Team Zartico
The only way to create great things every day is with great people
"The natural beauty and energy of Sedona uplifting me and reminding me of our connection with this planet."
We hire the kind of people you want to work with: those who are big thinkers, passionate, compassionate, curious, imaginative, collaborative, never satisfied and ambitious.
Zartico’s mission is to empower organizations to be better stewards of the world’s destinations through improved data intelligence and decision-making.
The Zartico blog is packed full of insights and advice to help destination marketing teams improve their story.
Articles →Think of them as your insights therapist. Learn more about Zartico's team of advisors.
Strategic Advisors →CEO
With over 25 years of leadership experience, Sarah joined Zartico to implement its strategy and help realize the company’s mission of combining data, science and technology to positively impact the tourism and visitor economy.
Previously, Sarah served as CEO and President of ENVE Composites, successfully growing the company from start-up to one of the leading cycling businesses in the industry, and ultimately leading its acquisition. A Harvard Business School graduate, Sarah spent over ten years in various marketing, sales and operational roles in the biotech and pharmaceutical sector. Sarah was named CEO of the Year by Utah Business Magazine, Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young and earned the Women in Technology Award for her leadership at ENVE.
Sarah currently resides in Utah and enjoys spending time with her husband and three children hiking, biking and traveling. A native of Green Bay, Wisconsin, she is an avid Packers fan.
Founder/President
Darren brings over 19 years of industry leadership in destination marketing, having worked for FarePortal, Orbitz and Expedia/Tripadvisor as part of Interactive Corp (IAC). The diversity of travel companies allowed him to gain valuable experience in destination, air and hotel businesses across the globe.
Prior to Zartico, Darren served as SVP of Destination Strategy at ADARA, most notably conceiving and launching Impact, their highly successful destination analytics platform.
Originally from Montana, Darren currently resides in San Francisco with his wife and labradoodle, Briggs. He enjoys traveling the world, skiing and DJing.
Co-Founder/Chief Innovation Officer
Jay leads Zartico’s data and analytics team, helping destination marketing organizations (DMOs) use data-centered insights to market and manage their destinations more effectively.
Jay was previously the Associate Marketing Director at the Utah Office of Tourism, where he led the agency’s content, social, marketing analytics and digital marketing initiatives. In 2017, Jay received the Peter Yesawich Award for marketing excellence from the Travel and Tourism Research Association and MMGY Global.
A Colorado native, Jay lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with his wife and two children. He enjoys trail running, watching his son’s soccer games and skate skiing.
Chief Revenue Officer
With more than 25 years of experience in the hospitality industry, managing restaurants, hotel sales and revenue teams, Bahlman brings a holistic view of the tourism industry to Zartico. His previous roles include Deputy/Acting Director at Maryland Office of Tourism, Director of Global DMO and Supplier Marketing Strategy at Orbitz Worldwide, and, most recently, Vice President of Tourism and Hospitality at ADARA.
Bahlman joins Zartico as Global Head of Sales and is responsible for driving and achieving the company’s revenue goals and building a world class global destination sales team.
With his wife and three boys, Bahlman resides in Ocean City, Maryland. They enjoy the beach life, fishing, golfing and skiing. He volunteers his time as a local sports coach and is a lifelong fan of the Baltimore Ravens and Maryland Terps, of which he is an alumnus.
CMO
A global adventurer, Ted believes travel makes us kinder, smarter and overall better human beings. With over 25 years in the hospitality and tourism industry, Ted has covered a lot of ground and has extensive knowledge and experience in global travel marketing, data, analytics, branding and media.
Prior to joining Zartico, Ted led the Global Product Development, Marketing and Sales of ADARA’s analytics products for destinations, airlines and hotels. Prior to ADARA, Ted was the VP of Business Strategy for MMGY Global as well as a successful entrepreneur. Ted is a popular International speaker and contributor to industry publications and conferences. He educates the destination industry to embrace their inner geek, love of travel experiences and the utilization of data to make better, more impactful decisions.
Ted recently moved from London to Cape Cod with his wife Emily, their daughter Coley who attends DePaul University in Chicago, and their second daughter Izola, who they welcomed to the world last spring. Whether he’s ‘working’ or not, you can find him in a quaint pub in Ireland, Chatham, Madrid, Slovenia or anywhere really…making friends with the locals and adding a bit of color to his stories for the benefit of those who are listening.
Chief Science & Strategy Officer
With 26 years of experience developing and managing high-performance computing architectures, mathematics and simulation, John brings a wealth of knowledge to Zartico’s data and analytics team.
Previously Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Utah and, having served as Research Scientist at the University’s Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute (SCI), John was instrumental in developing and maintaining the Uintah open source library, which is used to conduct complex simulations of physical interactions on the largest supercomputers in the world.
John holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Duke University and has been published in numerous journals and papers with a focus on scientific computing, engineering and data analysis, as well as lecturing on topics of a similar nature.
With his wife and two dogs, John resides in a small town at the base of Utah’s Uinta mountains. He has been involved for over 30 years training both labrador and golden retrievers for field trial retriever competitions. He is also a lifelong runner and sportsman and enjoys being outdoors, hiking, camping and experiencing Utah's natural beauty.
Chief Product Officer
Whether we’ve recognized it or not, COVID-19 has completely revolutionized the expectations consumers have for brands and destinations. In light of this next normal and the evolving state of the travel industry, this is precisely where Josh Collins, TEDx Alum, Experience Architect and Head of Community + Education for Zartico, comes alive.
Having worked with some of the most powerful and influential brands like Stevie Wonder, The Roots, John Legend, Jay-Z and many others for nearly 20 years, Josh now takes his deep understanding of human connection and experience design to Entrada Insights leading the team in educating DMO’s, both large and small, on how to become better stewards of their destinations.
Josh serves on several boards including the Advisory Board for E-Tourism Summit; a Silicon-Valley based Travel & Tourism conference and is a frequent speaker on Branding, Marketing and Social Media, teaching brands how to connect with their audiences both online and off.
