TECNZ Board of Directors
2022 – 2024

Back row left to right: Geoff Yee, Mark Badland, Greg Marett, Eve Lawrence (ITO Vice Chair), Lynda Keene (TECNZ CEO), John Gregory,
Jake Downing (Allied Vice Chairman), Mark Ma
Front row left to right: Ben Thornton, Scott Mehrtens (ITO Chairman), Brendan Davies
Absent – Charlotte Brady (YTEC Chair)

Chair

Scott Mehrtens (Inbound)– Leisure Time Tours Group

Scott is the Managing Director of Leisure Time Tours Group which also  owns and operates Travel Time South Pacific and AgriTravel International. He completed his training in Hospitality and Tourism Management in 1991, and has been working for Leisure Time Tours since 1997. He travels often to key inbound markets including Australia, USA, UK and various parts of Europe giving him current in-market knowledge and perspective to share with the TECNZ Board and the wider tourism industry. Scott has been on the TECNZ board since 2017.

Vice Chairs

Jake Downing – (Allied) Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Jake is the Director of Museum and Commercial Services at Te Papa, being responsible for Venues, Visitor Services, Commercial Business, Te Papa Stores and Event Operations. His 20+ year career has always been fully-focused within the tourism industry. His career began in London, working for Bridge the World in the Australia/New Zealand team. There, he developed and managed the successful Asia & Africa Tailor-made department. After seven wonderful years, he made the move to New Zealand. His first Kiwi role was working for Tourism Auckland, where he managed the operations of their eight i-SITEs. Jake’s governance experience began in the Falkland Islands in a two-pronged role: Director of the Falkland Islands Development Corporation, and General Manager of the Tourism Board. From 2015, Jake was Head of Tourism at Wētā Workshop for eight years; this encompassed all aspects of strategy and management, from sales and marketing through to operational delivery and HR. In 2020, Jake led the opening of Wētā Workshop’s new Auckland experience, Wētā Workshop Unleashed.

Eve Lawrence – (ITO) Haka Tours An Intrepid Company

Eve Lawrence is the General Manager of Haka Tours & ANZ Nature Tours and was nominated as ‘emerging leader of the year’ at the New Zealand Tourism Awards in 2021. She has also been a board member of the Backpacker & Youth Adventure Tourism Association since early 2021.  After moving to New Zealand in 2015, she spent 5 years in the business events sector here focusing on incentive travel, before being offered the GM role at Haka Tours in February 2020!  She will bring with her to the TECNZ board a true passion for tourism, its businesses and its people, her strong advocacy for the tourism industry.  Eve is also on the board for BYATA and recently spearheaded a Working Holiday campaign which has been presented to govt bodies and multiple industry associations across hospitality, tourism and horticulture.  Eve also travels regularly to connect with her clients in Australia, The USA, Canada and the EU.  Eve would love to be a part of the future planning for tourism as we start to reshape the industry toward future growth and sustainability.

Representing Inbound Members

 

Geoff Yee – GSN Pacific

Geoff Yee is the Managing Director of GSN Pacific Limited, a qualified chartered accountant with a Bachelor of Commerce from University of Canterbury and worked for Ernst & Young from 1989-1992. Geoff has been involved in the New Zealand inbound tourism industry for 29 years and in 2000 established his own inbound tour company GSN Pacific Limited which has been operating for 20 years. While on the TECNZ Board Geoff has been on advocacy & relationship management strategic groups and also applying his knowledge and expertise as a chartered accountant to assist the TECNZ Board on accounting matters including GST issues and reviewing financial reports. Geoff has served on the TECNZ Board for the past 11 years and during this time Geoff also held the position of Vice President for 4 years and has been re -appointed again for 2020-22.

John Gregory – Terra Nova Coach Tours

John is the Manager for Terra Nova Coach Tours. He has dedicated more than 25 years to the New Zealand Tourism industry working for a number of high profile organisations in various sectors of the industry including Coach Tour Operations, Accommodation Marketing and General Inbound Tour Operation. His current role focuses on the UK and European Markets and the vital connection to local issues including quality control of our wide range of tourism product and support for our Department of Conservation and their involvement as a key tourism partner. He is a big advocate of YoungTEC and inspiring people to a career in tourism.

