About‚ Us
Board of Advisors
Peter Armstrong
Peter is a recipient of the Canadian Venture Capital Association's Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Tourism and Hospitality and the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal for contribution to Canadian communities. He has also been inducted into the Canadian Railway Hall of Fame.
In 1989, Peter Armstrong assembled the successful team to bid on the fledging Rocky Mountaineer service that was being operated by Via Rail, a subsidized federal crown corporation. The company's turnaround and subsequent success has been achieved without government subsidy. His principles of guest services have been the driving force behind the company's high level of guest satisfaction.
A native of New Brunswick, and resident of Vancouver, British Columbia for over 40 years, sits on the board of directors of many organizations in the tourism industry, in addition to educational, private and public companies and charities.
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Jens Thraenhart
Regarded as a thought-leader by his peers and listed as one of the ‘25 Most Extraordinary Sales and Marketing Minds in Hospitality and Travel’ in 2004 and 2005, Jens is quoted and has contributed to numerous articles, white papers, and text books, and is a speaker at many industry conferences and events, in addition to maintaining the successful “Tourism Internet Marketing Blog” in his spare time. Jens is also the co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of “Tips from the T-List”, the authoritative blogging community in the travel and tourism industry as publisher of the “Tips from the T-List Book” and “Tips from the T-List Bloggers Summits” in partnership with PhoCusWright.
President of Chameleon Strategies, an incubator of new ventures and think tank of marketing strategies leveraging emerging technologies and digital media strategies for the global travel, tourism, and hospitality industry. Some of the ventures include:
- Destination Journeys: a joint venture with Flight Centre/Liberty Travel/GOGO Vacations to enable sustainable destination experiences by rail and river cruises.
- August Hotels: creation of a new luxury boutique lifestyle brand focusing on life energy in urban gateway cities
- Advisory Services: in partnership with Peter Yesawich (Y-Partnership Marketing Agency) helping travel and tourism organizations understand the power of the internet to become and stay consumer relevant in a world of media overload and customer attention deficit. Also assisting online travel companies maximizing investment value in partnership with Chimney Rock Partners Investment Bank.
- e-Tourism World: production of the global, regional, and national conference series to evolve global tourism by leveraging emerging technologies to address climate change issues and bridging the digital divide in partnership with the UN World Tourism Organization.
Most recently the Executive Director of Marketing Strategy & Customer Relationship Management for the Canadian Tourism Commission, Jens oversees e-marketing, campaign management, customer relationship management, and application development initiatives aimed at increasing the penetration of Canadian tourism in targeted global markets.
Chair of the Canadian e-Tourism Council, the host of the Canadian e-Tourism Strategy Conference & Awards, which were all founded, chaired, and produced by Jens Thraenhart. In 2006, Jens also co-founded Online Revealed Canada, the online travel marketing conference to educate the Canadian travel and tourism industry about online marketing and distribution in partnership with Kuikene.
Under his direction at his previous position heading up Internet Strategy for Fairmont Hotels & Resorts as well as Marketing and CRM for Fairmont’s Vacation Ownership division, the company won multiple prestigious awards in website design and online marketing.
Jens holds an MBA-accredited Masters of Management in Hospitality from the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University, and a joint Bachelor of Science in International Hospitality Management from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and the University Center ‘Cesar Ritz’ at Brig, Switzerland and had been recognized as one of the ‘travel industry’s top 100 rising stars’ by Travel Agent Magazine in 2003.
Jens sits on the Global and Americas Board of Directors of the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI), and the International Federation of Information Technology in Travel and Tourism (IFITT), as well as the Board of Advisors of Contac Services. Originally from Germany, Jens now lives partly in Vancouver, Canada and New York, USA.
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Azim Sarangi
Azim Sarangi is a Founding Partner of Intercity Packers Limited (ICP), a food service company based in Vancouver, British Columbia. As Vice-President, he has been instrumental in the growth of ICP, a company that recorded sales of $7 Million in 1980 to over $100 Million today.
At ICP, Azim can be credited with playing a key role in creating a culture that strives for excellence and reward for performance. His meticulous nature and sharp analytical skills combined with a focus on building strong long-term relationships has served him well in all aspects of his life over the years and particularly in business.
ICP was among the first companies in Canada to successfully develop and implement a Canada Food Inspection Agency recognized Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system and today is one of the largest and most innovative national food service companies in Canada, with operations in Vancouver, Edmonton and Toronto.
Azim attended Egerton University in Kenya as well as the University of Alberta. He continues his focus on education, while passionately coaching and mentoring individuals from all walks of life and is involved in various charity projects around the world. Azim and his family make their home in Vancouver, British Columbia.
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Riaz Pisani, President & CEO
For the past 16 years, Riaz has been part of Contac's board of directors. In 2004, he acquired an interest in the company, becoming its managing director & chief financial officer. A year later — in May 2005 — he took over as President and Chief Executive Officer. In addition to founding and growing Pisani & Company, Chartered Accountants, Riaz was the president of Network Technology Professionals Inc., which provided computer services to large corporations across Canada. Riaz was instrumental in growing the business from a local Vancouver company to a large organization, servicing clients across Canada. Under Riaz's leadership, Contac has grown to be an internationally acclaimed leader in the distribution, fulfillment, and direct marketing industries. His leadership and passion have become hallmarks of the company's mission to provide unparalleled service tailored to meet the needs of our clients. In the past two years, Riaz has facilitated the augmentation of the company's size from an entrepreneurial business focused on distribution activities in Western Canada to a multidimensional corporation with operations and alliances across North America and Europe that service multiple business verticals.