Director, Partnerships and Development

With over 20 years of experience in tourism, nonprofit organizations, and international development, Tricia purposefully chooses to work for organizations that make a positive impact. As the Director of Partnerships and Development, Tricia is responsible for developing and stewarding strategic partnerships, executing fundraising, and overseeing communications activities for Planeterra.  

Tricia’s love of travel began the moment she peered out the airplane window on her first trip abroad. Years later while living in Paramaribo, Suriname she saw first-hand the potential of the tourism industry to create economic opportunities, especially for women. Returning to Canada, Tricia knew that someday she wanted to combine her experience in international development with her love of travel. Tricia joined the team at UNICEF Canada raising funds and awareness to help advance the rights of children and youth around the world before setting her site on an opportunity in the travel industry. She spent nearly 10 years promoting adventure travel experiences in northern Canada and telling the world how her home province of Manitoba is the best place to see polar bears and beluga whales and experience the breathtaking northern lights.

Tricia is a proud graduate of the Creative Communications program at Red River College and has a Graduate Diploma in Social Responsibility and Sustainability from St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto. 

When Tricia isn’t supporting Planeterra’s mission to uplift communities through tourism, she can be found planning her next travel adventure, and ever since that first plane ride, she has always opted for the window seat.

Regional Manager – Africa, Middle East & Europe

Evie is a native of one of Southern Africa’s most popular tourism hubs: Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. From a very early age, she had a passion for ensuring that her community would benefit from the booming tourism industry. She is a graduate of Monash University, having attained the skills and certifications in Economic Development, Statistics and Business Management, but has over her career been involved in tourism and experience development. In the past, she was heavily involved in community education and cultural conservation programs, first in Roodepoort, South Africa for three years and later on in the rural areas around her hometown of Victoria Falls for a further three years. 

She is a tourism and development professional, who in her role at Planeterra, specializes in tourism experience development, enterprise mentorship and the development and implementation of Planeterra’s Regional Strategy in Europe, the Middle East and Africa in accordance with the SDG’s as well as the core of Planeterra’s work. She is passionate about expanding Planeterra’s reach through sharing Planeterra’s stories to peers and influencers with the tourism industry and does so through speaking engagements in trade shows, webinars, conferences as well as regional expo’s.

Regional Manager – Americas

Richard’s 11 years of experience include leadership in public, non-governmental, and private projects in community tourism, value chains, tourism destination marketing, cultural identity, and food and music heritage. He has spent 10 years involved in university teaching in Peru, Bolivia, Mexico, and France, and has conducted more than 110 conferences and seminars both within and outside his country. This wealth of experience is also shared with the teams of his own foundation and company.

After graduating in Tourism Administration, he completed a master’s degree in Public Management and pursued studies in Marketing and Communication of Tourist Destinations. He has dedicated his career to promoting tourism as a development tool, employing a territorial approach based on multidisciplinary complexity.

With a humanistic and eclectic vision of the world, encompassing the 21 countries he has traveled, Richard shares his passion for books, gastronomy, music, and travel as universal languages capable of bringing people together and valuing differences. In the words of his favorite philosopher, Michel Onfray, he believes in creating “countertimes” that, especially today, can generate new paths for tourism and its relationship with culture and identity, people and their rights, and the ecology and future of communities in conditions of vulnerability and inequality.

Today, alongside his team, Richard leads all programs in the Americas and directs their growth, in alignment with stakeholders who represent one of the most biodiverse destinations on this planet.