Board of Directors

Our board represents leaders in the gay and lesbian tourism industry and come from all over the world. If you are interested in how our board operates or want more information about becoming a board member, please e-mail iglta@iglta.org.

Click here to review the Board of Directors meeting agendas.

Click here to review the IGLTA Bylaws.

Felipe Cardenas, Chair

Colombian LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce

Colombian, strategic business advisor to Executive Committees and Corporations about Strategic Planning, Financial Models and D.E.I. Issues. 

In 2012 with the support of the US Embassy In Colombia, Co-founded the Colombian LGBT Chamber of Commerce, since then this organization has enabled economic empowerment programs to +500 LGBT Business owners as well as supporting +200 major corporations in LatinAmerica to advance in their Diversity, Equality & Inclusion Strategies. 

Joined IGLTA as Ambassador for Colombia in 2013 and since 2017 is a board member of the Association in which acted as Treasurer for 4 years. In September 2021 was elected Board Chair as the first SouthAmerican and Colombian in this role. 

Dougal Mckenzie, Vice Chair

Google

Dougal Mckenzie is industry head of travel at Google, based out of the New York Office and working with east coast-based partners. He joined Google in 2010 in the Sydney, Australia office where he worked until moving to New York a year ago. Prior to his current role, Dougal managed businesses across Australia and New Zealand in the travel and telco industries. 

Before joining Google, he spent a decade at Procter and Gamble but left to find somewhere he could get an email address that rhymed with his name. Dougal has both law and commerce degrees from his native homeland of Auckland, New Zealand. Dougal serves on the board of the IGLTA Foundation and enjoys traveling, weightlifting, skiing and spending time with his husband and dog.

Josh Good, Co-Treasurer

Cruise Lines International Association

In his role as senior vice president, global finance and operations, Josh Good is responsible for organizational strategy, financial planning, reporting, and daily operations for CLIA, as well as management of the organization's finance team across North America, Europe, Brazil and Australasia. Josh joined CLIA in 2017 as vice president of international finance, and was promoted to senior vice president, global finance in 2018 and his present position in 2019.

Prior to joining CLIA, Josh was senior director of finance and controller for Global Impact, a nonprofit organization that provides advisory, intermediary, fundraising, and business services for partners across the private, nonprofit, and public sectors. In this position, he oversaw all finance and reporting activities.

Previous to his leadership position at Global Impact, Josh spent five years with Marriott International, Inc., where he was part of the financial management team and provided financial expertise and insight for sales, marketing, brand management, innovation, human resources, and global operations.

Josh started his career in public accounting, and over the course of his career has supported various clients in a range of sectors, including government, for profit and non-profit.

A Certified Public Accountant, Josh earned his bachelor’s degree from Penn State and currently lives in Washington, DC.

Norma Dean, Co-Treasurer

Delta Air Lines

Norma Dean is a 37-year Delta veteran who began her career in New Orleans Delta Reservations Sales. Since that time, she has held jobs of increasing Field Sales responsibility including Account Manager in Baltimore, and District Sales Manager in SW Florida. From her field experience, Norma came to Delta's headquarters in Atlanta and was promoted to National Account Manager, overseeing association sales in Washington, New York City and Chicago.
Thereafter, she held the position of Global Account Manager- Corporate Sales and then went on to serve as General Manager - Corporate Sales for the Northeast region and General Manager of Specialty Sales. In her current role as Director- National Specialty Sales, Norma manages (Pre-COVID) $2.5B in Delta segmented and leisure revenue, including Military & Government, Meetings, Convention & Incentive Sales, Sports & Universities, and Leisure/Tour Operator/Cruise/Ski Sales. She is an active industry leader serving on several segmented advisory boards and committees.
 
Norma was named GBTA WinIt GBTA Female Mentor of the year. She is a native of New Orleans, LA. She is a graduate of Louisiana State University. So it should come as no surprise she loves food,LSU and NO Saints Football!

Meg Ten Eyck, Secretary

EveryQueer

Meg Ten Eyck is an award-winning LGBTQ+ travel content creator and consultant. A travel writer and digital nomad at her core, Meg spent the last nine years traveling the globe and writing about her experiences for her hugely popular LGBT travel site EveryQueer. Meg is the recipient of International Woman of the Year for Facebook’s initiative with Girl Gone International and is cited as a leading expert in travel by Forbes, The New York Times, Afar, Conde Nast Traveler, Travel and Leisure, The United Nations, and the European Travel Commission. Meg is a brand ambassador for OutAdventures, Contiki International, and is on the LGBT advisory board of Belmond Hotels and Resorts. Meg has visited 60+ countries, spoken at LGBTQ+ conferences on five continents, published her first book, and had her content read by more than two million people.

Theresa Belpulsi, Immediate Past Chair, Foundation

Destination DC

Theresa Belpulsi is Vice President of Tourism for Destination DC. DDC is the capital city’s primary marketing organization and is responsible for the economic health of a $9 billion hospitality industry employing 270,000 individuals in the region. Theresa oversees tourism marketing and sales for the domestic, sports and international markets as well as visitor’s services.

