Ms. Zavian is a lawyer and a sports agent. She is the first female agent to represent NFL Players and has represented twenty-two NFL players during her career. Ms. Zavian dedicates much of her time to women athletes, handling employment contracts, labor issues, and promotional deals while writing for Street & Smiths’ Sports Business Journal on a weekly basis.

Mr. Christie is a Senior Research Associate and lecturer at George Washington University and, prior to 1999, was a manager and adviser at the World Bank. He consults on tourism and enterprise development for strategic growth and economic diversification for public and private sector groups. He led preparation of the World Bank's Africa private sector strategy in 1997, its framework paper "Tourism In Africa" in 2000 and regularly publishes on tourism issues. Mr. Christie joined the World Bank in 1972 as a financial analyst and has covered tourism, infrastructure, finance and enterprise development. Mr. Christie has been a hotel manager (US and Europe), assistant professor at Michigan State University and a management consultant in New York City. He attended Strathclyde University, Scotland, and has graduate degrees in economics and business from New York and Michigan State Universities, respectively.

Mr. Luna-Kelser has twenty-eight years of practical and operative experience in planning, designing, and managing investment and sector loan projects, as well as technical assistance operations for member developing countries of the Inter-American Development Bank. He has been part of projects improving the competitiveness and building capacities of the tourism sector in Belize, Mundo Maya, Brazil and other countries in Latin America.

Juan Luna-Kelser is currently an adjunct professor at George Washington University's Department of Tourism, School of Business. He co-teaches Tourism Policy Analysis and is involved in the development and delivery of new curricula.

He holds a Masters degree in Tourism from George Washington University, as well as a Masters degree in Political Science from Drew University, Madison, New Jersey. He earned his Bachelors degree in Political Science at the University of the Pacific, Stockton, California.

Juan is originally from Mexico City and is fluent in Spanish, English and Portuguese.

Ms.Lamoureux specializes in ecotourism as well as the planning and development of sustainable tourism projects. She has been involved in several IITS research projects both nationally and internationally. Ms Lamoureux is presently completing a Ph.D. in Business Administration/Strategic Management at the university. Her latest publication is a chapter in the Ecotourism Encyclopedia, entitled “Global Growth and Magnitude of Ecotourism” which she co-authored with Dr. Donald Hawkins.

Tyra Hilliard is an educator, consultant, and attorney specializing in the field of event and meeting management. Her research and practice areas are risk management, law, and ethics for events and meetings.

Ms. Hilliard is actively involved in the meetings industry. She is a frequent speaker at U.S. and international event and meeting management conferences and contributes articles to meetings industry trade publications. She served as the Chair of the Convention Industry Council’s APEX Contracts Panel and was named “One of the 25 Most Influential People in the Meetings Industry” by MeetingNews magazine. She is actively involved in industry organizations like Meeting Professionals International (MPI), Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA), and others.

In addition to being an attorney, Ms. Hilliard’s tourism and hospitality career includes working as an association meeting planner, a hotel and special events catering manager, and a convention and visitors bureau sales manager. Her industry experience gives her a unique perspective on the legal and business aspects of meeting and event management. Tyra is one of very few practicing attorneys who holds the Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) designation.

Formerly a full-time faculty member in The George Washington University Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Ms. Hilliard continues to teach event and meeting management courses.