Disclosure
I have spent most of my life as an entrepreneur; starting, building and selling companies; from a tour and yacht cruise company to a technology company and a few in between. Some of these ventures were successful, some not. So goes the life of an entrepreneur. Since I have also sold some of these ventures, this also means I have spent much of my professional career working for the companies to which I sold, for when you sell, you often come with the deal. Some of these companies were bootstrapped and some were backed by outside investors; VCs, angels, etc. In the end, I’m just as comfortable being CEO of a small company as I am being EVP/SVP or VP in a large or even public company.
I have also spent some time consulting for a living for both for-profit and non-profit organizations. I’m human, so my experiences in those consulting roles have influenced my opinions.
Throughout my career, I have also spoken at many conferences and seminars and in some instances, I was paid to present. Being a travel / technology /consulting guy means I have a long messy list of clients, employers, fans, followers and sponsors. With this Disclosure, I’ll do my best to explain these relationships as best I can.
In March of 2010 I led the efforts to sell VC backed Tripology.com (where I was CEO) to Rand Mc Nally. I am currently employed at Rand as VP/GM of Digital Strategy & Travel. As such, I’m pro digital, GPS and all things maps/navigation. As hard as I try to stay neutral, working for a map and navigation company certainly influences my opinions about these topics. Further, I often post about current promotions, product or programs in which I’m involved at my day job. So, does my paycheck influence my posts? Sure.
I do a lot of blogging in the travel and technology fields and, since I’ve spent much of my life making money by selling services or products to travel agents, I’m a big fan of the distribution channel. If you follow me, you’ll see I often mention specific companies (Southwest comes to mind). If you follow me, you’ll also see I don’t hold back. What you see (okay, read) is what you get. However, be clear my involvement in the travel industry shapes my opinions about travel.
I am sometimes paid to speak and consult for both travel and technology clients. For my presentations, I always choose my own specific topics though I’m sometimes given some rough overall segments from which to choose. I’ve never been asked to “take it easy” on anyone or any company or to skew my opinion. I’m just not that kind of guy and I’d simply never do it.
My blog, as of right now, does not include advertising and I currently am not being paid by any advertiser. If I review a product or hotel, what I experience is what you get. While very rare, if I review a product or service that I have received for free, I’ll let you know in the post. If I tweet about such a product or service, I’ll endeavor to point some of the related tweets to a post which will disclose the relationship.
I serve as an unpaid board member for the Association of Travel Marketing Executives (ATME) and as such, do quite a bit of speaking and moderating for them. I’m *always* posting about my presentations. I also serve as an unpaid Advisory Board Member for the US Travel Association. While I have served on other boards in the past, these are the only active positions in which I currently participate.