Strategic Advisor Director
As a Senior Data Advisor, Katie will provide account management, training and serve as a strategic partner for Zartico’s DMO clients.
Over the past nine years, Katie has helped destinations consistently exceed their goals. As a paid media strategist, Katie helped plan, implement, and report on local and global marketing campaigns. Working with destinations of all sizes, Katie has worked with both the B2C and B2B marketing plans, seamlessly integrating with creative, PR and client teams.
Katie has presented her data-first approach to media buying on panels at industry wide conferences such as ESTO, TTRA and for multiple client’s stakeholders. Formerly an Associate Account Director at MBuy, a media agency in Chicago, Katie managed key accounts such as Los Angeles Tourism, Choose Chicago, Monterey County CVB, Galveston Island, and Visit West Hollywood.
A west coast native, Katie now lives in Chicago with her husband. She is an avid traveler, outdoors enthusiast, and aspiring chef.
Data Analyst
Born outside of Oakland, California, Austin adopted the Oakland A's as his team at a young age. His love for data began during his formative childhood years as he watched Billy Beane turn a team of misfit, washed-up players into a championship level ball club. Austin is curious by nature and thrives when there is a problem to be solved.
Prior to becoming a Zartican, Austin was a graduate assistant coach for the Idaho State University men's basketball team where he tackled all things data as well as team travel and logistics. He also spent several summers hitting the pavement as a door-to-door salesmen. He attributes those years as his education in the school of hard knocks. With experience in data analytics, coaching, and sales he brings a vast array of tools to the table. It's no wonder he gets mistaken for Bob the Builder on a regular basis.
Austin is no joke when it comes to recreational activity. Often he can be found covered in grass stains after a competitive game of Spikeball, or covered in the forest as he searches the trees for his errant frisbee throw. He currently resides in Utah with his lovely wife and their adorable daughter, but, like his idol Billy Beane, Austin lives in a space of making something out of nothing.
Media Director
Steven has worked in the hospitality and tourism industry for the last 20 years where he has held multiple marketing and sales positions in both the destination and hotel-resort sectors.
From 2006 through 2018 Steven was appointed as the Deputy Commissioner of the State of Vermont Department of Tourism & Marketing where he was responsible for marketing and legislative affairs.
Before joining Zartico, Steven worked in international sales and marketing capacities for SaaS technology companies that served the destination marketing industry.
Steven is based in Vermont, USA where he is an avid outdoor enthusiast.
Chief People Officer
Leslie has extensive experience as a global human capital and operations business leader. She is known for driving progressive initiatives, and building high-performing teams and value-added strategies for both rapidly growing startups and established large international companies. She has been recognized for her reputation for building robust business relationships, coaching leaders, and developing organizational alignment.
Prior to joining Zartico, Leslie served as VP of Global People Operations for ADARA, Inc., where she was hands-on in the design and implementation of strategic and tactical programs to build infrastructure and scale the company’s rapid growth. She was also instrumental in rebuilding and transforming the North America Sales division, as well as building the company’s EMEA presence with an office in Dubai, to become highly driven and exceptional teams.
Before entering the travel and destination marketing sector, Leslie enjoyed success as an international partner within two global semiconductor organizations and worked throughout Europe as well as Silicon Valley.
VP Technology Operations & Allocation
Eddie Cannon is a successful IT leader with more than twenty years of experience across development, architecture, operations, analytics, e-commerce, and sales in the Travel, Retail, CPG, B2B, and Transportation industries. Innovative patent holder that has developed and sold unique customer experience and analytics Cloud solutions for startups and multinational organizations.
Data Analyst
Mary Flynn has over 30+ years’ experience in the Media and the Tourism and Hospitality industry. Mary has worked for a Major worldwide Hotel Chain in Sales and Operations, as well as within the OTA space (Online Travel Agency), where she spearheaded the Vacation Rental Program. Mary was a Sales Director of Media and Analytics with ADARA, Inc and specialized in enterprise sales for the Southeast and Caribbean markets. She also worked in Multimedia Sales at AAA Corporate and oversaw large National and International Accounts.
Mary also served as Vice President of Hospitality for the Central Florida Chapter of HSMAI (Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International). Mary is also Certified in Hotel Revenue Management by Cornell University, Certified in Hospitality Digital Marketing, and is completing her certification on Advanced Digital Marketing from the University of Central Florida.
Mary lives in Orlando, Florida, and is the Mother of 4 and Gigi of 5 boys. When she is not working, you can find her spending time with her family and friends, going to concerts, the beach, and she is an avid surfer.
Strategic Advisor Director
With 20 years in the tourism industry, Katie Cook has extensive experience in destination marketing, especially in the areas of digital marketing, paid media, analytics, attribution and public relations.
Prior to joining Zartico, Katie was a Digital Strategist at Simpleview where she advised DMO clients of all sizes on their digital marketing as well as built and managed integrated campaigns. Prior to Simpleview, Katie Cook was on the marketing team at Visit Austin for more than 18 years.
Katie serves on various boards including the Advisory Board for E-Tourism Summit. She is often asked to present on digital marketing at conferences. Some of her speaking highlights have been winning a debate at U.S. Travel Association's ESTO conference and presenting on a plane at 30,000 feet as part of Lufthansa's Flying Lab heading from Frankfurt to SXSW.
Katie lives in the Austin area with her husband and two kids where they love to try new restaurants, explore the outdoors and travel as often as possible.
Senior Implementation Specialist
Pam builds bridges between Zartico's team and our partners to ensure you get the most out of this powerful tool. As an Implementation Specialist at Zartico, she brings years of Project Management experience and a passion for advancing creative and entrepreneurial environments.
Prior to Zartico, Pam led teams for advertising agencies, including Hill Holliday and the start-up, Modernista!. She has launched project management and traffic departments and developed processes to ensure the agency was meeting and exceeding client expectations. More recently, she worked at YPO, improving Salesforce data collection processes and training colleagues to do the same, analyzing member feedback and troubleshooting cross-departmental inquiries.
