William Bakker, Director, eBusiness
Tourism British Columbia

As Director of e-Business at Tourism British Columbia, William Bakker is responsible for the development of strategies to help the BC tourism industry compete in the increasingly important and ever-evolving world of online marketing. His key projects include the development of a consumer web platform that serves as a foundation for market websites around the world and Tourism BC's social media strategy. Before moving to Canada, William lived and worked in the Netherlands. He shares his thoughts about eTourism on his blog www.wilhelmus.ca

Michael Bower, Director of eCommerce and Marketing
Marriott Hotels & Resorts of Canada

Michael Bower is an eCommerce professional with over 15 years of experience in the hospitality industry and is currently the Director of eCommerce and Marketing for Marriott Hotels & Resorts of Canada. Working with over 15 full-service hotels across Canada, Michael develops and executes local and regional eCommerce and eMarketing strategies to maximize revenue opportunities.

Previously, Michael held the position of Market Manager at Expedia Inc., responsible for managing over 200 hotel accounts and 600 clients for all Expedia points of sale. Michael achieved a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management from Ryerson University in 1996.

He is passionate about the world of eCommerce and is always eager to learn about new channels and opportunities to increase awareness and drive revenue.

Patricia Brusha, E-Analyst & Co-Founder
A Couple of Chicks e-Marketing

Patricia Brusha is the co-chair and co-founder of Online Revealed Canada - the Canadian Tourism e-Marketing Conference produced in association with Yahoo! Canada and www.acoupleofchicks.com - an Internet Marketing Company focused on travel and tourism. She has spent 26 years working in the Hospitality Industry in the United States and Canada in the fields of Sales, Hotel Marketing, Internet Distribution and Revenue Management. Together, the "Chicks" have published over 30 articles, launched www.chicksaway.com - a new social media portal for women who travel.

The Chicks have worked with such notable brands as Marriott International and Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, to develop innovative online marketing strategies, and their popular e-marketing workshops have also lead to the upcoming book focused on the "Chicks" non-intimidating approach to marketing online to be launched Spring 2009.

Patricia is a Google Certified Professional and a Yahoo Search Ambassador. She has also been on numerous industry panels including; the Distribution Summit in Chicago www.eyefortravel.com, and the Search Engine Strategy Conference in Toronto, www.searchenginewatch.com, and is a regular speaker at leading industry events such as the Travel Alberta Annual Conference, and the Hotel Conference Association of Canada.

Stephen A. Joyce, President
Sentias Software Corp.

Stephen Joyce has been working as a travel & tourism technology consultant since 1995. In 2005 Stephen and his company, Sentias Software Corp., began development on Rezgo.com, a next generation Web 2.0 tour and activity booking engine for tour and activity providers.

Stephen is also very active in fostering tourism technology and is the founding President of the North American Chapter of the International Federation for IT and Travel & Tourism (IFITT North America). He is the publisher of the Tips from the T-List books, a series of ground-breaking books that bring together travel industry bloggers from around the World. The success of the book has resulted in workshops and speaking engagements on Social media & User generated content around the World.

In addition to his tourism initiatives, Stephen is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of the North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce, Chair of the Website Subcommittee for Vancouver's NorthShore Tourism Association, Executive with the Canadian E-Tourism Council, and formerly on the Board of Directors of the Pacific Club and the COHO Society of the North Shore. In his free time, he teaches leadership and aviation to air cadets at the 525 Squadron in West Vancouver.

Stephen is a graduate of Capilano University, is a certified Commercial Pilot, and holds a certificate in IT Management.

Stephen is married and has two beautiful daughters.

Chris Lamb, e-Marketing Director
Media, Public Relations & eMarketing
Travel Alberta

Since joining Travel Alberta in 2005, Chris has overseen the international e-marketing efforts for the provincial marketing organization's U.S., Europe and Asia/Pacific markets.

Prior to joining Travel Alberta, Chris managed CalgaryStampede.com for the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth, the Calgary Stampede. Earlier, he founded his career in journalism and caught the online spirit by starting a company focused on online copywriting & website content management. In 2007 Chris was awarded the Canadian e-Tourism Platinum Award for Best Tourism Campaign.

Chris holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Augustana University, as well as an Applied Communications Degree from Calgary's Mount Royal College. Recently, Chris completed the "Award of Achievement in Web Analytics" program at the University of British Columbia.

Edward Perry, Senior Director of E-Commerce
WORLDHOTELS

With over 20 years of industry exposure, Edward Perry has been with WORLDHOTELS for over eight years. During his tenure at WORLDHOTELS, he began in the corporate sales division, managing sales for the Northeastern USA. His most current appointment is as Senior Director of E-Commerce. In this position, Edward manages strategic alliances in the Americas and Asia between online booking and technology partners and WORLDHOTELS' portfolio of close to 500 properties worldwide.

Prior to his work at WORLDHOTELS, Edward took on a variety of industry positions in sales and marketing at various hotel levels, including in the area of corporate housing. His most recent position prior to WORLDHOTELS was the role as travel manager for Macy's West in San Francisco where he oversaw an air budget of ten million as well as the company's corporate credit card, hotel, car and calling card programs. He was instrumental in the roll-out of Macy's West's first online travel booking engine.

Edward has a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and German from Schiller International University in Heidelberg, Germany and a MBA in Global Business Management from the University of Phoenix. He currently sits on the Board of HEDNA and Co-Chair of Online Revealed Canada.

