Tuesday, February 14 | Summit Day 1

Joe Pavelka is a Professor of Ecotourism and Outdoor Leadership at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Canada. His focus is on sustainable tourism, lifestyle migration and crowding. Joe is passionate about experiential learning and he has designed and delivered numerous international field schools to Latin America.  Joe is also the Principle at Planvision Consulting International Ltd. and provides consultancy to the tourism, parks and recreation sectors.  He is programmer for the inaugural Purposeful Travel Summit and sits on the Banff Net Zero 2035 Working Group. He has a doctorate in Geography from the University of Calgary, a master’s degree in Recreation Administration and two undergraduate degrees from Lakehead University in Thunder Bay ON. 

Daryl Kootenay is a young Indigenous leader, artist, entrepreneur, facilitator, educator, and mentor to many Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth in his community and surrounding communities of Stoney Nakoda Nation. Daryl is a father to 3 beautiful children Nakoda, Marazu, & Haske, and recently married to his now wife, Ariel.

Daryl is known for his international experience and work throughout Africa, Peru, Nicaragua, Mexico, England, France, Spain, Italy, America and Canada, and continues to work with young leaders across the globe on various projects relating to humanitarianism. His focus on Indigenous global issues sits along his work on local issues his community, and surrounding Indigenous and non-Indigenous nations and communities, are facing in the Southern Alberta region (also known as Treaty 7 Territory).

Daryl is a Stoney Nakoda Nation member through his mother’s heritage and is also from the Navajo Nation in New Mexico from his father’s heritage. Mr. Kootenay is a talented traditional artist and dancer, travelling across Turtle Island competing at many powwows and utilizing his regalia as teaching tools and methods. 

Mr. Kootenay continues to utilize his traditional knowledge, art, dance and international experience to promote and educate people of all ages, with his experience in:

• Culture and identity
• Leadership development and wise practices
• Organizational leadership
• Project management
• Strategic planning
• Healthy relationships, partnerships and alliance-building
• Mental illness and overcoming stigma
• Individualism and volunteering
• Facilitating and public speaking 
   

Daryl is the Co-executive Director of the Howl Experience, Owner of Bald Eagle Ltd., a Focal Point for the Global Indigenous Youth Caucus to the UN, Co-founder of the Nakoda Youth Council and a Co-convener of the Mni Ki Wakan Decade of Water Summit. Mr. Kootenay was recognized for his local, national and international work by the Governor General of Canada and was awarded Canada's Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers at the Rideau Hall, Ottawa.

Kathi Irvine, Co-Founder, of Watershed Organizational Development Group Inc., has worked with organizations in the public and private sectors for decades, and of late is spending much of her time in the not-for-profit sectors supporting the development of strategy, stakeholder engagement and effective board governance. With over 25 years of leadership and training experience, she shares extensive knowledge of change leadership, knowledge transfer, strategic planning, and employee engagement. Kathi firmly believes that the only way organizations can truly transform is through engaging employees and the communities they serve — her skill in creating space for conversations that matter has been the cornerstone of her work.

 She is a strong supporter of community engagement and is currently the vice chair of artsPlace Board of Directors in Canmore and a board member of the Banff Canmore Community Foundation.

Geoff Powter is an organizational development and leadership consultant, and one of the co-founders of the Watershed Organizational Development Group, based in Canmore, AB. Geoff has been faculty with Leadership Development at Banff Centre for the past 30 years and served as a member of the Board of Directors of Travel Alberta from 2016-2020.

Geoff trained as a clinical psychologist, and early in his career found an opportunity to blend his interest in the human mind with his passion for mountain adventure. Geoff has been an avid climber for more than four decades, and has climbed all over the globe, including 13 expeditions to the Himalayas. He was the editor of the Canadian Alpine Journal for 13 years, and has written two award-winning books — Strange and Dangerous Dreams: The Fine Line Between Adventure and Madness (which won the Jury Prize at the 2006 Banff Mountain Book Festival), and Inner Ranges (which won the Mountain Literature Prize in Banff, won the National Outdoor Book Award in the US, and was shortlisted for the Boardman-Tasker Award for Mountain Literature). He has written extensively about adventure travel, including regular pieces for The Globe and Mail. 

In 2012, Geoff received the prestigious Summit of Excellence Award for lifetime contribution to Canadian mountain culture. 

Colin a graduate of the BC Institute of Technology – Broadcast Communications (1981), and a graduate of the Vancouver Playhouse –Theatre Arts and Dramaturgy (1985).  Colin is the current Artistic Director of ReWild Theatre (Cortes Island, BC). Since 1989, he has led the creation of unique leadership and community development initiatives that bring together the arts, ecology and business through the medium of Theatre. 

Colin Funk is a senior facilitator and presenter in the area of creativity, innovation and leadership development.  During his 30 year career working as a creative facilitator Colin has worked with a multitude of organizations across Canada in government, and in the private and non-profit sector.

