Derek was born and raised in New York City but moved to Maryland in 1986. He attended college at Howard Community in Columbia, MD in pursuit of a degree in Music Education. In 1994, he came to pet care industry and started as a driver transporting pets to and from residences and airports. During this time, he also started showing Dalmatians in confirmation after he adopted his first dog, “Sterling”, from the breeder/owner of Shady Spring Kennels. In 2002, he became active in pet and animal relocation and attended his 1st IPATA conference in Washington DC. After that, he began attending the IPATA conferences every year to continue learning. As the pet travel industry became busier, he saw that there was a need for an agent in the Washington DC area and began creating Capital Pet Movers. Derek has been elected to the Board in 2008 and is President-elect until 2015.

Some of my goals are to promote safe air travel while educating the public, dispelling some of the myths of air travel and providing good tools of education for our members. Working together and understanding shipping worldwide is paramount to its success.

Jan Horton Spence is an international speaker, trainer, and consultant. With contagious charisma and a zest for life which make her an excellent motivator and leader, this TEDx speaker has used her vast knowledge in sales, communications, finances, and employee engagement to help numerous clients including Pillsbury, Walmart, and Frito-Lay.

Jan and her husband, Mitch, launched the second FiltaFry franchise in the US in 2003. As CEO, Jan built such a successful operation that they were awarded the “2005 Franchisee of the Year” by the International Franchise Association. Meeting their four-year plan, they sold the business in 2007 at 300% ROI. Since then, Jan has circled the globe as a trainer, consultant, and speaker for franchisees, organizations, and companies.

Having been interviewed by Entrepreneur magazine and the Big Dog Morning Show in Jesup, Ga, Jan shares her story of fulfilling her lifelong dream of playing women’s professional full-tackle football. As a member of the National Speakers Association, Jan combines the lessons she learned through that experience with her business experience to inspire people to make a difference through “Cheerleadership.” Known for her highly interactive, entertaining, and inspirational style, she recently taught in Panama, Romania, Switzerland, and Uganda.

Jan serves on the boards of Meeting Professionals International – North Florida and Compass Finances God’s Way – Florida. She is active with the local Association of Talent Development chapter and the Beach Church in Jacksonville, Florida. She and her husband of eighteen years enjoy traveling the world when not at home attending Jaguars football games and cultural events.

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Mrs. Gruber is Head, Special Cargo at the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and is responsible for delivering international standards and business processes for the air cargo supply chain.

Mrs. Gruber is leading IATA’s Cargo governing bodies, comprised of airlines and air cargo supply chain stakeholders that provide the regulations for the air transportation of Live Animals, Perishables and Healthcare Products. She is secretary to the IATA Live Animals and Perishables Board and the Time and Temperature Task Force and involved in the new Center of Excellence (CEIV) Pharmaceutical Logistics project.

Prior to working with IATA Mrs. Gruber worked at the International Road Transport Union (IRU) as head of a division implementing, at the Customs and business level, tools to assist the application of risk management.

Mrs. Gruber studied in Geneva at the University and at the Graduate Institute of International Studies (I.U.H.E.I.) and holds a Master of Sciences in International Relations.

Ross Hayes is the Deputy Manager of the City of London’s Heathrow Animal Reception Centre, where he began working in 2003. He has a strong zoo background, having previously worked as a sea lion trainer among other animal husbandry roles. Ross now manages the operations at HARC, insuring that the facilities and processes are in place to care for 17,000 cats and dogs, 80,000 reptiles, 400 horses and 30 million fish that pass through the centre each year. Ross is committed to promoting compliance through forging new professional networks and working closely with airlines and shippers to find solutions and maximize welfare

Company: PETport - Owner
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa

What started out as a school holiday job in 1995, helping out at her mom's pet transportation business in Durban, turned into the discovery of a lifelong passion and dedication towards growth and development within the pet relocation industry. It was here where Hazel started learning how to deal with clients, work out quotes and truly discover the foundations of the pet relocation building blocks and all it encompassed.

Armed with a wealth of knowledge passed down through generations, and her strong corporate background established whilst living in London for 9 years, the creation of PETport and its vision to ensure pets and owners are reunited through the course of their relocation was born.

Hazel has a deeply ingrained commitment to growth and development. She strongly believes in the goals and vision that started her on this journey and continues to share with and educate her staff members on excellence in delivery and certified experience within the industry, thereby guaranteeing the best experience to both humans and pets alike. As the slogan says.. “It’s Not Just Business, It’s Personal!”

She has always been involved in pet rescue and has been a "failed foster mom" to many a needy animal, always welcoming a new soul.