Mark Badland – Pacific Destinations

Mark has over 23 years’ experience with Pacific Destinations and involvement in both Eastern and Western markets via multiple distribution channels. He started in 1997 as an Inbound Tour Consultant and has had the opportunity to progress via many roles and responsibilities within their business, resulting in his current position as Managing Director for both Pacific Destinations New Zealand and Australia.   He would like to be a part of the future planning for the tourism industry to ensure the value of Inbound Tour Operators continues to be seen.

Mark Ma – Master Travel Group

Mark is the Managing Director of Master Travel Group Limited in New Zealand and a director of Master Tour Group in Australia. Mark’s tourism career started in 1991 in the North of China after his education in the Beijing International Studies University. Before he migrated to New Zealand in 2000, he worked as an outbound tour operator in Beijing. Mark is full of passion for the tourism industry and a devoted servant of public interests. Mark is a cancer survivor and that trauma caused him to look at his life in new ways. This reflects in his spirituality, the meaning of life, and things that he values most. As a migrant, Mark regards NZ as his home now and would like to do as much he can to give back to the community. Mark has built up a lot of good friends and contacts in NZ, both personal and through his business life and is always searching for new opportunities in every aspect to enrich his life and those around him.

Greg Marett – AAT Kings

Greg Marett leads The Travel Corporation’s (TTC) Operations team of inbound guided holiday brands including AAT Kings, Trafalgar and Inspiring Journeys. With a childhood centered around a family jetboat business and young professional years spent delivering Contiki trips to youth travellers around NZ, Greg’s career has been shaped by local experience and global perspective provided by a number of domestic and international roles with TTC.

It’s this wide-reaching first-hand experience within the New Zealand tourism industry, paired with the depth of his global knowledge including best-practice from TTC’s network of global travel brands that pose Greg as an ideal candidate for the TECNZ Board. His life-long immersion and genuine passion in showcasing the best of New Zealand to our visitors is what now motivates Greg to share his expertise in a way that will add value to the tourism industry, and particularly coach touring and guided holiday businesses.

Representing Allied Members

Ben Thornton -Bush and Beach

Ben has been the Managing Director of Auckland-based eco-tour company, Bush and Beach, since 2013 and prior to that, spent 14 years as General Manager of Gray Line NZ / Scenic Tours NZ.  With over 23 years’ experience in the tourism, Ben has built up a strong network of contacts, both amongst IBOs and fellow-allied members.  Ben is proud to have developed Bush and Beach into one of the leading sustainable tourism businesses in New Zealand and looks forward to helping drive NZ tourism to a more sustainable future.  In a previous life and after graduating from the University of Waikato with a degree in management and marketing, Ben played rugby in Japan for five years whilst arranging and conducting tours to NZ.

Brendan Davies – Millennium Hotels and Resorts (representing accommodation sector)

Brendan Davies is the Director of International Sales and Marketing for Millennium Hotels & Resorts. Millennium Hotels owns, leases or operates 20 hotels across New Zealand under the Millennium, Grand Millennium, M Social, Copthorne and Kingsgate brands. He started his tourism career in 1986 at Guthreys Tours before working for Horizon Holidays and then for 10 years as GM – Asia, for Contract Pacific.  He started his hotel career as International Sales Manager at Rydges Hotels before joining Millennium Hotels where he has been for the last 15 years. The role oversees all Sales and Marketing for the International wholesale market.

Co-opted Board Member

Charlotte Brady – Skyline (YoungTEC Chair)

Charlotte began her career in the tourism industry as a cashier at Skyline Rotorua after graduating from Waikato University with a Bachelor of Communication Studies. She quickly developed an interest and passion for the industry, and moved to an entry-level sales and marketing role at ZORB Rotorua. She worked her way up the ranks at ZORB, eventually becoming the Sales and Marketing Manager. Nine years later, Charlotte’s tourism career has come full circle and she has returned to Skyline Rotorua as the Sales and Marketing Executive. She is now responsible for promoting the company’s activities and attractions to potential visitors. Charlotte is extremely enthusiastic about the tourism industry as a career and loves being able to share her journey in the industry with our next generation of industry leaders.