Leadership

Considered one of the travel industry’s top minds in marketing and strategic planning, Clayton has worked with companies around the world for over two decades. He is responsible for MMGY Global’s overall vision and leads the company’s growth strategies. Heavily involved with industry advocacy, Clayton is a sought-after speaker and has been featured by news organizations such as Bloomberg, NPR, Skift and The New York Times. He has served on boards such as the United States Travel Association (USTA), The Kansas City Convention and Visitors Association and the New York Hospitality Council, and he is a strategic council member for Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG) in their travel advisory practice. Clayton has twice been awarded the American Express^® Steven Harvey Achievement in Marketing and he has been selected to join the exclusive Arthur Page Society.

Katie Briscoe is responsible for the development of core marketing services and talent along with helping to lead MMGY Global’s strategic growth through acquisition. In addition to being part of the global leadership team, Katie oversees the operation of the company’s integrated marketing communications brand, MMGY, which offers clients around the world full-service support, including brand planning, content and creative development, media planning and buying, marketing technology and data, CRM, and analytics. She also oversees the company’s North American PR, social and experiential brand, NJF.

Katie has spent over a decade with MMGY Global, leading strategic work for clients including Club Med, Marriott International, Destination DC, Namibia Tourism, Sixt Rental Car and Wyndham Hotel Group. She is currently a member of the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) Americas Board as well as the recipient of the organization’s 2017 Chair’s Leadership Award. She has been named to the Expedia Select Board and is a designee to the Visit KC marketing committee.

She also is a frequent speaker at industry conferences, including Destinations International, HSMAI’s Digital Marketing Conference, Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition, Eye for Travel North America and Luxury Travel Advisor’s Ultra Summit. In addition, Katie led a record-breaking fundraising effort for pediatric cancer research as part of the Midwest Chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Woman of the Year campaign in 2017.

In more than 14 years with MMGY Global, Craig Compagnone has played a lead role in shaping account and brand planning, client strategy, marketing technology and business development for the company. As chief operating officer and part of a four-member global leadership team, Craig oversees company operations, business strategy and staff support for 10 international offices, seven operating brands and a stack of services that support more than 400 clients across five continents.

Craig’s guidance on brand strategy and deployment has led to successful and award-winning marketing solutions for brands across multiple travel industry disciplines, including tourism, hospitality, cruises, attractions and OTAs, as well as ownership, operations and real estate development.

In addition to managing MMGY Global’s signature events DMO Mojo, Summit at Vail and Summit at London, Craig is consistently featured as a presenter and speaker on industry topics. His travel insights have been featured in publications like The New York Times, Skift, Luxury Travel Advisor and Travel Weekly.

Claire Griffin has been providing planning and strategic guidance in public relations and media for more than 25 years. Today, she serves as a partner for MMGY Global and oversees operations for the Grifco and Ophir PR brands in London. Since 2002, Claire has led Grifco into becoming a premier luxury specialty firm in the U.K., now representing more than 40 of the top travel, spa and beauty clients in the world. And her leadership has helped grow Ophir PR’s reputation as a best-in-class public relations and communications partner in the travel industry.

Claire has a degree in law and American studies from Middlesex University, London. Her first job was in journalism working on The Chester Chronicle & Evening Leader before entering the world of public relations in 1990. Her first PR role was at Grayling Company, one of the U.K.’s biggest PR agencies. For more than three years, she worked on big brand accounts including Mars. This was followed by four years as an account director at Barclay Stratton PR, working on travel clients such as the Jamaica Tourist Board and Oasis Forest Holiday Villages.

Claire left the U.K. to follow an opportunity to work in Sydney, Australia, as communications director for one of Australia’s leading law firms. She returned in 1998 to run and develop Columbus Communications. Claire was charged to grow Columbus’ business, which she did, and ran the PR agency as account director for just under five years. The accounts she looked after included Four Seasons Hotels Worldwide; Mediterranean Experience; Cap Juluca in Anguilla; Rome Cavalieri Hilton; 51 Buckingham Gate, London; and Dolce Vita Villas in Italy.