Edward Radonic, Managing Partner, Director of Marketing
RadonicRodgers design+marketing

Edward Radonic is the Managing Partner of RadonicRodgers Communications Inc. Edward, has led RadonicRodgers into the Travel Marketing Specialty, and was marketing leader for marketing programs and campaigns for various travel sectors such as Destinations, Attractions, Hotels & Resorts, Tour Operators, Travel Agents and Airlines. Some of these organizations include; OMCA, WestJet Vacations, Globus Family of Brands, Tourisim Ireland, Tourisim Spain, Renaissance & Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Ensemble Travel and Thomas Cook Travel just to name a few. Edward is also a member of the SKÅL International Club of Toronto for Travel Professionals. Edward and RadonicRodgers' team collaborated with the WestJet team, and together launched the first WestJet Vacations Travel brochure.

Edward's career in the marketing industry started 20 years ago with a firm that he owned and subsequently sold prior to founding RadonicRodgers. Presently, at the age of 38 he has earned accolades attributed to his entrepreneurship, founded 6 firms, navigated multiple mergers, acquisitions and sales of companies. He continues to be instrumental in RadonicRodgers achieving Canada's Top Marketing Firm status, which has won numerous marketing and creative awards and is one of Canada's fastest growing companies two years in a row (5 year growth at 961%).

Edward lends his keen entrepreneurial and marketing sense to help RadonicRodgers' clients succeed. When clients come to us to market their product, service or destination, our goal is to achieve the highest possible Return on Investment (ROI) for our clients. We are continually developing unique and effective strategic marketing programs and then tweaking them, while monitoring and improving our own results year to year that result in increasingly higher and measurable ROI. Edward Radonic looks forward to addressing marketing challenges by developing new strategies to combat them.

Walid Salem, Executive Director, E-Marketing
Canadian Tourism Commission

Walid Salem directs the CTC's global online marketing presence and is responsible for web application development and CRM. Prior to joining the Canadian Tourism Commission, Walid worked with SiteBrand Corp and Milinx Business Services, where he helped to pave the way new viable business opportunities in website personalization and CRM SaaS.

As a Vice-President at WirelessON.com, he established an association of wireless companies, and provided point-to-point wireless services within major Canadian cities. He found opportunities with ISTAR and PSINet in business development and marketing roles, and successfully helped build alliances with Canada's top companies.

He continues to contribute to the development of VOIP applications, IPTV, and wireless electronic marketing applications, by being a productive member of an angel investment network and Walid Salem's own Mipiq Corp.

Melinda E. Van Patter, Client Relations Manager
Marketwire

Melinda is a Client Relations Manager for Marketwire, a global newswire organization, helping clients to get their news in front of stakeholders, investors, the financial community, the media and online communities. In this sales position, Melinda strives to educate her clients on how to effectively target their messages, while both meeting regulatory compliance and getting the most attention.

She previously worked at The Canadian Press, Canada's National News Agency, advising public relations professionals on how to best get media pickup. Melinda is an experienced public speaker, with many years of both professional and theatrical performances. She is a graduate of Simon Fraser University in Mass Communications, and recently trained by Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States, to present "An Inconvenient Truth" through the Climate Project Canada.

Melinda is currently on the Board of Directors of The Media Foundation, a not for profit association to assist not for profits and a member of the International Association of Business Communicators.

Melinda lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and enjoys weekends at her cottage, 125 acres of pristine wetlands and forest, with her husband and 3 sons. She loves to travel and a day is not complete unless she can solve a problem or bring a smile to someone's face.

Alicia Whalen, Co-Founder
A Couple of Chicks e-Marketing

Alicia Whalen is the co-founder of www.acoupleofchicks.com and www.onlinerevealed.com - recognized as the prominent hospitality and travel Internet marketing strategy consultancy firm in Canada and beyond. She has also developed a successful online tourism marketing Blog; www.ideahatching.com and continues to educate about search engine optimization and Online Marketing best practices with the "Chicks" popular e-Marketing workshops and speaking engagements, which include; Quebec Tourism Annual Conference, the Student Youth and Travel Association Conference, and the Travel Media Association of Canada Conference.

Alicia has worked to develop online marketing strategies for such notable companies and Marriott International, Nova Scotia Tourism, Niagara Falls Tourism and Fairmont Hotels and Resorts. Together, the "Chicks" have published over 30 articles on search marketing best practices and they are currently working on their first Online Marketing Guide to be published Spring 2009.

Tom C. Wilson, Director of Recreation & Tourism
County Victoria, Cape Breton Island

Tom Wilson is a graduate of Dalhousie University with graduate work at University of North Texas. He has a Certificate in Leading Innovation from St. Mary's University, Certificate in Tourism Destination Management from George Washington University, as well Certificate of Community Economic Development from NSCC. He is currently the Director of Recreation & Tourism for the Municipality of Victoria County.

Mr. Wilson is the Project Co-ordinator for Broadband Solutions for Rural Development, Victoria County's Broadband Project, bring Broadband to 90 plus rural communities. This 6 million dollar project will make the County one of the most connected counties in the world. 85% of the project is completed with the balanced to be done by early 2008. Victoria County has also invested in Broadband Applications with two projects - Enhancing Tourism with Broadband and Moving Forward with New Media.

Mr. Wilson has over twenty-five years of experience working with community groups, public agencies & businesses in rural communities and has extensive experience in project management. Former chair of the North Shore Learning and Enterprise Centre & Victoria County CAP Sites Association, and former member of the Provincial Tourism Task Force for E-Marketing. Nominated by his peers for the National Community Achievement Award with CANARIE in 2004 and TIANS Technology Awards in 2001 & 2006. Member of the Nova Scotia Provincial Broadband Advisory Committee.

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