Globility Board

Global Traveler’s Globility Board, introduced in 2012, is an elite group of highly experienced world travelers serving as a direct link between the magazine and our readers. Their priceless insight goes far beyond the data we can garner from surveys or research, and the feedback we’ve received over the past two years has been invaluable.

Following a review process, Global Traveler invited candidates to apply for a position on the board. Candidates completed an application listing their general background and employment information, travel history and a statement detailing the reasons for their interest in becoming a board member. The top candidates were selected, and the first-ever Globility Board meeting took place in January 2013, bringing together board members, Global Traveler staff and valued clients for a day of meetings and conversation.

Get to know our Globility Board!

DAVID BARSOTTI
David Barsotti is a 20-year Mercedes-Benz dealership operator and owner. He’s had the opportunity to experience some of the best luxury travel around the world. His three luxury automotive retail centers, including Mercedes-Benz of San Francisco, Mercedes-Benz of Oakland and Audi Concord, are based in and around San Francisco, Calif. He lives with his wife, Tracy, and two children, Siena and Fargo, traveling 15 times per year and to his vacation home in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Over the last 40 years, he’s traveled to 75 countries around the world. .

FRANK BRIGHTWELL
Frank Brightwell is the founder and director of Somos Amigos Medical Missions, a non-profit organization that operates a primary care medical and dental facility in the mountains of the Dominican Republic. He is also an independent educational consultant with clients across the United States and abroad. Frank lives in Seattle with his partner, Mark, and together they enjoy traveling as often as schedules allow. An avid distance-runner, Frank explores new cities by training and participating in running events. .

SUE CASTORINO
Sue Castorino is president of The Speaking Specialists in Chicago, providing contemporary media training, issue management and speech coaching for nearly three decades. She founded the company after a distinguished career in broadcast journalism as a news anchor and on-air reporter. Today she works with executives and professionals at the highest levels in North America, South America and Europe. She also specializes in working with collegiate, professional and Olympic athletes and coaches in those same areas. Castorino serves on the faculty at Loyola University Chicago’s School of Communication, where she teaches courses in public speaking, broadcast journalism, ethics and communication and issues in contemporary journalism. She has traveled to all 50 states (most, multiple times) and a dozen countries and still sees every trip as an adventure. She is a native of Columbus, Ohio, and a graduate of Northwestern University School of Speech.

DOUGLAS GUTHRIE
Douglas Guthrie is the business director of Lee Laboratories, a part of BD Diagnostic Systems, manufacturing medical diagnostic products. Guthrie has traveled for business, both domestically and internationally, for more than 30 years and enjoys planning for travel almost as much as the adventures themselves. He now finds himself traveling more than ever but for pleasure more often than for business. Guthrie has spent much time in Europe and on the Hawai’ian Islands. As an Atlanta resident, most of his travel is with Delta Air Lines, and he has achieved multimillion-miler status. In addition to travel, skiing and cultural events are among Doug’s interests. As they approach retirement, Doug and his partner plan to spend nine to 10 months per year “on the road,” primarily in Europe.

MARK LEININGER
Mark Leininger has extensive experience in the planning and design of airport terminals. He worked on the recently completed Terminal 4 for Delta Air Lines at New York JFK and previously worked on the Continental Global Gateway at EWR, the new T1 Terminal in Toronto and the international terminal at Boston Logan. Currently he is involved in the Auckland International Airport Master Plan and the Moynihan Station project at the Farley Post Office in New York, the future home for Amtrak. Leininger has been quoted on terminal design for several publications and on his vintage airline collection in several travel and design publications. He is an enthusiastic senior architect specializing in airport design — this is due to a love of aviation and all things travel. When designing one of the most complex building types, he enjoys the process of articulating goals and securing buy-in, often with a myriad of competing users, airlines and agencies. Utilizing his outgoing personality, he leads the process, mentoring and motivating teammates for successful project delivery.

JOSEPH CESTARO
Joseph Cestaro has traveled all his life and has visited five of the seven continents. He appreciates and respects exceptional service and seeks this out when traveling. As CEO of Debt Reduction Services, a non-profit credit counseling organization, and CEO of Budget Brokerage, a personal lines insurance business, he has extensive executive management skills. When not working or traveling, he resides in St. James, N.Y., with his partner, Mark, and their Airedale Terrier, Apollo. Travel is his passion, and he’s always excited to visit any destination, large or small. Cestaro has served on the Garden City, Idaho, Library Board and also on the Boise Garden Board. .

