GSTC Accreditation Panel

Cathy Parsons - Chair, Accreditation Panel 

Cathy has been involved with promoting sustainable tourism since 1994 when she managed the Australian Government’s environmental tourism programs and assisted in the development of the first ecotourism certification program in the world.

During the period 2001 to 2006, Cathy was the Executive Director and then CEO of the global tourism certification program, Green Globe. She was responsible for all aspects of delivering the program to tourism operations in over 50 countries with the objective of achieving a more sustainable tourism industry.

Since 2001 Cathy has been actively involved in the evolution to the present of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council.

Jóse Augusto A.K. Pinto de Abreu

He is Director of Sextante Ltda., a consulting firm specialized in sustainability, innovation, management systems and supporting technologies to competitiveness (such as standardisation, regulation, conformity assessment - including certification and accreditation). 

 With more than 20 of experience in these themes is involved with tourism since 2000, helping the development of the systems of standards and certification on persons competences, sustainable tourism and safety in adventure tourism in Brazil and Ecuador.  Also worked in the New Brazilian Classification System for Tourism (a stars rating system for accommodation facilities) for the Brazilian Government. During 1990 and 1999 worked at ABNT - the National standards body of Brazil.

Hugh Cresser

Hugh Cresser has a career in Sustainable Tourism Management and planning that spans over thirty five (35) years in Jamaica and the Caribbean. His career has covered technical areas such as Project Management, Community Development, Tourism Product Development, Sustainable Planning and Development, Hotel and Tourism Management, Marketing, Hospitality Training and Education where he developed the Hospitality and Tourism Degree Programme at one of the leading Universities in Jamaica, Institutional Development, International Trade, and Tourism Investment. For the past fourteen (14) years, his focus has been on introducing Environmental Management Systems within the hotel industry as a means of achieving Sustainable Tourism Development. He presently sit on the Advisory Board of the College of Hotel and Tourism Management at Niagara University, served on the Standards Committee for the Quality Tourism for the Caribbean (QTC) Project, served on the Prime Minister of Jamaica’s Committee for the Development of Portland and was Chairman of the National Blue Flag Jury in Jamaica. He holds a MA in Tourism Planning and Development from the George Washington University where he was an OAS Fellow (1977- 1978) and a BSc, in Transportation Travel and Tourism from Niagara University, Lewiston, New York. 

Stefán Gíslason

Stefán Gíslason is a biologist with a Master’s degree from Lund University, Sweden in Environmental Management and Policy. He is the founder and owner of Environice, a small consultancy located in Borgarnes, Iceland, specializing in sustainable development with public policy making, sustainable tourism, ecolabelling and education for sustainable development as the main focus areas. During the last years Stefán has mainly been working on projects for local and national authorities in Iceland, as well as for The Nordic Council of Ministers, which is the forum for governmental co-operation between Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The Icelandic Tourist Board and The Icelandic Travel Industry Association (SAF) have been among his most important clients for the last 11 years. He has also assisted several local governments and SME’s within the toursim sector in decision making and preparing for environmental and sustainability certification.

Pramod Gupta

Geoff Penrose

Geoff Penrose established www.WorldClassTourism.com   in 2010 as an international consultancy that improves the quality, safety, authenticity and sustainability of the tourism experience. Geoff was the CEO of Qualmark New Zealand from 2004 to 2009, an organisation that developed and assessed the quality standards for all types of tourism businesses including hotel chains, luxury boutique resorts, land and sea adventure activities and cultural tourist attractions. Geoff was responsible for introducing an integrated quality and environmental star rating system in 2008. Geoff works with tourism companies, governments and donor agencies across Europe, Asia and the Pacific to improve tourism standards and is a part time lecturer in tourism.

Mike Read

Mike Read established Mike Read Associates (MRA) as an international consultancy in 1987. Mike's work has spanned responsible tourism, water efficiency, wildlife conservation, climate change, and waste prevention. Through the 1990s he was also closely involved in developing the FSC. Mike took a two-year break from consultancy in 2009 to take on the new role of Head of Programmes for the Travel Foundation. He continues to work as a consultant for TF, and manages TF's agricultural links project in Turkey. He sits on the Travelife Strategy Group, and GSTC's Accreditation Panel. In addition to his understanding of sustainability and social justice issues, he has knowledge of the UK outbound tourist industry, has expertise in developing small businesses. Mike studied botany, and subsequently environmental technology, at the University of London. He has worked for Defra, the Environment Agency, B&Q, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and the Eden Project among many other clients.