Recent Projects

The Solimar Team

Donald Hawkins, Chairman
Dr. Don Hawkins is an expert in tourism policy, strategic planning and education with more than 35 years of international experience. He has extensive business experience as President of Hawkins & Associates, Inc. from 1971 to 2006. In 2003, he received the first World Tourism Organization (WTO) Ulysses Prize for individual accomplishments in the creation and dissemination of knowledge in the area of tourism policy and strategic management. Don holds the endowed Eisenhower Professor of Tourism Policy Chair at the George Washington University School of Business. Don has consulted in regions all over the world including the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. His doctoral degree was in Park and Recreation Management, awarded by New York University in 1967. He is credited with over 100 publications, including books, journal articles, monographs, project reports and educational materials.

Chris Seek, President
Chris Seek is a marketing consultant and international tourism development specialist with over 7 years of experience. During the last 5 years of work in tourism development, Chris has provided marketing and consulting services to over 300 tourism micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and tourism associations in over 17 countries. Services included business planning, website development, graphic design, Internet marketing, photography, virtual tours, video production, international representation, cluster development, business development training, sustainable tourism certification, cross promotion advertising campaigns, and travel trade seminars. Chris holds an MBA in Marketing and Sustainable Tourism from American University in Washington DC. and a BA in communications from Wake Forest University.

Jim Philips
Jim Phillips has 20 years of experience in international tourism consulting, including strategic planning for tourism development, small business and microenterprise development, hotel and tourism-related investment promotion, marketing and promotion, feasibility studies and economic impact analyzes. Prior to becoming an independent consultant, Jim worked for Arthur Andersen LLP and Arthur Consulting Group International, completing assignments in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Russia, and the Middle East. Jim also served as Director of Tourism Development Programs for the U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Latin America and the Caribbean, where he conducted programs and events for more than 30 countries in the LA/C region. Programs included hotel investment missions and conferences, investment promotion strategy development, tourism planning, and product development and assessment missions. Work at the Commerce Department also included providing technical assistance to entrepreneurs and small businesses to establish and operate a range of tourism and export-oriented enterprises. Jim holds a Bachelor's degree in economics from Eckerd College and a Master's degree in International Business from the American Graduate School of International Management, Thunderbird campus.

Jennifer Straghalis Griffith
Jennifer Straghalis Griffith has 8 years experience managing tourism, agriculture and technology projects in Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. In Northern Guatemala, Jennifer served as marketing advisor to tourism enterprises within the Mayan Biosphere Reserve seeking to access international travel markets. She also participated on an Advisory Committee to the Inter-American Development Bank and the Central American Ministerial Tourism Secretariat to define a regional tourism strategy for local enterprise development around Mayan archeological sites. Before entering the tourism field, Jennifer worked for Mellon Asset Management-The Boston Company where she supervised operations for international equity accounts. Jennifer has native fluency in Spanish and English. She holds a BA in International Relations & Economics from Wheaton College, Massachusetts, an MA in International Development from the School of International Service and an MBA in Marketing and Financial Management from the Kogod School of Business at American University.

Simon Jones
Simon Jones has over 6 years of tourism experience in tourism development, tourism market access, strategic planning, business development, and marketing. Simon’s professional experience includes work as a tourism consultant for the National Geographic Society – Center for Sustainable Destinations, The Conservation Fund, George Washington University (GWU) and Lewa Wildlife Conservancy (Kenya). He has also worked as a researcher at the International Institute of Tourism Studies (GWU), as Ecotourism Coordinator for The Conservation Fund (a national conservation organization), a Safari Guide in Kenya and Tanzania, and a Ranger in the North Carolina Zoo. Simon holds a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies and Business and a Master’s degree in Tourism Administration - Sustainable Destination Management.

Juan Luna-Kelser
Juan Luna-Kelser has thirty years of practical and operative experience in planning, designing, and managing investment and sector loan projects, as well as technical assistance operations for member developing countries of the Inter-American Development Bank. He has been part of projects involving many sectors, and in the last ten years has concentrated his efforts in improving the competitiveness and building capacities of the tourism sector in several countries of Latin America and the Caribbean with special emphasis in Brazil, and the Mundo Maya countries. Juan Luna-Kelser is currently an adjunct professor at George Washington University's Department of Tourism, School of Business. He holds a Masters degree in Tourism Administration - Sustainable Destination Management from George Washington University, as well as a Masters degree in Political Science from Drew University, Madison, New Jersey. He earned his Bachelors degree in Political Science at the University of the Pacific, Stockton, California. Juan is originally from Mexico City and is fluent in Spanish, English and Portuguese.

Michael Pusateri
Mike Pusateri has over 25 years of sales and marketing experience in the travel industry. He was VP of Sales at Marriott International and subsequently launched Marriott.com as VP of Interactive Sales and Marketing. He was Corporate Director of Interbrand Marketing at Holiday Corporation and most recently served as SVP of strategy and Chief Operating Officer of the Travel Industry Association. He has a B.S in Marketing from the Universty of Connecticut.

Benjamin Isenberg
Benjamin Isenberg is an environmental specialist. Ben has a BA in Environmental Science from Catawba College in North Carolina and spent the first part of his career working on land conservation projects with nonprofit land trusts in North Carolina. Three years later Ben spent two years living and traveling throughout Costa Rica as he helped to bring together 40+ sustainably managed hotels along with tour operators and transportation companies to build Solimar Travel, a local tour operator focused on Sustainable tourism. Over the last 4 years, Ben has grown the tour company to a million dollar company and expanded into new destinations that Solimar International supports. Ben specializes in tourism product development and sales.

Brad Weiss
Brad Weiss is a tourism development professional who has garnered a wide range of experience through consulting engagements and employment in organizations in both the private and public sector. He is currently working in Northern Mozambique on a USAID- sponsored project, for which he is creating a comprehensive tourism master plan for the region. Prior to this engagement, he worked at the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), where he mobilized educational institutions to aid member nations in areas such as training, knowledge management, and strategic planning. He has also gained experience in tourism development through consulting engagements in Panama, Mexico, and Honduras. Previous employment as a tour guide in Brazil, travel guidebook writer in six Latin American countries, and marketing executive at an online travel company in the United States have also provided him with important insights into tourism planning and development. Brad holds a Bachelor’s degree a Master’s degree from George Washington University Business School in Tourism Administration -Sustainable Destination Management.

Pascal Languillon
Pascal Languillon is an expert in sustainable tourism development and ecotourism with over 5 years of experience. He holds a Masters degree in Environmental Science from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He started his career doing research for the Tourism Research Institute in New Zealand, before relocating to the Ecuadorian Amazon where he crafted and implemented an ecotourism project, working with the indigenous Shiwiar community. He then developed and implemented the Regional Ecotourism Strategy of the Moheli Island in the Comoros, before working on an ecotourism labelling project for the European Union & an ecotourism development in France. Pascal has extensive travel experience, having traveled to over forty countries in the last ten years and visited dozens of ecotourism projects throughout the world. He is the founder of the French Ecotourism Association, and a key-note writer of Ecotourisme Magazine, France’s first magazine focusing on sustainable travel and tourism. He recently wrote a responsible travel guidebook for Lonely Planet.

Andres Calvo
Andres Calvo is the founder and president of the Solimar Costa Rica office. He has worked in the travel industry with Solimar for 2 years. Andres has a background in art, design, and music and has been designing and developing Web site projects for 7 years. His ultimate aim is to integrate tourism, culture (arts), and nature in a sustainable way, and use that integration to help create opportunities that develop consciousness around the world. Andres has a BA in graphic design from VERITAS University in Costa Ria.