Advisory Board

Integral to the programme is the WSTHA Advisory Board, composed of leading authorities, academics and dignitaries in sustainable tourism. These experts steer and govern the WSTHA programme to reflect the travel and hospitality ecosystem, including guiding on best practice, standards, criteria and the award category list.

Members of the Advisory Board include:

With his wealth of experience in marketing and executive leadership, the Hon. Anthony Mahler has led multiple teams, directing portfolios spanning destination branding, product development, sustainable tourism development, public relations, crisis management, and social media marketing.

As the Minister of Tourism and Diaspora Relations, Minister Mahler is focused on providing strategic leadership and direction for Belize’s tourism development, promoting the destination, and ensuring the ongoing innovation and transformation of the industry toward a more sustainable and resilient model of tourism development.

Minister Mahler served as a previous Director of Product Development at the Belize Tourism Board, then later moved on to Speednet Communications Limited as the Chief Marketing Officer, before being elected to the House of Representatives. Minister Mahler holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix, a Master’s Program Graduate Certificate in Financial Analysis, and a Certificate in Strategic Management from Tuck Institute at Dartmouth, and has served in managerial capacities in both the public and private sectors.

As Director of Sustainability, Christopher Imbsen is responsible for ensuring that the WTTC and its members work with destinations to promote sustainable and inclusive growth that contributes to the communities, natural ecosystems and cultural heritage. From 2012-2019, he was Deputy Regional Director for Europe at the UN World Tourism Organization, handling relations with the organization's European Member States.

Prior to joining UNWTO, Chris worked as a consultant for international, public and private sector clients on tourism master plans, strategies, marketing and business operations. Chris has extensive experience of engagement of government and industry leaders on tourism policy and strategy issues, as well as on-the-ground project management experience from initial planning, development and funding stages through implementation and monitoring.

Glenn Mandziuk is CEO of the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, the leading global network in responsible hospitality. He has over 25 years of leadership experience in advancing sustainable practices in tourism, hospitality and economic development, and establishing strategies and programmes that inspire responsible growth.

Glenn has led the development of the SHA’s Pathway to Net Positive Hospitality, which enables all hotels to work towards having a net positive impact, no matter their starting point.

He is also Co-chair of the Sustainable Markets Initiative Hospitality and Tourism Task Force, which focuses on creating new business models, reducing emissions, and investing in people to support sustainable hospitality. He has also been appointed as member of the Institute of Tourism and Hospitality Professional (ITHP) Advisory Council, and the International CHRIE Industry Advisory Council (IAC).

Previously he was President and CEO of Canada’s Thompson Okanagan Tourism Region (TOTA), recognised as a global champion of excellence and innovation in sustainable destination management and responsible development practices. The team received recognition from the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), World Travel Awards, and Responsible Tourism Institute’s Biosphere Gold Certification – a first in the Americas.

He holds a Masters of Environmental Design majoring in sustainable tourism planning. He is also a director on the Board of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council and the Responsible Tourism Institute.

Patricio has been responsible for the management of the Responsible Tourism Institute (RTI) for the last 10 years, expand its presence in globally, including new branches in the USA, Canada and Portugal. Activities include co-founding sustainable development networks such as the Ibero-American Network of Sustainable Destinations, the Biosphere Destinations Community and the GSTC Destinations Community.

He oversees the creation of sustainability assessments and strategies for DMOs and destinations, such as Turismo de Tenerife, Catalan Tourism Agency, Barcelona Provincial Council, Aldeias Históricas de Portugal – Association of Tourism Development, Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association, Lleida Provincial Council, the Biosphere Reserve Meseta Ibérica and ZASNET (European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation), Kootenay Rockies, Northern British Columbia, Cariboo Chilcotin Coast and Vancouver Island Tourism Association.

Patricio holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, an MBA from MBA Business School and a master’s in Biotechnology from Aliter Escuela de Negocios.

Susan is Chair of Tangle Teezer and sits on the Boards of Moonpig, EUROWAG and Uber UK. She is Chair Designate of Inter.Earth, and Co-Founding Director of Chapter Zero, an organisation dedicated to providing education, insight and support on climate change to Non-Executive Board Directors and Chairs. She is involved in several start-ups in carbon capture and sustainability and is also an Ambassador for the World Travel & Tourism Council.

