TOURISM COMPANY - Key Persons
Jackie Denman read Mathematics and Geography at Girton College, Cambridge, followed by a postgraduate year at Leeds University. She has worked on rural development issues for more than 30 years. She has been an Associate of The Tourism Company since its inception and has taken a close interest in the special expertise they have developed in work concerned with the interface between tourism, the environment and local prosperity, providing background research and support on policy issues and good practice at both a national and international level, and having direct involvement in, and responsibility for, many projects in England and Wales. In 2009, Jackie was awarded with distinction an MSc in Sustainable Development (Environmental Management) with Imperial College's Distance Learning Programme.
Richard Denman graduated in economics from the University of Cambridge followed by a doctorate from the University of Edinburgh based on a definitive study of rural tourism in Scotland. For ten years he worked at the Heart of England Tourist Board, as development and marketing manager and subsequently as deputy director. He became a tourism consultant in 1988. He has a wide portfolio of experience covering research, policy studies, tourism planning, marketing and project development. He has developed an international profile in tourism sustainability issues, working as an expert for the UN World Tourism Organization, UNEP and the European Commission in this field. He serves on various international committees and was facilitator of the EU Tourism Sustainability Group. He has also undertaken various projects for development assistance agencies in Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia, and helped to develop the UNWTO programme on tourism and poverty alleviation. He has maintained a link with academic studies and teaching, having served as External Examiner for undergraduate and masters courses in Sheffield Hallam and Oxford Brookes Universities. He is a member of ECOTRANS, the European sustainable tourism network, and a past Board Director and Secretary of The International Ecotourism Society.