ERIC CHIANG
Eric Chiang is a professor of economics at Florida Atlantic University and author of CoreEconomics, an economics textbook used at more than 100 universities. Chiang is an innovator in teaching pedagogy aimed at “flipping the classroom,” a learning approach that puts the student in the role of a teacher. Chiang travels the world to meet with instructors and students, logging nearly 200 flight segments per year, and is a loyal United 1K and Million Miler member. Eric created an annual mini-documentary featuring economic concepts while traveling titled Around the World in 80 Hours.

IRIS CHILDRESSIris Childress is an information systems senior executive with nearly 20 years of experience leading professional services organizations. Childress specializes in Infrastructure Transformation and Shared Services projects, with an emphasis on global consolidation and rationalization and securitization programs. Additionally, Childress applies these organizational and performance-enhancing specialties in enterprise-wide change management initiatives at client organizations. She has experience working with market-leading public and private sector companies throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Prior to joining Howard and Hecht, Childress was the senior executive and North America lead for the Data Center Operations (DCO) practice at Accenture. She was also a director of engineering at Nextel and is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy.

DONNA CHILDS
Donna Childs is the author of Prepare for the Worst, Plan for the Best: Disaster Preparedness and Recovery for Small Businesses (Wiley, 2002, second edition paperback, 2009). She is also the founder and chief executive of Prisere LLC, a social enterprise working on initiatives to reduce disaster risk and expand access to affordable commercial insurance for small enterprises. In 2007, the National Association of Women Business Owners named Donna its “Woman Business Owner of the Year.” Childs has traveled extensively, particularly for her work for the United Nations.

BENJAMIN DE LEE
Benjamin De Lee has lived in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. He enjoys cultural events like classical music and opera. He also enjoys being outside — going to the beach, mountain biking and hiking. An avid traveler, De Lee believes travel is an essential part of broadening one’s horizons. He is a lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles. .

JIM ELLIOTT
Jim L. Elliott has traveled internationally for more than 40 years, working, living in and visiting more than 60 countries. He holds several credentials, including certified system security professional. He has served on boards of several corporations and associations. His professional work is primarily within the telecommunications field; he enjoys traveling with his wife, Linda, for business and leisure and expects to continue traveling for many years. After all this travel via land, sea and air, he and his wife still have a passion for travel and always look forward to the next trip. Elliott is a member of several international telecommunications groups and regularly attends meetings of many of these groups around the world. He holds graduate and undergraduate degrees in engineering and computer science from Oregon State University and Oklahoma State University. .

DANIEL GREEN
Daniel Green is on a plane frequently and is a chef and food designer who has worked with hotels and airlines. He has produced six cookbooks on healthy eating and has a passion to create healthy menus for travelers, giving them options when on the road. Originally from the United Kingdom, he lives in the United States and travels through Asia often. An airplane buff, Green has a passion for following airline news. He is also the host on ShopHQ..

CELESTE LINHARD
Celeste Linhard is the western region sales manager for Super Bakery, Inc., based in Parker, Colo., and a partner of Trans-Options Messaging Inc., also based in Parker. Linhard travels domestically and internationally for work and leisure and has achieved United’s 1K status and the top levels with Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott and Starwood. She is married with three daughters and loves travel, dining and spas. .

TOM LINHARD
Tom Linhard is the president and founder of FaxCore, Inc., located in Denver, Colo. Tom has been a leader in the fax server industry since 1992 and has launched several successful companies within the industry. With an office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (FaxCore Asia) and FaxCore resellers throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia, Tom flies more than 100,000 miles every year and is a million-mile flyer with United. Tom has been married to Celeste for more than 27 years, has three daughters and is an avid skier.

ERIC LUDWIG
Eric is a vice president in JPMorganChase’s Global Network Services organization, responsible for managing a Core Network across six of the seven continents. He enjoys travel for work and experiencing different business cultures around the globe. He also is chairman of the Council of Elders for his local church and often visits ministry partners overseas to observe firsthand the work they are doing to help others. When not travelling for work or church, he enjoys adventure travel with his family, including diving, hang-gliding, skydiving or simply enjoying a day on a faraway beach.

