TRAVEL TRADE

Conference Schedule
Trade Registration
Speaker Bios
Floor Plan
Exhibitor List
Directions & Accommodations

Friday, February 20th
1PM - 3:30PM (trade conference)
3:45PM - 5:30PM (expo open to trade only)
5:30PM - 8PM (expo open to all)

Saturday, February 21st
10AM - 6PM

Sunday, February 22nd
10AM - 5PM

LAST YEAR'S - FEBRUARY 2008 SPEAKER BIOS
Seaport World Trade Center
Boston, MA
Friday, February 22nd


		Bernie Blomquist Manager, Training Development Cruise Line International Association Bernie Blomquist joined Cruise Line International Association (CLIA) in 2000 as Manager, Training Development. Bernie schedules all CLIA's Training by Request programs, manages the CLIA Institute, CLIA's Accredited, Master, Elite and Elite Scholar Cruise Counselor Certification programs, and is instrumental in the development of new seminars, online training programs and sales training videos for CLIA's ever-expanding roster of training products. Bernie also teaches many of the CLIA sales training seminars offered at major industry conferences and tradeshows, as well as some of the sessions of the CLIA Institute. Prior to joining CLIA, Bernie held sales and marketing positions with National Airlines, Pan American World Airlines, Regency Cruises, Premier Cruise Lines, Club Med and North Atlantic Tours. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Economics from Wagner College, and a Masters Degree in Marketing Management from St. John's University.

		Edmund Cocco President GlobalCare Insurance Services Inc. Lynnfield Since 1966, Edmund A. Cocco has served the insurance industry with life, medical, disability and all types of travel insurance related products both domestic and international. Cocco began his career as a federal agent, after which he entered New England Mutual Life. His sales have guaranteed him a spot as a Life Member of the Million Dollar Round Table. Cocco has gained accreditation as a Certified Tour Professional from the National Tour Association, and served two terms on the Insurance Committee of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA). He is a member of the New England Chapter of ASTA, the Pacific Asia Travel Association, and the Caribbean Tourism Organization.

		David Crooks Vice President, Cruise Product & Industry Relations World Travel Holdings David Crooks serves as Vice President of Cruise Product and Industry Relations for World Travel Holdings (WTH), a multi-brand travel distributor and one of the nation's largest online and offline leisure travel companies. David is responsible for overseeing the growth and profitability of all WTH's cruise sales through its various distribution channels as well as overseeing all cruise supplier relationships. David began with the company at its inception in 1986 and has held a multitude of positions including Director of Sales and Training. David began his career in the travel industry beginning as a tour director for Paragon Tours and Travel and also served as their Director of Tour Escorts. He also worked for St. Moritz-on-the-Park in New York and served as member of the onboard cruise staff for Cunard Cruise Lines. David received his Bachelor of Science from Niagara University.

		Bo Fridsberg Vice President - Sales Hurtigruten In his position as Vice President Sales for Hurtigruten formerly Norwegian Coastal Voyage Bo Fridsberg assumes full responsibilities of sales development for North America, together with his team of five regional sales directors. A native of Sweden residing in New York for the past 25 years, Fridsberg, is a 30-year veteran of the travel and hospitality industries. The diversity of his career includes experiences ranging from airlines to hotels with emphasis on sales.

		Jackie Friedman CTC, CTIE General Manager Nexion, Inc. Jackie Friedman is a 23-year travel industry veteran. She joined the Nexion team in 2004 as Vice President of Operations and was responsible for all aspects of the host agency's operations, including the relocation of the business from San Jose, CA to Southlake, TX. In early 2007, her responsibilities increased when she was promoted to General Manager of Nexion. She now leads a team of 50 travel professionals focused on membership growth, marketing, business development, customer support and host agency operations. Under Jackie's leadership, the membership base has tripled and annual gross sales have grown to well over $220,000,000 a year. Jackie came to Nexion after a 15 year career with Sabre Travel Network, serving in a variety of sales, business development and management positions. During her career with Sabre, Jackie consulted with both the sales teams and travel agency customers in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. Prior to joining Sabre, Jackie got her start in the travel industry working as a front-line agent in her home town of Toronto, Canada.

