KELLY GALASKI joined the Planeterra foundation, the non-profit founded by Gap Adventures, in 2009 and has since become the project officer for the Latin America region for the organization. Working closely with Gap Adventures operations, accounting and marketing, as well as other travel industry partners such as STA Travel, she develops and manages new partnerships in destinations within the region. With local partners she helps to develop volunteer travel product and to link local projects with travellers and industry partners who are looking for ways to make a contribution in the destinations they visit. Kelly studied Hospitality and Tourism Management and also holds a Master in Environmental Studies (MES) degree with a focus on sustainability strategies for business and tourism for community development. Kelly has travelled and worked in Latin America and Asia.

DR. SONYA GRACI is a specialist in sustainable tourism, corporate sustainability and environmental management and has over 16 years experience in these fields. Dr. Graci is currently an Assistant Professor at the Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Ryerson University. She's also the Director of Accommodating Green, an environmental consulting agency that works with organizations to integrate sustainability in their business operations. Dr. Graci has a Ph.D. from the University of Waterloo in Geography and has authored two books and several industry reports and academic articles. Her current book focuses on sustainable tourism development in island destinations. Dr. Graci has worked in several countries developing sustainable tourism strategies including Canada, China, Indonesia, and Honduras. Her main areas of interest are partnership development CSR, Aboriginal ecotourism development, community capacity building and public consultation.

LINDSEY GOODCHILD has, for the past three years, worked with a variety of public and private organizations seeking to address and advance their sustainability concerns. She is currently a consultant with Lura Consulting in Toronto. Lindsey has been involved in writing many government sustainability plans, and recently helped to develop Canada's first regional sustainable tourism strategy for the counties of Grey, Bruce and Simcoe. She is also the Founder and CEO of her own company, Greengauge Inc., which is focused on using mobile technology to help address sustainability issues in today's business world. Greengauge's first product is a smartphone app that will help companies and governments engage their employees in sustainable and responsible strategies. Lindsay is the first graduate from Ryerson's new post-graduate certificate program in sustainability, where she focused on sustainable approaches for tourism.

JACQUELINE KUEHNEL, MBA, joined the Canadian travel industry in 1980 and her extensive experience encompasses all aspects of strategic planning, development and operations of outbound leisure travel. Until 2004, she was Vice President of Product at Signature Vacations, Canada, where she worked for 15 years. In 2005, Jacqueline established JK Consulting Enterprises where she consults to businesses on climate change, corporate social responsibility and sustainable development. She collaborates and has associate agreements with organizations such InterVISTAS, Vox International, The CarbonNeutral Company and Canadian Business for Social Responsibility. In addition, she has taught, lectured and published research on tourism and CSR for the Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Ryerson University. Since 2007 Jacqueline has also programmed the only industry-led Responsible Travel and Tourism Forum for Baxter Travel Media.

DR. PATRICK MAHER is an Associate Professor in the Outdoor Recreation and Tourism Management Program at the University of Northern British Columbia. His expertise related to tourism and climate change is firmly focused on the well-being of rural and remote communities and environments. Sustainability has been integral to many projects Pat has worked on across BC, New Zealand, the Arctic, and Antarctic. He has taught at universities in both New Zealand and Canada and published widely in both academic and popular press. Pat is also currently on the Board of Directors for the Northern BC Tourism Association and active in bringing tourism into the curriculum of the virtual University of the Arctic.

DR. TED MANNING is President of Tourisk Inc., an international consulting firm providing services in destination planning and management, indicators of sustainability, and environmental management. Former posts include Director of Sustainable Development and Environmental Management of Consulting and Audit Canada, Executive Manager, Sustainable Tourism for Tourism Canada and Development Planner, Caribbean for CIDA . He has worked in more than 40 nations on six continents on methods for planning environmentally and culturally sensitive areas, particularly coastal zones, islands, and tourism destinations. He was lead consultant to the international initiative on indicators of sustainable tourism for the World Tourism Organization and principal author of the 2004 WTO Guidebook: Indicators of Sustainable Development for Tourism Destinations. He has also worked as international expert consultant to the UNIDO African coastal tourism program and expert advisor to the WWF sustainable tourism project in Cuba and the Caribbean. He is author of 23 books and over 80 articles on sustainable tourism, sustainable development, environmental planning, environmental management, capacity building, resource management and planning topics in a variety of ecological, economic, geographic tourism and management journals. He is an Adjunct Professor in the Geography Department of Carleton University; has served as a Director of the Black Sea University (Romania), and is a former President of the Canadian Association of Geographers, is a former Commonwealth Scholar to New Zealand, recipient of the Miguel Aleman Medal (Mexico) for his work on tourism planning and management and recipient of the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal for services to Canada

RACHEL MOSCOVICH works on policy development and programs aimed at improving the environmental performance of buildings in Vancouver. In addition to her work as a LEED Accredited Professional in the building and development industry, she has experience conducting greenhouse gas inventories and creating emissions reductions strategies for municipalities and organizations. Rache's writing on sustainable living has been published on the web and in print. She holds a Master in Environmental Studies degree and a graduate diploma in Business and Sustainability from York University, where her research focused on identifying opportunities to reduce the environmental and social impacts of Vancouver's 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

STEVEN PACIFICO has over 15 years experience and education in the environmental sector identifying sustainability and climate change issues, designing/implementing organizational and behaviour change projects, communicating and marketing sustainability issues to the public and private sector, and analyzing corporate social responsibility documentation. He has a Master of Environmental Studies from York University in 'applied sustainable development for organizational change', a Diploma in Business and Sustainability from the Schulich School of Business and an Undergraduate degree is in Environmental Sciences from the University of Guelph. He has worked, lived, studied, and traveled in over 20 countries and can speak Spanish, Japanese, Italian, and French.

LEA THUOT is a community development and research consultant with a dedication to sustainable development in rural communities. Her Master's in Strategic Leadership toward Sustainability and her tourism management background in British Columbia has provided Lea with extensive experience with rural sustainable tourism initiatives. Lea has worked as a project coordinator for the Tourism and Recreation Research Institute at Vancouver Island University where she has provided services for organization and communities including assessments of tourism assets, visitor studies, incentives for small business towards sustainability and local government satisfaction studies as well as provincial studies for the Tourism Research Innovation Project (TRIP). Lea currently lives in the Kootenays in B.C. working with the Rossland Sustainability Commission, assisting the community in implementing their Visions to Action: Strategic Sustainability Plan.