Speaker Bios - 2010 For Seminar Schedule Click Here Speakers/Schedule Subject to Change.  Please check back often for updates. Paul Cohen President Partner Concepts LLC As President of Partner Concepts, Paul has built a team of travel marketing specialists around the world; all specializing in developing custom integrated marketing programs to promote international destinations in the U.S. market. Prior to co-founding Partner Concepts, Paul headed up the hospitality and tourism account activity as vice president of Enten & Associates, a global advertising agency based in suburban Washington, D.C. There, he led a team of five senior account executives representing multiple destinations, hotel companies and international airlines. Prior to that, Paul served as the director of marketing for the American Hotel & Motel Association, where he gained valuable insights and experiences at the heart of the U.S. travel industry, working closely with senior executives from all of the leading American hotel companies, as well as developing strategic partnerships with corporations such as Visa International, MasterCard International, American Express, and Coca-Cola, among others. Paul holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the State University of New York, College at Brockport, concentrating in hospitality and recreation services. He is often a guest speaker at the George Washington University Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management and was recently awarded the 2007 Tourism Industry Achievement award from Niagara University College of Hospitality and Tourism Management. Mr. Cohen recently served as the Vice Chairman of the Corporate Council on Africa Tourism Committee, where his team of industry leaders delivered policy recommendations to the Obama Administration covering travel and tourism. Julia Dimon TV host, writer and travel expert co-host, Word Travels Julia Dimon is a TV host, writer and travel expert who has traveled around the world four times, across over 80 countries. Julia Dimon is co-host of Word Travels, a 39-episode TV series broadcast nationally on OLN in Canada and internationally on National Geographic Adventure in over 45 countries worldwide. This show follows the real lives of two top travel writers as they jet set around the world, under pressure and under deadline. Co-creator, associate producer, co-writer and co-host of Word Travels, Julia Dimon has just finished filming the third series, set to air in March 2010. Julia Dimon has partnered with Kayak.com, the world's leading travel search engine, as their spokesperson and “chief travel junkie.” Julia’s popular blog www.traveljunkiejulia.com shares expert travel advice, stories from exotic destinations and budget travel tips. Julia’s writing career began at the age of 12, with a monthly movie-review column for the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest daily newspaper. “Julia’s Flicks” was regularly published in the Star for over six years. From movie reviews, Julia moved into travel features. For four years, she wrote a monthly travel series for the Toronto Star, called “Confessions of a Backpacker” before she became a weekly columnist for Metro News. For the next four years, Julia’s nationally-syndicated travel column, “Travel Junkie,” appeared every Wednesday in newspapers across Canada. Her column was also translated and appeared across Metro International, the “world’s largest global newspaper” with 23.1 million readers. In addition to travel journalism, Julia has worked as a videojournalist for CBC online, crafting and hosting pieces on everything from professional pillow-fighting championships, to the politicized "Freegan" youth movement. While traveling around the world, Julia produced current affairs pieces that aired nationally on CBC Newsworld, Canada's most recognized news source. Julia has traveled to over 80 countries, in conflict zones across five continents. This year alone, she's trained as a gladiator in Rome, camel trekked the Egyptian pyramids, confronted Santa Claus in the Arctic Circle, eaten deep-fried guinea pig in Ecuador, watched a lion chase a warthog in Kenya, ran with bulls in Portugal and learned to speak Klingon in the Star Trek town of Vulcan. From the depths of the Great Barrier Reef to the top of Machu Picchu, she's hiked with silverback gorillas in Uganda, snorkeled with whale sharks in Mozambique, climbed The Great Wall of China, dog-sledded in Greenland, camel trekked in Jordan, slept with lions in the Serengeti, snacked on local delicacies such as silk worm, goat brain, six-inch scorpions, snake blood and severed human toe. Julia’s genre of travel journalism focuses on quirky, human interest stories with an emphasis on culture, social activism and responsible travel. Her mission is to create awareness of issues typically not addressed in the travel genre. While many travel pieces focus on mainstream sanitized tourist attractions, Julia has pushed the boundaries of the genre, backpacking solo through off-the-beaten path locations on a quest for unique stories. Julia hosted three commercial campaigns for the Tourism Authority of Thailand that were televised across Asia, India and the Pacific Rim on National Geographic Adventure channel. Julia has been featured as a travel expert by ABC Nightline, Forbes Traveler, MSNBC, Outside’s Go