Board of Directors

Board Member

Ashish Sanghrajka

Ashish Sanghrajka - Big Five Tours & Expeditions

With decades of experience in the travel industry, Ashish Sanghrajka serves as President of Big Five Tours & Expeditions, a luxury North American tour operator specializing in bespoke/tailor-made private journeys in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the South Pacific. Beyond superior service and amazing private fully customized adventures, Big Five honors the best practices of sustainable and socially responsible luxury travel, promoting cultural preservation, community integrity, and conservation of natural resources.

Board Member

Angie Wheeler

Angie Wheeler - The Unique Traveler

Angie Wheeler, an ASTA verified Travel Advisor, has been a Travel Advisor since 2014. Her Agency, The Unique Traveler, is part of the Oasis Travel Network and a member of the Signature Travel Network Consortia. She is a Family Travel Specialist, and spends her days helping individual and multi-generational families plan special, memorable vacations to celebrate life achievements. She believes that some of the best memories families can make are while they are on a vacation, enjoying being together, as a family.

Board Member

Jessica Griscavage

Director of Marketing for McCabe World Travel

Jessica joined McCabe World Travel in 2004 as a travel advisor and has never looked back. Jessica has thrived in the industry, from serving family and friends, to developing several million dollars in annual sales. In 2016, she took on the additional role of Director of Marketing for McCabe World Travel.

Jessica was recognized with Virtuoso’s first Rising Star award in 2009. For the past seven years, Jessica has been named to the Travel+Leisure magazine A-List of top travel advisors. Travel Agent Magazine highlighted her among their Top 25 Agents in 2014, and she has been a Star Performer for Classic Vacations for the last ten years.

Board Member

Justin Heckman

Justin Heckman, CTA, National Director of Sales Strategy, USA - Club Med - has been in the travel industry for over 15 years. Justin has a strong background in training and development, but he started his career in travel with Club Med, working as a reservation agent in the Paris call center. Returning to the US, he managed the Midwest territory for Club Med as a BDM and then was recruited by Classic Vacations, where he worked for almost 7 years in various roles.

Board Member

Rainer Jenss

Founder

Having traveled to over 60 countries and counting, Rainer is an authority on the subject of family travel and how it can be used as a learning tool. During his family’s around-the-world journey, Rainer reported for National Geographic Traveler’s award-winning Intelligent Travel Blog, recognized as one of the Top 25 Family Travel Blogs by Babble.com in 2011 and 2012. In 2011, Rainer founded Smart Family Travel, Inc., an interactive media and marketing company dedicated to helping families enrich their children’s lives through travel. In 2012, he joined forces with Scholastic to direct a new family travel initiative and content development for the “Smart Family Travel” feature in Parent & Child magazine.

Board Member

Claire Zlobin

Founder and CEO, Life With A Baby

Claire is the founder and CEO of www.lifewithababy.com. Life With A Baby is Canada's largest peer to peer network of mothers with over 77,000 users. In addition to her parenting network, she owns www.dropofgoldensun.ca; a site focused on sharing fun things to do with kids and family travel.

Claire is a media member of the Family Travel Association and The Society of American Travel Writers. In addition to her sites, she also writes for many freelance publications with a focus on family travel.

Board Member

Tamara Gruber

Founder and Managing Editor, We3Travel and Your Time to Fly

Tamara is a travel content creator, podcaster, and digital publisher specializing in family travel, soft adventure, cultural exploration, and culinary travel. She launched her family travel blog, We3Travel.com in 2013 to make it easier for families to plan their own vacations by offering detailed itineraries, destination guides, and travel tips. As a passionate advocate for the benefits of family travel, Tamara’s goal is to encourage families to travel to new destinations and learn local history and culture in order to make lifelong memories, build resiliency, and raise global citizens.

Board Member

Jenn Lee, TPI

International Vice President of Industry Engagement and Support, Travel Planners

Jenn Lee, Travel Planners International’s VP of Industry Engagement and Support, isn’t shy about her obsession for guiding and leading today’s entrepreneurial-minded travel advisor community. According to Lee, the travel industry is amid a generational change. With veteran advisors and agency owners ready to pass the torch to the next generation, it is imperative that the industry attracts, coaches, and retains the best talent to craft and fulfill the next rendition of the travel advisor role. She believes that those that find success are the ones going beyond boosting their bank account; they’re building a business.

Board Member

Karelene Angus-Smith

Associate Director of Industry Affairs for Unique Vacations Inc., Beaches Resort
Karlene is the Associate Director of Industry Affairs for Unique Vacations Inc., an affiliate of the worldwide representative of Beaches Resorts. Karlene works very closely with the ministers and tourism boards representing the beautiful Caribbean islands where Beaches Resorts operates to help build and maintain meaningful and impactful relationships between these destinations and travel associations throughout the United States, like the Family Tourism Association.

Research Advisor

Peter Bopp

Board Member

Peter Bopp serves on the Board of Directors of the Family Travel Association, and works on our strategy, marketing, consumer research and insights. He has managed our family travel research partnership with NYU’s Tisch School of Tourism and Hospitality, and is building the FTA Consumer Panel for ongoing research and feedback benefitting the industry and our member organizations.

Board Member

Stephanie Lee

Founder, Host Agency Review

Steph Lee is the founder of Host Agency Reviews (HAR), a website that connects over 70k visitors a month to travel industry resources. HAR helps people looking to join the travel industry the roadmap to successfully start and grow their travel agencies. The site also provides resources for experienced advisors' toolkit and heads up an annual survey critical to understanding the hosted advisor community. 

PR Advisor

Laura Davidson

CEO & Founder, Laura Davidson Public Relations

Laura Davidson is the creative force behind LDPR, a leading New York-based public relations agency that specializes in travel and lifestyle clients. For more than 25 years it has been in the vanguard of its industry, constantly stretching the traditional boundaries of PR, embracing new digital solutions and adding services for its roster of top international clients. Today LDPR’s client list includes destinations like Scotland, Portland, Oregon and Melbourne/Victoria, Australia; global hospitality brands like Aman Resorts and Abercrombie & Kent; luxury properties like the Ritz-Carlton Bachelor Gulch in Colorado, the Resort at Paws Up in Montana, Chatham Bars Inn on Cape Cod, The Boca Raton in Florida, and the new Raffles Hotel in Boston; and a host of domestic hotels and resorts perfect for family travel.

Legal Advisor

Jeff Ment

Ment Law

For more than 20 years, Jeff Ment has represented companies and individuals in the travel industry. His experiences range from helping form new companies to defending companies in litigation. Jeff’s focus is on helping ensure that his clients are always ahead of the curve – following the best practices of our industry. This includes risk management, documentation, vendor selection, tour director training and insurance coverage. Jeff relies on his experience as a travel agent, sales manager for two airlines and work as a tour guide to understand what his clients need most.