Prior to her 17 year tenure at Destination DC, Belpulsi served as Assistant Director of Tourism of the Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau. She was responsible for all domestic leisure sales as well as special events to the city.

Currently, Theresa is Chair of the Board to the regional tourism marketing cooperation, Capital Region USA, Inc. (CRUSA). Additionally, she also sits on the board for a number of tourism organizations including National Cherry Blossom Festival, Cultural Tourism DC and the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association Foundation. She participates in various arts & cultural tourism activities within Washington, DC and the Region.

A graduate of Georgia Southern University, Theresa holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Communication Arts.

Richard Kreiger, Board Member

Sky Vacations

A native new yorker, Richard enjoys a travel industry career spanning more than 20 years. Having worked in leadership roles in both the retail and wholesale spaces, his experience brings insight into development and distribution of travel products. In his current role as director of sky vacations, Richard now manages two sky vacations teams, Usa and Mumbai. sky vacations’ parent company is sky bird travel & tours, an indian-owned company that is the largest airline consolidator in north america and the leader for travel to india. Richard's early career was spent as a retail travel advisor in New york city. from there, he moved into agency management and relocated to south florida. during these years he opened prideworld, an LGBTQ+ tour operator/travel agency. post september 11, he also did consulting and management work focusing on agencies that were looking to evaluate their position in the market and expand, merge, sell or close. in 2008 he was asked by the owner of the isramworld portfolio of brands to move back to New york to work with him on expanding into new markets and destinations as well as placing a fresh focus on prideworld; he eventually became company president before moving to his current role with sky vacations.

Maria Cuba, Board Member

Airbnb

Maria is a Massachusetts native who was raised in Puerto Rico with a multicultural background. She is one of Airbnb’s earliest employees and the founder of their Latino employee group “Juntos”.  Her multiple passions have taken her from law school to interior design school where she cultivated her love for words and the arts.

Maria works as a Senior Diversity and Belonging Business Partner for Airbnb’s Experiences platform, focused on creating a diverse marketplace and bringing equitable opportunities and representation to all communities.  Always a champion of inclusion, she is committed to nurturing new pipelines for minorities in tech and believes that tech is key to social equality.

Sean Howell, Board Member

Buffalo Market

Sean Howell serves as the CEO of the LGBT Foundation, a not-for-profit organization with the mission to utilize blockchain technology to achieve equal rights and acceptance for all members of the LGBT+ community worldwide. He is currently Chairman and one of the founders of Hornet, a gay dating and social network, where Sean helped the company grow its user base to 25 million and its editorial division to become the largest global LGBT+ newsroom at Hornet, Howell also oversaw the company's corporate responsibility efforts under Hornet impact, organizing social justice and health related activations. Prior to Hornet, Sean Howell was a fellow of the World Affairs Council, as well as a Trustee and President of the Young Professional International Network. He has helped numerous organizations leverage technology to expand their impact through his work with the MSM Global Forum along with serving on various nonprofit boards and committees including UNAIDS, E-CDC, PFLAG and chair of the center for public health and human rights at Johns Hopkins University. He is a founding member of the UN Global Coalition for HIV prevention and technical advisor to UNDP’s LGBTI inclusion index. He has published scientific papers and is the principal investigator in the upcoming UNAIDS global study on LGBT wellness.

Glenn Stress, Board Member

Marriott International

Glenn Stress is the senior director, global b2b marketing and events for Marriott international where he is responsible for leading global marketing and customer engagement efforts on behalf of Marriott's b2b customers across all client-facing channels. His responsibilities also include ensuring Marriott’s brand voice and messaging are pulled through across all customer-facing touch points including customer and industry events. Glenn was formerly a director of digital marketing at Starwood Hotels & Resorts and held positions at American Express’ international card and business travel divisions where he led global b2b marketing projects in the areas of digital marketing, social media and mobile. He is based in New York City.

Amy Martin-Ziegenfuss, Board Member

Hilton

Amy Martin Ziegenfuss and her team inspire travelers to stay with Hilton and our 18 trading brands globally, creating love and loyalty for these amazing brands. Amy is focused on building customer insight-driven brand positioning strategies and integrated campaigns that build brands and drive business results. Amy is a seasoned marketer, with 20+ years of experience building global brands and driving performance through high-impact, omni-channel marketing and advertising across the customer journey. She has experience leading teams and campaigns in the Americas, EMEA and APAC for public companies and franchise organizations. She is a dual citizen of the US and the UK, and a keen traveler, reader, diver, horse rider and cook.

