Hon John Key, Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism

Prime Minister John Key was born in Auckland. He was educated at Burnside High School in Christchurch and completed a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Canterbury. John launched his investment banking career in the 1980s, working in Singapore, London, Sydney and New York. In 2001, he fulfilled a long-held ambition to stand for Parliament for the National Party, winning the Helensville seat in 2002. John rose through the party ranks, becoming finance spokesman, then National Party Leader in November 2006. In the November 2008 General Election, the country voted for a National-led Government and John was sworn in as New Zealand’s 38th Prime Minister.

George Hickton, Chief Executive, Tourism New Zealand

Tim Cossar – Chief Executive, Tourism Industry Association

Tim Cossar was appointed as the new Chief Executive of TIA in May 2008 and started his new role with TIA July 2008. Previous to this, Tim was Chief Executive of Positively Wellington Tourism and had a strong background in the tourism industry. Tim was Chief Executive of Positively Wellington Tourism from January 2002 and was instrumental in developing the award-winning 'Have a Love Affair with Wellington' campaign.

Prior to that, Tim was Chief Executive of the QEII National Trust and General Manager of Tourism Rotorua (now Destination Rotorua Tourism Marketing). Tim has also served on numerous event strategy and industry steering groups, including chairing the Regional Tourism Organisations of New Zealand (RTONZ) and being a member of the New Zealand Tourism Strategy Ministerial Advisory Group.

Tim says he wants to ensure TIA is recognised as a central player and valued contributor to tourism development and growth in New Zealand. Essential to this is ensuring the collective views of a very diverse industry are as well represented as possible in the wider community as well as political environments.

Professor Simon Milne – Director, New Zealand Tourism Research Institute

Simon Milne was born in New Zealand and has been conducting research on issues relating to tourism and regional economic development for over 15 years. He completed his MA in Geography at Auckland University in 1985 and his thesis focused on the economic impact of tourism in the Cook Islands. Simon then went to Cambridge to complete a PhD in industrial geography. Simon's doctorate focused on the impacts of technology and new management strategies on the corporate location and labour market needs of various manufacturing firms in the UK. For much of 1988 he also worked for the United Nations Development Program as a tourism economist in the South Pacific. Simon joined the Department of Geography at McGill University in 1989. In 1990 he formed the multidisciplinary McGill Tourism Research Group, which he continues to co-ordinate. Simon remains an Adjunct Professor at McGill. In 1998 he took up the position as Professor of Tourism at Victoria University. The new millennium took Simon to Auckland University of Technology (AUT) in the position of Associate Dean of Research and Director of the New Zealand Tourism Research Institute.

Mark Dumble and Eric Foley – Directors, BBH NZ Ltd

Mark Dumble and Eric Foley are the directors of BBH NZ. With a history in travellers' accommodation stretching back as far as 1974, Mark and Eric have clocked up a combined total of almost 60 years in this sector of the industry. Survivors of the early 80's NZ "backpacker" accommodation development, they coordinated a mutual support group of other early operators which morphed in '87 into BBH NZ Ltd. A Pioneer of customer satisfaction ratings and an early participants on the world wide web (1995), BBH now represents more than 300 independent operators providing around 12,000 beds to the NZ Tourism industry.

Julian Ledger – CEO, YHA (New South Wales)

Julian Ledger is the CEO of YHA in New South Wales and is responsible for YHA accommodation in thirty locations around that State and in Canberra and the Northern Territory. Responsibilities include YHA's travel retailing, marketing, membership and publishing operations.

He is the past Chairman of the Australian Backpacker Tourism Advisory Panel which operates under the auspices of the Tourism Export Council and he was a founding member of the Backpacker Operators Association of NSW and the Tourism Industry Council of NSW.

Julian Ledger has worked with government at Local, State and Federal levels to achieve recognition for the backpacker sector, sensible regulations, a research base, marketing commitment and an appropriate visa policy framework. He has developed backpacker accommodation including the award winning properties Sydney Central YHA and Blue Mountains YHA. He is currently working on the Sydney Harbour YHA project in the Rocks. He holds a BSc in Management Sciences from Warwick University, is a sometime backpacker and is graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Anne Murphy – Director, Hiking New Zealand

Anne Murphy is co-director of adventure-tourism operator Hiking New Zealand. In 2005, she and her husband Daniel bought into the business that Mark Brabyn started in 1993. Anne and Daniel, who not so long ago were keen backpackers themselves, got into the tourism industry in Spain, managing a lodge and guided walks for a UK travel company. Anne has a Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing and International Business from Auckland University. Before becoming involved in the tourism industry in New Zealand Anne worked in marketing, human resources and also spent a few years as a secondary school teacher.