ERIN RENEE MANDATO
Erin Renee Mandato got her first taste of traveling during her college years. She spent a month in Sydney, Australia, with a teammate, living like the locals, and a few weeks in England to compete in the Henley Royal Regatta. After graduation, she backpacked through Europe to experience Spain, France, Holland, Belgium and Italy on the budget of a recent college graduate. She has since traded her backpack for finer accommodations while visiting more than 30 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, North and South America and Australia for both work and pleasure. Mandato recently completed an 18-month expatriate assignment for work where she was based out of Copenhagen, Denmark, living in Frederiksberg Commune. Due to the nature of her work, Mandato spent the majority of her expat traveling throughout the world experiencing different cultures, cuisines, hotels, airlines and cultural events, such as Oktoberfest in Munich and the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona.She even managed to sneak in a few domestic trips along the way.

ROBERT MASON
Robert G. Mason established Mason & Associates Sept. 1, 1987, in Menlo Park, Calif. Mason & Associates is an international executive search firm and since 2006 has been based in Charleston, S.C., with offices in Chicago and San Francisco serving clients in the pulp and paper, forest products, consumer products, food and ingredients, aerospace, financial services, specialty chemicals and health care industries. Clients include the Alzheimer’s Association, Apple, Boise Cascade Corp., BP Chemicals, Cordant Technologies (formerly Thiokol Corp.), Emeritus Corp., Fluke Manufacturing Corp., Kinko’s Inc, Gaylord Container Corp., General Electric Capital Corp., Genstar Capital Corp., International Paper Co., Minnesota Power, Morton International, PACCAR, Inc., DuPont Protein Technologies International, Ralston-Purina, Transamerica Corp., University of Washington, Weyerhaeuser Co. and Weyerhaeuser Canada.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE MURAT
Jean-Christophe Murat started an import/export business in 2013 for which he travels internationally about 75 percent of the time between opposite sides of the world, promoting top-grade Argentinean beef to 5-star hotels and restaurants in the emerging markets of Asia. Florida is home, but an aisle seat or a kingsized bed is where he lives. As a result, the perks of premium travel are both a necessity and a reward to look forward to. His first insight into the travel industry came with a summer job as a flight attendant for Air France at the age of 18. Today, he enjoys being a Globility Board member for the extraordinary opportunity to meet directly with representatives of the airline and hospitality industries and compare visions of how to continue to improve the travel experience. .

ANTHONY NOBLE
Tony Noble is an Australian who lived in San Diego for eight years, where he was rector of All Saints’ Episcopal Church. Noble took early retirement in 2011 and returned to Melbourne, Australia. He lives in the bayside suburbs of St. Kilda for two to three months, then returns to San Diego for a month. He uses San Diego as a base for travel in his quest to get to 3 million miles with United! He usually spends June in New York City and October in the English village of Walsingham. .

MATTHEW PROVENCHER
Matthew Provencher is the chief of sports surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Mass., a commander in the U.S. Navy Reserves and associate professor of surgery at Harvard University. A native of Barrington, N.H., Provencher travels extensively to teach shoulder, knee and sports surgery throughout the world and also to present his research findings on how to better solve problems associated with knee and shoulder joints. He has been recognized as one of the top 28 shoulder surgeons in the United States and enjoys skiing, hiking and rowing. .

FRANK REILLY
Frank Reilly, a native San Diegan, is the president and COO of Reilly Financial Advisors, a San Diego-based RIA. When not conducting business from his base, Reilly finds himself traveling to the Middle East and Asia for business. He also spends a fair amount of time traveling to and around Europe to visit his eldest child, who is enrolled in university overseas. His passion for travel and global immersion began years ago and now includes 18 around-the-world and 28 intercontinental trips. Frank’s motto: By the time your feet touch your native soil, you best have two more trips in the works! .

MARK RIZKOWSKY
Mark Rizkowsky is director of human resources for Debt Reduction Services, a non-profit credit counseling organization based in Boise, Idaho. In addition to his work and extensive travel, Rizkowsky is very involved in the community and participates in a myriad of community committees. He resides in Saint James, N.Y., with his partner, Joe; daughter, Candace; and Airedale Terrier, Apollo. .

