2023 YoungTEC Board members

Check out this fab video of the 2022 Board members

Amanda Linklater – Grow Tourism

Based in Queenstown, Amanda’s tourism journey began when she travelled extensively throughout Europe and Asia.  On her return to New Zealand, she studied Hospitality Management and then secured a graduate placement with the Accor Hotel Group.  Amanda remained in the accommodation sector for more than eight years, across various hotels and multiple roles.   Following a move to NZ’s tourism capital, Queenstown, Amanda also discovered her passion for the fast-paced and exciting adventure tourism industry, and she became a hiking guide for Active Adventures.   She then quickly moved from ‘guide life’ into the Active Adventures Operations Team where she now uses her skills and experience to enhance the already epic training & culture programmes.  A strong advocate for physical and mental health and safety, Amanda also implements and maintains strong health and safety programmes for Active’s guides throughout New Zealand, South America, Himalayas, Europe and Africa.  New to the board in 2021, Amanda is looking forward to representing inbound tourism and readying the sector for a strong post-Covid rebound.

Ryan Wilmshurst – Maverick Digital

Ryan’s tourism career began in Te Whanganui-a-Tara/Wellington, where he studied a Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing and a Bachelor of Tourism Management at Victoria University, graduating in 2018. After a summer volunteering as a City Ambassador, his first frontline role was as a Customer Service Consultant at Wellington i-SITE – welcoming visitors to the city and providing them with travel advice and bookings. From there, he moved to the WellingtonNZ RTO head office, with varied roles such as Tourism Trade Assistant, Marketing Coordinator and working his way up to a Campaign Manager position, delivering high-impact content and campaigns for the region’s tourism, hospitality, and retail sectors.

In 2021, he relocated to Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland and joined thl as their Campaign & Partnerships Manager, before beginning his current position as Marketing Specialist at Maverick Digital. Here, he thrives on collaborating with tourism operators across the motu – enhancing their brand storytelling, social content, and digital presence to best meet the needs of visitors.

The role that tourism plays in enriching communities and bringing together kaimahi/hosts and manuhiri/visitors is a big passion of Ryan’s. He’s also enthusiastic about reshaping perceptions of tourism as a career, which has led him to giving presentations at Victoria University’s tourism school’s open days, and previous mentoring roles. Having spent a year as an Auckland regional representative, Ryan is excited to join the Board and play an even bigger part in growing the way YoungTEC nurtures and upskills the next generation of tourism talent.

Eleri Williams – Haka Educational Tours

Originally from Wales, Eleri fell in love with New Zealand after studying here as an international student in 2008. Her tourism journey started with organising University Ski Trips which then led into Guiding in the French Alps. Following her passion for snow and youth travel she transitioned into an Operations Role for UKs biggest student tour company before returning to NZ in 2012.

Over the last 10 years Eleri spent 4 years in Queenstown building her experience and skill set across sales, product, operations and management with Educating Adventures. In 2015 Eleri joined forces with Haka Tourism Group as Co-Founder of Haka Educational Tours and has scaled the business from start up to an award winning, global, mission led brand.

With a strong belief that tourism is a vehicle for growth, development, and positive impact Eleri is deeply passionate about opportunities that tourism can provide. Representing inbound tourism, Eleri is all too familiar with the value of this sector as well as experiencing firsthand challenges faced.

Narissa Phipps – First Light Travel

Upon completion of her Psychology degree in the UK, Narissa embarked on a round the world trip landing in New Zealand for the first time in 2014. Falling in love with the endless natural beauty and kiwi culture she now proudly calls New Zealand home.

Narissa joined the inbound industry in 2016 as a New Zealand Travel Specialist and instantly got hooked. Having worked her way up to be a Team Leader, Manager and now CEO, she is living proof of the awesome growth opportunities that the industry has to offer.

New to the YoungTEC Board in 2023, Narissa is excited to combine her passion for the industry and helping young people grow.