Pam lives in the Boston area with her husband, three children and black lab. She enjoys being a spectator on the sideline of any sport her kids are playing, visiting family in the Adirondacks and engaging in any outdoor activity.
Senior QA Release Mgr
Kelsey has worked in the digital marketing field over the past seven years, with extensive experience in creating data-informed marketing strategies and media plans. Along with degrees in Marketing and Finance from Virginia Tech, Kelsey has past experience in public relations, account management, social media, SEO, SEM and display advertising.
Prior to Zartico, Kelsey served as Brand Marketing and Communications Manager at ivWatch, where she managed the company’s digital presence and integrated marketing campaigns. Previously, Kelsey was the Marketing Strategist at the Virginia Beach CVB for three years, providing business intelligence and strategic counsel to the Marketing Communications unit, the CVB and the greater local tourism and hospitality industry. In this role, she handled market research coordination, analysis of local tourism economic indicators and digital marketing strategy evaluation.
Kelsey lives in Virginia Beach with her dog and cat, and enjoys traveling, baking and the outdoors.
Senior Sales Director
With 25 years of travel industry experience, Bill joined Zartico to expand national sales efforts with tourism boards and CVB’s.
Bill brings a wealth of knowledge in digital media, analytics and distribution strategy, having spent 11 years overseeing partnerships for the East Coast and Caribbean Regions at Orbitz/ Expedia and most recently managing the Tourism Team at ADARA.
Bill resides in Bedford, New Hampshire with his wife and 4 children. He spends his free time snowboarding as much as humanly possible, solving home repair/ maintenance logistics and traveling with his family.
Insights Group Team Lead
Natalie is passionate about the unique opportunities and challenges city DMOs face. Prior to joining Zartico, Natalie spent 6 years at Visit Baltimore, most recently as their Director of Destination & Business Intelligence where she led with a data-first approach. Working closely with the Convention Sales & Service team, Natalie found herself in awe of the impact convention business can have on a community such as Baltimore. While jobs, taxes and the total economic impact of this business remain critical to monitor, Natalie believes DMOs need to shift their focus from monitoring to optimizing their unique data sources. Often, the DMO is the only one in the community that has the data, and therefore the power, to look at business holistically.
During her time in Baltimore Natalie was inspired by how often community stakeholders looked to the DMO for answers to their most-pressing economic development projects. Natalie believes DMOs will be called to the table for these conversations more than ever over the next decade.
Natalie still lives in Baltimore with her partner, their dog Camden (named after the iconic Camden Yards stadium) and their adventurous outdoor cat Bleu.
Staff Data Engineer
Chris has had a career at Lockheed Martin analyzing complex flight simulation data providing Measurements of Performance. He has developed tools to provide visualization of data analytics to LM customers. This, coupled with his strong background in software development and machine learning, will enhance Zartico’s best practices for data engineering and integration with our partners.
Director of Statistics
Raina joins the team with a Master of Science in Epidemiology with a concentration in Biostatistics. Her impressive experience has been with the Arizona Department of Health where she evaluated the efficacy and outcomes of non-WIC (nutrition program for Women, Infants and Children) public health programs, primarily focusing on Arizona, Guam, American Samoa, Navajo Nation, and the Mariana Islands. Prior to that, Raina was a research associate at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, collaborating on study design, data collection, and protocol regulatory management. Raina will be working on the design, validation and improvement of data-driven decision-making processes and strategies, as well as building a higher level of key metrics and benchmarking in collaboration with our partners.
Sales Manager
Kristin has worked in sales and marketing for the past 11 years, focusing the last 6 years in tourism. Prior to joining Zartico, Kristin worked for Key Data Dashboard where she worked with DMO clients to better understand their vacation rental market. Prior to Key Data, Kristin served as Director of Business Development for 360 Blue, a leading vacation rental management company on Florida’s Emerald Coast. Working for these organizations has provided her with a valuable understanding of the vacation rental industry.
A native Houstonian, Kristin now resides in Ponte Vedra, Florida with her husband, two daughters and two pups. She enjoys doing anything by the water, bike riding, relaxing with a good book and spending time with her family.
Sales Director
Adam brings nearly 15 years of marketing and sales experience along with a unique perspective from working on both the DMO and vendor sides of the tourism industry.
Prior to joining Zartico, Adam worked as Sales Manager, Midwest for ADARA focused on media and measurement sales in the Upper Midwest. Before jumping to the vendor side of the industry, Adam worked for 12 years at Visit Saint Paul (MN) where he led all aspects of the marketing department. He worked on some of the largest events in the world, doubled down on humor in the DMO's social strategy and constantly found unique ways to stretch a modest advertising budget.
With a wardrobe that would make a box of crayons jealous, Adam is known to bring a splash of color to any tourism event he attends whether its yellow pants, a shamrock suit or Captain America ski suit.
Adam lives in Roseville, MN where he enjoys constant adventures with his wife and three boys under nine years old. Besides being an insufferable Minnesota sports fan, he enjoys playing golf, cornhole and his new found passion of downhill skiing.
Senior Sales Director
Originally from New Zealand, Rich brings 25 years of sales and marketing experience across various industries, including travel. Rich arrived in the US in 2013 to spend nearly four years as Regional Marketing Director for Tourism New Zealand. He was responsible for marketing strategy and implementation across the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina.
Before joining Zartico, Rich was the Sales Director for ADARA, overseeing western US clients. Rich worked directly with tourism DMOs of all sizes, helping them achieve their goals. Rich is also a California Travel Association Board member.
Currently living in Martinez, in California's Bay Area, Rich enjoys a multitude of adventure destinations (especially Sea Ranch) with his wife, son, and French Bulldog. And, of course, there's always the short flight home to see his NZ family.