Cheryl Richards, Board Member

Visit Dallas

Cheryl Richards serves as the Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity and Inclusion officer (CDIO) at VisitDallas. In this position, Richards’ duties include creating and implementing a strategic plan to elevate VisitDallas as a leader in diversity, equity and inclusion at the local, national and international levels. Richards serves as the liaison to the Diversity & Inclusion Standing Committee, chaired by Maria Mendez, Account Executive, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas.
Richards, who has been with VisitDallas for 32 years spent 16 of those years in Public Relations and 9 years as vice president of strategic alliances where she was responsible for establishing the membership sales and service standard for VisitDallas, overseeing corporate partnerships, member-based publications and daily operations of the member sales and services department. She received the 2017 Dallas Business Journal Minority Business Leader Award, 2015 Black Meetings & Tourism APEX Award for Distinguished Service, 2014 Fraser Net Corporate Professional of the Year Award, 2013 High Tea with High Heels Crystal Stiletto Award from the Atlanta based Trumpet Awards Foundation, which spotlights women who have made a mark and break barriers as a way of life. 
Richards is a member of several business community/civic organizations including, Texas Diversity Council’s Greater Dallas Advisory Board, Downtown Dallas, Inc. Board of Governors, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Disability IN, University of North Texas Alumni Association, National Association of Latino and Elected Officials, University of North Texas Mayborn School of Journalism Board of Directors, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and the Greater Dallas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. Richards is a graduate of the University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism/Public Relations and a minor in Business Marketing.

Albert Herrera, Board Member

Internova Travel Group & Global Travel Collection

Albert m. Herrera has an innate understanding of the luxury travel market and his impressive career spans more than 30 years. He has now joined internova travel group and global travel collection as chief commercial officer. in this role, he leads various strategic relationships and partnerships for the brands to maximize offerings to the organization’s premium leisure, corporate and entertainment travel advisors and travelers. He joined global travel collection from virtuoso where he held one of the most prominent executive positions: senior vice president of global partnerships. Having joined virtuoso in july 2004, Albert served in various leadership roles where he directed key relationships with the network’s product portfolio and elite advisor membership. Albert’s past roles also include sales & marketing director for the carlyle in New york; as well as sales & marketing director at the Oriental and director of sales at the regent, both in Singapore. additionally, he has held sales posts with Four seasons hotels & resorts in San francisco and New york, and the peninsula manila in the Philippines.

Uwern Jong, Board Member

Outthere Publishing

Uwern Jong (he/him) is Experientialist-in-Chief and co-Founder of global luxury and experiential travel journal rooted in diversity, discovery and discernment, OutThere magazine. He was the 2020 Winner of “Editor of the Year” at the Campaign Publishing Awards and is a vocal advocate for a more inclusive and intersectional tourism and travel industry. He is the Founder of the LGBT+ Travel Symposium series, co-Founder of Stockholm LGBT (a members-based Destination Marketing platform), runs the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s landmark “Go Thai Be Free” outreach campaign.

Apoorva Gandhi, Board Member

Marriott International

Apoorva Gandhi is vice president for multicultural affairs for Marriott international, and a dedicated and proud straight ally to the LGBTQ+ community. at Marriott, he shapes and executes an externally focused global strategy to build loyalty and preference from all diverse customers for the Marriott portfolio—including all of their diverseLGBTQ+ guests, families and friends.

His responsibilities bridge most of marriott’s business units and he often engages with the company’s public affairs stances and their steady support for LGBTQ+ equality and inclusion. Marriott’s consistently earns a 100% perfect score on the hrc corporate equality index, a signal of its strong global policies. this year, significantly, Marriott was among the first companies—and the first global hotel leader—to endorse the historic united nations LGBTQ+ standards of conduct for business, aimed to tackle discrimination globally against lesbian, gay, bi, trans and intersex people. Apoorva recently served on the board of directors for pflag—advocating for the families, friends and co-workers of LGBTQ+ people everywhere and twice was named the co-chair for the annual pflag straight for equality gala held in New york city.

Oriol Pamies, Board Member

Queer Destinations

Oriol Pamies, CEO of Queer Destinations, is a spanish entrepreneur, LGBTQ+ activist and LGBTQ+ tourism expert. in 2014, he attended his first IGLTA annual global convention in madrid just as he was beginning his online startup, an LGBTQ+ social network that he wanted to connect to the LGBTQ+ tourism industry.

Now, with Queer Destinations, Pamies develops innovative marketing strategies for tourism destinations around the world, particularly in latin america, and spends his time speaking at conferences and consulting on lgbtq+ tourism.  He wants to focus on IGLTA's latin american expansion, connecting the organization and its members to the latest online marketing trends and reinforcing the association’s b2c value.

Antonietta Varlese, Board Member

Accor

Antonietta Varlese, with over 20 years of experience in communications works for Accor Group since 2008 as SVP of Communications, Institutional Relations, Corporate Social Responsibility, LGBTI+ Leader for South America. She currently manages the strategy for 9 countries and 400 hotels across the region and recently awarded one of the Top 10 Communications Person in Brazil by Aberje Association.
Prior to joining Accor, she was with British American Tobacco as Global Head of Strategy and Planning, based in the HQ in London. Antonietta also worked in Italy with BAT as Head of Communications and Integration. Prior to that Antonietta also worked with other companies such as Citibank, Dow, LDC among others. Antonietta holds a degree in Journalism, MBA in Marketing and extensions from
University of Syracuse and University of the Arts London.

John Tanzella, Ex Officio Board Member

IGLTA