		Max Hartshorne Owner/Editor GoNOMAD.com Max Hartshorne is both the editor of GoNOMAD.com, a leading travel content website, and owner of the GoNOMAD Cafe, a traveler's cafe in South Deerfield MA. Since 2001, GoNOMAD.com has provided "inspiration and links to plan your trip." New articles are published daily, emphasizing unusual destinations and active vacations, and the site is ranked 119,700 out of all websites, receiving about 345,000 unique visitors each month. Writers from the Washington Post, New York Times, LA Times and Guardian have contributed stories over the years

		Cheryl Hudak CTC President & CEO American Society of Travel Agents As the owner of Travel Dimensions, Inc. in Boardman, Ohio, Cheryl Hudak was elected to serve a second, one-year term as the president and CEO of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) on Sept. 11, 2007, at THETRADESHOW in Las Vegas. Previously, Hudak served as national vice president. Prior to that, she served on the Board of Directors representing Area 7 (Allegheny, Michigan & Mid-America). A member of ASTA since 1986, Hudak currently chairs ASTA's Allied Marketing Committee. Additionally, she serves on THETRADESHOW 2007 Committee and the Akron Canton Airport Travel Agent Advisory Board. In the past, Hudak has sat on ASTA's Budget and Finance Committee, Future Planning Committee and Tour Operators Program committee, as well as serving as Chair of ASTA's Industry Affairs Committee and of the Airlines Reporting Corp. (ARC) Joint Advisory Board. She chaired ASTA's 2000 World Travel Congress in Las Vegas, and in 1994, she co-chaired the Society's Super Regional Conference in New York City, which drew 1,000 travel agents from throughout the Midwest and East Coast. In 1985, Hudak opened Travel Dimensions and in 1996, she purchased another agency to form a larger and more effective business. Travel Dimensions is a full-service agency handling leisure, corporate travel, and cruises. In 1989, Hudak received her Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) distinction from the Institute of Certified Travel Agents (ICTA). Hudak has served on the Alamo Car Rental advisory board, the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line and GEM advisory boards and Travel Agent Magazine's advisory board. Additionally, Hudak currently serves on Thrifty/Dollar Car Rental's Advisory Board. Travel Agent Magazine named Hudak one of the Most Powerful Women in Travel in 1999 and one of the 100 Most Powerful Women in Travel in 2000. She is also the host of a half-hour radio show on travel.

		Keith Lane MCC Field Sales VP Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Cruises Keith Lane recently became Field Sales Vice President with Celebrity Cruises after spending the last few years as Director of Sales in the Mid-Atlantic Region for Royal Caribbean and most recently Director, Trade Support and Service where the team enjoyed significant improvements in all key business measures. Keith joined Royal Caribbean in 2004, prior to which he spent 15 years in the salty snack industry, thus going from "Corn Chips to Cruise Ships"! During that time, Keith held several positions from salesperson, District Manager, Training Manager in Human Resources, Senior Key Account Manager to Zone Sales Leader where he led a 250-person sales team, 12 District Managers, and Business manager with Key Account, HR and Operations responsibilities.

		Kenneth Muskat ACC Vice President - Sales Royal Caribbean International For the past 12 years, Ken Muskat has worked in a number of different capacities within the Royal Caribbean International organization. His first few years were spent with Fleet Operations, where he played an integral role in the creative development of shipboard entertainment and programming. Ken later moved to the Strategic Planning area, where he helped develop and then eventually lead a new Product Development and Marketing organization. In this capacity, he was responsible for managing the Product Marketing, Product Development and Strategic Direction of the Royal Caribbean International vacation experience including all destinations, hardware, shipboard experiences and shoreside experiences. In April 2002 Ken transitioned into the Sales Organization as Director, Key Account Sales, and in 2004 was promoted to Regional Vice President of Sales. Currently, Ken serves as Market Development Vice President, responsible for the East Region Sales Organization consisting of 48 Customer Business Development Managers, as well as three Sales Directors who call on the 4000+ accounts residing in the Southeast, Northeast and MidAtlantic regions. He also is responsible for the brand's Special Event and Sales Communication team.

		Nigel Osborne Executive Vice President Key Tours International Currently serving as Executive Vice President of Key Tours International, Nigel Osborne is a 30-year travel industry veteran, most recently with Dynamic Travel Group as Vice President. Prior to that, he ran the Package division of the $300 million company Auto Europe, tripling revenues in three years from $8 million to over $30 million, including the launch of a new B-to-C website. He started his career in 1975 with Trafalgar Tours in the USA and became Sr. VP Sales and Marketing, where he built the company to be the leading escorted tour company worldwide from the USA. In 1994, Mr. Osborne joined Globetrotters (Caribbean) as Sr. VP Sales and Marketing. Three months later, his former employer bought Insight Vacations, an escorted European operator, where he was appointed President (January 1995). He tripled that company's revenues in four years from $15M to $40M.