Sales Director
Don Jones is an accomplished sales/research professional with more than 27 years of experience. Don's love for data and sales started in 1994 analyzing Arbitron radio ratings data for his clients. His first job in dot.com was working with travel clients utilizing opt-in email data to help drive more travelers to destinations. Prior to joining Zartico, Don was Senior Sales Director at ADARA and sold measurement and advertising products. A former NYC Licensed Tour Guide, Don lives on Long Island where he spends his leisure time racing and cruising sailboats on the East Coast.
Sr. Product Education Manager
With a wide range of experience in both product and education, Kristin loves to bring enthusiasm, insight, and authenticity to all she does. She has a graduate degree in Teaching and loves turning information-sharing into knowledge-building. Her past 5 years were spent working on educational content and product development. Originally from California, Kristin lives in the Chicago area and barely survives winter. She has three kids and drinks a lot of coffee.
Marketing Manager
Maggie recently graduated from the University of Tampa with a degree in Advertising and Public Relations and a minor in Spanish Language. With experience in developing marketing and advertising campaigns, Maggie joins the Zartico team as a Marketing Coordinator.
Maggie has a passion for digital design and believes in the importance of finding creative solutions to everyday problems.
A native of Ocean City, Maryland, Maggie currently resides in the Tampa Bay Area. She is a travel enthusiast, an avid beach goer, truly enjoys time with family and friends, and never underestimates the beauty of a beach sunrise.
Implementation Specialist
Brooke brings 9 years of experience in client relations, marketing, and project management from industries such as commercial real estate and banking. She graduated from George Mason University with a degree in Tourism and is excited to be a part of Zartico's involvement in the travel & tourism industry. Brooke enjoys coordinating processes and projects and team collaboration to meet goals and deadlines.
Brooke currently resides in southern Virginia and her hobbies include traveling, wine, reading, and cheering on the Virginia Cavaliers all year long.
Sales Director
Julie Kunkle started her career in 2000 after graduating from the University of Texas at Austin. Since then, she’s sold advertising for trade magazines, city/regional magazines, visitor guides and their respective digital and event offerings with a focus on the travel industry. In 2015, she became the VP of Advertising for Open Sky Media and managed the sales team selling the titles of Austin Monthly, Austin Home, San Antonio Magazine and Texas Music. She has had an extensive career working with travel industry clients on an array of marketing programs in an ever-changing media landscape. Julie’s passion for data, truth, and her travel relationships ultimately led her to Zartico.
Julie is a native Texan (and Austinite) with two wonderfully wild boys that have her outside, no matter the weather, exploring the wild at every possible moment (and loving it).
Strategic Advisor Director
Throughout her career, Lauren has served as a strategic advisor for her clients. Trained in DMO advertising and consulting, she’s guided clients through developing business and marketing-specific objectives, creating marketing strategies to meet set plans and oversee marketing creative and paid media through execution.
As a Senior Data Advisor, Lauren works with DMO partners to understand opportunities, establish priorities and identify meaningful KPIs and metrics related to their business imperatives. She’s adept at analyzing travel trends to highlight areas of new discovery and learnings to ensure that reporting is not only consistent, but provoking.
Prior to Zartico, Lauren worked at several advertising and PR firms in New Orleans, Trumpet Advertising, Peter Mayer Advertising and Deveney PR. Past advertising agency experience includes DMOs Louisiana Office of Tourism, Explore Asheville, Coastal Mississippi CVB and Visit Arlington, Texas, and attractions including Dollywood Parks and Resorts and Audubon Nature Institute.
Lauren calls New Orleans home, living with her husband and daughter. She’s anxiously awaiting the return of her city’s major events, Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest, but has enjoyed slowing things down a bit recently to spend time with friends and family and rediscover a love of nature.
Data Analyst
Riley has immersed himself in a wide variety of subjects in a vain effort to quench his thirst for new knowledge. He has a background in chemistry, psychology, data analytics, the stock market (with a unique focus on risk management & futures), coding, web development, music, music technology and audio engineering.
Riley is always ready to take on a new challenge, he spent his freshman of college year living in Spain without knowing any Spanish prior to arrival. He has been mainly working in restaurants since he was 15, and has developed excellent interpersonal skills as a result. He has a passion for learning and teaching and works well in collaborative/ collaborative leadership roles.
Riley has spent over 1/2 of his life as a music producer working under various pseudonyms, and his most current artist name is a duo under the name up @ night.
Data Scientist
Senior Strategic Advisor
Steven brings nearly 15 years of experience that spans marketing, business development, operations, and strategic planning roles. His passion comes from learning about the needs and goals of partners and how to help them reach those objectives.
Prior to joining Zartico, Steven was the Director for Visit Lake County FL where he led the destination marketing and capital development strategic planning. During his time with the DMO, he also served as the Sports Development Manager leading all sports tourism efforts. He has spent his professional career working in professional sports and events including time in the NBA G-League and the Greater Orlando Sports Commission.
Steven lives in Orlando, FL with his wife and two kids where they stay active in sports, family activities and the occasional trip to a theme park.
Implementation Specialist
Alli joins Zartico with over 7 years of experience specializing in Customer & Partner Onboarding and Implementation.
Prior to joining Zartico Alli spent the bulk of her career in the Education industry, working for EdTech startups as well as Amazon Web Services. She is excited to dive into the new world of Destination Marketing!
In her spare time she loves traveling, being outdoors, reading, painting and spending time with her cat Tommy.
Geospatial Information Analyst
Jacob has five years of experience in leading large-scale geospatial projects throughout the United States and abroad. He is highly organized, motivated, and passionate about geostatistical analysis and online mapping applications development.
Jacob has previously served in the United States Air Force, where he provided mapping and surveying capabilities to base personnel on Beale AFB, CA; Kunsan AB, South Korea; and Luke AFB, AZ. While stationed in South Korea, he developed a facility index map that currently acts as a vital planning tool for the base's $2 billion dollar infrastructure portfolio.
Outside of work, Jacob is an avid outdoorsman. Living only a short drive from Mark Twain National Forest and the Ozark National Scenic Riverways in Missouri, he hikes, bikes, and kayaks every chance he has.