MIKE RUSSO
Mike Russo is a registered nurse with Centura Health and a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force. He has a master’s in aerospace science and enjoys traveling to destinations throughout the world. Russo has achieved silver or higher status with Delta Air Lines (and previously Northwest) every year since 1997 and platinum status with InterContinental Hotels Group every year since 1997, as well.

MARVIN SINGER
After nearly 40 years of federal service, Marvin Singer retired as senior advisor in the Department of Energy’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences in June 2012. During his career, Singer held senior-level positions at the President’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) and the Department of Energy (DOE). His work focused on fossil energy, energy and science R&D and the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of energy development. Singer was privileged to travel often, both domestically and internationally. He served as the head of numerous U.S. international delegations and participated regularly in meetings with individual governments and international organizations, including the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Singer and his wife particularly enjoy traveling in the Southern Hemisphere during winter in Washington. You might meet him at Washington Dulles International Airport, where he volunteers with Travelers Aid.

THERESA STASKUS
Theresa Staskus is the director of reimbursement for Therigy, which provides consulting services to health care organizations. Staskus has traveled for business over the past eight years. In her personal life, she vacations regularly with family and is interested in visiting many new places. She plans travel around sporting events to see her favorite teams play and is an avid sports fan. .

PAULA VOGEL
Paula Vogel joined A-dec in 1989 with international project management, accounting and product management experience in such diverse industries as food processing, heavy equipment manufacturing and retail operations. During her tenure at A-dec, she has headed the publications and technical training departments, led product launches and currently represents A-dec on the industry advisory boards of the Journal of the American Dental Association, Hispanic Dental Association and National Dental Association. She studied at the United Nations in New York City through the University of Wisconsin and at Stanford University’s Graduate School for its business marketing management program. Vogel holds a bachelor of arts special studies degree in international relations from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and a master’s in international management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Ariz.

LEE WEINSTEIN
Leland (Lee) Weinstein has served as president of Syscom Services, Inc., a technology consulting and integration firm, since 1997. Previously, he spent 13 years with Automated Digital Systems, an integrator of duplication and fax technologies, where he rose to president and owner of the company, which he sold to Alco Standard Corp., which became Ikon Office Solutions. Weinstein has been appointed to advisory councils for Xerox, Intel/Dialogic, Sharp Electronics, Opentext/Rightfax, Autonomy/Cardiff, Murata Business Systems, Brooktrout Technologies, Panasonic Electronics and was chairman of the technology council of the American Society of Association Executives. He was formerly a member of the Board of Governors of the University of Maryland Alumni Association and is involved in numerous charities. As a frequent traveler for both business and pleasure, Lee has reached Diamond status at Hilton Hotels, Marriott Platinum status, as well as United Airlines Million Miler and 1K levels.

ANGELA ROSE WHITE
Angela Rose White is COO and president of David Rose Publishing Co. and DaBet Music Services. White has a passion for travel and an understanding of what it is like to travel for business, for pleasure, with family and, most importantly, alone. She has traveled all her life. She is an attorney and travels to speak, participate in conferences and to meet with business contacts and clients. .

STEVEN WHITE
Steven White was born, raised and currently resides in Los Angeles, Calif. He attended University of Southern California and has been married for 33 years and has two children. White has been very successful in marketing and sales for the consumer electronics and housewares industries. White is presently vice president of sales and marketing for Kuhn Rikon, a Swiss-based, family-owned company. He is responsible for managing sales and marketing in North America. Besides family, business and travel, he also plays golf and has enjoyed playing all over the world. .

DOROTHY WOOD
Dorothy Wood is the president emeritus of JD&W Inc. Active in the community, she serves as an economic development commissioner for Virginia’s largest city. She is a board member of Goodwill of Virginia, the Virginia Beach Volunteer Rescue Squad Foundation, Virginia Beach Forum and Meals on Wheels. She chairs the Advisory Board of the Coalition of Hearing and Balance for the Otolaryngology Dept. of Eastern Virginia Medical School. She has represented the State of Virginia as Chair of the State Board of Contractors as well as other State of Virginia boards. She is the former First Citizen of Virginia Beach and was recently honored by the Salvation Army with the Evangeline Booth Award in memory of its founder. She received the Inside Business Women in Business Award, YWCA Women of Distinction Award, Influential Women of Virginia Award from Virginia Lawyers Weekly and many other awards.