Emrah is a creative director, specializing in branding and graphic design, based in Los Angeles. His main focuses are country and city branding as well as motion picture advertising. As a senior art director and creative director he created campaigns for many top feature films for Hollywood's major studio He worked on many big box-office projects such as Kill Bill, What Women Want, Enemy at the Gates, Big Daddy etc. In 2008 he decided to separate his branding and advertising projects undertake new enterprise I Mean It Creative and continue to offer a vast array of advertising solutions. Mr Yucel is also giving talks about his profession. The third-annual City Nation Place global conference invited Mr. Yücel to share his fresh perspective on why and how to engage citizens in place brand strategy.

An accomplished marketing professional and civic leader, Bill Gehrman is Founder & CEO of En Route, a strategic marketing agency focused on tourism, civic and cultural projects. En Route provides marketing, public relations, digital marketing, content development and project management services to an array of clients that has included the Historic Philadelphia, Inc., Independence Visitor Center Corporation, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Valley Forge Tourism and Convention Board, Chestnut Hill Business District, One Liberty Observation Deck, Eastern State Penitentiary, Visit South Jersey, and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.

Dr. Hritz, is currently an associate professor and marketing researcher at the University of South Carolina Beaufort. Prior to that she was faculty at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. She holds a PhD in Leisure Behavior, a Master in Business Administration, and a Bachelor’s degree in Communication. She teaches courses in hospitality management, impacts of tourism in destinations, hospitality marketing, and destination marketing. She has 15+ years of professional travel and tourism industry experience with past positions with Royal Caribbean, Inc., Hilton Hotels and Divi Resorts. She has completed multiple research projects in the professional sphere that include visitor profiles, conversion studies, and impact studies. She has worked with organizations such as the Hilton Head-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce, Sea Pines Resort, Wilmington and Beaches Convention and Visitor Bureau, Town of Wrightsville Beach, NC, Cape Fear Museum of History and Science, U. S. National Park Service and U. S. Masters Swimming.

Greg has been the CEO of Tourism Cares since May 1, 2019. He previously served on its Board, acting as its Chairman before becoming CEO. Prior to Tourism Cares, Greg was the President of Trip Mate, Inc., a travel insurance administrator. His career has spanned thirty-two years in the travel industry. Greg has served on the Boards of NTA and the IGLTA Foundation, as well as numerous industry committees. He is from Chicago and has an undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and a Juris Doctor degree from Washington University in St. Louis.