Speaker Bios
If you would like to read more about any of our speakers in the conference program, please see their bios below.
Chris Allison, Regional General Manager, North America, Tourism Australia
Chris Allison is the Regional General Manager (RGM) North America leading Tourism Australia’s priority markets of the USA and Canada. Chris joined Tourism Australia in 2019 leading Distribution and Partnerships for North America before Acting in the RGM role since July 2021. Prior to that his roles included Country Manager in the US and Country Manager in Canada for Air New Zealand.
Brent Anderson, Regional General Manager, South & South East Asia, Tourism Australia
Brent Anderson is Tourism Australia’s Regional General Manager, South, South East Asia. Brent has over 20 years’ experience promoting Australia to international visitors. Having lived and travelled for over 10 years in South and South East Asia, he is a passionate ambassador for the potential of the region to deliver recovery for Australia’s tourism industry.
Derek Baines, Country Manager, Japan, Tourism Australia
Derek Baines is the Country Manager, Japan taking up the based in Tourism Australia’s Tokyo office, in April 2020. With a strong commercial background in aviation and tourism, Mr Baines brings more than 20 years of experience to the role. He was previously with Qantas Airways, where he was employed as Senior Manager, Qantas Business Rewards. Prior to this, he held numerous roles with the global airline, including responsibility for marketing and route development in Japan.
Shahnaz Bakshay, Senior Director of Sales, Australia and New Zealand, TFE Hotels
Shahnaz is a strategic and dynamic sales leader with over 25 years of professional hospitality sales, revenue and management experience in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and India. At TFE Hotels, she is responsible for driving sales and revenue strategy and performance, maximizing business opportunities and partnerships for more than 50 hotels in Australia and New Zealand – including A by Adina and Quincy brands - with a robust strategy for new hotel openings.
Shahnaz is currently Senior Director of Sales for TFE Hotels and has previously held senior leadership positions with TFE managing different market segments and spear-heading a team of over 25 motivated individuals, guiding and mentoring the team from strength to strength, even during the global pandemic.
Tara Bennett, CEO, Port Douglas Daintree Tourism
Tara has been with the Douglas Shire’s local tourism organisation, Tourism Port Douglas Daintree, since 2006. She has extensive knowledge of tourism and regional development for the Port Douglas and Daintree region, which encompasses the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef and Daintree Rainforest. Tara has studied and obtained numerous qualifications in tourism and management including a Master of Tourism (Ecotourism) at James Cook University. Tara has overseen the execution of award winning marketing campaigns and is committed to a collaborative approach to destination promotion. Her passion for sustainable tourism was cemented being part of the team when the Douglas Shire was the first destination to receive Ecotourism Australia’s ECO Destination Certification in 2019.
Jennifer Bett is a passionate member and advocate for the Australian Tourism industry. Having first arrived as an international student over 20 years ago, she has had a wide range of experience in the tourism industry from hospitality to adventure tours, interpretive guiding, wildlife park operations, sales and marketing, experience development and special events. For the past 6 years Jennifer has been the Marketing and Communications Manager for Port Arthur Historic Site and the Cascades Female Factory in Tasmania. Jennifer is currently a director of Destination Southern Tasmania (RTO) and the Vice Chair of the ATEC Tasmania Branch.
Michael is one of Australia’s top advertising, media and marketing leaders with over 25 years’ industry experience. In his current role, Michael is responsible for the global marketing of the iconic Queensland brand. Prior to TEQ, he was the Head of Brand Planning & Digital at Suncorp Group and has held senior roles in Australian media, notably as Group Marketing Director for Nine Entertainment Co. Before Nine, he was National Managing Director of Sapient Nitro Australia, leading the creative team behind the ‘The Best Job in the World’ campaign for Tourism Queensland, which holds more than 100 prestigious global awards to its name.
Carolyn Childs, CEO, Futurist & Strategist MyTravelResearch.com
MyTravelResearch.com CEO, Futurist and Strategist Carolyn Childs’ passion is empowering travel organisations to succeed. Her career spans 30+ years & 35+ countries including with Travel Research Centre, the International Air Transport Association & Kantar’s Australian travel vertical. She is a top-rated speaker; has published an e-book and white papers on Trends, Markets, Tourism Sectors & Policy. In accessible tourism she helped size She is Immediate Past President TTRA Asia-Pacific, a Certified Member of the Market Research Society, sits on World Tourism Association for Culture and Heritage’s Advisory Panel, is a board member and Ambassador for Australian Regional Tourism and was on the UNWTO Panel of World Tourism Experts.
