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Board of directors


Dennis Bunnik

Chairman

Bunnik Tours

Dennis has 30 years of experience in the travel and tourism industry, including hotels, travel agencies, education, major events, and tour operations. He has formal education qualifications in tourism and is a Chartered Management Accountant. Dennis is the joint-CEO of Bunnik Tours, has been a CATO board member for ten years (Chair since 2015), and has been instrumental in the evolution of CATO to where it is today as the peak industry voice for the land-supply sector.


Brett Jardine

Managing Director

CATO

Brett has over three decades of experience across the travel industry and since 2017, has overseen the transformation of CATO, a 25-year-old industry body representing the land-supply sector made up of Australian based tour operators and wholesalers. During his tenure at CATO, Brett has significantly increased advocacy activity in support of members that play a critical role in the development and delivery of premium leisure-based travel for Australians to travel safely around the world.


Lisa Pagotto

Vice Chair

Crooked Compass

Crooked Compass Founder, Lisa has a fascinating journey of creating one of Australia's leading niche travel brands. Lisa's efforts in the experiential travel space, have directly influenced the development of the experiential travel movement. Lisa brings to CATO, the opportunity for smaller members to have a bigger voice, as boutique operators needs differ greatly to our larger members whilst working together to deliver a wholistic voice and maximum value to all categories of membership.


Aaron Zoanetti

Frontera Law

Aaron is a travel law specialist and Principal at Frontera Law – a specialist travel, tourism & events legal practice. Aaron also operates sports travel company ‘Green & Gold Army’, which specialises in large-group tours to FIFA World Cups. Aaron’s unique mix of industry specific legal knowledge and commercial experience enabled him to play an important role in framing the ACCC’s guidance for Covid-19 related travel cancellations.


Ingrid Berthelsen

Evolution Travel Collective

Ingrid is an experienced Commercial Director with a demonstrated history of working in the leisure, travel & tourism industry. Skilled in Strategic management, Sales & Business Development, Supplier Contracting, Business negotiation and Marketing Strategy. Strong sales professional with a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.)


James O'Donnell

The Travel Corporation

James has been with The Travel Corporation (TTC) for more than 20 years and is in a unique position where he understands the complexities of finance, regulations, and challenges that CATO members face every day within the travel industry. James is a prestigious FCA (Fellow Chartered Accountant) who spent several years in the UK gaining global experience through various exposures to hospitality and media businesses prior to joining TTC. 


Amanda Highfield

Greece & Mediterranean Travel Centre

Ingrid Berthelsen

Evolution Travel Collective

Amanda is the General Manager at long-standing CATO member, Greece & Mediterranean Travel Centre. With over 25 years of experience in the travel industry, Amanda brings extensive experience from senior leadership roles at Wendy Wu Tours and Bill Peach Journeys, along with a strong connection to the land supply sector. Drawing on her experience with small businesses, Amanda is committed to representing and advocating for smaller land suppliers, ensuring their unique challenges are addressed in our dynamic and rapidly evolving industry.


Brad McDonnell

Entire Travel Group

Brad has a diverse background including Accenture, a global IT consulting business headquartered in Chicago. He was a Project Manager working across industries including Finance, Education and Manufacturing. In 2007 he entered the travel industry by purchasing French Travel Connection. Over the following 15 years several specialist wholesale brands were launched including Tahiti Travel Connection. CIT Holidays was acquired in 2018, and in 2019 more than ten wholesale brands were consolidated under Entire Travel Group.


Sean Martin

G Adventures 

Sean's background is primarily in distribution, including 15 years in executive roles at Flight Centre Travel Group, including General Manager of Student Flights and My Adventure Travel. He possesses a diverse set of skills, including distribution, product, strategy, and leadership development. He brings a unique retail distribution perspective to the board that has greatly enhanced CATO's overall knowledge base.


Martin Edwards

The Explorer Society

Martin started his travel career in the UK before moving to Australia in 2008 where he spent 12 years at Bench Africa and leading the team as General Manager. Martin has now transitioned from working at one of the oldest travel companies in Australia, to co-founding one of the youngest travel companies in Australia, The Explorer Society. This is Martin’s second spell sitting on the CATO Board having previously held Board & Vice Chair positions between 2015-21.


Chris Hall
Globus Family of Brands

Chris is the recently appointed CEO of the Globus Family of Brands. Chris brings over two decades of senior leadership across touring and cruise. Most recently, Chris held the position of CEO at PONANT in Asia Pacific, and before that, he held various senior positions at Australian Pacific Holdings (APH) the parent company of APT Travel Group, including as managing director of APH and as CEO of APT Travel Group.

"Inspiring innovative & sustainable travel"



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