Active Board of Director: Ted Goldenberg

Ted Goldenberg

Vice President, Chapman Cultural Tours

Please describe your experience as a volunteer within or outside the travel community.

I have been in the International/Canadian Committee at SYTA and am now the current chair. I am also on the Safety committee. I have also been on the Board at OMCA for past 10 years, (rolled off this year), Have been on the Tour Council of OMCA, on the MAC committee at ABA Outside of the travel industry I have been on the board of the Nathaniel Dett Chorale and served as Chairman for two seasons.

Please describe your professional experience in the student travel industry.

I have been in the student travel business, starting as a driver in the mid 70’s then in the tour planning and operations in the 90’s and an owner in 2007. I have been involved, planning tours to destinations in both Canada and the USA from driving tours to tour managing groups and now running the company.

Please describe other professional or personal experience that would benefit you as a Board member.

My whole professional career has been in travel, from Motorcoach tours to series programs into the Caribbean, Mexico and Europe. I have been most aspects of the business from accounting to automation, Sales, operations and security protocols.

Please describe why you would like to serve as a Board of Director (Active) or Vice President (Active).

With the years of service in the travel industry, I think I can bring a perspective to the challenges that we face with student regards to student safety, company solvency and best practices as seen coming from a regulated environment such as Ontario.

What do you see as the challenges facing the student travel industry? What can SYTA do to meet those challenges?

We need to develop protections for the traveler and schools at a minimal cost without over burdening the Tour operator. We should not be relying on the good nature of suppliers and fellow members when a company goes down without providing services and/or without refunding money. The other challenge is the safety of travelers. We need to ensure that the people that we deal with are properly trained and know how to handle students and are without a criminal background.