Chad is fortunate to be a natural born entrepreneur as he’s been a terrible employee historically. Starting his first business in 4th grade, Chad had been a serial entrepreneur until finding a true home with his cousin when they founded OutsideAgents.com. Chad is now thrilled to share his passion and insights for small travel agencies with big dreams. Chad also loves playing with his kids, spending time with his wife, and racing anything with a motor. In his spare time, he does a little juggling and standup comedy.

Important: MBA, 30 years in C-level Marketing, IT, and Business Development. Notoriously curious. Disdain for the inauthentic. Recent activities: Fraud Prevention Program, Marketing Engine for Travel Agents (powered in part by TRO), Integrated AI, Prosper Circle Small Group Agent Incubator, and a Parent/Sub agent program to connect small agency owners and their staff with industry experts. Read the rest of this entry »

During his career in the travel industry, Richard has enjoyed leadership roles in both the retail and wholesale sides of the industry. Beginning in retail agency sales and management, Richard transitioned into the luxury wholesale tour operator space, focusing on product development and market share expansion. As Director of Sky Vacations, Richard leads a dynamic team, dedicated to developing programs that offer a unique opportunity for a traveler to connect with a place and its people, specifically to India and “waiting to be discovered” destinations. Richard serves on a number of industry committees and is a current Board member of IGLTA.

Joel Cohen has invested the past 44 years of his life in tourism and is very pleased that the investment has paid dividends.

Joel graduated from Temple University School of Business Administration and attended its Law School, has spoken at many travel industry events including the ASTA World Congress, and has been named to Who’s Who of American Business Leaders.

He is an avid photographer, has self-published a book called Random Photographs from Random Journeys, and has had several exhibitions of his works.

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Sheila Folk is an experienced travel business owner with an impressive history of working in the leisure, travel, and tourism industry. She grew her travel agency to $8M in two years by creating and implementing a broad range of solutions she needed (but that were not available in the marketplace) to make her business a success. Sheila’s new company, Travel Industry Solutions, has now brought her contracts, tools, guides, and scripts to the entire industry.

Throughout her career, Sheila has demonstrated strong professional skills and expertise in management, strategic planning, and business development; new program and product development, branding, budgeting, and positioning; and negotiation, sales, and corporate communications. She has extensive, hands-on experience in all phases of B2B management, from marketing to establishing protocols for start-up firms. Her big-picture vision to establish and achieve corporate goals has led to triple digit growth, year after year. Before starting her own companies, she held such positions as director of business operations at a global branding company and assistant vice president of marketing at an international professional association.

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Michael was born and raised in the south suburbs of Chicago. He attended Northern Illinois University where he received a BS in Biological Sciences. It didn’t take him long to realize the routine of scientific testing work didn’t match with his personality.

Following a 29-year career working for the airlines in increasing sales roles, Michael joined Sky Bird Travel & Tours in 2015 as Sky Bird’s first Business Development Manager. As the sales team grew, Michael took on the role of Director as well as overseeing the Customer Service division. He is often the face of Sky Bird at industry events and the voice of Sky Bird on webinars featuring our WINGS booking engine.

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