magazine, Arthur Frommer’s radio show (syndicated across 100 radio stations throughout the US), as well as major Canadian media outlets. Check out her popular travel blog at www.traveljunkiejulia.com and www.juliadimon.com. Arthur Frommer Travel Writer and Author Frommer's Travel Guides and Ask Arthur Frommer Arthur Frommer's career in travel began when he was drafted into the U.S. Army just shortly after his graduation from the Yale University Law School, at the time of the Korean War. Trained to fight in Korea, his linguistic abilities caused him to be assigned instead to U.S. Army Intelligence in Germany. In the course of that service, Arthur's love of travel blossomed and he constantly found great cheap places to stay across Europe. In his spare time, he wrote The GI's Guide to Traveling in Europe, which was an instant success and opened up European travel to the many servicemen stationed in Europe. Upon his release from the Army, Arthur was employed as a lawyer with a large New York firm. He took a summer off to write Europe on $5 a Day, a civilian version of The GI's Guide to Traveling Europe, which was published in 1957. That book, which became a monumental best-seller, taught Americans that they could afford to travel, and ushered in the age of modern tourism. In the course of a 50-year career in travel, in which he not only published travel guides and a major travel magazine, but operated his own large tour company, Arthur Frommer became, and is generally acknowledged to be, the nation's foremost travel authority. Today, Frommer's® travel guides, published by Wiley, Inc., consist of more than 340 titles reaching more than 6 million travelers each year, covering every major destination in the world. Frommer's has also developed a major Web presence, and more than a dozen travel lines for every type of traveler, from budget to deluxe, but the series remains faithful to its original mission -- to make travel a time of adventure and self-discovery. Currently, Arthur Frommer writes a twice-weekly column on travel which is syndicated to major newspapers all over the country by King Features. He also presents a weekly nationwide radio program on travel on the W.O.R. radio network, which syndicates it to more than a hundred large stations in major cities. In addition to writing 30 yearly editions of his famous guidebook to Europe, he has written numerous other travel guides to a myriad of destinations both in the United States and abroad; published hundreds of magazine articles in publications ranging from the Reader’s Digest to Newsweek; and is also the author of five annual editions of a path-breaking analysis of the entire travel industry entitled The New World of Travel. He served on President Lyndon Johnson’s Commission on the U.S. Balance of Payments. He lectures frequently and has been a guest on national television shows such as The Oprah Winfrey Show, Live! With Regis and Kelly and NBC's Today, among many others. Arthur is a graduate of Yale University Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal, and he is a member of the New York Bar. He practiced law in New York until the growing demands of his travel career required that he give it his full attention. Today, Arthur lives in New York City with his wife, where he has served as an active trustee of New York's Community Service Society (nation’s largest anti-poverty organization) and as a chairperson of Friends of RSVP, Inc. (the Retired Senior Volunteer Program). His daughter, Pauline, carries on the family tradition with her own series of Pauline Frommer Travel Guides on sale in bookstores throughout the country. Kirsten Gum Adventure Traveler, Travel Journalist Host, Travel Channel's Treasure Hunter  and Discovery HD's What's My Car Worth A vibrant on-screen presence, an irresistible charm and a love of travel and outdoor adventure have made Kirsten Gum one of the most exciting personalities to watch on television today. Her career path spans 6 continents and has taken her everywhere from the French Alps to the African desert to below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. Born in Alaska, Kirsten grew up in the town of Okanogan, Washington. After graduating from the University of Washington, Kirsten launched her broadcasting career as a news reporter in Jefferson City, Missouri, where she paid her dues as a one woman band—shooting, reporting, writing and editing her own stories. She continued to hone her on-camera skills as a reporter and anchor in Chattanooga, Tennessee and Charlotte, North Carolina, where she was twice voted the sexiest woman in Charlotte. Kirsten’s girl-next-door looks and bubbly personality led her to the world of sports broadcasting. She hosted the Fox Sports Net show, “Totally NASCAR,” ESPN’s “Outdoor Block” and Outdoor Living Network’s Tour de France studio show. She’s also covered world-class events such as the PBR World Championships, World Cup Skiing and the grueling three-week off-road race through Africa -- the Dakar Rally. As the current host of the Travel Channel show, “Treasure Hunter”, Kirsten takes viewers on an exciting journey as she treks to some of the remotest areas on Earth to hunt for jewels, fossils and valuable relics. A typical day’s work involves climbing deep into a mine digging for gemstones, unearthing an abandoned outhouse in search of bottles, panning