Belinda Danks-Woodley, Area Director, Marketing and Communications, Crystalbrook Collection
With over 15 years’ experience in Marketing and Communications. Belinda joined Crystalbrook Collection in May 2018 in preparation for pre-opening. of Crystalbrook Riley, the first five-star resort to be built in Cairns in over 20 years and has since gone on to lead the opening both Crystalbrook Bailey, and Crystalbrook Flynn. Having previously spent her working life as a Group Account Director for some of Australia’s largest and most recognised advertising agencies; Clemenger BBDO and Ogilvy, managing the client advertising relationships for Suncorp, AAMI Insurance, BP and Priceline.
Caroline Densley is the Owner of Diverse Travel Australia (DTA) a small boutique Inbound Tour Operator. Established in 1998 DTA creates tailor-made nature based, food and wine, and cross-cultural travel programs for international and domestic travellers. Caroline is a passionate advocate for responsible and sustainable tourism across Australia and is currently on the Board of Ecotourism Australia.
Rob Dougan, Executive General Manager, Strategy & Research, Tourism Australia
Strategy and Research is tasked with setting the organisation’s objectives, devising strategies to help achieve them, and ensuring that Tourism Australia and the tourism industry have the right data to make those decisions and understand their impacts.
Before Rob joined Tourism Australia he was the Head of Strategy at Clemenger working on a range of brands including Tourism Australia for six years. Rob penned Tourism Australia’s brand vision in 2013 and led the strategy on the Restaurant Australia, Aquatic and Coastal, Undiscover, and Aussie News Today campaigns. In his 15-year career in advertising Rob has worked across a large range businesses including several travel brands such as easyJet, Helloworld, Virgin, Qantas and Tourism Tasmania.
Richard Doyle, GM Global Sales and Distribution, Sealink
Richard has global responsibility at SeaLink Marine & Tourism (part of the Kelsian Group Ltd) for leading the international and domestic sales growth of all the brands including Captain Cook Cruises Sydney, Murray River and Perth plus the amazing island destination and experiences of Kangaroo, Rottnest, Tiwi, Magnetic, (K’gari) Fraser Island (Including Kingfisherbay Resort) and North Stradbroke He manages and execute strategies to increase sales, profitability and market share whilst closely controlling operational costs. To develop a strong sales culture with a focus on measurable results and lead a dedicated experienced team responsible for sales, digital and social media development, contract negotiation with all distribution partners, and channels.
Eric Fisher, GBR Biology Manager, Experience Co.
Eric is from the Cairns Region and has worked in Reef Tourism as a Marine Biologist for the past 18 years. This employment has been with Reef Magic and now Experience Co. Over this time, Eric has developed and built a dedicated team of Marine Biologists and First Nations Cultural Guides which now includes 22 staff, with the mission to promote Marine Science and First Nations Culture in Reef Tourism. The team is now known as GBR Biology and operates across 5 products under the Reef Unlimited Banner. We provide immersive customer experiences through our engaging storytelling built on knowing the reefs we work on. The knowledge we have gained has led to the development of our highly successful Reef Education and Research programs which cycles back into our storytelling.
Grant Ferres, Branch Head Visitor Economy Policy (international, investment, Indigenous), Austrade
Grant leads the Visitor Economy INVEST Branch in Austrade. This policy area works on a range of visitor economy topics including international market diversification, regional tourism, sustainability, accessible tourism, and First Nations tourism, as well as stakeholder engagement. He has previously held senior policy and economic roles in the Commonwealth Treasury. Grant also spent several years working on labour market analysis in the United Kingdom civil service.
Drew Hamilton, Director of Sales, Down Under Tours (Australia)
Born and educated in NZ, Drew Hamilton first entered the Cairns Tourism industry in 1995, gaining employment with Down Under Tours in 2001, before working his way to an International Sales Managers Role in 2006 – a position he held until his appointment as Director of Sales in 2017. For the last two years his role has evolved to also include a Director of Sales role within AAT Kings, looking after their Inbound and OTA accounts. Extensive travel in both the Domestic and International Markets in his role has given Drew a great insight into how to improve and adapt to the constant change within our industry post Covid. Drew is current ATEC North Queensland Branch Chair.
Phillipa Harrison, Managing Director, Tourism Australia
Phillipa Harrison joined Tourism Australia in February 2017 to head up the organisation’s international operations for Asia, the Americas, Europe and New Zealand as well as Global Distribution and Partnerships. In this role Phillipa oversees Tourism Australia’s network of international offices spanning 12 countries as well as managing airline relationships and distribution channels, working in partnership with the industry to grow the inbound market for Australian tourism. In September 2019, Phillipa was promoted to Managing Director.
Prior to her current role, Ms Harrison spent six years working for Hamilton Island Enterprises and before that held a variety of senior sales, marketing and product roles at Viator Systems (Sydney), Base Group (Sydney), STA Travel (London), Contiki Holidays (London), and Trailfinders (London).
