Jo Kling Joyce Landry Mark Phillips Cyndi Murphy Brad Nickel Karyn Altman Ramon Santos

In 1982, entrepreneurs Josephine Kling and Joyce Landry founded Landry & Kling Inc., a new breed of travel company, and the first to specialize exclusively in cruise sales. The company provided the first distribution channel between cruise lines and corporate America by selling and operating incentive cruises and meetings at sea for Fortune 1000 companies such as GE, Radio Shack, AFLAC, Motorola, Miller Brewing, EDS, and others who use incentive travel to motivate peak performance. Kling and Landry started their venture in New York City, with Kling responsible for marketing/media relations, finance, retail sales and administration. In 1988 the business relocated to Miami, Cruise Capital of the World. From a $26,000 start-up, annual sales grew rapidly by focusing on full-ship charters for corporate groups cruising in worldwide destinations,  As a pioneer of corporate cruises, Kling became a virtual industry spokesman, developing a reputation with journalists as a reliable source for consumer and trade publications, speaking to MPI, SITE, Seatrade and other industry groups, serving on cruise line advisory boards, writing a regular column for "Incentive" magazine, and appearing as a cruise expert (twice on NBC's Today Show). Landry & Kling Inc. is now one of the most highly visible and widely imitated companies in the incentive cruise industry. In 1998 the company was sought after and purchased by a public company, Travel Services International, the first specialized distributor of leisure travel to be traded on Wall Street. And in May, 2005 the partners completed the buy-back of Landry & Kling Inc. with plans for growth well underway. Kling started her cruise career as marketing & sales coordinator for Royal Viking Line in San Francisco. Later, moving to New York City, she worked as an advertising account manager for Scali McCabe Sloves; then joined Holland America Line as director of program planning & passenger research, where she developed the business plans of 5 vessels in worldwide destinations, and started a long friendship with Joyce Landry. She serves on the advisory board for The Commonwealth Institute of South Florida, a non-profit organization founded to help women entrepreneurs build successful businesses. She's also a family partner for Habitat for Humanity and helped launch their first Women's Build in Vero Beach, FL. In 2004 Kling was a delegate to the Riga Women Business Leaders Summit in Riga, Latvia, a business development initiative in the Baltic sponsored by the US State Department. Kling Also serves on the board of directors of a steel fabricating business in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Joyce Landry is CEO of Landry & Kling Inc. She and her business partner, Josephine (Jo) Kling, formed the company in 1982 as the first to specialize in corporate events at sea. Joyce began her career in the cruise industry at the age of 23 when she implemented the first air/sea department for Holland America Line. Prior to launching Landry & Kling, she also served as regional sales director of Delta Queen Steamboat Company. Landry & Kling pioneered the use of cruise ships as floating hotels, and Joyce has been at the forefront of many projects involving dockside charters including the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Super Bowl 2005 in Jacksonville Florida, the 2007 Cricket World Cup in the West Indies, and most recently the 2009 Summit of the Americas in Trinidad. Over the years, Joyce has shared her passion for cruise ship events as an industry speaker for organizations such as the Financial and Insurance Conference Planners Association (FICP), Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and the Society of Incentive Travel Executives (SITE). She has served on several cruise line advisory boards, and was instrumental in persuading cruise line executives to incorporate meeting facilities into new ship designs. Joyce has been nominated for several prestigious awards from organizations like the Athena Foundation, which recognizes women for their professional excellence and community service. She was named to the Women’s Hall of Fame by the City of Miami, as well as one of the Top 25 Most Influential People in the Meetings Industry by Meeting News magazine. Joyce is a founding board member of the Deborah Natansohn Foundation which awards scholarships to women in need, to advance their journalism and tourism careers. Recently, CLIA (Cruise Line International Association) honored both Joyce and Jo when they were inducted into the CLIA 2009 Hall of Fame. The honor recognizes 27 years of accomplishments and innovations, including advancing cruise ships as viable meeting venues. Joyce is an avid adventure traveler, and has visited six out of seven continents for business and pleasure. She enjoys photography, hiking, and competitive sports. After learning how to row in 2006, she won her first gold medal two years later in the women’s master’s 1,000 meter race at the Miami International Regatta. Joyce has trekked solo in the Himalayas and recently, she and her husband Gene were married on the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

