2025 Speakers

37th Nevada Lieutenant Governor & Chair of Nevada Commission on Tourism, Stavros Anthony, a Las Vegas resident for 41 years, has made community service and public safety his focus.

Rafael recently joined Travel Nevada as the first Chief Executive Officer (CEO) tasked with the promotion and marketing of Nevada as a tourism destination.

Mitch Bach is a partner at Tourpreneur, a global network of 17,000 small tour business owners, and the co-founder and CEO of TripSchool, the world’s largest independent tour guide training school with over 5,000 graduates worldwide.

Amy Bagner is an associate vice president and 14-year veteran of Fahlgren Mortine, which is the public relations and media agency of record for Travel Nevada. Over the course of her career, Amy has developed and implemented strategic communications plans for clients across the travel & tourism industry and other industries.

Tracie Barnthouse leads the communications department at Travel Nevada, overseeing domestic and international media relations, public affairs initiatives, industry partner relations, and the agency’s conferences.

Las Vegas native Davis Bauman leads development, user experience, and digital design at Noble Studios. With a BS in Graphic Information Technology from Arizona State University, he crafts strategic digital experiences that convert browsers into loyal customers.

Jeff is a distinguished nonprofit leader in northern Nevada boasting over fifteen years of experience focused on conservation efforts and habitat restoration, agricultural education and research, and national service initiatives.

Mary has experience in developing grant submissions for federal, state and local applications for the past 9 years.

Hayley won New York City Guide’s 2023 Women in Tourism ‘Up and Comer’ and is co-host to the New York State Tourism Industry Association (NYSTIA) tourism awards.

With nearly 20 years of media strategy experience, Claudia has successfully led marketing initiatives across diverse industries, including Travel and Tourism, Healthcare, B2B, Higher Education and many more.

He is Senior Vice President for Murphy Broadcasting’s northern office in Bullhead City and is responsible for Client sales and service in the Laughlin, Bullhead to Needles, and Kingman Territory.

Brice develops a community-wide approach to environmental education by aligning stakeholders with tailored Leave No Trace messaging through long-term mutually beneficial relationships.

Leticia Gonzalez-Alvarez is a Mexican-American entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in the tourism industry.

As Travel Nevada Domestic Market Manager, Robert’s over 20 years of experience in tourism sales started in the Attractions and Transportation space.

Nikki is a senior social media specialist, influencer with nearly 9 years’ experience across social media, influencer marketing, and media relations.

Brenda Herbstman is a Senior Grants Coordinator at Clark County Social Services and has more than 10 years’ experience with federal grants including HUD, SAMHSA, FYSB, and ACF.

Sarah Reeves Johnson is the Director for the Lieutenant Governor’s Office of Small Business Advocacy and also serves as the senior economic advisor for the Lieutenant Governor.

Nicole Orsua is the Chief Industry Development Officer for Travel Nevada. The team has three primary pillars: to support the development of tourism destinations in rural Nevada, to support existing tourism businesses in rural Nevada, and to sell rural Nevada to both domestic and international audiences through travel and trade market development.

Ken is the co-founder of MARQUIS Discoveries, a company dedicated to making global destinations feel local.

Kaitlyn Schwantes is dedicated to helping communities transform through successful entrepreneurship.

Heather Sheppard is a vice president and leader within the tourism and economic development practice at Fahlgren Mortine, the PR and Paid Media Agency of Record for Travel Nevada, where she serves as the Travel Nevada integrated account lead.

Dr. Frederick Steinmann is currently the Director of the University Center for Economic Development with expertise in strategic planning, redevelopment, land use planning, public policy, and economic development.  Frederick has previously worked on several successful community, economic, and organizational strategic planning initiatives across Nevada, Idaho, and California, including several Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies (CEDS) for various municipalities, counties, regional economic development authorities, and economic development districts.

Peter is a retired Tour Operator who ran adventure tour businesses in Scotland, Spain and Morocco and also an outbound expedition business that took guests to some of the most challenging destinations in the world.

Chad Taylor is the Director of Marketing and Guest Experience and six-year veteran of Lake Mead Mohave Adventures (LMMA). In his current role Chad oversees and coordinates upwards of 100 marketing channels for data aggregation and decision making.