An authority on the diverse and complex North American travel and tourism industry, Angela Best boasts more than 20 years experience in sales, marketing and advertising.

Born in Christchurch, New Zealand, Angela studied Arts and Organizational Management before entering the world of advertising where she worked in both print advertising for The Christchurch Press, one of New Zealand's leading newspapers, and in display advertising for Noel Leemings, a major national retailer.

An avid traveler with a keen sense of adventure, Angela moved to London when she was 21 and became the manager of an upmarket 15-room bed and breakfast hotel in London's exclusive suburb of Knightsbridge. This experience had a profound effect on her and planted the seeds to combine her two passions - travel and marketing - into a professional commitment to tourism.

After exploring Europe, the African continent and four corners of the Pacific for over three years, Angela returned to New Zealand to begin the next phase of her career. Joining the staff of a printing company as Sales Executive, she was able to reconcile her creative advertising skills with both marketing and sales development and led the company into an expansion mode. In just four years, she doubled the size of her sales portfolio and increased her bottom line by a massive 375%.

In 1996, Angela relocated to Los Angeles to take a contracted position with Tourism New Zealand (TNZ). While her original contract with TNZ was to negotiate joint venture marketing opportunities and develop and implement sales and marketing strategies with targeted wholesale and supplier companies, she ended up working there for nine years and held key senior management positions in trade marketing and communications.

While at TNZ, Angela enhanced her knowledge and experience in international tourism marketing by building successful business relations with New Zealand tourism stakeholders, including members of the Inbound Tour Operators Council (ITOC), Regional Tourism Organizations (RTOs), tourism industry providers, the North American travel trade and airline partners. She also refined her media contacts and developing partnerships with non-tourism organizations in the U.S.

During her term, Angela established some of TNZ's most innovative and successful trade initiatives that still remain ongoing. These include:

Kiwi Link - a trade training seminar attracting over 64 New Zealand delegates and 300 North American travel sellers. This has become TNZ's foremost training initiative, and in addition to the U.S., is now also established in other major international markets including Japan, U.K., India, Germany and Switzerland.

100% Pure Enterprise - a product development initiative created to bring suppliers to the market to help establish trade relations, create product development opportunities and to better understand the complexities of doing business in North America. The 100% Pure Enterprise program has also been adopted into other international markets in addition to the U.S..

Season of Discovery - a New Zealand self-drive program developed for 48 front line sellers to provide an opportunity for agents to experience the "real New Zealand." This enabled them to learn first hand about the people, the culture and the scenic beauty leading to a better understanding on how to build a self-drive itinerary in the country.

Market Development Guide - a 96-page in-depth "self-help" guide designed to help New Zealand travel companies focus their efforts and create sales and marketing opportunities in the North American Market. The Guide, which includes a valuable database of key contacts and other pertinent information, was instrumental in helping over 250 New Zealand companies. The Market Development Guide is still one of TNZ's offerings.

Angela was also effective in initiating change in how North American wholesale partners position New Zealand in both brochure and online environments. By encouraging improvement in the use of imagery, motivational content and product packaging, wholesale partners became better aligned with the needs of the Interactive Traveler and TNZ campaign activity. Within TNZ's Interactive Traveler Strategy, Angela was an effective evangelist able to communicate the motivations, lifestyles and lifecycles of its key target audience to wholesale partners.

In July 2005, recognizing that many product suppliers based in the South Pacific were still struggling to gain access to the huge North American market with its complex channels of distribution, Angela launched her own marketing consultancy, Anahere Inc.. By utilizing her extensive knowledge and networking capabilities, Angela is able to help bridge the gap by assisting suppliers with all of their trade marketing and communication needs.

Angela is also a member of KEA, a global network of expatriate New Zealand business professionals. Invited to be a part of the KEA Venture Mentor Network program Angela provides independent business mentoring and advice on entering the US market.