Staff Directory

Brady Smith is a long-time Whistler resident and was recently the Executive Director of the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre (SLCC). He previously managed business and economic development for Whistler Sport Legacies and has worked senior positions during the London 2012 Olympic Games and the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games. He also served as past chair of the Whistler Chamber of Commerce. When not working, Brady can be found hiking, biking, skiing and fishing and spending quality time with his family.

As the Director of Finance for ITAC, Cecilia contributes to the overall success of the organization by effectively managing all financial tasks for the organization including financial accounting and reporting, developing, implementing, and ensuring compliance with internal financial and accounting policies and procedures, developing and maintaining financial accounting systems as well as preparing and reviewing monthly results and monthly variance reporting. Cecilia also prepares budgets and financial reports for funding applications and project management accounting.

A member of the Musqueam Indian Band, Cecilia has worked in the travel and tourism industry in excess of 25 years. Her career began at American Airlines and Air Canada working in Finance, Pensions and Pricing, she later joined Tourism BC working in Partnership Marketing’s inaugural Aboriginal Tourism division, and more recently held the position of Finance Manager at Aboriginal Tourism Association of BC. Cecilia has a certificate in Business from the University of British Columbia, supplemented with courses in Finance, and First Nations Studies including hən̓q̓min̓əm̓ (Musqueam language). She has donated a tremendous amount of her time to her nation and a number of local Aboriginal causes, which currently includes sitting as a volunteer Board Member on 2 cultural and women’s organizations in Vancouver’s downtown east side.

Joe Hidayat, CPA, CMA moved to Canada from Indonesia seventeen years ago. He studied law before becoming an accountant. Passionate about finance and accounting, he holds a CPA, CMA professional designation in Canada. He is also member of the AFOA Canada.

Joe has previously worked at University of British Columbia as a Senior Financial Specialist and then moved to FinTech Company, Hyperwallet, as a Risk Fraud Analyst. He currently works at ITAC as a Controller. He enjoys implementing his interdisciplinary experience to develop strategy to solve complex problems, drive organizational growth, and deliver value to stakeholders.

Joe loves travelling, culinary experiences and music. He is grateful to be working for an Indigenous Corporation, so he has a chance to support a bright positive future for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people together.

Mr. Keith Henry is a Métis person that was born in Thompson, Manitoba and raised in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Mr. Henry achieved a B.Ed. from the University of Saskatchewan in 1995.

Mr. Henry began his career in 1995 with teaching positions and has become well known for his strategic administrative and negotiations skills. Since 1998 Mr. Henry has led numerous provincial, federal and industry negotiations on a variety of issues. He has been directly responsible for financial administration of a number of Indigenous non-profits and has a proven track record of success.

Mr. Henry has become an international Indigenous cultural tourism leader receiving recognition as the former CEO for Indigenous Tourism Association of British Columbia (ItBC). In April 2014 the inaugural World Indigenous Tourism Alliance award recognized the work of AtBC and Mr. Henry’s leadership. Mr. Henry has been spearheading the growth of authentic Indigenous tourism in Canada as he worked to redevelop the national Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada as elected chair when this organization incorporated in April 2015. In October 2015 Mr. Henry took the full time role as the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada’s CEO.

In Canada Mr. Henry continues to be recognized across the country as one of the leaders in Indigenous tourism and has led many new initiatives including the national strategy entitled “The Path Forward 2016-2021”, contributions to the development of national standards on market readiness and authenticity, cruise industry opportunities and the national Aboriginal tourism research project on the economic value of Indigenous cultural tourism. Mr. Henry was instrumental in the development of the national Indigenous tourism strategy The Path Forward 2016-2021 which will focus on increasing Indigenous market readiness, increasing jobs, and increasing revenues. Over the course of the last number of years Mr. Henry has been invited to numerous international locations to support Indigenous tourism strategies.

Mr. Henry volunteers time in the Indigenous community and maintains several board positions including the former President of the Industry Council for Aboriginal Business, former chair of the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada, current Chair for the Native Education College, member of the Minister’s Council on Tourism, former member of the Vancouver Board of Trade’s Aboriginal Opportunities Committee, member of the World Indigenous Tourism Alliance, member of the International Marketing Committee Destination Canada member, and current President of the BC Métis Federation.

