As Chief AI Officer and SVP of Innovation at Brand USA, Janette spearheads AI-driven strategies to enhance tourism marketing, streamline internal operations, and foster innovation for the benefit of both Brand USA and the broader U.S. travel industry. She joined Brand USA from New York City Tourism + Conventions, where she oversaw the organization’s paid media strategy, programs and media insights to drive visitation across the five boroughs. Prior to joining NYC Tourism, she spent more than two decades marketing Broadway at organizations such as Broadway.com and AKA NYC.

Zeek Coleman is President of Ad+genuity, a programmatic media platform built exclusively for destination marketing. Prior to leading ADG, Zeek spent nearly four years as a primary keynote speaker for Tourism Economics, a division of Oxford Economics, traveling the country and across the Americas presenting to state tourism offices, DMOs, and industry conferences on how economic conditions shape travel demand. He brings over a decade of hands-on destination marketing experience to his current role, where he is focused on building a platform that gives destinations full transparency into operating costs, keeps those costs as low as possible, and reinvests the savings into premium digital inventory.

LaShonda Brown is an award-winning Tech Educator & Canva Verified Expert based in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of VA. Through her YouTube channel & tech education company, Bootstrap Biz Advice, LaShonda teaches service providers worldwide through tutorials, workshops & group coaching, how to do less manually and live more fulfilling lives by leveraging technology. LaShonda heavily advocates for sustainable, healthy rhythms in business and is most well known for her 20-Hour Work Week practice that’s built on the foundation of deep focus work and a mindful morning routine.

Deepa Lakshmin is the Director of Social Media at Lonely Planet, where she leads social strategy, video, and creator marketing — programming content for a combined audience of 13 million travelers worldwide. She was previously the managing editor of Meta (formerly Facebook) and Instagram’s B2B content marketing blogs. As a journalist, she’s reported for National Geographic, MTV News, Vox, Inverse, and NYLON, plus managed both organic and paid social for Atlas Obscura, The Daily Beast, and Tribeca Film Festival, among others. Fun fact: before joining Lonely Planet full time, she wrote several chapters of the brand’s​ guide to New York City, where she’s based. Follow her own travels on Instagram at @deepa.

Mateah Kittle (pronounced muh-taye-uh) is a Senior Marketer at HubSpot, where she leads the HUGs (HubSpot User Groups) program within the Scaled Customer Success team. With a career rooted in community engagement and digital strategy—including previous leadership roles at Semrush—Mateah specializes in building authentic connections between brands and their users. She holds a degree in Journalism from West Virginia University and is passionate about empowering customers to grow better through education and community-driven support   

Brian brings a decade of experience in supporting clients and managing customer service teams in both the tourism and research environments. After being promoted at Brand USA, Brian was recruited into research leadership positions with two market research firms. With industry experience in the arts, travel & tourism, technology and community development, Brian brings a well-rounded approach to tailoring solutions for clients.

Brian received a BA in Art History from Lourdes University, holds an Executive MBA from the University of Toledo, and is currently the president of the board for a local nonprofit in his hometown of Toledo, Ohio.