Martin Heng, Communications Professional and Inclusive Travel Advocate
Born in Birmingham, UK, Martin has a BA and MA in English literature from Cambridge University and an MA in Communications from RMIT University, Melbourne. He left England in 1987 and lived, worked and travelled around the world before migrating to Australia in 1997. He worked for Lonely Planet from 1999 to 2020 in numerous roles, including seven years as Editorial Manager.
A bicycle accident on his 20km commute to work in 2010 left him a quadriplegic. He was Lonely Planet’s Accessible Travel Manager & Editorial Adviser from 2013 to 2020, in which role he published a number of accessible travel titles, including the world’s largest collection of Accessible Travel Online Resources, which was cited as best practice by the UNWTO, and an accessible guide to Rio de Janeiro that was supplied to all athletes participating in the 2016 Paralympics.
Since 2014 he has become a regular speaker at travel conferences held by such global travel NGOs as UNWTO, WTTC, IATA and PATA. His most recent project was Tourism Access and Inclusion: Best Practice Guidelines for Tourism MSMEs for APEC, comprising a series of three online workshops featuring many of the world’s accessible travel luminaries and a 43-page report. He is currently working on a handbook and training programme for tourism service providers for a branch of Tourism Australia.
For the last six years he has served as chair of the board of IDEAS, a NSW-based nonprofit providing information to and advocacy services for the disability communities throughout Australia. He was appointed to the Victorian Disability Advisory Council in October 2019, and reappointed in 2022 to advise the Victorian government on matters related to disability.
Elissa Keenan, CEO, Ecotourism Australia
As the CEO of Ecotourism Australia, Elissa leads a team of dedicated professionals supporting more than 1700 certified tourism operators across Australia, who are committed to protecting our natural environment, promoting our culture and heritage, and implementing sustainable tourism practices.
Elissa has vast executive experience within the tourism, aviation, government, and peak body sectors including; Queensland Airports Limited, Airservices Australia, Virgin Australia, the Real Estate Institute of Queensland, and Surf Life Saving.
A passionate advocate for wildlife, marine and environmental conservation, Elissa has been a member of the Australian Tourism Awards Judging Panel, Chair of the Queensland Tourism Awards Panel, and judge with the Outback Queensland Tourism Awards. She is a non-executive Director of Reefcheck Australia, an innovative citizen-science environmental charity dedicated to empowering people to take positive action for conserving reef and marine environments. Elissa also champions female representation in leadership and is a mentor and Corporate Executive Board Member with Women in Aviation International.
Elissa loves to travel and has just two continents remaining on her bucket list (Africa and Antarctica). She is in no rush yet however, passionately believing that Australian beaches, wildlife, rainforests, outback, and nature-based experiences are among the best - if not the best - in the world.
Simon Kuestenmacher, Director and Co-founder, The Demographics Group
Simon Kuestenmacher is a Director and Co-founder of The Demographics Group. He presents on demographic and global trends that are shaping Australia today and into the future and his observations are enjoyed by corporate, government and industry audiences alike. Simon is a columnist for The New Daily newspaper and a regular contributor to The Australian newspaper; and he is a media commentator on demographic and data matters.
In his spare time Simon has authored three books on maps and runs what is by now the world’s largest Twitter account dedicated to maps and data. His social media posts reach over 25 million people every month. Simon ranks as one of the world’s top 10 influencers in data.
Adele Labine-Romain, Tourism Sector Leader & Partner, Deloitte Access Economics
Adele is the Travel and Tourism Sector Leader at Deloitte and a partner with Deloitte Access Economics. With a deep understanding of the tourism landscape and experience in strategy and policy development including executive roles with Tourism Australia and peak industry body Tourism & Transport Forum, she now works with government and private sector clients across the tourism spectrum including aviation and transport, hotels, business events, sports and major events and attractions.
Passionate about the potential for tourism to create stronger economies and better lives, Adele has supported the development of state, territory and destination tourism strategies, delivered the national regional tourism satellite account model and undertook a year-long look at how to encourage visitor regional dispersal.
She has been a member of the Tourism Research Advisory Board, the Tourism Forecasting Reference Panel, and other industry panels and committees and has contributed to the development of a number of tourism employment plans and other government and industry studies. She is presently a member of the Expert Industry Data Advisory supporting the delivery of Thrive 2030.
Adele is the author of Deloitte’s Tourism and Hotel Market Outlook.
She is also a member of the Fair Work Commission’s Expert Panel which sets the annual minimum wage and an adjunct professor at the University of Queensland School of Business.
Ashleigh is the Senior Manager, Business Development at Klook based in their Sydney office. Founded in 2014, Klook is a world-leading travel activities and services booking platform. It provides a seamless way for travellers to explore popular attractions, cultural tours, local transportation, food and beverage activities, and unique experiences around the world. With 28 offices worldwide, Klook’s services are available in 14 languages and support 41 currencies. Here in ANZ they have a team of 15 destination owners and marketeers across the Sydney, Melbourne and Queenstown offices solely focussed on promoting the 1300+ bookable experiences across 50+ destinations globally.