Geospatial Information Analyst
Alex has always been passionate about the outdoors. This was a large part of why he pursued a Bachelors of Integrated Studies in recreation, Spanish, and geology at Weber State University. While working on his undergraduate, he worked a variety of jobs, including a backcountry ski guide and rock climbing guide.
Soon after graduation, Alex realized that during all his work in the outdoors, maps were an integral part of his experiences. This pushed him to also pursue a Master's Certificate in GIS at Utah State University. Alex has grown to love GIS, and he wants to better the world with it.
Director of Partner Success
Danielle Randall is an IT leader with over 25 years of experience including Worldwide implementations. She specializes in Business Analysis, Requirements Management, Process Development, and Analytics. She has her Masters in Total Quality Management and is an IBM certified consultant in Business Process, Transformation, Strategy and Organizational Change. She loves problem solving.
Currently, Danielle lives in Kissimmee, Florida, Home of Mickey Mouse and enjoys spending time with her husband and three children chasing waterfalls. Originally from Massachusetts, she still watches the New England Patriots but did enjoy watching Tom Brady lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the Super Bowl.
Product Manager
Collin has some of the most unorthodox work experiences and unique perspectives around.
Collin’s worked with thousands of downtown organizations, having created and developed the idea of huge colorable mural activities to enhance community events and downtown programs. Every client has a story they’d like to tell, and we helped them tell it graphically with these life-size coloring book pages.
Before that, Collin worked on two Olympic Ceremonies, men’s and women’s World Cup, Super Bowls, television commercials, and more recently, the NCAA College Football Championships, creating visual tools and processes to organize and coach the teaching teams that show thousands of participants where to be and what to do over months of rehearsals. It’s the ultimate customer experience bootcamp, having to be wildly organized, yet fun enough so all those people want to come back for the next twenty rehearsals.
Collin lives in North Salt Lake with his wife, 13-year-old daughter, a corgi, and a fantastic view of the Great Salt Lake. He enjoys hiking, basketball several times a week, playing music with friends once a month, and snow skiing (sadly) once a season. If he could somehow magically create more time, he’d love to get back to golf, tennis, sailing, scuba diving, camping, or drumming.
Senior Data Engineer
My nickname is The Count, because I was born and grew up in the mountains of Transylvania. My parents are first generation college graduates, so they encouraged me to be curious, and learn everything about everything.
I graduated from Iowa State University with a B.S. in Computer Engineering, and moved to Austin, Texas. I worked as a software engineer, network engineer, technical support engineer and data engineer. I enjoy a good puzzle and a tricky challenge. Prior to Zartico, I worked as a data engineer building data analysis tools for community colleges.
My wife and I live in Cedar Park, Texas, with our four feline overlords. I enjoy golfing, cycling and hiking, and spend a significant part of my spare time volunteering. I am a travelling man, in search of that which has been lost. Last but not least, I collect model cars and pencils.
Strategic Advisor
San Francisco Bay Area born and raised, Erin Rheinschild has been a proud member of the tourism industry for over twenty years. Erin is active with Destinations International Public Policy committees, hospitality boards, and education and workforce development initiatives. Her passion is preparing future leaders of tomorrow to growth opportunities and supporting the exchange of new ideas.
Her career began leading the opening-team for the greenest museum in the world the California Academy of Sciences. Her next stop was eight years as an ambassador for the most interesting 49 square miles on the planet at San Francisco Travel Association, supporting community relations and visitor experience programs. Connecting innovative technology that drives superior brand experiences and better decision-making through data has been an area of expertise in every stage of her career.
Recently relocated to North Carolina and fully enjoying remote work and life, she is working hard at exploring the East Coast and all it has to offer with her young family.
Product Education Specialist
As an innovative learning experience designer, Betsy creates clear and effective digital learning that connect the human experience with product solutions. Betsy received her B.A. in Community Development from Wheaton college and her master's degree in Educational Technology Leadership from George Washington University. Traveling to more than 28 countries and counting, Betsy is passionate about culture, global collaboration, and leading teams on international adventures and learning experiences. When grounded in one spot on the globe, Betsy settles in the NW burbs of Chicago with her son.
Finance & Operations Manager
Brandi is excited to join the Zartico team. Prior to coming to Zartico she was a Business Manager for Mountain States Pulmonary Critical Care a group of Critical Care physicians. In this role she managed one of the highest volumes of inpatient care in the intermountain west. Where she ran business operations, expansion plans, and a staff of twenty.
Brandi graduated from Weber State University with a Bachelors in Psychology and a minor in Zoology and Chemistry. Brandi lives in Ogden, Utah where she enjoys hiking, snowboarding, kayaking and spending time with family. She is an avid traveler and loves outdoor photography.
Creative Director
Emily has spent her career focusing on graphic design, video and photography. She has a love for travel, anything printed, storytelling through design, capturing feelings through photo and video, and being by the water. Before joining Zartico, she worked freelance for a little over a year and before that, at Visit Saint Paul as their in-house creative. There, she helped support the organization with any design or visual project needed from business cards to trade show displays. She created promotional videos and took photos to show off the city of Saint Paul and its amazing community of small businesses, unique human beings, and events. She is a licensed drone pilot and you will almost always find her with some sort of camera in her hand.
Emily is a paddle board enthusiast who lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota with her husband, two kids and two dogs. She enjoys soaking up the sunshine out on the lakes during the short summer months in Minnesota but also loves traveling outside of the frozen state as often as she can. She always makes time to get out in nature with friends and family, garden, drink all the coffee, learn new crafty skills, and document as much of life as possible.
Sales Manager
Adam has been in destination marketing for a decade and brings the perspective of someone who has lived in 5 cities, 3 countries and traveled to 45 of the 50 states as an adult. Before joining Zartico Adam was in the agency world most recently serving as the Director of Client development for Medium Giant.
