Cathy Parsons

Chair, Accreditation Panel

Cathy is currently a consultant on urban planning issues in Australia and has been chair of the Accreditation Panel since October 2010. She has been actively involved in the evolution to the present day of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council. From 2001 to 2006, Cathy was the Executive Director and then CEO of the worldwide tourism certification program, Green Globe. She was responsible for all aspects of delivering the program to tourism operations in over 50 countries with the objective of achieving a more sustainable tourism industry. During her time in the mid-90ss as a senior executive with the Australian Government’s Department of Tourism, she managed the government’s environmental tourism programs. She assisted industry to develop the world’s first ecotourism certification program as well as several other tourism certification programs for different industry sectors.

Loreto Duffy Mayers

Loreto is currently the Project Manager for the Caribbean Hotel Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Action (CHENACT) Programme. This IDB and CDE funded project is designed to improve the competitiveness of small to medium sized hotels (<400 rooms) in the Caribbean through greater energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy and micro-generation. Phase 1 of the project ended in March 2012. The CHENACT Advanced Programme was launched in July 2012. Loreto was born in Dublin, Ireland and moved to Barbados in 1985. She was educated at University College Dublin and UK Institute of Marketing. She has held the position of Environmental Manager in several green hotels, including Coconut Court Resort, Casuarina Beach Club and the Almond Resorts (3 hotels in Barbados and 2 in St. Lucia). Loreto has received many personal awards for her contribution the promotion of sustainable tourism, including: Barbados Youth Environmental Programme award for contribution to the Environment; Barbados Governor General’s Award for contribution to Green Tourism; Global Green Globe Champion; EAST Award of Excellence; Barbados Minister of Environment Award and BHTA Environmental Award.

David Andrés Ortegón-Martínez

David is General Director and Co-Founder of “KAI Sustainable Coaching”, a company based in México, created to assist tourism businesses in Latin America to integrate Sustainability into their Management Systems and use it as a key element to optimize the use of its resources and its competitiveness on the market. David`s experience on Sustainability include his work as Sustainable Development Corporate Coordinator at El Dorado Spa Hotels & Resorts and Azul Hotels at Mayan Riviera, the Implementation of a Corporate Sustainable Management Systems combining criteria of Green Globe, Travelife and MARTI (Meso-American Reef Tourism Initiative) programs, as well as the coordination of Strategic alliances to develop Corporate Social Responsibility programs and Natural Resources Conservation initiatives in Colombia and México. His work on Tourism Sustainability has been enriched by his previous experience in other sectors coordinating the Rainforest Alliance Certification program and Nespresso verification in México, and developing integrated Systems to measure Sustainability through the optimization of resource management. David holds a Master on Leadership & Environmental Management from the UCI Costa Rica and an International Master in Local/Rural Development from the Polytechnic University of Madrid.

Jóse Augusto A.K. Pinto de Abreu

Jose is Director of Sextante Ltda., a consulting firm specialized in sustainability, innovation, management systems and supporting technologies to competitiveness (such as standardisation, regulation, conformity assessment - including certification and accreditation). With more than 20 of experience in these themes is involved with tourism since 2000, helping the development of the systems of standards and certification on persons competences, sustainable tourism and safety in adventure tourism in Brazil and Ecuador. Also worked in the New Brazilian Classification System for Tourism (a stars rating system for accommodation facilities) for the Brazilian Government. During 1990 and 1999 worked at ABNT - the National standards body of Brazil.

Stefán Gíslason

Stefán is a biologist with a Master’s degree from Lund University, Sweden in Environmental Management and Policy. He is the founder and owner of Environice, a small consultancy located in Borgarnes, Iceland, specializing in sustainable development with public policy making, sustainable tourism, ecolabelling and education for sustainable development as the main focus areas. During the last years Stefán has mainly been working on projects for local and national authorities in Iceland, as well as for The Nordic Council of Ministers, which is the forum for governmental co-operation between Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The Icelandic Tourist Board and The Icelandic Travel Industry Association (SAF) have been among his most important clients for the last 11 years. He has also assisted several local governments and SME’s within the toursim sector in decision making and preparing for environmental and sustainability certification.

Geoff Penrose

Geoff established www.WorldClassTourism.com in 2010 as an international consultancy that improves the quality, safety, authenticity and sustainability of the tourism experience. Geoff was the CEO of Qualmark New Zealand from 2004 to 2009, an organisation that developed and assessed the quality standards for all types of tourism businesses including hotel chains, luxury boutique resorts, land and sea adventure activities and cultural tourist attractions. Geoff was responsible for introducing an integrated quality and environmental star rating system in 2008. Geoff works with tourism companies, governments and donor agencies across Europe, Asia and the Pacific to improve tourism standards and is a part time lecturer in tourism.

Mike Read

Mike established Mike Read Associates (MRA) as an international consultancy in 1987. Mike's work has spanned responsible tourism, water efficiency, wildlife conservation, climate change, and waste prevention. Through the 1990s he was also closely involved in developing the FSC. Mike took a two-year break from consultancy in 2009 to take on the new role of Head of Programmes for the Travel Foundation. He continues to work as a consultant for TF, and manages TF's agricultural links project in Turkey. He sits on the Travelife Strategy Group, and GSTC's Accreditation Panel. In addition to his understanding of sustainability and social justice issues, he has knowledge of the UK outbound tourist industry, has expertise in developing small businesses. Mike studied botany, and subsequently environmental technology, at the University of London. He has worked for Defra, the Environment Agency, B&Q, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and the Eden Project among many other clients.

Accreditation Panel Members