Advisory Board

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Meet Joel Shapira, Wowzitude's Growth Partnerships Advisor with a passion for creating better communities and social impact. Joel's expertise lies in aging and longevity community issues, social entrepreneurship, and emerging trends in social innovation and resilience.

Joel's personal mission is to help others communicate and connect with people, ideas, opportunities, and themselves, as they discover and create what better looks like in both their work and personal lives. He is an independent business professional with over 20 years of experience in high-tech and digital communications.

Joel has a proven track record of success and reliable performance with both early-stage and established companies. His creative, collaborative, tenacious, and diligent approach empowers colleagues and customers to achieve their goals.

From his perch in the Costa Rican rainforest, Richard oversees the boutique ecoluxe operator he co-founded, GreenSpot.travel. He serves as CMO at Europe slow travel specialist UnTours, the world’s first B Corp, and of its parent organization, the UnTours Foundation (www.untoursfoundation.org).

A wide-ranging career in the adventure industry has had Richard in various leadership positions with a number of luminary adventure organizations. His work as the founding Executive Director of the Trusted Adventures consortium allowed him to assist pioneering adventure companies with their marketing, product and branding efforts.

As Global VP of Marketing & eCommerce at the adventure giant G Adventures, he was also the founding Director of the company’s non-profit Planeterra. He later held a similar role at the small ship specialist UnCruise Adventures and led that company through its successful rebranding.

He has always found time for interesting and unique projects in marketing and community development with destinations and non-profits, including helping to found both the Adventure Travel Conservation Fund and the Global Sustainable Tourism Council.

Gary began his travel career as Director of Public Relations worldwide for Sonesta International Hotels Corporation.  He then went on to lead the award-winning, Boston-based, travel-marketing firm ISM for over 25 years, before merging with Connelly Partners in 2013. He currently serves as a founding partner of the Prism Advisory Group, a consulting firm focused on the intersection between technology and marketing.

Gary is a Past-President of the Hotel Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) which is the largest organization of travel marketing professionals in the world. He is also a Past President of the MAGNET Global network which consists of over 40 independent marketing agencies from across the globe, comprising over $2 Billion in billings and more than 2200 marketing professionals. 

Since 2018, Gary has served as the Board Chairman of SongwritingWith:Soldiers (www.songwritingwithsoldiers.org) a ground-breaking non-profit based in Nashville, that enhances lives within the veteran community by using collaborative songwriting to build creativity, connections and strengths. 

Gary has spoken and taught widely about travel marketing, including at Cornell, Boston University, University of New Hampshire. Lesley College, and more. For many years he authored a regular column in MediaPost Marketing:Travel.

In recognition of all he has accomplished in his career, Gary is the proud recipient of the Albert E. Koehl Lifetime Achievement Award in travel advertising from HSMAI, an honor he shares with such industry icons as Bill Marriott and Sir Richard Branson.

Carol Zernial, MA is a nationally recognized gerontologist named one of the nation’s Top 50 Influencers in Aging by Next Avenue, the journalism arm of the Public Broadcasting System. She holds a master's degree in social gerontology, and has been in the field of aging over 30 years.

Carol serves as Executive Director of the WellMed Charitable Foundation and Senior VP Social Responsibility for WellMed Medical Management. She is Past Chair of the Board of Directors for the National Council on Aging. In 2020, she received the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/National Recreation and Park Association Innovation Award for Health Equity. In 2021, she was selected as one of the Top 50 Corporate Social Responsibility Leaders by the National Diversity and Leadership Conference. In 2024, she was appointed co-chair of the RAISE Family Caregiving Advisory Council under President Biden. Carol is the co-host of the award-winning podcast Caregiver SOS on Air.

Carol started professional life in the travel industry serving as the travel manager at the corporate offices of La Quinta Inns and Suites. She holds a BA in French from Trinity University and attended the University of Strasbourg as a Rotary Scholar in Strasbourg, France. Carol remains an avid traveler.

Katie Lafon is a two-time Hokie alumna of Virginia Tech and has the honor of serving her alma mater.  She has served the university for over twenty years and is currently the Director of the Cornerstone Alumni Engagement in the Advancement Division.  In her role, she builds lifelong relationships that engage the time, loyalty, and intellectual and financial resources of individuals in support of Virginia Tech’s aspirations, goals, and the broader land-grant mission.  Katie resides in Blacksburg on the family beef cattle farm with her husband and three children.