Amanda is one of the most well-known and respected faces in the global travel industry, with more than 30 years’ experience in the business. Having grown up in Bermuda and Saudi Arabia, travel is clearly in Amanda’s DNA – so it was only natural that she went on to study business studies and travel and tourism. Throughout her career, Amanda has specialized in product and marketing with the UK’s leading tour operators; she was a founding member of Sunworld Holidays before leaving to head up the global marketing efforts at Eurotunnel. Amanda founded Hills Balfour in 1998 with the ambition to create the most innovative and creative travel, tourism and lifestyle communications agency specializing in PR, digital, representation, crisis management, sales, trade and consumer marketing, branding and MICE.

Today, Amanda leads a creatively minded, strategically savvy and passionately people-centric team promoting clients in the UK, Europe and Middle East. Day in and day out, Amanda and the Hills Balfour team help places grow – cities, countries, regions and their infrastructures. One of the most experienced minds in tourism, Amanda has helped some of the world’s most iconic destination brands maximize the economic and social benefits of travel. Ever growing the organization’s footprint, Amanda has a special understanding of international markets and cultures, in addition to a passion for, and commitment to, tourism. Amanda thinks she has the “best job in the world,” which feeds her passion for travel every single day.

Rob has over 23 years of experience in both traditional and digital advertising and media. He held a variety of advertising management roles with titles such as The Scotsman, The European and The Financial Times, where he headed up FT.com and managed the print and digital commercial operations across Europe. Rob co-founded Digital Spring and now leads the commercial strategy for the company.

As the president of Myriad and a partner with MMGY Global, Al’s efforts are hands-on and wide-ranging. More often than not, you can find him developing strategic solutions to client challenges, creating industry partnerships, research, and presentations and supporting Myriad and MMGY Global’s growth. Al’s also an accomplished speaker, having presented on five continents and in countless countries on topics including research, marketing, changing trends and the creative process.

In more than 30 years with Myriad, Al’s worked with more than international and U.S.-based destinations. His experience touches most categories in the travel and tourism industry, including cruise lines, airlines, tour companies and consortia.

While covering millions of miles across dozens of countries, Al’s done it all. He’s been lucky enough to jump out of an airplane over the Great Barrier Reef, samba in full costume for Carnival in Rio de Janeiro and summit Mount Kilimanjaro. He’s even bungee jumped off Macao’s tallest tower, trekked the villages of Papua New Guinea, hang glided in Cape Town and square danced in the Ozarks.

Paul is the president and founder of NextFactor, a global consulting and strategic planning firm for travel and tourism organizations. As a consultant, Paul has successfully delivered strategic plans and tourism master plans for DMOs, governments, nonprofit organizations, hotels and airports around the world. He is also a renowned speaker on the new strategic roadmap for the tourism industry.

In addition to founding NextFactor, Paul was one of three founding partners for the consulting company InterVISTAS, which was established in 1997. For 20 years, he played a major role in building it into a multinational company specializing in aviation, transportation and tourism with offices in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

An industry thought leader, creative pioneer and award-winning strategist, Nancy has combined her passions for hospitality, travel and lifestyle into one of the most respected firms over more than 30 years. The namesake behind NJF, Nancy uses her “no stone unturned” philosophy and relentless focus on results as the forces behind the agency’s numerous long-lasting relationships.

As a partner at MMGY Global, she continues to set the benchmark for PR done right for hotels, destinations and luxury brands. From her early ascent as director of PR for the Dominican Tourist Office and Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager’s nascent hotel company to her current post steering one of the industry’s most talented PR teams, Nancy’s rare combination of grace and tenacity has led to countless industry firsts, including her role in launching or representing more than 75 hotels in NYC alone. Acting as the go-to PR counsel to some of the most innovative leaders in hospitality, she conceived of the popular Hotel Week NYC program and won the Hotel Sales Marketing Association International Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.

Nancy remains a passionate traveler, hotel geek, foodie and always a media junkie at heart, and is the proud mother of Emily and Michael.

As the original founder of MMGY Global, Don spent 30 years combining his passion for travel with his love for marketing ideas and innovation. He has worked around the world in travel with brands such as Disney, Hertz, MGM Resorts and Westin Hotels, and the bedrock of the firm has been his work on the ground level with individual hotels and tourism entities across marketing, operations and sales. In 1997, Don created the Summit at Vail, an event that continues today as an annual gathering of travel thought leaders, and he remains involved with MMGY’s industry advocacy, marketing advancement and community leadership. Along with Peter Yesawich, Don formed the foundation of what is today the largest travel marketing firm in the world.