Colin currently resides on Cortes Island, BC and is an active community volunteer as Chair of the Cortes Community Economic Development Association.

Fergus Maclaren is a Canadian sustainable tourism and cultural heritage management professional with 30 years of experience in North America, Africa, Asia and Europe, with much of his current professional focus involving tourism to World Heritage sites and the implementation of the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals. His role with the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), one of the three advisory bodies to UNESCO's World Heritage Centre, which has recently involved him with post-COVID tourism recovery analyses and framework development. This background is informed by a broad range of tourism planning, destination management, and development expertise. His professional experience includes: coordinating international meetings and input as the Director of the UN-funded International Year of Ecotourism (IYE); teaching sustainable tourism at McGill University and lecturing on the subject at post-secondary institutions internationally. He currently works in Expert and professional capacities for UNESCO, UNWTO, the Organization of World Heritage Cities, the World Monuments Fund, the Economic Innovation Institute for Africa, and the Heritage and Cultural Society for Africa. He also has his own private consulting firm, MAC-DUFF Tourism | Heritage | Planning.

Chief Lorenzo Sanford of the Kalinago Territory, Dominica represents the future of the Kalinago people. In 2019 he was elected chief at the age of 22, the youngest Kalinago chief in Dominica.
Since then, he has worked tirelessly to provide a voice for the Kalinago people and especially its youth. 

Chief Lorenzo recently attended the US Department of State’s International Leadership Program, which focused on human and civil rights for marginalized communities.

The Kalinago territory is the last remaining autonomous indigenous territory in the Caribbean. The territory is situated on the small Caribbean island of Dominica which relies heavily on nature tourism. Chief Lorenzo and his Council are challenged to lead the territory through a fine balance of economic development, climate sensitivity and social and cultural sustainability.  Their aim is to create prosperity that encourages young people to stay on the land, embrace their culture and traditions and that does not limit future possibilities.

Sustainable tourism development is one of the pillars of his strategy. Chief Lorenzo will share the role tourism plays in the preservation of the Kalinago community. 

Raised as an “army brat” in France, Germany, the USA and across Canada, Leslie graduated from the University of Guelph with a B.Sc. in fisheries and wildlife biology. She worked in provincial and national parks in three provinces, capping her parks career as acting superintendent in Banff. Leslie left Parks Canada to pursue an interest in consulting work (facilitation, training and writing) – work that she continues today. From 1998 to 2007, she was an associate director in the Mountain Culture division of The Banff Centre, creating and leading the mountain environment programs there. Leslie served two terms as mayor of the town of Banff, and two terms as a Banff town councillor. She volunteers on the Municipal Planning Commission.

Xavier Font is a professor of Sustainability Marketing at the University of Surrey, and Professor II at the University of the Arctic in Norway. He researches and develops methods of sustainable tourism production and consumption. He has published widely about sustainable tourism certification and has consulted on sustainable product development, marketing and communication currently serving as advisor in Prince Harry's Travalyst coalition of Amadeus, Booking, Google, Expedia, Skyscanner, Travelport, Trip, Tripadvisor and Visa.  He has supervised 20 PhDs to completion. He is the Editor in Chief of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism (IF 9.470). He has conducted over 200 courses for more than 5,000 businesses on how to market and communicate sustainability. He is currently the Principal Investigator for the University of Surrey for the €23m Interreg project Experience to develop low-season sustainable tourism visitor experiences in the UK and France.

Rick Steves is a popular public television host, a best-selling guidebook author, and an outspoken activist who encourages Americans to broaden their perspectives through travel. But above all else, Rick considers himself a teacher. He taught his first travel class at his college campus in the mid-1970s — and now, more than 40 years later, he still measures his success not by dollars earned, but by trips impacted.

Widely considered America's leading authority on European travel, Rick produces a best-selling series of guidebooks and is the author of Travel as a Political Act. He is dedicated to providing all Americans with access to travel information, and has made extensive resources available for free on the Rick Steves' Europe website, via the Rick Steves Audio Europe™ app, and in Rick Steves Classroom Europe™, a searchable database of short, teachable video clips.

A longtime supporter of public broadcasting, Rick produces and hosts public television and radio shows that air across the nation. Rick is the founder and owner of Rick Steves' Europe (RSE), a travel business with more than 100 full-time employees. RSE operates a successful tour program which brings more than 30,000 people to Europe annually. The company contributes annually to a portfolio of climate-smart nonprofits, essentially paying a self-imposed carbon tax.

Rick works closely with several advocacy groups and makes regular financial contributions to more than 170 organizations, including annual contributions to Bread for the World. He is a board member of NORML and has been instrumental in the legalization of marijuana in several states. He has also provided $8 million in funding to build two new neighborhood centers in his community, and has donated a 24-unit apartment building for homeless women and their children to his local YWCA.