Keith Snode is a travel industry executive and strategist with more than 30 years of experience spanning tourism, group travel, technology, marketing, and organizational leadership. Throughout his career, he has focused on a consistent challenge: helping organizations recognize where their industry is heading, understand what needs to change, and turn that insight into action. 

As Senior Vice President of Strategy at GroupCollect, Keith works across the organization to help shape corporate strategy, market positioning, product direction, partnerships, and growth. His work is particularly focused on the evolving role of technology and data in group travel and on building stronger connections among tour operators, suppliers, destinations, and travelers. 

Today, Keith remains deeply engaged in the travel industry as a strategist, speaker, writer, and collaborator, with a particular interest in how technology, shared knowledge, and stronger industry networks can create better outcomes for everyone involved in group travel. 

Keith splits his time between Florida and Costa Rica with his husband, Duane, and their Chorkie, Fitz.

Sharon Keating has over 30 years of experience in sales, human resources, relationship management, association management, and operations, including work for two international PR firms, the Student & Youth Travel Association, and the American Diabetes Association. 

In her current role, as Vice President of Sales for GroupCollect, she helps tour operators grow by delivering solutions that enhance the travel experience. She works with tour operators to implement payment and registration software that streamlines their operations. Her role includes sales, developing client relationships, managing accounts, and collaborating with internal teams to facilitate feature enhancements that meet the evolving needs of tour operator partners.

Bryce is the Director of Sales & Business Development at GroupCollect. He has spent his entire career in sales, with the last four years focused specifically in the group travel industry. This includes Bryce’s previous role with The Group Travel Leader where he got his start in the industry, working to connect destinations and attractions with group travel professionals through advertising.

 Bryce’s current role at GroupCollect is to discover partnerships with group tour operators, develop comprehensive business strategies and connect the industry through GroupCollect’s cutting edge technology. 

Kristy Durso is an internationally recognized accessibility expert, keynote speaker, and the founder of Incredible Memories Travel. As a leading voice in accessible tourism, she works at the vital intersection of policy, hospitality, and lived experience. Kristy is also the cofounder and lead architect of the award-winning Spectrum of Accessibility™ training program. This innovative program equips the hospitality industry to serve travelers across mobility, hearing, visual, cognitive, neurodivergent, invisible, and dietary needs. She serves on multiple industry advisory boards, collaborating with global brands to successfully elevate accessibility from basic compliance into exceptional hospitality standards worldwide.

Dan Flores is a seasoned professional with more than 20 years of experience in the travel and hospitality sectors. As the head of tourism at Satisfi Labs, the leading conversational AI chat platform for sports, entertainment, and tourism, Dan guides strategy and partnerships across global destinations, attractions, and travel brands. Satisfi Labs utilizes natural language processing and machine learning to understand customer queries and deliver personalized, real-time responses. Leveraging his deep operational expertise, Dan helps travel brands deploy intelligent conversational tools that enhance visitor engagement, streamline guest communication, and drive revenue growth across the industry.

In his 20-plus years working as a tour operator in the student travel industry, Bud was a leader in researching the trends within the student market and the economic impact of student travel. Serving as president of the Student and Youth Travel Association in 2011–2012, Bud helped tour operators communicate how educational travel connects curriculum to reality, practice to performance, and classrooms to careers. Bud has presented to educators and students about trends in the student travel marketplace, how to host a student group, and safety procedure and protocol. In 2021, Bud joined the team at GroupCollect and has served as president for the past year. The company’s innovative software, coupled with Bud’s industry knowledge, has positioned GroupCollect as a leader in registration and payment solutions for group travel professionals.

Arshad Noor serves as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of StrongKey, an innovative technology corporation based in California. Bringing nearly four decades of expertise in the information technology sector, Arshad’s trajectory took an unexpected turn 26 years ago when he was reluctantly drawn into the specialized sector of information security. Since then, he has dedicated his career to revolutionizing how organizations protect their most critical digital assets.

Joe Jamison founded VisitAble after watching his father, a lifelong wheelchair user, face unfair treatment in a world structurally unprepared for people with disabilities. Witnessing these systemic barriers inspired Joe to dedicate his career to changing public attitudes and removing physical obstacles. Through VisitAble, he partners with organizations to transform spaces, policies, and cultures into welcoming environments for everyone. By combining personal insight with actionable training, Joe works to bridge the gap between basic compliance and genuine inclusion, ensuring that individuals of all abilities can navigate public life with the equity, dignity, and respect they deserve.