With red hair that would make Conan O’Brien blush he is typically not hard to spot. Adam has the unique ability to find common ground or shared experiences with just about anyone, which he attributes to two things. His time traveling the globe while serving in the U.S. Air Force and his time crisscrossing the United States and central America in his beat-up Ford Explorer following his separation from active duty.
Adam moved back to his hometown north of Atlanta Georgia where he lives with his wife Jessica, their three children, two dogs, 7 goats and 3 highland cows. Being born and raised in Georgia he jokes that he is “Georgia by birth but a Florida Gator by the grace of god”. He enjoys paddle boarding, great bourbon and is an avid saltwater angler.
Implementation Specialist
Prior to Zartico, Elizabeth led teams for advertising agencies, juggling multiple projects and clients. Most recently she served as Associate Director of Marketing for a nonprofit in Indianapolis, where she led marketing research initiatives, coordinated communication and strategies across departments, and served as a creative producer and data analyst. She is excited to apply her organizational skills within the travel & tourism industry.
Elizabeth lives in Indianapolis with her husband and two cockapoos. She is an avid reader who enjoys traveling, yoga, and exploring new places.
VP Technology R&D
Alan has over a decade of experience in high-performance computing, and a passion for parallel programming and optimization. His research focuses on scalable algorithms and programming models for emerging, hybrid compute architectures.
Before joining Zartico, Alan served as a Research Computer Scientist at the University of Utah’s Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute (SCI) where he was lead developer for the Uintah open-source framework. Alan also worked with U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories developing performant software solutions for current and next generation computing platforms. These experiences have allowed Alan to routinely work on some of the largest supercomputers in the world.
Alan holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Utah and has been published in numerous per-reviewed journals, books, and papers with a focus on high-performance and scientific computing.
With his wife and two sons, Alan resides in the beautiful town of Comox, British Columbia on Vancouver Island. He and his family are passionate about travel, adventure, and discovery. Alan is an avid outdoor enthusiast with a long history of rock climbing, backcountry skiing, and technical canyoneering.
Sr. Director of Data Science
Alexandra Pasi holds a PhD in Mathematics from Baylor University and has published, presented, and worked in diverse fields including machine learning, finance, oncology, data science, and pure mathematics. She is passionate about creating new mathematical frameworks that offer real and actionable insight and provide solid foundations for new technologies. She is also invested in translating relevant mathematics and statistics to industry and community stakeholders so that they can make data-informed decisions.
Sales Coordinator
Geospatial Information Analyst
I grew up in VA. I had an early interest in geography and computer science. Received Associates degree in computer science from Tidewater Community College and Bachelors in geography from the University of Utah. Always been fascinated by the natural world and loved to travel. Enjoys hiking, camping, and snowboarding in the mountains and deserts of Utah.
Strategic Advisor
Andi is a proud Midwesterner with over 10 years experience in marketing communications and consulting. A self-proclaimed nerd, she is passionate about technology and is well versed in data-driven strategy and storytelling.
Prior to becoming a Zartican, Andi worked as a marketing consultant for various publishers and agencies where she guided clients in developing business and marketing objectives, research, digital strategy, and internal/external communications planning. In 2017, she shifted to the in-house side and became the Director of Marketing for Visit Fargo-Moorhead where she quickly fell in love with the world of tourism.
Andi is based out of Fargo, ND where she lives with her husband, daughter, and two labs. She's an avid music lover and musician who can often be found playing in Downtown Fargo. Outside of work and music, Andi enjoys all things to do with the outdoors, even the North Dakota winters.
Chief Experience Officer
With her endless curiosity and attention to detail, Nicole works to synchronize data insights to amplify marketing plans and uncover strategic opportunities. Nicole’s portfolio is rich in interactive marketing tactics and end-to-end effectiveness with over 15 years in travel and tourism. She brings a fresh perspective to our partners having led teams in the development of bleeding-edge digital marketing strategies, in addition to leading destination and sustainability planning from the seats of hotelier, DMO, and agency.
Sales Manager
With over 15 years of experience in the industry, Amanda has always been focused on client relationships and creating strategic partnerships. In her most recent role as Director of Destination Marketing for Internova Travel Group, she was responsible for connecting the DMO’s and tourism boards of the world to the travel advisors of Internova through multi-faceted partnership and marketing campaigns. In previous roles, she worked in product management in both the wholesale and OTA space, driving ROI and overall profitability for partners.
A proud and native North Dakotan, Amanda now makes her home in Sarasota, Florida with her family and their dog, Sophie the Boxer. Always a northerner at heart and a faithful Bison fan, she now enjoys the beach - particularly sunsets; golfing – very badly; camping – yes, in a tent and cheering for all Tampa Bay sports teams.
Senior Geospatial Developer
Andrew has over a decade of GIS and technology experience in the freight rail and utilities industries. Working across multiple teams and roles, Andrew has spent much of his time developing and consulting on solutions that use geospatial data to uncover insights and better explain the world around us.
Andrew has a natural curiosity and passion to explore and travel. He is happy to be in an industry grounded in culture and geography – especially one that allows him to use data to track down the ever-elusive answer to the question, “why?”
Andrew lives in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area with his wife and young daughter. In the summer, they enjoy their time outdoors at their family lake cabin near the BWCA and Voyageurs National Park. He and his household have an affinity to Great Pyrenees dogs and will always have one as a member of the family.
Sales General Manager - Airports
Spending his entire professional career in commercial aviation, Mark first entered the field with Eastern Airlines, working from agent positions and then over to IT technical support. Moving to the Aviation IT supplier side in 1989, he joined Atlanta-based SITA, the leading airline telecommunications and IT integrator, where Mark was assigned global implementation projects. Spending 18 years at SITA, Mark moved from his original role over into project and product management positions, with the final 5 years in marketing and sales.
Mark continued his career as Business Development Director at Rockwell/Collins Airport Services, securing significant contracts for IT integration services at many of North America’s largest airports. From 2015 through 2020, he also held committee positions at two of the major airport/airline industry associations (Airports Council International and IATA).
