MR PETER B MYLES - CHAIRMAN

Peter entered the travel and tourism industry for the first time in 1988 as the Director of Tourism Port Elizabeth (tourism marketing) and then in 1993 as Regional Director for the South African Tourism Board in the Eastern Cape (tourism development). In 1995 he decided to establish his own business as a tourism specialist and developed the Tourism 2000 Network of associated specialists in Southern Africa and other parts of the world to focus on major tourism development projects.

Peter has written articles for tourism journals, prepared strategic tourism plans, designed appropriate organisational structures, facilitated tourism enterprise development, conducted tourism research in South Africa, Zambia, USA, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the Caribbean, compiled visitor statistics, presented capacity building training courses, facilitated tourism workshops and prepared project proposals.

Peter is currently involved with a range of tourism and development projects as a Tourism Specialist with a number of project teams, including Kyle Business Projects

DR ANTHONY ALBERS

Anthony Albers was born in Pretoria, South Africa. He completed his formal education at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, where he obtained a PhD degree in Physics in 1994.

Anthony is the CEO and founder of Kyle Business Projects, which undertakes a range of tourism development and strategy projects in South Africa.

MS ESTéE VAN JAARSVELD

Estée van Jaarsveld is a Project Coordinator and Researcher with Kyle Business Projects, and has primary responsibility for the Secretariat function and coordination of the CMT 2009 Conference.

MR RAINER SCHIMPF

Rainer Schimpf is the founder and owner of Dive Expert Tours, and has been diving and operating in Port Elizabeth since 1999. Dive Expert Tours focuses mainly on foreign dive tourists, but also specializes in Marine logistics and film crew hosting. In this line of work Rainer is not restricted to the common dive sites. Rainer takes a lot of underwater footage primarily to illustrate to customers and film crews what can be seen in the area, so that they can make more informed selections of site and subject, resulting in better underwater film footage. Rainer produced an underwater DVD titled "Ocean Messengers" and established the Ocean Messengers NGO to promote marine education and awareness. The film Ocean Messengers was officially launched nationally and internationally in 2007 at various international film festivals, and has received a number of awards. Rainer was the recipient of the prestigious SA National Parks Kudu Award in 2008 in recognition of his efforts to promote environmental awareness.

PROF PATRICK VRANCKEN

I am the head of the department of public law at the NMMU. I was awarded the LLD degree by UCT. My research interests are marine law, South African tourism law as well as the public international law and private international law aspects of tourism. My focus is on marine tourism and the law. I have published extensively in South African and foreign journals and I am NRF rated.

DR MATT DICKEN

Dr. Matt Dicken is a marine and shark research scientist at Bayworld Centre for Research and Education and the Department of Development Studies at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth. He has worked on most of South Africa’s top apex predators including white, tiger and raggedtooth sharks. His work has featured in several National Geographic and Discovery Channel productions. A current area of interest is the non-consumptive use of sharks and other marine resources along the South African coast. Seeking creative solutions for marine development and tourism, he hopes that his work will help to develop new ecotourism opportunities within South Africa.

DONé LOUW

I run the reservations department and the call centre at Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism. We assist guests to find accommodation, close to where they want to stay. We assist with pre and post tours and we can arrange car rental. We provide information about the Eastern Cape. We are the only reservation offices for all South African National Parks in the Eastern Cape.

MS TANIA PEARSON

I am the Business and Conferencing Coordinator for NMBT. I market Nelson Mandela Bay as the preferred conferencing destination and assist with all conferencing related issues. Over and above this I am also responsible for all membership related issues of Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism..

MR FERNANDO CAIN

MS CARLEEN ARENDS

MS RACHEL GREENSMITH

Rachel Greensmith is the Events Coordinator at the Tsitsikamma Conference Center, and has responsibility for all the on-site coordination between the CMT 2009 Conference and the Conference Center suppliers and services.

DR PAUL MARTIN

I hold a BSc Honours degree in Zoology from the University of Durham, UK. I obtained a PhD from the University of Port Elizabeth (now the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University) for a study of the feeding ecology of birds on the Swartkops Estuary, Port Elizabeth. I worked for the British Antarctic Survey on South Georgia. I spent 19 years with the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality as head of the Nature Conservation Division and later as the Executive Director: Environmental Services responsible for Waste Management, Environmental Health, Parks and Environmental Management. As such, he has been involved in many of the environmental issues and initiatives in the Port Elizabeth area over the past 25 years. Since August 2007 he has worked as an Environmental Consultant and is the Environmental Control Officer for the Coega Industrial Development Zone and Port that are currently under construction in Algoa Bay north of Port Elizabeth. I am a qualified tour guide specialising in birds and natural history.