In early 2010, seasoned hospitality, meetings and technology executive Mark Phillips joined the Landry & Kling and Seasite.com team as Chief Operating Officer. In this role, Mark assumed day-to-day oversight of both Landry & Kling and Seasite.com, including business development, marketing, strategic partnerships and all operations. Before joining L&K and Seasite, Mark helped launch a new concept for e-procurement of group travel within the MICE segment as a founding team member at StarCite, Inc. His most recent position at the global meetings management/procurement company was Managing Director/ Vice President of International Markets. Mark’s proven track record with StarCite paves the way for Seasite’s strategic relationships with travel and meeting professionals around the world who want to add cruise venues to their portfolio. Following his tenure with StarCite, Mark consulted with Financial Times 1000 companies on initiatives to improve operational efficiencies and global reach. As COO of Landry & Kling and Seasite.com, Mark plans to use his extended experience with Strategic Meetings Management Programs and Strategic Sourcing initiates to bring a new awareness of the viability of cruises to the meetings industry. He also brings expertise gleaned from 8 years in the hotel industry, with first-hand experiences at Hilton International Hotels and Cunard Hotels as Rooms Division Manager, Group Technology Representative, Front Office Trainer and Manager. Mark has been an active member and speaker for key industry organizations including MPI, ACTE, NBTA, HSMAI and HEDNA, and is a former board member of the Hospitality Industry Software Council. Mark contributes frequently to industry and mainstream media outlets as a topical expert on global meetings, small meetings, expense tracking, audit and compliance issues, and travel. Outside his professional life, Mark’s other passions include sports and adventure travel. A Competitive Masters Swimmer, he has volunteered to help local swimming organizations and clubs. His most amazing travel experience was a trip to South Africa, where he conquered the world’s highest bungee-jump, went white shark diving, took a safari, drove through a wine region, and visited an elephant sanctuary. He looks forward to adding a cruise adventure to his list of best-ever travel experiences.

Cyndi Murphy, Vice President Corporate Planning, began working for Landry & Kling in 1989 shortly after the company moved to its Florida location. As a member of the L&K team since the start of its sole focus on corporate and incentive business, Cyndi has had a hand in a number of company “firsts” and has been instrumental in establishing company procedures and in developing and streamlining the company’s program operations, finance, contracts, HR and IT departments. Cyndi plays an important role in the company’s strategic planning and management, revenue analysis and forecasting, contractual negotiations and corporate policy and process development. Over the past 20 years, she has negotiated cruise program contracts with over 20 different cruise lines for a wide variety of clients; from Fortune 500 companies to themed groups to governmental and city-sponsored host committees – including five full-ship charters in 2005 for Super Bowl XXXIX in Jacksonville, a 30-day full-ship charter for the 2007 Cricket World Cup games in the Caribbean, two full-ship charters for both the 2009 Fifth Summit of the Americas and the 2009 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting held in Trinidad. She also created the accommodations pricing models and managed the financial aspects for these global events. Her extensive experience in spearheading contractual negotiations within the cruise industry (particularly for full-ship charters), has made her among the most knowledgeable with cruise program contracts. Within her continually growing role at Landry & Kling, she has also gained significant experience in managing and overseeing the program operations, customer service and financial aspects for cruise programs and continues to make a significant contribution in developing procedures and policies for the company. Cyndi has traveled extensively to a variety of international destinations - both by land and sea - including Turkey, Greece, Russia, Scandinavia, the Northern Mediterranean, the Ukraine, Bulgaria, the United Kingdom, Australia and throughout the Caribbean. Cruising with her husband aboard a 60-passenger catamaran, along with their first scuba diving experience, through the Great Barrier Reef and their more recent spa getaway trip to Iceland are among her most memorable trips. Besides cruising and traveling, Cyndi enjoys spending quality time with her family and being actively involved in community service. She helped establish and run a non-profit organization that raised funds to hire classroom assistants for her kids’ elementary school; served as a Cub Scout den leader for 3 years; served as the Volunteer Coordinator for the Dalai Lama’s 14th visit to South Florida in September 2004 for a 3 day series of public and private talks promoting World Peace and Buddhist teachings; and for the past 4 years she’s served as a Committee Member and Treasurer for her son’s Boy Scout troop.