As the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada’s (ITAC) Vice President of Operations, Sebastien Desnoyers-Picard has spent his career developing strong partnerships and relationships with industry leaders across the globe and is passionate about raising awareness of the many opportunities for Indigenous tourism. Prior to joining ITAC, Sebastien spent 10 years serving the Quebec Indigenous tourism industry, first as General Manager with Tourism Wendake and then as a marketing advisor with Quebec Indigenous Tourism. Throughout his career, Sebastien’s work with media has helped produce award winning stories in France, Germany, Canada and the USA. In 2019, Sebastien was recognized with the Explore Canada Award of Excellence, based on nominations from the media.

As a member of the Huron-Wendat Nation, and past Chief in his community, Sebastien is trilingual and a strong advocate for Indigenous rights and traditional way of life, which he still practices. Sebastien has a diploma in Business, a degree in Sales and Marketing, and has completed an Indigenous studies program at Laval University. Sebastien takes great pride in defending Indigenous interest throughout all aspects of his life and career and focusses on bringing creative solutions to bring indigenous people, communities, and tourism industry forward.

Suzanne supports ITAC in the implementation of content marketing programs and partnerships. From promoting Canada as a tourism destination, to helping shine a global light on the country for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Suzanne has built her expertise upon work focused on delivering results for private and public sector companies and has experience working together with Indigenous and Francophone communities. She leads teams and resources to create and implement complex programs that reach and engage with consumer, public, stakeholder and shareholder audiences.

As Executive Director for Destination Canada over the past 5 years, Suzanne led the design, development and implementation successful national Sales & Content Marketing programs for the US Leisure Travel Market (keepexploring.ca) and the Domestic Millennial Travel Program (farandwide.much.com) for Canada’s 150^th anniversary celebration bringing together co-investors from across the country.

Suzanne served as Director Communications for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games including the Olympic and Paralympic Torch Relays and Director Marketing and 25^th Anniversary Relay Communications for the Rick Hansen Foundation. Prior to that, she spent 7 years in Ottawa for Federal Government departments and 10 years in Toronto for private sector clients providing communications, video production and Business Events support.

Originally from Montreal Quebec, Suzanne is bilingual and holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Ontario.

Tara Saunders works as the Tourism Development Officer for the Qalipu First Nation which, with almost 23,000, is one of the biggest First Nations in the country. 

Tara currently oversees the implementation of the Nation’s five-year tourism development strategy; Experience Qalipu.  This strategy focuses on developing market-ready cultural experiences and other tourism products throughout the Mi’kmaq communities on the island of Newfoundland, connecting the visitor to the vibrant culture of the Mi’kmaq people and forming strong partnerships within the industry to lead to a strengthened economy and culture.

Tara is a proud community member and is passionate to find strategic ways to work together to showcase all Indigenous communities of Newfoundland & Labrador to the world. 

As the Director of Partnerships, Teresa is responsible for supporting relationships and partnerships as well as developing and implementing programs across Canada to establish and grow regional Indigenous tourism associations. She is also be responsible for overseeing corporate communications, internal market research, international projects and membership.. In 2020, Teresa led the $16 million Stimulus Development Grant program for ITAC- an effort made to stabilize more than 675 Indigenous tourism operators as they navigated the loss of travellers as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. She has also overseen the growth of the International Indigenous Tourism Conference – the largest Indigenous tourism conference in the world – since 2018, being a part of this project for many years since its inception.

Teresa is proud to be of Musqueam descent. Upon finishing her Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminology at Simon Fraser University, Teresa has spent more than 10 years in Indigenous tourism development, starting her career with Indigenous Tourism BC. She has worked with Indigenous tourism operators and partners to grow Indigenous tourism while implementing regional and provincial destination development strategies and improving the market readiness of operators. She is an experienced speaker, facilitator and trainer and advocate for the betterment of Indigenous Peoples. Teresa is passionate about Indigenous tourism not only for the economic benefits but also for the social impact on Indigenous People and communities who thrive in business while sharing unique stories from coast to coast to coast.

Teresa currently sits as a board of director for the Tourism Industry Association of Canada where she advocates alongside national tourism professionals for tourism.