Julie leads the Myriad team in implementing strategically integrated programs for their international destination clients. Julie’s focus is on ensuring that her team effectively plans and implements robust programs, including consumer marketing, travel trade engagement from product develop to agent training, public relations and social media.

Her 20-plus years in the industry started at the South Australian Tourism Commission in their U.S. office. She then worked at Qantas Vacations before joining Myriad in 2001. Ever since, she’s worked on nearly all of Myriad’s destination clients.

As a child, Julie told her family that her life goal was to see the world. Since then, she’s learned that every destination offers something fascinating, even if it wasn’t already on her bucket list. She couldn’t tell you how many countries she’s visited. She just knows she’s always moving closer to her childhood goal.

With 25 years of experience, Julie is an expert at creating innovative programs that build and elevate travel and hospitality brands through media relations, consumer engagement, and strategic partnerships and events at the local, national and international levels. She leads the agency’s public relations, social media and experiential marketing brand, NJF, in addition to MMGY Global’s New York City office.

Julie talks the talk when it comes to international destinations and brands and is fluent in Spanish. Her hands-on approach is evident, as she’s personally involved in overseeing business development plus strategy and implementation of programs for NJF’s growing portfolio of clients, ensuring they integrate into overall marketing efforts and generate maximum exposure and impact. In 2018, she was named one of PR News’ Top Women in PR, and she has won numerous HSMAI Adrian Awards for her work.

Previously, Julie spent 17 years at Edelman, helping to build the firm’s global tourism and hospitality offering as executive vice president and deputy global director.

Julie graduated cum laude from the University of Southern California with Bachelor of Arts degrees in public relations and Spanish. She enjoys playing tennis, spending time at the beach, skiing, and hanging out with her puppy and is always looking for her next big adventure, no matter where in the world it takes her.

Justin is responsible for MMGY Global’s continued growth in the travel and tourism industry. He spent 16 years leading creative teams to successful and award-winning campaigns for travel brands like Lufthansa, South Dakota Department of Tourism, Los Cabos Tourism, European Travel Commission and Visit KC. Now, as vice president of business strategy, he brings together his passion for great creative work with a smart strategy for MMGY Global and its portfolio of agency brands and clients.

Despite Ant’s youthful looks he has worked for an emotional 20 years in some of the most awarded and bravest creative agencies across the UK, Australia and Middle East. Shooting Branson in spa baths, Tiger on pool decks, and re-imagining the Louvre. A failed Welsh rugby wannabe, Ant still believes he could win the 6 Nations one day.

Jonathan has vast experience of the workings of the travel industry, having begun at grass roots level as a luggage porter at Cliveden. He quickly moved into in-house PR and Marketing with Grosvenor House. In 2003 he joined Hills Balfour as PR Director and today in his capacity as Managing Director now works across the company’s whole portfolio of travel and tourism clients.

Calep is responsible for providing the communications, computing and security infrastructure that supports MMGY Global’s internal business operations as well as a variety of hosting and digital delivery services for MMGY Global’s customers.

Prior to becoming CIO, Calep was chief technology officer at MMGY Global, with his primary focus being on client-facing web and digital solutions. With over 20 years of experience in high technology, Calep has held a number of leadership positions in technology at VML, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City and GeoAccess – a Kansas City-based software and services company. Calep earned a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy with an emphasis in symbolic logic from the University of Missouri at Kansas City and a Master of Business Administration from Baker University.

Born in Canada to British parents, educated in Switzerland, England and Scotland and now living in Spain, Chris is a genuinely vocational tourism advocate. His experience in international tourism marketing spans three decades and four continents. He has designed successful communications and promotional strategies for over 50 leading travel brands including corporations such as Expedia, Kayak and Latam Airlines Group, and destinations as varied as Chile, Kenya, The Philippines, Slovenia, The Gambia and Iceland. In his role as director of global strategies & client services, Chris is responsible for MMGY’s international development.