Hiking New Zealand operates guided hiking tours throughout the South Island, and, through partner operators, offers clients access to a selection of the best hikes and adventures nationwide and in the Pacific and Antarctic region. The company has always attracted a solid following in the backpacker market for the Hiking New Zealand operated safaris.

Geoff Penrose – Chief Executive, Qualmark New Zealand

Geoff Penrose is the Chief Executive of Qualmark New Zealand Limited, an organisation that provides quality assurance, star grading and accreditation services to the tourism sector. Qualmark now annually assesses over 2,200 tourism businesses, provides added value services such as mystery shopping and also conducts contracted assessment services on behalf of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. Geoff commenced his role as Chief Executive in 2004.

Geoff's qualifications include a Bachelor of Commerce degree, a Postgraduate Diploma in Commerce and a Master of Business Administration degree. Geoff is on the tourism advisory boards of AUT and AIS St Helens.

Geoff brings together a mix of private and public sector experience. Geoff trained and started working as an economist in the financial services sector before moving to marketing roles and then onto quality management. Customer focus and continuous improvement have been a passion throughout his career. Geoff is married with 2 children and enjoys the occasional game of golf.

Dan Roberts – Manager Strategic Design, Xebidy Social Web Design; Managing Editor, Travel Generation

Dan Roberts is Managing Strategic Designer of web development and marketing company, Xebidy.com, and Managing Editor of the online backpacker community, Travelgeneration.com.

Dan has been involved in backpacking for over 16 years including the "good-old wild days" as General Manager firstly of Kiwi Experience and then Stray in Europe. Dan quickly realised the power of the web for tourism companies as the Internet was just blossoming as he headed up Irish start-up company Travelonomy (formerly TravelFAT). Here he oversaw a number of funding rounds in the heady days of Internet investment - the last seeing him sell his management stake to private equity and venture capital interests.

Dans' experience in both backpacking operations and Internet marketing is highly demanded as he consults on web marketing strategies with many high profile Australian and New Zealand tourism companies in the extremely fast moving world of Web 2.0 and social media. He is supported by a team of nine web developers and online marketers under the Xebidy.com brand.

In 2008 Dan launched the SwuzzleBucket network for online backpacker advertising and the TravelGeneration.com backpacker community. Travel Generation is at the forefront of Internet development using innovative social bookmarking technology and integration into the likes of Facebook for travel planning and sharing of travel experiences. Lonely Planet recently nominated the Travel Generation blog as one of the top 5 Group Authored blogs in the world.

Darnell Dixon – General Manager NZ - The Hyperfactory; Sales Director NZ - Snakk Media

Snakk Media is the first global media agency to specialise in packaging and representing truly unique mobile media advertising opportunities. With teams in Los Angeles, Auckland, Sydney and Hong Kong, Snakk Media works closely with both publishers and bands to unlock the power of the ever increasing global mobile audience.

As Director of Sales New Zealand for Snakk Media, Darnell Dixon is committed to building on the success The Hyperfactory Group has experienced over the last 8 years. Darnell joined The Hyperfactory in 2003 as business development manager and her achievements in this role helped position The Hyperfactory as market leader in the mobile marketing industry. Prior to joining The Hyperfactory, Darnell was an Account Executive at Clear Communications (now TelstraClear).

Darnell is a regular speaker on the New Zealand speaker circuit and recently presented at the Australian Direct Marketing Association Forum in addition most recently Darnell joined the IAB New Zealand Agency Sub Committee providing her expertise in the field of mobile to this forum.

Luiz Mendes-Filho – New Zealand Tourism Research Institute

Luiz Mendes-Filho is from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Luiz has attracted a Top Achiever Doctoral Scholarship for his proposed research. The aim of his PhD study is to understand how UGC (User Generated Content) empowers online consumer behaviour in booking accommodation. The thesis findings will help the competitiveness of the accommodation sector.

Tim West-Newman - New Zealand Tourism Research Institute

Tim is currently working for Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, the Māori Centre of Research Excellence as a systems developer for their Research, Capability Building and Knowledge Exchange programmes. From 2002 to mid 2008 he was with the New Zealand Tourism Research Institute as a web designer/programmer and as a researcher while completing his PhD. Tim's research research applied usability techniques and methods to observe and inquire into tourists in order to show how websites influence backpackers' images and expectations of New Zealand as a travel destination.