President: Dan Travers
Dan Travers has been with Crooked Trails from the very beginning. Focusing primarily on program development, he has also guided for Crooked Trails in Thailand, India and Peru. Recently, after a month in Iran, Dan began researching the Middle East for future CT travel program destinations. From his home base in the Pacific NW, Dan has been an avid climber and traveler through over 40 countries on 6 continents.

With an undergraduate degree from Cornell University and an MBA from UW, he has been running his own Green Building and rental property businesses for over 15 years. Dan also regularly consults on construction related issues and is involved in management of a California Natural Gas production company and a Napa Valley winery.

Trained as a Wilderness First Responder, conversational in both Spanish and French, he is a strong believer in Crooked Trails’ messages of cultural sensitivity and sustainable tourism. He keeps (reasonably) fit playing lacrosse and soccer while also Randonne skiing and scrambling the peaks of the Cascade Mtns. His other interests include an ongoing historical research adventure in the Peruvian Amazon jungle (www.theriversraneast.com) and other international projects.

Brooksie Barton
Brooksie Barton has been volunteering for over 10 years and has a passion for helping others.  She first began working internationally with Engineers Without Borders-USA.  Helping found the South Central Florida Professionals chapter of the organization, Brooksie has had an opportunity to work with other volunteers and design and construct a clean water project for a community in Honduras.  She has experience working with other communities first hand and values the importance of preserving other cultures and finding sustainable solutions for international community needs.  Crooked Trails mission is a perfect fit to her perspective on sustainable global projects and responsible travel.

Brooksie hold a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Central Florida.  She is a licensed professional engineer in Washington, Florida and Louisiana and specializes in transportation design.  She enjoys being able to apply her engineering skills on international projects that help communities meet their basic human needs.

She has traveled internationally to Ireland, Thailand and Honduras with just a fraction of her travel wish list complete.  She encourages everyone to find your passion, get involved and always enjoy what you do!

Jody Baush
Jody works at Starbucks in accounting as a senior project manager.  She has an accounting degree backed with a CPA and completed the Project Management certificate program at the UW.  Her most recent assignment has been a 5+ year project implementing a global business system.  She’s done some business travel in her role at Starbucks to the UK, Amsterdam, China….and has fantasized about going on a Crooked Trails trip! (It will probably be to Nepal or Bhutan.) Jody has traveled many places in Mexico, Costa Rica, Belize and Guatemala. Then, she went to Bali and totally fell in love with the island, its people and the culture. She’s done a bit of volunteer work for Crooked Trails and attended some fundraisers. She met Tracy Klinkroth at an Eat, Pray, Love premier party where she was invited to participate to talk about Bali.

Tracy Klinkroth
Tracy Klinkroth founded her own marketing research consultancy, Epiphany Research, in 1998.  She started ChickChat, a nationwide women’s research panel, in 2003, to better capture the women’s research market.  Tracy believes research should provide true insight to help develop actionable strategies that positively affect a company’s bottom line.  She has more than 20 years of experience conducting marketing research and strategic planning for a varied client list spanning several industries.  Though skilled at tried and true research methodologies such as focus groups, phone surveys, and online surveys, whenever possible Tracy enjoys employing more creative research techniques such as in-home peer focus groups, mobile interviewing, and observational and ethnographic research.  She holds a B.S. in business management with a concentration in marketing from the State University of New York at Geneseo.  Passionate about volunteering for worthy causes, Tracy gives freely of her time to organizations such as Page Ahead, Moveon.org, Powerful Voices, and the Humane Society.  She got hooked on cultural immersion and sustainable travel on a trip to Guatemala and Costa Rica with Pura Vida Coffee Company and has also traveled to Peru (with Crooked Trails), Mexico, and several countries in Europe.

Philomena Lobo
Philomena has a Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering from the University of Mumbai, and an MBA from Seattle University, where she did a study abroad program in Italy. During that period Philomena realized that her love for travel could be combined with her volunteer work to make small communities better, and facilitate cultural exchanges of stories and cuisine – the basic ethos of civilization.

Philomena moved to the Pacific Northwest 8 years ago to work at Microsoft. Prior to Microsoft, Philomena worked at Infosys, Bangalore as a Software Analyst. Philomena has been engaged in volunteer activities since her teens, starting off with the World Wide Fund for Nature in Bombay, work with the Salesian’s for underprivileged children in Bombay. In Seattle, Philomena continued by developing a Young Adults program for St. Louise Catholic church, volunteer stints at Hope Link and TIE (Tech Entrepreneurship nonprofit). She also worked with AtWork! (a local non-profit for people with disabilities); to help craft their marketing and branding plan. She is currently volunteering her time with Habitat for Humanity, and the King County Library system.

