development, project management, product management, operations management, key account management, and event management, contributing to the success of her organization. In addition to her contributions to the business world, Burcu possesses an artistic talent in music. She is a jazz/pop singer, who has released many of her own songs since 2015.

Immediate Past Chair

Felipe Cardenas

Felipe Cardenas Colombian LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce

Colombian, strategic business advisor to Executive Committees and Corporations about Strategic Planning, Financial Models and D.E.I. Issues. In 2012 with the support of the US Embassy In Colombia, Co-founded the Colombian LGBT Chamber of Commerce, since then this organization has enabled economic empowerment programs to +500 LGBT Business owners as well as supporting +200 major corporations in Latin America to advance in their Diversity, Equality & Inclusion Strategies. Joined IGLTA as Ambassador for Colombia in 2013 and since 2017 is a board member of the Association in which acted as Treasurer for 4 years. In September 2021 was elected Board Chair as the first South American and Colombian in this role.

Board Member

Maria Cuba

Maria Cuba Airbnb

Maria is a Massachusetts native who was raised in Puerto Rico with a multicultural background. She is one of Airbnb’s earliest employees and the founder of their Latino employee group “Juntos”. Her multiple passions have taken her from law school to interior design school where she cultivated her love for words and the arts. Maria works as a Senior Diversity and Belonging Business Partner for Airbnb’s Experiences platform, focused on creating a diverse marketplace and bringing equitable opportunities and representation to all communities. Always a champion of inclusion, she is committed to nurturing new pipelines for minorities in tech and believes that tech is key to social equality.

Board Member

Fred Dixon

Fred Dixon New York City Tourism

Fred Dixon is President and CEO of New York City Tourism + Conventions, New York City’s official destination marketing organization and convention and visitors bureau. He joined the organization in 2005 as Vice President, Tourism and rose to become CEO in 2014. With more than 30 years of experience in the travel industry, Dixon has the overall responsibility for developing and implementing New York City’s tourism, meetings and events strategy and programming to grow business and leisure travel from across the US and from around the world

Board Member

Albert Herrera

Albert Herrera Internova Travel Group & Global Travel Collection

Albert M. Herrera has an innate understanding of the luxury travel market and his impressive career spans more than 30 years. He has now joined International Travel Group and Global Travel Collection as chief commercial officer. In this role, he leads various strategic relationships and partnerships for the brands to maximize offerings to the organization’s premium leisure, corporate and entertainment travel advisors and travelers. He joined Global Travel Collection from Virtuoso where he held one of the most prominent executive positions: senior vice president of global partnerships. Having joined Virtuoso in July 2004, Albert served in various leadership roles where he directed key relationships with the network’s product portfolio and elite advisor membership. Albert’s past roles also include sales & marketing director for the Carlyle in New York; as well as sales & marketing director at the Oriental and director of sales at the Regent, both in Singapore. Additionally, he has held sales posts with Four Seasons hotels & resorts in San Francisco and New York, and the peninsula Manila in the Philippines.

Board Member

sean howell

Sean Howell Buffalo Market

Sean Howell serves as the CEO of the LGBT Foundation, a not-for-profit organization with the mission to utilize blockchain technology to achieve equal rights and acceptance for all members of the LGBT+ community worldwide. He is currently Chairman and one of the founders of Hornet, a gay dating and social network, where Sean helped the company grow its user base to 25 million and its editorial division to become the largest global LGBT+ newsroom at Hornet, Howell also oversaw the company's corporate responsibility efforts under Hornet impact, organizing social justice and health related activations. Sean was a fellow of the World Affairs Council, as well as a Trustee and President of the Young Professional International Network. He has helped numerous organizations leverage technology to expand their impact through his work with the MSM Global Forum along with serving on various nonprofit boards and committees including UNAIDS, E-CDC, PFLAG and chair of the center for public health and human rights at Johns Hopkins university. He is a founding member of the UN Global Coalition for HIV prevention and technical advisor to UNDP’s LGBTI inclusion index. He has published scientific papers and is the principal investigator in the upcoming UNAIDS global study on LGBT wellness.

Board Member

Shiho Ikeuchi

Shiho Ikeuchi Ace Hotel, Kyoto

Board Member

amy martin ziegenfuss

Amy Martin Ziegenfuss Carnival Cruise Lines

Amy Martin Ziegenfuss is the Chief Marketing Officer for Carnival Cruise Lines. With more than 20 years of experience, she is a seasoned marketer known for building global brands and driving business performance. Previously, Amy served as the SVP of Global Enterprise & Brand Marketing at Hilton, where she led marketing for Hilton and its brands, which included revitalizing legacy brands and launching new ones. She holds a bachelor's degree in Communications from Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, and an MBA from George Washington University in Washington, DC. Amy is passionate about making travel accessible and fostering inclusivity. She is a dual citizen of the US and the UK and enjoys traveling, reading, diving, and cooking for loved ones. Amy lives in Washington, DC, and Rehoboth Beach with her wife, Joanna.