Mark currently resides in Peachtree City, Georgia with his wife Sue. They both enjoy cycling, skiing, and performing contemporary music (Sue sings, Mark is a multi-instrumentalist). Along with these activities, Mark also stays connected to his passion in aviation as a commercial UAV (drone) pilot.
Data Engineer
Before joining Zartico, John was in the automotive industry from Peterbilt Motors Company, leading engineering development projects. His background in design methodology will be utilized to support data engineering in design and development.
John lives in Fort Worth, Texas with his wife and two daughters and is the brother of Chris Patino. Their family has a goal of visiting all the Texas state parks and national parks. He enjoys being outdoors on a bike or on a hike and is passionate about great barbeque.
Sales Manager
Kim brings over 20 years experience in sales and advertising, primarily in the travel and tourism industries. Kim's expertise in working with DMO's airlines, hotel brands, and other travel clients has allowed her to build partnerships and long-term relationships with many travel partners.
Kim started her career in the travel industry working as a Brand Solutions Manager at Stamats Communications on their Meetings Focus publications and websites. She quickly became enamored with the travel industry and transitioned to a position at Travelzoo. As a Senior Sales Manager, Kim partnered with major hotel brands, DMO's and a variety of travel clients to help them achieve their growth and visitation goals. Kim's travel and tourism relationships, and love of the travel industry, ultimately led her to Zartico.
Originally from a suburb of Chicago, Kim moved to Breckenridge, CO in 2008 where she still resides with her husband daughter and dog. Kim is an outdoor enthusiast who enjoys skiing, mountain biking, golfing, trail running and traveling and exploring the world whenever her daughter's school and sports schedules permit.
People Operations Specialist
I am a wife and mother of two incredible children (a 17-year-old daughter and a 4-year-old son). I've spent my career working in a variety of industries, such as; multi-level marketing start-ups, medical and dental manufacturing, banking, SaaS/tech, and Insurance Brokerage firm(s). I found my passion in Human Resources a decade ago and have loved working and supporting employees throughout the employee lifecycle. I've always been eager to support organizations and employees by designing and cultivating experiences where employees feel heard, are given the resources to thrive, and can show up in their roles as their unique selves. It's quite remarkable to watch employees thrive when they're given an opportunity to showcase their skill sets in a safe and supportive working environment.
Senior Product Manager
Alex joins Zartico with 15 years of technology industry experience and 6 years of product management experience, including 4 years as a PM at Amazon. He's lived abroad in the UK and Cambodia and traveled to 12 countries. In his free time he enjoys telemark skiing at Alta and playing oldtime banjo for anyone who will tolerate it.
Senior Strategic Advisor
Aaron has over 20 years of experience as a communications and marketing professional in both the public and the private sectors. He began his career on Capitol Hill in the U.S. Senate, working on legislative affairs for two United States Senators. Later he served the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services spearheading communications and marketing efforts at the state level. After leaving the public sector, Aaron worked in corporate communications for Walmart, developing national community reputation campaigns in collaboration with the Walmart marketing team, handling crisis communications, and assisting various areas of the business in public relations and storytelling strategies. Most recently, Aaron has embraced the exciting world of tourism, leading marketing and communications efforts for Visit Bentonville in Northwest Arkansas.
Aaron currently lives with his wife and kids at the base of the Ozark’s. When he's not working and spending time with family, you'll find him behind the piano writing songs and performing live shows with his rock-n-roll band. He enjoys traveling, hiking, cycling, reading and music festivals.
ML Engineer
From a role working in automotive manufacturing with engineers, I initially chose to pursue engineering but found myself increasingly fascinated by mathematics. Following this passion, I obtained a BS in Mathematics from the University of Alabama, and a MS and PhD in Mathematics from Baylor University, where my research contributed novel results to game theoretic questions in the case of very large populations. I've had great experiences publishing and presenting in the academic realm, but equally so in tackling messy "real-life" problems with the language of mathematics and computer science.
I live in South Jordan UT where I enjoy running (when it isn't freezing), making music across multiple instruments, and creating digital art.
Business Analyst
Laura has over 20 years’ experience working in IT in the US and Europe across various industries. Her specialty is having an eye for efficiency, analysis, and process improvement due to her background as a Technical Writer and Business Analyst. She gained great experience while living abroad and working for an HR/Payroll company in Spain and IBM in France.
Laura returned to the US to work in the banking software industry and eventually found her niche in the Travel and Tourism sector for 10 years. Most recently, she has brought her skills to healthcare and a construction resourcing company focusing on migrations, reporting metrics, and end user processes.
You can often see Laura riding around in her Jeep in Celebration, Florida – the town that Disney built. She loves venturing out to the local theme parks with her 13 year old daughter, traveling, doing yoga, and going to concerts. You will also see her taking long walks with her 130lb Mastiff, Cookie while playing Candy Crush on her phone (which is why she is in the top 3% of players in the world).
Content Marketing Manager
Cat joins Zartico with more than a decade of tourism marketing and content writing experience, including nine years on the marketing team at Explore Asheville.
Cat loves to connect the dots. She's naturally curious about the world and loves discovering the common thread that runs through ideas, processes, traditions and places.
Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Asheville, N.C., Cat lives with her husband, son and rescue hound, Polly. She serves on the board of Youth Mission Co. and enjoys spending her free time with board games, crafts or a good movie.
Front End Developer
I am a developer who loves to create things in both physical and virtual form. I reside in beautiful Utah. I'm married to a gorgeous strong woman, and have four handsome sons. In my free time I enjoy designing and building furniture, listening to music, movies, reading, and spending time outdoors with my family.
Product Manager
I grew up in Utah just south of SLC. I have always played and loved sports, in high school and college I had the opportunity to play football and lacrosse. Much of what I learned from sports made me who I am today. Growing up in UT I also had the pleasure of spending much of my youth outside in the mountains. Because of this, I love to backpack, hike, camp, rock climb, fly fish, snowboard and snowmobile. Since I no longer play sports, much of my extra time is spent doing these things with my friends and family.