		Adolfo Perez Vice President - Reservations Sales Carnival Cruise Lines Adolfo Perez began his 26-year career at Carnival with a part-time position as embarkation agent at the Port of Miami-Dade at the age of 16. After graduating high school, he came to work for the company on a full-time basis as a reservations agent. Adolfo quickly ascended the ranks and has since held a variety of positions in the reservations department including reservations supervisor, reservations manager and director of reservations. In 1999, Perez was promoted to vice president - reservations sales and was the youngest Carnival employee to have ever been appointed as vice president. He is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the reservations department including departmental policies and procedures, personnel management and training, financial planning, agency automation including SABRE CruiseDirector and Apollo LeisureShopper, computer upgrades and enhancements, and a variety of other special projects. Under Perezs direction, Carnival's reservations department has received numerous awards and accolades. His department has taken top cruise industry honors in travel agent surveys from CruiseOne, a national travel consortium, Cruise Week, a trade publication, and American Express Travel Service. Carnival's reputation as having the best reservations department in the cruise industry is a testament to Perez's leadership. Perez graduated cum laude from Florida International University in 1994 with a bachelor's degree in business administration and received the Certified Travel Consultant designation in April 1998. He is a native of Miami and resides in Coral Gables, Fla.

		Ecdat Poyraz Manager - New England Picasso Travel Ecdat Poyraz represents air consolidator Picasso Travel as the New England manager for All Continent Travel. Previously, Ecdat worked in a variety of management and individual contributor positions in tour operator companies. Ecdat is a graduate of Turkey's Black Sea Institute of Technology, earning his Bachelors degree in business management. He also finished courses from Northeastern University's "small business management/entrepreneurship" program.

		Joni Rein Vice President of Sales Development Costa Cruises As Vice President of Sales Development for Costa Cruise Lines-North America, Joni L. Rein oversees all sales departments for the fifth largest cruise line's North American region, including Field Sales, Sales Support and Strategic Partnerships. Most recently, Rein was Director of Strategic Partnerships. She has been with Costa Cruise Lines-North America since August 2006. Combining a solid travel industry background along with key long-standing relationships in the cruise and hospitality businesses, Rein has more than 20 years sales experience. Rein began her career at Certified Vacations as Director of Marketing Administration, where she managed product development, including contract negotiation, inventory control and product pricing for the tour operator. From there, Rein moved into the non-profit sector as Director of Systems Planning and Implementation for Kids in Distress, a non-profit agency providing counseling and shelter to abused and neglected children in Broward County, Florida. In this position, she oversaw finance, fundraising, human resources, operations, information technology and facilities management. In the mid 1990's, Rein made her mark in the cruise industry as Senior Director of Sales Operations for Renaissance Cruises, where she oversaw and directed multiple divisions. Thereafter, Rein played a key role in launching the online travel services company, Online Vacation Center, reporting directly to the CEO. In this role as Vice President, she managed Sales, eMarketing, Customer Service, Passenger Services, Call Center Operations and oversaw Product Development. Most recently, Rein served as Interim Associate Executive Director of The Forum at Deer Creek, a facility combining independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing.

		Andy Stuart Executive Vice President of Marketing, Sales & Passenger Service Norwegian Cruise Lines Andy Stuart is Executive Vice President of Marketing, Sales and Passenger Services for NCL Corporation, responsible for marketing, domestic and international sales, revenue management, public relations and passenger services for the company's three brands Norwegian Cruise Line, NCL America and Orient Lines. He was named to this position in September 2003. Stuart joined NCL in 1988 and had served as the company's sales and marketing director in the United Kingdom until December 1996. He was named vice president of sales planning and relocated to the company's Miami headquarters in January 1997. He was promoted to senior vice president of passenger services in 1998, and in 1999, named senior vice president of NCL sales. In 2000, he was promoted to senior vice president of marketing and sales. Stuart also recently served as Chairman of the Cruise Lines International Association. Prior to joining NCL, Stuart was a sales manager for the London Marriott Hotel.

		Richard Walton Founder Global Vision International Having lived and worked overseas for many years as a volunteer and expedition leader, Richard Walton has been largely responsible for the development of Global Vision International from its early days on an island off the coast of Honduras. Richard has led and taken part in expeditions to Patagonia, the Amazon, Honduras and Malawi and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society. He continues to be involved in all aspects of the day to day running of GVI and travels extensively throughout the year to GVI field stations.

		Robert Weiss Publisher Travel New England Robert H. Weiss has been editor of Travel New England for more than 20 years. He purchased the Boston Airport Journal at Logan Airport and then expanded its operations, first as Travel New England for the travel trade and, then moving the consumer circulation into Boston's North and South Station terminals. He is also a travel correspondent for WBZ Radio with weekly reports on aviation, travel and tourism. He lives in Boston.