Board Member

Sangeeta Naik

Sangeeta Naik American Express Travel

Sangeeta is the Global Head of Strategic Partnerships and Marketing at American Express Travel. In this role, Sangeeta leads the charge in helping best-in-class travel suppliers and technology partners enhance their business through partnerships with American Express Travel. She and her team drive American Express Travel partnerships that provide the best value to its customers, offering them access to a trusted network of carefully curated properties, brands and exclusive benefits, and in return providing suppliers with access to highly engaged, premium customers.

Board Member

Oriol Pamies

Oriol Pamies Queer Destinations

Oriol Pamies, CEO of Queer Destinations, is a Spanish entrepreneur, LGBTQ+ activist and LGBTQ+ tourism expert. in 2014, he attended his first IGLTA annual global convention in Madrid just as he was beginning his online startup, an LGBTQ+ social network that he wanted to connect to the LGBTQ+ tourism industry. Now, with Queer Destinations, Pamies develops innovative marketing strategies for tourism destinations around the world, particularly in Latin america, and spends his time speaking at conferences and consulting on lgbtq+ tourism. He wants to focus on IGLTA's Latin American expansion, connecting the organization and its members to the latest online marketing trends and reinforcing the association’s B2C value.

Board Member

Cheryl Richards

Cheryl Richards Visit Dallas

Cheryl Richards serves as the Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity and Inclusion officer (CDIO) at VisitDallas. In this position, Richards’ duties include creating and implementing a strategic plan to elevate VisitDallas as a leader in diversity, equity and inclusion at the local, national and international levels. Richards serves as the liaison to the Diversity & Inclusion Standing Committee, chaired by Maria Mendez, Account Executive, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas Richards, who has been with VisitDallas for 32 years spent 16 of those years in Public Relations and 9 years as vice president of strategic alliances where she was responsible for establishing the membership sales and service standard for VisitDallas, overseeing corporate partnerships, member-based publications and daily operations of the member sales and services department. She received the 2017 Dallas Business Journal Minority Business Leader Award, 2015 Black Meetings & Tourism APEX Award for Distinguished Service, 2014 Fraser Net Corporate Professional of the Year Award, 2013 High Tea with High Heels Crystal Stiletto Award from the Atlanta based Trumpet Awards Foundation, which spotlights women who have made a mark and break barriers as a way of life. Richards is a member of several business community/civic organizations including, Texas Diversity Council’s Greater Dallas Advisory Board, Downtown Dallas, Inc. Board of Governors, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Disability IN, University of North Texas Alumni Association, National Association of Latino and Elected Officials, University of North Texas Mayborn School of Journalism Board of Directors, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and the Greater Dallas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. Richards is a graduate of the University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism/Public Relations and a minor in Business Marketing

Board Member

Glenn Stress

Glenn Stress Marriott International

Glenn Stress is the senior director, global b2b marketing and events for Marriott international where he is responsible for leading global marketing and customer engagement efforts on behalf of Marriott's B2B customers across all client-facing channels. His responsibilities also include ensuring Marriott’s brand voice and messaging are pulled through across all customer-facing touch points including customer and industry events. Glenn was formerly a director of digital marketing at Starwood Hotels & Resorts and held positions at American Express’ international card and business travel divisions where he led global b2b marketing projects in the areas of digital marketing, social media and mobile. He is based in New York City.

Board Member

Antonietta Varlese

Antonietta Varlese Accor Group

Antonietta Varlese, with over 20 years of experience in communications, works for Accor Group since 2008 as SVP of Communications, Institutional Relations, Corporate Social Responsibility, LGBTI+ Leader for South America. She currently manages the strategy for 9 countries and 400 hotels across the region and was recently awarded one of the Top 10 Communications Person in Brazil by Aberje Association. Prior to joining Accor, she was with British American Tobacco as Global Head of Strategy and Planning, based in the HQ in London. Antonietta also worked in Italy with BAT as Head of Communications and Integration. Prior to that Antonietta also worked with other companies such as Citibank, Dow, LDC among others. Antonietta holds a degree in Journalism, MBA in Marketing and extensions from University of Syracuse and University of the Arts London.

Ex Officio Board Member

John Tanzella

John Tanzella IGLTA

John Tanzella is President/CEO of the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association (IGLTA), a nonprofit association and the global leader in advancing LGBTQ+ travel, and the only LGBTQ+ Affiliate Member of the World Tourism Organization. IGLTA's network consists of 12,000+ tourism business professionals in approximately 80 countries. The IGLTA Foundation, founded in 2012, is the philanthropic arm of the association, supporting the tourism industry with leadership, research, and education. Tanzella is a 25-year tourism industry veteran, and he serves on the Board of Directors for the Stonewall National Museum & Archives and Tourism Diversity Matters. He attended the University of Georgia and resides in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. www.iglta.org