Brad has been a leader in business-to-business technology marketing for over 23 years, and since 1995 has been a leader in web marketing and technology. His ability to adapt web marketing strategies to any business was highlighted when his firm ClickBrain.com helped dozens of companies across industries revamp their web presence and effectively market their products and services. His technology career has encompassed numerous firsts with respect to Internet technologies including serving as VP of AppsOnline.com with Interliant, Inc. (NASDAQ-INIT) where he conceived and ran the world's first small business application service provider(ASP). While with Equitrac, Inc.(NASDAQ-ETRC), his team developed the world's first tabbed web browser. Brad cut his teeth in marketing, sales, and public speaking by selling human beings early in his career... as a political campaign manager. He credits those experiences with giving him the courage to try anything, along with the skills to survive startups and the dotcom bust. He lives in Miami, FL with his wife Karin, their 2 young children(Amanda and Zachary), and their 3 dogs (Betsy, Dilbert, and Barkley).

In 1990, (the “pre-email” era), Karyn bid goodbye to cold Boston winters and embarked on a new adventure to sunny South Florida .Her first Miami position was as director of sales for Landry & Kling, where she remained until 1995. Realizing how much she was missing involved in the cruise industry and excited about being part of introducing the first online platform for cruise event sourcing, she happily rejoined the company in 2008 as part of the executive team to launch Seasite.com. Karyn’s role as vice president of business development at Landry & Kling and Seasite.com touches many areas. One focus is on building and maintaining relationships with cruise line partners and other participating suppliers. An additional key role is introducing the idea of cruise sourcing via Seasite.com to meeting professionals and group cruise buyers plus helping to inspire meeting and incentive travel buyers of all types to consider a cruise or to at least include a cruise option when they are also considering land based venues. Prior to returning to the Landry & Kling/Seasite family, as Vice President, National Accounts, Karyn was part of the team that launched Starcite.com, a one of the first online site selection companies in the US. During her time at Starcite, she was also managing her own marketing and production company, CenterPeace, Inc., which produced the nationally recognized Wise Women Weekend. From 1995-1998, Karyn was the regional director of sales at McGettigan Partners (now a division of Maritz Travel). But her passion for cruising and her love of the incentive travel industry began in the early 80’s at Rogal Associates, incentive travel pioneers and one of the first companies to ever charter a cruise ship for a corporate sales meeting back in the late 1950s. Karyn has served on meeting planner advisory boards for the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism and Meet Aruba, the executive board of the South Florida Chapter of Meeting Planners International and as Education co-chair of the SFMPI South East Educational Conferences (MPI SEC) in 2004 and 2008. She is also an active member of SITE Global. Presently she is the Vice President of Education for the South Florida Chapter of MPI and as of June 2010, she will become the Vice President of Communications. You can find Karyn at industry conferences and trade shows, chatting about the amazing rewards orchestrating an event at sea. Watch for her at an event location near you very soon - and be sure to stop by and say hello!

Ramon Santos, Vice President, Global Events, has been a member of the Landry & Kling team since 1991. During his tenure with the company, Ramon worked as a Senior Program Manager in the Operations Department before moving to Sales as a Sr. Account Executive. Later he was promoted to Director of Sales & Business Development, and most recently held the position of Vice President Business Development. In his new role as VP Global Events, Ramon is responsible for developing the dockside charters or “floating hotels” concept which L&K pioneered in 1987 when it chartered two cruise ships for a city-wide corporate convention in Boston. Most recently, Ramon played a crucial role in negotiating four ship charters to be used as hotels for the government of Trinidad & Tobago – two ships chartered for the Fifth Summit of the Americas in April 2009 and two more ships for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November 2009. Both events were held in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Previously, he spent five years with Norwegian Cruise Lines handling reservations, group sales and coordinating incentives. Ramon says he has enjoyed the move from "cruise line to corporate" because now, not only can he work directly with clients, but also see their ideas turn into a successful finished program. Ramon played an important role in orchestrating a Spanish language trade show at sea. The mini-trade show was staged for a major financial institution who wanted to educate their Caribbean and Latin American bankers on new products and services. During his years at Landry & Kling Ramon has become an expert in exotic cruise destinations, handling many programs and full charters in Alaska & the Greek islands. Ramon says one of the highlights of his career was the logistical coordination of an outdoor concert in the magnificent ruins of Ephesus, Turkey. When Ramon is not working, he enjoys spending time outdoors or on the beach. Born in Puerto Rico, Ramon was raised in the Dominican Republic and currently lives in Miami.