Carrie Hodgen is the director of community development at Tourism Cares, where she leads global partnerships that unite the travel industry around social, environmental, and economic impact. Since joining the organization in 2023, she has successfully expanded its membership network across five continents and developed innovative engagement strategies that deliver measurable value for both members and corporate sponsors. Carrie frequently represents Tourism Cares at premier industry events worldwide. In her role, she builds meaningful global connections, fosters cross-sector collaboration, and advances critical sustainability initiatives to ensure tourism serves as a powerful force for good in local communities.

Wendy MacKenzie Pease is the president and owner of Rapport International, a Boston-based translation and interpretation services company. With an MBA from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and a B.A. in Foreign Service from Penn State, Wendy has guided hundreds of companies in communicating across more than 200 languages and cultures. As an avid traveler, frequent speaker, and business advisor, Wendy literally wrote the book on international growth. She authored The Language of Global Marketing, co-authored The Secrets of Global Sales, and hosts The Global Marketing Show podcast, where she interviews global business experts who share advice and strategies for navigating international expansion.

Jeff Ment is the founder of NTA Corporate Partner, The Ment Law Group, bringing over 30 years of legal experience to the travel industry. He represents tour operators, suppliers, DMCs, travel agents, transportation companies, and trade associations nationwide. Jeff counsels clients on industry best practices, including contract terms, risk assessment, regulatory compliance, crisis response, and employment issues, while also managing litigation across the country. His deep legal expertise is uniquely reinforced by his firsthand industry background, having previously worked on the frontlines as a travel agent, a tour guide, and an airline sales manager.

Mark Ostach helps people find the courage to connect. A globally recognized speaker and leadership coach focusing on human connection and mental wellness, Mark helps teams and individuals expand their mindset through storytelling and simple leadership strategies. Frequently featured in USA Today, he has presented TED talks, written books, and spoken to thousands of people encouraging them to embrace a spirit of courage through vulnerability. In 2022, Mark launched the “Courage to Connect” podcast and published his book “If You Really Knew Me …. The following year he published key takeaways from his work with more than 200 organizations, focusing on fostering social connection and digital wellness in the workplace.

Tico has a passion for tourism and travel, and it’s reflected in his background in managing markets in the United States, Europe, and beyond for more than two decades. As a Certified Destination Management Executive, Tico has emerged as an innovative leader not only in increasing sales figures but also in developing real relationships with receptive operators, wholesalers, and attractions.

Louisiana raised, Tico has spent 13 years as the Sales Director of the Lake Charles/Southwest Louisiana Convention & Visitors Bureau, where he managed sales operations and developed niche tourism markets. As the Director of Tourism in New Orleans, he set his sights any and everywhere by overseeing three European offices, promoting the Big Easy as one of the premier tourism destinations in the world, and creating and updating itineraries for all of the attractions in the city.

Now, Tico is using his years of experience to focus on international tourism, sales relationships, and product development with his venture Tourism Tactics by Tico. 

Tracy Spears partners with organizations committed to building high-performing teams and thriving workplace cultures. A best-selling author, international keynote speaker, and host of the Shift Out Loud podcast, Tracy’s leadership philosophy wasn’t shaped by Ivy League schools. Instead, she draws from invaluable life lessons about inclusion, delegation, perspective, and community learned while growing up in a Tulsa, Oklahoma, trailer park. After earning a softball scholarship to the University of Oklahoma and spending 29 years in corporate America, she co-founded The Leader Lab and created Trailer Park University, sharing insights from the education “money can’t buy.”

Michelle Stark is vice president of sales and marketing for Red Sage Communications, an Alabama-based agency serving clients nationally in destination-attraction-place marketing and consumer brand building. Advising Fortune 500 companies and Silicon Valley startups alike, Michelle and her team have designed award-winning strategies and powerful outcomes for partners across the Southeast, including many of the region’s premier destinations, attractions, and conferences. Michelle is also an Emmy Award-winning former television news anchor and technology reporter for ABC and CBS affiliates. As a natural storyteller, she has served as a featured speaker, moderator, and panelist for organizations that include the Chamber of Commerce Association of Alabama and the Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association.

Meaghan Zimmer is a keynote speaker, sales leader, and advocate for creating more empathetic, resilient workplaces. Through her signature keynote, she shares her personal journey of living with chronic pain and the lessons it has taught her about resilience, gratitude, and human connection. Known for her warmth, humor, and authentic storytelling, Meaghan inspires audiences to lead with compassion, foster stronger workplace relationships, and create cultures where people feel seen, valued, and supported. Her mission is to help individuals and organizations navigate challenges with grace, choose joy through adversity, and recognize that everyone is carrying something unseen.