Jena Gardner

President, JG Black book of Travel, and President, The Bodhi Tree Foundation

Entrepreneur, marketing expert and travel industry veteran, Jena Gardner turned a lifelong passion for travel into a thriving enterprise. In 2002 she founded JG Black Book of Travel, and has built it into a highly successful consulting firm that provides marketing, promotion and sales services to the world's finest travel providers. JG Black Book of Travel's mission is to share authentic experiences with others while safeguarding the people, environments and cultures that make destinations unique. Passionately philanthropic, Ms. Gardner has worked to show that in today's evolving economy businesses have a unique and important role to play in meeting the challenges of our time.

Ms. Gardner is also the co-founder and president of The Bodhi Tree Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to mobilizing travelers and the tourism industry to promote environmental and humanitarian efforts across the globe. The Foundation identifies and offers assistance to highly-effective, community-based organizations that have a proven record of inspiring positive change in the areas they serve. Through The Foundation, Ms. Gardner hopes to unite travelers to stand as one in order to promote education, healthcare, environmental conservation, historic preservation and economic development in underserved areas around the world.

Ms. Gardner's innovative approach to business has garnered her several accolades and awards, including a 2009 Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International's Adrian Award for being one of the Top 25 Most Extraordinary Minds in Sales & Marketing, 2009 Enterprising Women of the Year Award and Diversity Business' Top 100 Women Owned Businesses in the State of New York. JG Black Book of Travel was also listed on the 2009 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America.

Her keen understanding of the travel and luxury market has made Ms. Gardner a sought-after industry consultant and speaker at prestigious conferences and events. She is also a member of numerous marketing, travel and executive associations including the Global Business Coalition, Women Presidents' Organization, National Association of Women Business Owners, Women Impacting Public Policy (Energy and Environmental Committee), National Center for Policy Analysis (Family Policy Center Advisory Board), Enterprising Women Advisory Board, Forbes Woman Advisory Board, Virtuoso Hotel Committee, Luxury Marketing Council, Cambridge Who's Who and HSMAI. Ms. Gardner graduated with honors from the University of Montana's School of Business Administration.