Head of Veterinary Services, Melbourne Zoo. Dr Michael Lynch has worked as a wildlife veterinarian at Zoos Victoria for 26 years. He currently holds the position of Head of Veterinary Services at Melbourne Zoo. As part of the veterinary team he is responsible for providing health care to the Zoo’s animal collection. Michael is also involved in a range of research activities including programs with bandicoots, stick insects and seals. In 2012 received his PhD for investigations of diseases in free ranging fur seals. He has extensive experience in the field anesthesia, health assessment and disease investigation of free-ranging wildlife that has included work with koalas, water buffalo and primates. He has also worked in south-east Asia providing veterinary services to displaced wildlife and domesticated elephants. Between 2003 and 2006 he headed up Melbourne Zoo's veterinary involvement in the import of Asian Elephants with the aim to start a viable breeding population in this country. He was then responsible for leading the Zoo's effort to breed this species and this work culminated in January 2010 with the first elephant birth in the Melbourne Zoo's 150 year history.

Wendy Newsham has worked at the Ministry for Primary Industries in both the animal imports and exports areas for 14 years. Prior to this, Wendy’s background was in teaching and veterinary nursing. Wendy loves to problem solve and her current role in Animal Imports gives her plenty of opportunity to do this.

Founder at CarePod

Ron Parker is Vice President of Financial Affairs for Air Animal Pet Movers. Ron joined Air Animal in 2015 when he and his wife Andi moved back to Tampa to help with the day to day operations of the company. Ron has his bachelor’s degree in Accounting and worked in the automotive industry [wholesale auto auctions] for 28 years.

Tina Ricci is currently the Manager of Cat and Dog Operations at the Mickleham Post Entry Quarantine (PEQ) Facility in Melbourne, Victoria. Tina has a Veterinary Nursing background and has 12 years’ experience in Biosecurity Operations which includes Detector Dog Operations, Airport, Mail and PEQ. Tina has been managing the Cat and Dog Team at PEQ for the past two years.

Joel Sterling is currently the Assistant Director managing Cat and Dogs Operations at the Mickleham Post Entry Quarantine (PEQ) Facility in Melbourne, Victoria. Joel has 12 years’ experience in biosecurity operations which includes working across operational areas such as
Seaports, Airports, Mail Centre, Field Operations, Risk Management and Post Entry Quarantine operations for the past 4 years. Joel has been managing the Cat and Dog team since February this year.

Michael joined the British Army in 1983 and spend 5 years defusing second world war bombs, clearing mine fields and making safe (Improvised Explosive Devices) IED’s. Michael left the armed services in 1989 and studied his CPC in National & International logistics, holds Certificate of Professional Competence in Transport Logistics Road and Air, and started working at Gatwick Airport on the Ramp as a Duty Manager. Michael moved on to run a number of ground handling agents as Station Manager around the UK and continued his study this time with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development gaining a part Degree in Human Resources, after realizing that HR was not for him he moved into General management roles in ground and sea logistics. Continued study at Cranfield University, producing a Master’s in Business Administration. Michael then moved to free lancing as a motorbike tour instructor leading motorbike tours for BMW around the world.

Gabriella Tamasi joined British Airways in 2011 and has been appointed as the Global Product Manager for Specialist Products in March 2012. Since then Gabriella held the position of IAGC Product Standards Compliance Manager and most recently she joined the Network Safety& Conformance team as a Technical Standards Executive.

Gabriella has been an active member of the IATA Live Animal and Perishables Board since 2013 and is a regular contributor to the LAR she is an IATA accredited external trainer on the Live Animal subject.

Gabriella works closely with the Heathrow Animal Reception Centre as well as the UK Border Force CITES team and DEFRA the UK government department for policy and regulations on the environment, food and rural affairs and is a great champion of collaborative working with regulators.

Gabriella actively supported the United for Wildlife declaration to which IAG is a signatory and she continues supporting the Transport Taskforce.

She represented the IAG group at the Hanoi Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade and is a regular presenter at Interpol events.

Gabriella currently holds the VP position at the Animal Transportation Association.

Dr Mel Taylor is an Occupational Psychologist based in the School of Psychology at Macquarie University in Sydney. Her research focuses on preparedness, response, and recovery to threats of relevance to national security. These are typically low probability, high consequence events such as pandemics, terrorism, emergency animal diseases, and disasters. Key areas of research interest are psychosocial response and recovery, uptake of biosecurity practices and health protective behaviors, and risk communication strategies.

Mel is currently a project leader in the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC; completing a project focussed on animal emergency management, and starting a project on Flood Risk Communication in July 2017. She recently completed a three year longitudinal study on the impacts of Hendra virus on horse owners risk perception and their practices. Prior research includes the resilience of Brisbane communities following the 2011 floods; public response to CBRN risks; and the use of social media in disasters and its use as a tool for providing psychological first aid and supporting community resilience.