Over the past years, Øistein Nilsen has led Hurtigruten as they redefine their culinary program to serve as a platform for sustainability, local value creation, and cultural storytelling. In close partnership with regional producers, indigenous communities, and internal teams, they have developed food concepts that reflect the Norwegian coastline, reduce food waste, and prioritize short-traveled ingredients. Without the contribution of local suppliers, Norway's Coastal Kitchen would not be possible. As part of their Towards Zero Food Waste initiative, they have implemented circular practices such as onboard composting, streamlined sourcing, and creative use of underutilized ingredients, turning surplus into sought-after dishes. This approach not only strengthens local food systems but also reduces environmental impact and supports resilient coastal communities. The result is a dining experience rooted in authenticity, responsibility, and collaboration. Hurtigruten is proud to be recognized for this work and to stand as a leading voice in shaping a more sustainable future for the global cruise industry.

At just 21, Mathilde Six led the first successful sustainability certification for her company's UAE office—no small feat in a 200-employee organization with over 40 years of history. As a young professional in a global DMC, she overcame internal resistance to align local operations with broader sustainability goals, particularly in supplier selection and product development. Today, as Sales Manager at Magic Travels, Mathilde continues to champion responsible tourism across Europe and the Middle East. She actively promotes ethical practices through partnerships with travel agencies and uses her voice to advocate for sustainability, gender equity, and the empowerment of young professionals in tourism. She is committed to driving positive change across the industry and inspiring the next generation of leaders.

Alison has spearheaded introducing sustainability into Avanti business practices by focusing on the people and the places that drive the business. Collaborating with ownership and stakeholders Alison is driving the Avanti Footprint. This initiative highlights their sustainable products as well as shaping the Avanti Footprint Foundation, a charitable fund that supports local endeavors to better the circular economy. Alison has also worked on evolving Avanti´s partnerships with product suppliers to include select Business Impact Assessment requirements. This has been both a personal and professional journey for Alison where she has taken time to educate herself on the subject. Alison´s next goals involve working with stakeholders to achieve company certification.

A person of many passions, B Lavornia has spent the past half-decade cultivating sustainability knowledge and integrating it into their responsibilities as a Travel Designer at Indagare. Having completed a Masters in Ethical and Sustainable Fashion, B is on a mission to change mentalities around the impact of tourism. They want to advance awareness about how demand-focused industries like Travel, Fashion and Beauty contribute to the expansion of unsustainable and inhumane supply chain practices. While simultaneously demonstrating how, if adapted properly, they can build social and environmental strength, particularly in the Global South. B's approach is very much to try and practice what they preach, and to help both clients and colleagues do the same. To this end they encourage action and buying power, alongside knowledge – all of which can contribute towards sustaining the travel industry in the long-term, so it can continue to bring us the profound and powerful learning experiences we all value, while preserving the world's most wonderful people and places.

Julie Higgins, South African, is the Sustainability Officer for Uniworld Boutique River Cruises and simultaneously oversees the fleet's Hotel Operations. She spearheads all sustainability initiatives at the brand, including Uniworld's industry-leading efforts to reduce food waste. In 2021 Uniworld became the first river cruise line to implement a food waste management system onboard, and until today, Uniworld has reduced its food waste by 34%, or the equivalent of more than 25 tonnes, from its baseline.

Under Julie's sustainability and operations leadership, the Uniworld team is actively progressing on multiple sustainability initiatives besides food waste management, including the increase of local and organic food suppliers across their supply network, the ongoing assessment and removal of unnecessary single-use plastics across the operation and the implementation of efficient measurement practices. She is always looking to innovate the sustainability potential of the Uniworld fleet, with Uniworld's focus on achieving net zero by 2050 or sooner.

Mikey Sadowski is the Vice President of Global Communications at Intrepid Travel. In his role, he leads all Intrepid's public relations, social media, corporate communications, and brand advocacy. In his decade long career at Intrepid, Mikey has focused on harnessing the power of storytelling and its important role in co-creating a more responsible future for travel and informing how and why we move through the world. Over the past few years, Mikey has developed and led Intrepid's Ethical Marketing Guidelines, a pioneering piece of work designed to accelerate Intrepid's investment and representation around DEI as well as significantly increasing the level of rigor around their transparency and public accountability efforts. The Ethical Marketing Guidelines, which outline 5 commitments and 23 measurable actions, were a travel-industry first and have already created systemic change within Intrepid's product, promotion and purpose, in addition to helping advocate for more action and allyship within the broader industry.

Dennis Nyambworo is a native Ugandan with the unique ability to convey both the warmth and empathy necessary for community development work, while at the same articulating the challenges these communities face to an international audience. Every project currently supported by Abercrombie & Kent (A&K) in Uganda has been spearheaded by Dennis, including, establishing a bike shop with underprivileged women giving them access to an excellent and non-traditional income earning opportunity, orchestrating the construction of a "Mother's Waiting Hostel" providing a place for women with high-risk pregnancies to reside ahead of delivery, the complete reconstruction of Ebenezer Primary School serving children living on the edge of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, and overseeing a significant expansion of access to safe water and lunch programs at Bwindi-area schools. During Dennis' tenure, over USD $300K has been invested locally and tens of thousands of lives, in one of the poorest regions of the world, have dramatically improved.

Nadine Pinto is the Global Sustainability Manager for TTC & TreadRight. Her primary focus is implementing TTC's sustainability strategy, How We Tread Right, including its efforts to address climate change through the groups' Climate Action Plan. Perhaps her most notable achievement is that she led the development of the groups industry leading carbon measurement and reporting program. This includes implementing a cloud based environmental reporting system, in addition to build of TTC's custom Trip Carbon Calculator, a tool that has since been peer reviewed to ensure its reliability. These efforts have enabled TTC to develop carbon reduction targets, which are under review by the Science Based Targets Initiative. These will be the first Science Based Targets for a private travel business of TTC's scale. Nadine also oversees the data collection and analysis for TTC's Impact Reports, the first published in May 2022 which measures progress against the groups' sustainability goals.

Ana Esteves, Vice President of Hotel Operations for Lindblad Expeditions, and a native Venezuelan, discovered her culinary passion at a young age. After graduating Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Hospitality Management, and working in Miami's leading restaurants, Ana moved to Beijing, China where at age 22, she led a restaurant to award-winning heights as #1 in the city for three consecutive years. She then moved to Ho Chi Minh City to oversee a complex operation of 7 restaurants, enhancing their sustainability practices while working with local vendors/farmers and fine-tuning their purchasing practices. Returning stateside, Ana headed up the kitchen at Washington D.C.'s renowned Founding Farmers before combining her passion for food with the travel industry, joining Lindblad Expeditions, known for its 50+-year commitment to sustainability. Ana uses her exemplary skills to create incredible guest experiences with cuisine that reflects the region being explored; supports local farmers & families through innovative initiatives; and inspires her own culinary team across the 11-ship fleet. Ana has lived in six countries and speaks English, Spanish, French, and Mandarin.