for gold in the Alaskan wilderness or scuba-diving for jade and lobsters. Off camera, Kirsten’s passion for adventure and travel is just as strong. She recently visited Sierra Leone in west Africa with a non-profit organization to give aid to the thousands of amputees. This past summer she took a group of at risk inner city kids from Oakland, California into the wilderness for their first week long remote camping trip. For Kirsten, the secret to a healthy lifestyle is keeping active and being in tune with her own spirituality. When she’s not on the road hunting for adventure, she’s clearing her mind and re-energizing her body through yoga, biking, running, rock climbing, kayaking, camping and surfing. In July 2006, she completed “Primal Quest”, a 500 mile adventure race in Utah and the surrounding mountains. It took she and her team 9 straight days of moving to make it to the finish line.. on less than 20 hours of sleep. In October 2005, her team fought their way to a 2nd place finish in the "Beast of the East," a 400-mile adventure race in Virginia. Her newest venture is helping heal society and Mother Nature by promoting a raw food diet. She is a Gourmet Raw Food Chef and Certified Raw Food Instructor as well as co-owner of Rawtrips.com “Mindful Travel and Conscious Cuisine”. She is splitting her time between Ecuador – the location of her health retreat – and Santa Monica, Ca where she teaches classes, gives talks and assists cllents in healthier choices. Kirsten also teaches classes throughout Japan, Canada and Ecuador. Kirsten is a true believer in selfless service and is active with many environmental and nonprofit organizations, including Global Green, the Nature Conservancy, PCT, Heal the Bay, Grid Alternatives and Big City Mountaineers. Kirsten Gum is a true adventure traveler/writer/travel journalist who is happiest exploring the world and immersing herself in foreign cultures, testing her edge with adrenaline packed excursions and relishing in the great outdoors.  Rainer Jenss Special Correspondent National Geographic Traveler A thirteen year veteran of the National Geographic Society, Rainer Jenss left his position as Vice President & Publisher of National Geographic Kids to travel around the world with his wife and two young children. He now reports on family travel as a special correspondent for National Geographic Traveler's Intelligent Travel Blog - www.intelligenttravelblog.com Peter Potterfield Adventure Journalist Editor of GreatOutdoors.com Peter Potterfield has hiked more than 5,000 miles over six continents enabling him to write about wilderness travel, mountaineering and backcountry adventure for magazines, books, and online publishing. A veteran of expeditions to the far corners of the world, Potterfield has roamed the Himalaya, explored the mountains of Canada's Coast Range, crossed the Swedish Arctic solo, traveled on foot through the wild southern reaches of New Zealand, and retraced Sir Ernest Shackleton's route to salvation on South Georgia Island. Potterfield is the author of a dozen books, including Classic Hikes of the World, which was named one of the best gift books by The Wall Street Journal; the critically acclaimed In the Zone; and High Himalaya, winner of the Banff Book Festival award.. He is the co-author of Himalayan Quest, with Ed Viesturs. In addition to more than a dozen books, Potterfield has written for National Geographic Adventure magazine, Outside, Reader’s Digest, Backpacker, Condé Nast Traveler and other national publications. He founded MountainZone.com in 1996, where his work, according to The New York Times, “made a spectator sport out of Himalayan climbing.” He is currently editor of GreatOutdoors.com in Seattle. Sponsored by: Patricia Schultz Best-selling author, TV producer, travel writer Patricia Schultz is the author of the international bestsellers 1,000 Places to See Before You Die (now with nearly 3 million copies in print and translated into 25 languages) and 1,000 Places to See in the USA and Canada Before You Die. A veteran travel journalist with 25 years of experience, she has written for Frommer’s, Berlitz and Access travel guides, as well as BusinessWeek, Oprah and Real Simple. She also executive-produced a Travel Channel television show based on her book, 1,000 Places To See Before You Die. Most recently Patricia became a contributor to Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine. Her home base is New York City. Matthew Stone, MHM, CHP Asst. Professor of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts Prince George’s Community College Matthew Stone caught the travel bug growing up in a small town in Central Illinois. After a 15-year career in the hotel industry, Stone currently is Assistant Professor of Hospitality, Tourism, & Culinary Arts at Prince George's Community College in Largo, MD, where he teaches classes in hotel management, convention management, and tourism. Over his lifetime, he has visited 46 states and 23 countries, but he has a hard time picking out favorites. He holds a master of hospitality management degree from the University of Houston.

Location:
Washington Convention Center,
801 Mount Vernon Place, NW

Public Show Hours:
Saturday, March 6: 10:30am-5:30pm
Sunday, March 7: 11:00am-4:30pm

Travel Trade Hours:
Saturday, March 6: 10:00am-5:30pm
Sunday, March 7: 11:00am-4:30pm