Jason Moore, General Manager Operations Reef Magic Cruises & Marine Operations Manager, Experience Co.
Jason was born and bred in Cairns, where growing up he gained a keen passion for being out on the water. This passion has led to a successful 31-year career in the Marine Tourism Industry. Jason's first role saw him working as a deckhand on tourism vessels departing Cairns and from here he was hooked. This was the catalyst to becoming a Master and ultimately a Senior Manager with Experience Co. Through his career Jason has gained the onground and practical experience that cannot be obtained through books. Within his role as Operations Manager for the Cairns fleet of vessels, Jason manages up to 200 crew on a daily basis, servicing six vessels and pontoon operations. One of his greatest achievements is as Project Manager for Experience Co's new pontoon 'Remoora', from design to installation on its site at Moore Reef. Throughout his career Jason has built close relationships with regulators such as AMSA and the GBRMPA, leading to the creation of environmentally friendly reef operations.
Dale is a ninth generation Mandingalbay Yidinji Man who has graduated from James Cook University with a Bachelor of Education. Dale taught at the Yarrabah State School for four years before realising his passion for working with people, culture and land, which saw him join the Wet Tropics Management Authority in 2001. Dale later joined the local NTRB, where he spent 10 years assisting traditional owners to achieve native title consent determinations. In 2014 Dale was engaged by Djunbunji Ltd and MYAC as the Executive Director to deliver the Djunbunji Ltd Working on Country Ranger Program. Dale currently oversees an expanding operation that focuses not only on protection of natural and cultural values, but work force development and providing opportunities for the wider community. Through Dale’s leadership, Djunbunji Ltd recently won the presitigous 2017 People, Country and Culture Wet Tropics Cassowary Award and his team are leading the way in delivering positive environmental, natural resource management and economic outcomes on MY country. Dale aspires to pushing the envelope and thinking beyond borders to promote self determination and create intergenerational change for future generations to come.
Mark Olsen is the CEO of Tourism Tropical North Queensland, the Destination Management Organisation for the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef and Wet Tropics rainforests.
The region has over 2,000 visitor experiences and the highest number of accredited tourism products of any destination in Australia.
Prior to joining TTNQ, Mark was the CEO of EarthCheck Consulting, and Director of the EarthCheck Global Benchmarking and Certification Program that operates in over 70 countries.
The Cairns & Great Barrier Reef brand, Leave Greater, has sustainable tourism as its core philosophy. The region’s bold ambition is that every visitor will leave as a custodian of the region and its stories and will, through their experience, leave the destination greater through conservation programs for our precious environment and preservation of the world’s oldest living culture.
Nadine Schramm, Certification Manager, Ecotourism Australia
Nadine is Ecotourism Australia’s Certification Manager and oversees all certification programs for sustainable tourism businesses and destinations as well as the audit and compliance program for over 500 businesses and destinations.
After completing her degree in Tourism Management with a major in International Sustainable Tourism in Germany, Nadine embarked on a year-long journey around Australia. Travelling more than 40,000km by car, she fell in love with Australia’s incredible nature and wildlife and its rich cultural history.
Nadine is passionate about working with businesses to reach their sustainability goals and truly believes that everyone can make a difference – no matter how small the actions. Nadine is also a member of the international certifiers panel, a collective of international certification bodies with the aim to improve global standards and sustainable practices in tourism.
Eva Seller, Regional General Manager, Continental Europe, Tourism Australia
A long-standing member of the team, Eva Seller was appointed as Tourism Australia’s Regional General Manager, Continental Europe in 2012 with responsibility for the organisation’s operations in the region. Eva has extensive experience in travel and tourism and is a proud and passionate ambassador for Australia’s tourism industry internationally.
Peter Shelley, Managing Director, ATEC
Peter Shelley is a long-term contributor to the development of the Australian tourism industry with more than 25 years’ experience in industry development, business development and tourism association management. Peter is recognised for his innovative approach displayed via his own business pursuits as well as through leadership roles within state and national tourism industry organisations. Peter is committed to the continued improvement and global competitiveness of the Australian tourism industry.
Kathy Turner, General Manager, Goway Travel
Kathy has worked in the Australian and New Zealand tourism industries for over 25 years, holding senior positions in the inbound sector in both ITO and supplier companies. She has served on the Board of ATEC for 3 years. Kathy also spent 4 years as an OTA with the Booking Holdings Group (Associate Director, Agoda in Australia), and has worked in tourism software and digital marketing roles. Her area of expertise is inbound tour operation, with a particular strength in technology and how it can be applied to further the efficiency and profitability of a business.
Destination Photo Credits:
Tourism and Events Queensland; Tourism Tropical North Queensland
© Australian Tourism Export Council 2022