Description:

"The Sustainable Travel Brand in the Age of Climate Change and COVID"
Date: April 27th
Time: 5:00 to 6:30 pm

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Description
The pandemic is anticipated to stimulate the positive effects of sustainability. Today, it is drawing increased attention from the travel sector and it is becoming an important factor affecting travel consumer behavior. What are the current challenges in branding this industry? How will media and branding respond to these expectation trends?

Speaker bios

LINSEY GALLAGHER
PRESIDENT AND CEO, VISIT NAPA VALLEY
Linsey Gallagher is the president and CEO of Visit Napa Valley, the official destination management organization for the Napa Valley, with a mission to promote, protect, and enhance the region’s position as an attractive travel destination while also enhancing its public image as a dynamic place to visit, live and work. Linsey joined Visit Napa Valley in 2019 after serving 10 years as Vice President, International Marketing for the California Wine Institute.  She gained wine industry experience at E. & J. Gallo Winery, and prior to that she worked at NBC’s Today Show and General Electric’s GE Capital Services.  She was named one of the top “North Bay Women in Business” by the North Bay Business Journal in 2020.  Gallagher earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Vermont and an MBA degree from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

KATHERINE LAGRAVE
DIGITAL FEATURES EDITOR, AFAR
Katherine LaGrave is the digital features editor at AFAR, a role she has held since October 2019. Previously, she has worked at Condé Nast Traveler and Vanity Fair. Her writing has appeared in numerous print and online publications including New York, Outside, Vogue, Bon Appétit, Topic, and The New York Times. She received her MSJ from Medill in 2011. Katherine grew up in Germany, Indonesia, and Japan, and has worked in Greece, Haiti, and England. She currently lives in New York City. 

LAURA MANDALA
MANAGING DIRECTOR, MANDALA RESEARCH
Laura Mandala has been helping the tourism industry unlock, decode and harness the power of travel data and trends for nearly two decades. As the head of Mandala Research, one of the leading travel and tourism research firms in the world, she spends considerable time evaluating important emerging developments that help destinations and travel companies make the right decisions to attract the right travelers. Mandala’s firm has pioneered the “firsts” of many niche studies in the industry and offers extensive knowledge of several growing demographics and trends, including African American Travel, U.S. Hispanic travelers, the LGBTQ market, and inbound international travelers to the U.S. She sits on the Board of Sustainable Travel International and serves on the Advocacy Committee of the Travel and Tourism Research Association. Laura is founder of Women in Travel and Tourism International. Laura is completing her Doctoral work from Northwestern University.

YANNIS MICHAELIDES
DIRECTOR, H&T BEYOND TOURISM
Yannis has over 25 years of experience in destination, cultural and hospitality branding. He holds an MBA from the University of San Francisco and has been a guest on the topic at UC Berkeley and Kelley school of Business, Indiana University. Yannis has been awarded for his novel branding strategies and is currently focused on sustainability and branding in a post-pandemic world with a focus on destinations in California.

ABE PECK (MODERATOR)
PROFESSOR EMERITUS IN SERVICE; MEDILL SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM, MEDIA, AND INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
Based in Santa Barbara, California, Abe Peck currently serves as professor emeritus in service at the Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications. He is the school’s director of business-to-business communication and teaches “Inside B2B Media.” He co-led student teams to Israel and Palestine for Medill’s first journalism experience program, and has lectured at NU-Q in Doha, Qatar. Peck also is executive editor for Inside Unmanned Systems and Inside GNSS and has been a magazine consultant, brand content auditor and seminar lecturer in the U.S., U.K., Hong Kong, The Philippines, Malaysia and China. Peck was formerly master series contributing editor at Travel Weekly, ) and a consulting editorship at adventure travel magazine Outside. His broad magazine experience includes a staff and contributing editorship at Rolling Stone.

This event is co-organized by the Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern (ISEN) and the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications