Penn Travel Panel
Watch the zoom from Nov 7, 2022
Travel industry expert alumni will discuss how travel has been affected by the pandemic, how to navigate your work and personal travel now, and offer great suggestions for trips you might want to take sometime soon.
WATCH OUR TALK: CLICK HERE
Our online panel includes: (complete bios below)
- Brad Handler, C’89, W’89, Executive Chairman, Inspirato
- Lisa Niver, C’89, Founder, WeSaidGoTravel.com
- Cara Schneider Bongiorno, C’89, Founder, Philly History Pop Ups
- Romy Buchman Coquillette, C’89, Moderator
Brad Handler, C’89, W’89 Executive Chairman, Inspirato
Brad Handler is Co-Founder of Inspirato and has served as its Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors since January 2010, where he focuses on corporate finance and strategic initiatives. Before co-founding Inspirato, he started his career at Apple, then later served as eBay’s first attorney. In 2002, he co-founded Exclusive Resorts and served as the company’s Chief Executive Officer and Chairman. He has also been a lecturer at Stanford Law School and the University of Virginia School of Law. Mr. Handler earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, a bachelor’s degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and a juris doctorate from the University of Virginia School of Law.
 Lisa Niver, C’89 Founder, WeSaidGoTravel.com |
| Lisa Ellen Niver is an award-winning travel expert who has explored 102 countries and six continents. She worked on cruise ships for seven years and backpacked in Asia for three years. She is the founder of the website WeSaidGoTravel, which is read in 235 countries and was named #3 on Rise Global’s Top 1,000 Travel Blogs. You can find her talking travel on broadcast television at KTLA TV Los Angeles as well as her YouTube channel, where her WeSaidGoTravel videos have over 1.6 million views. As a journalist, Niver has interviewed Deepak Chopra, Olympic medalists, and numerous bestselling authors, and been invited to both the Oscars and the United Nations. For her print and digital stories as well as her television segments, she has been awarded three Southern California Journalism Awards and two National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards and been a finalist 20 times. She has published widely in print and online at Wired, Teen Vogue, HuffPost Personal, POPSUGAR, Ms. Magazine, Luxury Magazine, Smithsonian, Sierra Club, Saturday Evening Post, AARP, AAA Explorer Magazine, Jewish Journal, BuzzFeed, Robb Report, Scuba Diver Life, Ski Utah, Trivago, Undomesticated, USA Today, TODAY, Wharton Magazine, and Yahoo. |
 Cara Schneider Bongiorno, C’89 Founder, Philly History Pop Ups Formerly Media Relations at VISIT PHILADELPHIA |
| Cara is a former tourism industry media relations professional now teaching and illuminating Philly history. She spent her career at Philadelphia nonprofits, culminating with 22 years in media relations at VISIT PHILADELPHIA®.She held development/fundraising positions at WHYY and JEVS Human Services before joining the communications team at Visit Philadelphia in 1999. At Visit Philly, she is proudest of her role behind a few of those rare travel stories that are referenced for years –National Geographic Traveler’s “Next Great City” in 2005, #3 ranking in The New York Times “52 Places To Go” in 2016, and the only U.S. city in Nat Geo’s “Best Trips” 2020. She helped Philadelphia promote memorable events including: the blockbuster Live 8 outdoor concert in 2005, the 2008 Philadelphia Phillies MLB Championship, the NFL Draft in 2017, and the unforgettable NFL Super Bowl Championship of the Philadelphia Eagles in 2018. Still smitten with Philadelphia, she started Philly History Pop Ups, free neighborhood meetups presenting “interesting twists on places you know” and the stories of important but little-known Philadelphia moments. She serves on the board of Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, and has also served on the boards of Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens, Congregation Rodeph Shalom, and as an advisor to Honey’s Angels . Cara also volunteers at Mighty Writers, and Penn’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships. |
 Romy Buchman Coquillette, C’89 Moderator |
| Romy Coquillette has spent her professional career in finance, real estate, strategy, and human resource consulting. She worked for 11 years at Morgan Stanley in the investment banking division. She is currently the chairperson of the Achievement First Brooklyn Board of Trustees, a charter school network with 24 K-12 schools in Brooklyn, and the chairperson of the board of Mainsprings, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving communities in rural Tanzania through education, healthcare, and sustainable farming. Previously, Romy served on the boards of The Bronxville School Foundation, the Concordia Conservatory of Music, the Non-Partisan Committee of the Bronxville Union Free School District, and the Community Fund of Bronxville, Eastchester and Tuckahoe. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in East Asian studies and earned an MBA from Harvard University. |
Penn Travel Panel: Sign up here for the zoom on Nov 7, 2022
Listen to Lisa on the POWER OF PENN WOMEN podcast: Click here
Lisa speaking at Penn Homecoming 2021: Click here
Class of 1989 30th reunion in 2019:
Taking Flat Ben, the Penn Quaker, out on the town!
Penn 1989: 25th reunion: Click here
Read Lisa’s articles:
WHARTON MAGAZINE
FRANKLY PENN