Prior to her plural career, Susan was Managing Director of British Gas Residential Services, a £1.8bn revenue division. She joined from the Acromas Group where she was Chief Executive of the travel division, responsible for Saga Holidays, Hotels and Cruises, the AA Travel division, and Titan Travel. Previously, she held senior roles at Royal Caribbean International, Avis Europe, PepsiCo, McKinsey & Co, and Saatchi & Saatchi.

She was previously Chair of Carbon Gap and of Caresourcer.com in Edinburgh and has held several non-executive directorships including Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU), Wizz Air, Courtaulds, Royal & Sun Alliance, Transcom, First Choice, S.C Johnson, Whitbread, Affinity Water and The Rank Group. Susan was also a member of the Advisory Board of the LUISS Business School in Rome.

Susan has a BA from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, and an MA from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (S.A.I.S.) in Washington DC. She is fluent in German and Italian.

Susan lives near London with her husband. She loves being outdoors and enjoys sailing, travel and photography.

Born in Spain, Isabel completed her MBA in Chile and Georgetown University, followed by a Master’s in Business Innovation in Switzerland. She has also pursued additional certificates in sustainability, management, and product design across Spain, Italy, and the USA.

Passionate about the positive impact of tourism, Isabel is an expert in sustainable tourism. With extensive experience as an entrepreneur and consultant in tourism, primarily in South America, she has led projects focusing on innovation and strategic development with a sustainability lens. Since 2020, she has had the privilege of serving as President of the International Social Tourism Organization (ISTO). Additionally, she holds the position of Sustainability Manager and Corporate Affairs at Group Novojet, a leading Chilean tour operator committed to responsible and socially conscious tourism.

Juha Jarvinen leads the commercial unit of Sir Richard Branson’s iconic airline, Virgin Atlantic, the UK’s second largest long-haul carrier with annual £3 billion revenues in 2022. He manages everything from passengers and cargo to network planning and joint ventures.

He joined Virgin Atlantic from Finnair, where he had been Chief Commercial Officer and Executive Board Member from 2014 and Managing Director of Finnair Cargo from 2012 to 2016. He has also held a number of senior commercial and operations positions at SAS Scandinavian Airlines during his 14 years at the airline.

Juha is non-exec board member at British American Business, chamber of commerce driving trade and investment between the UK and US. He holds an MBA from Danube University, Austria and a BA Honours from London Metropolitan University. The experiences curious Finn loves travelling and exploring the world, as well as gym training and completely switches off at bikram hot yoga and by running.

Dr. Willy Legrand is Professor at the IU International University of Applied Sciences in Germany with a specialization in sustainable management. Over the past two decades, he has established over two dozen undergraduate and graduate courses on sustainable development in business and hospitality management in Europe, South and North America, the Middle East and Asia. He is the lead author of Sustainability in the Hospitality Industry: Principles of Sustainable Operations and Critical Questions in Sustainability and Hospitality. Prof Legrand chairs the Hospitality Net World Panel on Sustainability in Hospitality where 100+ industry experts regularly interact with the aim is to get sustainability anchored more than ever into the business conversation and decision-making. He sits on multiple journal and professional boards and is the co-editor of the Journal of Global Responsibility.

Professor Graham Miller is the Rodrigo Guimarães Chair of Sustainable Business and Academic Director for the Westmont Institute for Tourism and Hospitality at Nova School of Business and Economics, Lisbon, Portugal. His research is focused on the drivers to create greater sustainability across society, with a particular emphasis on the travel and tourism sector. Graham is the former Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University of Surrey, UK with responsibility for sustainability and employability. Graham was also Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

Graham is the former chair of the Considerate Group, a company formed to promote sustainable practice in the hotel industry through the analysis of energy and water usage data. Prof. Miller was co-editor of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism, the leading academic journal dedicated to research around promoting sustainability of and through the tourism industry. From 2014-2019 Graham was the lead judge for the World Travel and Tourism Council’s Tourism for Tomorrow Awards. Graham was also an appointed member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council for the Future of Sustainable Tourism. This group seeks to provide imaginative and bold solutions to the global challenges facing society, and in particular how travel and tourism intersect with these challenges.