Staff and Council

Please feel free to contact us with your questions and ideas.

Mark Watson, Executive Director

Mark is a Chartered Manager with an MSc in sustainability and a first degree in geography and international development. He was the campaigns director of the human rights charity Stonewall and the Executive Director of One Planet Products before founding the charity UK Foundation for AIDS Research in 2009. In 1986 he spent three months in Dhaka, Bangladesh studying the effects of poverty on social exclusion; then in 1991 he led a six month expedition to the Amazon to consider the social and environmental consequences of rainforest destruction. Before going to university he spent one year working voluntarily in the township of Alexandria in South Africa and in 2003 he climbed Kilimanjaro to raise money for HIV / AIDS projects in Africa.

Rachel Noble, Head of Policy and Research

Rachel joined Tourism Concern in January 2008. She has a background in anthropology and international development and a history of campaigning on environmental and conservation issues. This has included political lobbying and capacity-building in Africa, Asia and Europe. Rachel is also Tourism Concern’s Press Officer.

Peter Bishop, Project Manager

Peter is currently managing our Empowering Coastal Communities and Gap Year and International Volunteering campaigns.

Jassi Sandhar, Membership Officer

Jassi joined Tourism Concern in 2011 and enjoys being the point of contact for our members and prospective members. A Geographer at heart, Jassi promotes and practices responsible travel and is a passionate human rights advocate. She is also our events co-ordinator and supports members who wish to fundraise for us or become part of our outreach network. Contact Jassi to find out how you can get involved with Tourism Concern’s events and outreach campaigns.

Rory Hodgson, Digital Communications Manager

Rory has recently joined the team after working for many years as a freelancer on Tourism Concern's website. His previous work includes working for the BBC, Wateraid, and Peace Brigades International.

Rob Fowler, Finance Manager

Council of trustees

Tourism Concern is normally governed by a Council of 10 trustees (although we currently only have seven). They provide oversight and maintain accountability. Our current trustees are widely representative of the tourist industry, human rights and development organisations, academia and education sectors.

Stroma Cole

Stroma is a lecturer at the University of the West of England (UWE). She teaches undergraduates, masters and PhD students in all aspects of sustainable tourism. She has published widely on responsible tourism and has worked as a consultant on ecotourism for UNESCO and Asian Development Bank (ADB). After extensive travel, she ran her own tour operating business in Indonesia for seven years. One of the key features of her tours was having tourists stay with local people to learn about their lives.

Neville Linton

Neville developed an interest in the impacts of tourism in his Caribbean homeland where tourism is the largest industry. As an academic, he initiated research into the effects of tourism when he recognised that the industry benefited largely foreign investors and tourists. Neville also became an NGO activist and participated in the 1982 meeting in the Philippines which established ECOT, the first international NGO focusing on tourism, becoming its first Chairman. Working at the Commonwealth Secretariat has given him an insight into the difficulties in governing 'emerging' states and in getting fair shares for them in the international economic system. Currently Neville is a consultant, in the anti-corruption field, with Transparency International and serves on the boards of other human rights NGOs.

Sarah Upfield, Vice Chair

Sarah has worked in education all her life and until recently was a busy full-time lecturer at Bridgwater College managing different Travel and Tourism courses. She has now created a more flexible lifestyle enabling her to combine work with voluntary activities and personal interests. Sarah runs an education consultancy business from her home in Somerset - and enjoys more time for her hobby as a pilot.

Sarah Harrington, Chair

Sarah has worked in charity fundraising for just over ten years, raising funds for medical research, housing and homelessness and international development. For the last four years she has been working as a fundraising and communications manager for a London based international charity that promotes human rights through the use of law. Sarah contributes to a sustainable financial future for Tourism Concern through the development of a fundraising strategy which ensures that relationships with a broad range of donors are maximised.

Ioannis Pantelidis

Ioannis is a Senior Lecturer in Hospitality and Culinary arts at the University of Brighton. He is also a founding member of the Brighton Hospitality Research group.  He studied for a PhD and an MSc in Tourism and Hospitality from the University of Surrey. His industry experience ranges from Small Businesses in Greece and the UK to five star Hotels in London, Scotland and Germany. He has also opened and managed a restaurant in Greece and managed an organisation promoting theatre and accommodation packages in London.   Ioannis is very active in the Industry and was the Chairman of the Institute of Hospitality -Surrey Branch for many years and is currently the Vice Chair of the IoH London Branch. He has worked as a consultant on a number of projects in Hospitality Organisations both in the UK and abroad.

Claudette Fleming

Claudette is aware of issues that are relevant to indigenous peoples as she is from an indigenous community in Guyana, South America. Tourism is a relatively new experience to indigenous peoples but when ecotourism is actively marketed, it is destinations that are within the ancestral lands of indigenous peoples that are most likely promoted. This affects the lives of the local people.
Claudette has her own project in Moraro (www.forestkeepers.com). For her it is very important that indigenous groups are active in such issues like tourism that affect them. Educating local people as to the complexities of tourism is vital if tourism is to be an asset. She has started an information centre for local people and is working with Tourism Concern on its Code of Practice for Tour Operators on Indigenous People.

Kathleen Edie

Kathleen works with Blue Ventures (www.blueventures.org), a small London-based organisation funding community stewardship and marine conservation in coastal communities in Madagascar, Belize and Malaysia through volunteer and ecotourism products. She is experienced in charitable trust finance, compliance and reporting systems. Through her experience in a SME and systems and communication she contributes the experience of smaller UK-based organisations, who should be key allies in promoting and implementing best practice and making real change in tourism.