Another big piece of my life is religion. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, my faith really defines who I am and how I live my life. I have an amazing wife, Rylie, and an 18 month old son, Hansen.
Director of Partner Support
Alison joins Zartico with 13 years’ experience in the outdoor industry. During this time, she has built and managed support teams and platforms, driven ecommerce, and program managed new product development for both physical and digital offerings. She has focused on the inner workings to implement process to provide the best possible product and experience to the consumer.
Alison is originally from a small town in Wisconsin, and currently lives in Ogden, Utah with her kitty, pup, and fiancé. She enjoys the Wasatch mountains as her backyard playground, and is an avid cyclist, skier, backpacker, but still bleeds Green and Gold for the Packers.
Implementation Specialist
My professional background has mainly been in healthcare manufacturing & health tech-start ups (8 years). Prior to Zartico, I've held different roles in Product Management, Sales Training, and Client Success. I am an avid traveler, yoga-enthusiast, and novice chef. I currently reside in Austin, TX with my two 2 dogs.
Data Scientist
Robbie brings a love for problem solving and making sense out of complex systems, as demonstrated by his PhD in applied physics. His research was on experimentally studying superconductivity, magnetism, and other quantum mechanical effects in materials like graphene. These resulted in multiple peer-reviewed journal articles and ample experience interfacing theoretical modeling with realistic data. He has always enjoyed getting to the bottom of problems involving data and mathematics and finding beauty in the mundane.
Robbie lives in Salt Lake City, UT with his wife and Irish Doodle Moose. In his free time he enjoys exploring the mountains through trail running, hiking, and rock climbing, with the occasional foray into experimental baking.
Data Scientist
Born and raised outside of Houston, TX and having loved learning and doing mathematics for as long as I can remember, I obtained a BS in mathematics from the University of Houston before going on to obtain a PhD in mathematics from Baylor University, with my research focusing on combinatorial representation theory. I now live in Kansas City, MO where I enjoy biking, baking, and brewing beer.
Software Developer
As a Certified Digital Adoption Professional with experience in customer onboarding and ecommerce, Kerrick has developed a deep understanding of the customer journey and the challenges they face when adopting new digital technologies. He is passionate about helping businesses optimize their digital adoption strategies and has a proven track record of success in this area.
One of Kerrick's greatest achievements was successfully onboarding over 3000 B2B customers during his time at Pall Corporation (a global supplier of filtration, separations and purification products). He developed a comprehensive onboarding program that streamlined the process and ensured that customers were able to get up and running with Pall's digital platform as quickly and efficiently as possible. His efforts helped to improve customer satisfaction and retention, and ultimately contributed to the company's bottom line. Kerrick's expertise in custo
Director of Strategy, Group
With over 20 years of experience in sales, marketing, and consulting, Paula brings a unique perspective from her background in the private and public sectors. Most recently, Paula served as the Executive Director of Lake City, Florida’s Springlands, overseeing the strategic direction of the County’s tourism marketing and product development efforts.
Paula is a Nashville, Tennessee native who now calls North Florida home, where she and her husband are raising three children and two golden retrievers. While she possesses a University of Florida degree and attends every Gator home game, she will always be a Volunteer at heart.
Jr. Data Analyst
John is a professional chameleon, donning the colors of data analytics, healthcare, and entrepreneurship. His journey started with Northeastern University, where he obtained his Doctorate and training as a Physical Therapist. He then carved his clinical prowess over a decade in private practice, doubling as a Senior Clinician and Clinical Education Coordinator. But the open road called his name, and he answered by transforming a cargo van into a RV, taking his skills cross-country while providing direct provider-to-consumer services. This was not a detour but a prelude to a more dramatic career pivot, propelled by an appetite for curiosity that would give a five-year-old a run for their money. His newest adventure? Plunging headfirst into the data-rich ocean of analytics.
Off the clock, John is a true "jack of all trades, master of fun". If a sport involves a mountain, a road, or sub-zero temperatures, he's there with bells on. His hobbies run the gamut from rock and ice climbing, to cycling up, down, and around mountains and roads, to triathlons, not because he's a masochist, but because he revels in the challenge. DIY home projects are his bread and butter, and his kitchen experiments are as dynamic as his sport hobbies. John's philosophy? The world is his playground and his buffet - he's here to create experiences, partake in adventures, and most importantly, to eat all the food, one delicious bite at a time.
Jr Data Analyst
Ashlynn sees life like a puzzle and enjoys finding each piece that fits together in the big picture. She grew up completely immersed in the world of concert dance and the performing arts. She studied modern dance in New York City at the Ailey School and has been a teacher and choreographer for 10 years, working with ages 6 to adults. Her favorite aspect of dance is choreography because she enjoys taking abstract ideas and turning them into beautiful and cohesive stories on stage through movement.
This passion has translated to all areas of her life and has led her down the path of data analytics where she likes to apply her passion and skills to make sense of whatever problem lies ahead. Her bachelors degree is in history, and she will be finishing up her MBA in data analytics in the summer. She currently lives in Knoxville, TN, but her and her husband (and their dog, Gemma) plan to move back to New York City in the coming months.
Director of Quality Engineering
Carrie is a seasoned quality engineering leader with over 20 years of industry expertise across a variety of domains such as healthcare, retail, and security. With a passion for driving quality transformation, Carrie has a proven track record of successfully implementing strategic initiatives that enhance processes, leverage best practices, harness automation, and optimize resource allocation, resulting in substantial cost savings.
Carrie lives in Atlanta, GA. She is an avid runner who enjoys exploring the world through travel and embodying a spirit of adventure and continuous growth.
Partner Support Specialist
Clay is a well traveled individual who has met a lot of people and been to a lot of different places. The common theme has always been connection. He has always been able to connect with his peers to grow and move forward utilizing his 10+ years of forward facing support experience.
Clay is a new father and husband living in Ogden, UT. He cannot wait to take his son and wife on the many adventures he made as a child. He is passionate about the outdoors while experiencing life to its fullest.