Philomena has travelled to Japan, Korea, China, Pakistan, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, UK, United States, Canada, Mexico. She has a goal of travelling to 100 countries by the time she is 55.

In her spare time Philomena enjoys cooking (different ethnic cuisines), reading, photography, verbal sparring and is trying to learn to play the piano. Philomena lives with her husband Eric in Redmond, and they spend 4 weeks every 18 months travelling and discovering destinations and cultures.

Howard McAuliffe
A new resident of Seattle and board member for Crooked Trails, Howard McAuliffe will be focusing on grant writing for the organization.  Most recently he served as the Executive Director of North Grand Neighborhood Services in St. Louis, MO.  In this role, he developed and managed affordable housing, led a youth social entrepreneurship program, and drove community development initiatives. He holds a Master’s Degree in Urban Planning and Real Estate Development from Saint Louis University and a Bachelor’s in English from Truman State University.  Howard has a passion for community development, real estate development and city planning.

In his free time, Howard enjoys backpacking, fishing, reading, and basketball. His newest sport is mountaineering and he is training for summit attempts of both Mt. Baker and Mt. Rainer this summer.  He loves to travel and has visited Mexico, Greece, England, Ireland, Holland, Dubai, Jordan, Palestine/Israel in addition to studying for a semester abroad in Spain.  He is married to Reem, and they have two dogs, Amira and Dakota.

Carolina Morales
Carolina’s true passion is in travel and volunteering, and as a recent transplant to the west coast she loves calling West Seattle her new home. She currently works with Starbucks Coffee Company in their Accounting and Finance organization and enjoys the culture, her fellow partners and interacting with passionate customers. Volunteering with small and large non-profit organizations for over 14 years, she understands the vital role non-profits serve in the community. If you have the time she will share stories with you of her journeys to over 16 countries and will encourage you to travel and explore the world in which we live. She is very excited to be part of Crooked Trails and to be involved at the forefront of educating our fellow travelers about the impact of tourism and helping to create opportunities for people to travel sustainably and responsibly. Carolina holds a dual B.A. in Finance and Economics from the Business School of the University of South Florida and a Project Management Certification from the University of Washington.

William B. (Nick) Niccolls
Born and raised in Ross, California, Nick Niccolls has lived in Seattle since 1978.  An independent consultant on commercial real estate finance and general business, he holds an M.B.A. from the University of Washington and a B.A. in political science from Stanford University.  Nick has a strong interest in sustainable development and foreign affairs and serves on the advisory council for the University of Washington Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition.  In addition, he is an ambassador for Ashoka Changemakers, a global association of leading social entrepreneurs, and actng executive director of the Sefrioui-Badissy Foundation, which seeks to bridge the digital divide by partnering to provide computers to schools in Africa.  He has also been actively involved with a number of other non-profit organizations that focus on culture, the environment, or the intersection of the two.  Nick enjoys bike riding, swimming, and reading, and is an avid traveler who has visited Australia, Lebanon, Belize, China, Egypt, Canada, Cyprus, the Philippines, Mexico, New Zealand, Europe, and most states of the U.S.

Lane Wilkinson
Lane grew up in New England and graduated from Colby College in Waterville ME with a BA in history and Literature.  He later received an MBA from Uinv. WA and has maintained a career in the outdoor industry.

Lane loves outdoor activities such as hiking, skiing, mountaineering, climbing, and cycling.  He’s a competitive bicycle racer and captain of a local amateur racing team.  He is also active in the Nordic sports of cross country skiing and ski jumping.  Lane spends most winter weekends in Leavenworth coaching younger skiers in the sport of jumping.  He has also been a ski instructor for disabled athletes and loves to give back to the activities he enjoys.  He travels as much as he can and often tries to combine his love for outdoor activities and foreign travel.  This has lead to adventures such as mountaineering in the Bolivian and Peruvian Andes, cycling in Italy, sailing in the tropics and many more.

Lane believes worldly exploration is not only beneficial for personal growth but can also in small but significant ways help bring different cultures together.   He thinks travel to foreign locations can take “the fear of the unknown” and turn it into respect for something new and different.   He also understands the impact of travel culturally, environmentally, and socially so he appreciates Crooked Trails programs that promote worldly exploration but also teach travelers and hosts alike how to share each others lives and cultures responsibly.

Board Members With No Biographies Provided:
Gordon Hofman

Advisory Board
Jennifer Adrien
Rashmi Bali Chilka
Megan Lane
George Mauer
Veena Prasad
Terry Rogers
Laurel Tomchick