Your Trip Planners
World travelers. Avid trekkers. Safari experts. Friends. Meet the team that plans your Tanzanian adventure.
Each member loves traveling, Tanzania, and Thomson. Here are some things you might not know about them.
Ina Steinhilber
General Manager
Ina has trekked, hiked, and ice climbed in the mountainous regions of the U.S. and abroad. She counts reaching the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro with her two sisters as a particularly memorable experience. Though her background is in art and literature, travel is her first and greatest love. She’s dedicated to making sure Thomson travelers have enriching, extraordinary experiences.
Gregg Pokraka
Director of Customer Service
Gregg has traveled throughout the U.S., Central America, Europe, and Tanzania. He has reached the summits of Mount Kilimanjaro and Ol Doinyo Lengai (which was erupting at the time!). Along with his passion for travel, Gregg brings more than 20 years of customer service experience. His attention to detail, extensive knowledge of safari logistics, and dedication to travelers ensure the success of your trip.
Bryan Rotundo
Tanzania Safari Consultant
Bryan has trekked the Outback in Australia, backpacked through New Zealand, and sailed the islands of the South Pacific. He has journeyed throughout Tanzania—both north and south—and visited the exotic island of Zanzibar. He has worked as a travel consultant for seven years, joining the Thomson team four years ago.
Emily Martin
Tanzania Safari Consultant
Emily fell in love with Tanzania on her first safari in 2006. In fact, her Master’s Degree in Global Development Policy was inspired by conversations she shared with locals about employment challenges in Tanzania. In addition to living in Dar es Salaam, she’s traveled to Brazil, India, Morocco, Poland, Belgium, and Greece.
Gabriela Arnold
Tanzania Safari Consultant
Gabriela has lived in Germany, journeyed on medical missions in the Dominican Republic, and visited Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Spain. She speaks Spanish and is currently studying Italian and German. She plans on learning Swahili next! Her favorite part of the job: Talking to people about exciting travel plans and helping them plan an unforgettable trip.
Roberta Moore
Special Interest Program Manager
Roberta has a true talent for developing engaging programs and international travel experiences. Stemming from her work with undergraduate students in higher education, Roberta’s work has included organizing study abroad programs and professional conferences at Penn State University and widely expanding the travel programs and outreach at Dartmouth College. Aside from her professional career, Roberta loves to take photographs and has traveled to 41 different countries!
Andrew Doherty
Special Interest Safari Consultant
Andrew has explored far and wide—Central America, Western Europe, Rwanda, Costa Rica, Canada, and Tanzania. He loves Tanzania for its friendly people and bountiful wildlife, and finds joy in helping fellow world travelers plan lifechanging safaris. Andrew fills his free time with fly fishing, ice hockey, and electric guitar.
Katie Cordes
Kilimanjaro Program Manager
Katie has journeyed to Ukraine, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, and Switzerland. She has twice reached the summit of Kilimanjaro and traveled on safari in Tanzania. In her free time, she enjoys running, wine tasting, culinary tours around the world, and serving as Vice Chair of the Healthworks Community Fitness Advisory Board. Katie loves working on a team that believes in responsible tourism.
Rachel Seely
Kilimanjaro Consultant
Rachel has hiked extensively throughout the U.S. and abroad—the White Mountains, Glacier National Park, the Grand Canyon, New Zealand, and most recently, Mount Kilimanjaro. She lived in China for several years as a child and as an adult, in which time she visited Hong Kong and Malaysia. She’s been swimming her whole life, participating in long distance open water events and polar plunges!
Evan Ruhwedel
Special Interest Safari Consultant
A winter loving Californian, Evan thrives on visiting new places and meeting new people. She has visited 22 states in the U.S. and traveled to Tanzania, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. When she’s not planning her next trip, Evan loves bowling, ice skating, and watching hockey. She marks hanging out with her safari guides in Tanzania as one of her favorite experiences at Thomson.
Katie Havas
Tanzania Safari Consultant
Aside from living on both coasts of the U.S., Katie has journeyed to Africa, Australia, and South America. She received a Master’s Degree in Economic Development and Tourism Management from Boston University. In her free time, she enjoys running, doing Pilates and yoga, and eating great food. On her recent Tanzania safari, Katie was amazed to be close to so much wildlife while seeing the wildlife migration in the Northern Serengeti.
Paul Jones
Tanzania Safari Consultant
Paul is the definition of world traveler. Born and bred in the UK, Paul has visited and lived in over 25 countries and 6 continents (Antarctica is next on his list). His adventures have included studying the Canary Island volcanoes and harvesting olives in Andalucía, summiting Mount Kilimanjaro, and doing volunteer work to empower indigenous communities in Guatemala. Along with his extensive knowledge of the globe, he brings over 8 years of customer service and operations experience in the travel industry.
Amy Garwood
Kilimanjaro Trek & Safari Consultant
Amy was born to be an outdoor adventurer. As our team’s state-side Wilderness First Responder, she has summited Mount Rainier, led Outward Bound trips for at-risk youth in the Everglades, sea kayaked in Alaska’s Prince William Sound, and backpacked through the mountains of Montana, California and Washington. Amy even guides kayakers on the Charles River in Boston. Her extensive wilderness experience and knowledge of outdoor equipment and gear make her a great resource for our trekkers preparing to climb Mount Kilimanjaro!
Ali Riley
Social Media & Marketing Coordinator
Ali has been skydiving in the Swiss Alps, wine tasting in France, snowboarding down a glacier, and ziplining through the rainforest canopies in Central America. During her most recent visit to Tanzania, she directed Tanzanian film school students for on-location filming, and reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. Ali recalls the trek being challenging (she climbed the most strenuous route!), but her supportive group made it fun. She’s still friends with some of them.
Michael Moitoso
Social Media & Marketing Coordinator
Michael has explored Europe, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Morocco, and Mozambique. He’s traveled to Tanzania with Thomson three times, during which he trekked Mount Kilimanjaro, toured the safari circuit, hiked along the Great Rift Valley, and visited the exotic island of Zanzibar. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, biking, and cooking. Michael enjoys working for a company that gives so much back to the communities in Tanzania.
Eliza Hatch
Project Coordinator
Director of Development & Operations for Focus on Tanzanian Communities
Eliza has circumnavigated the globe, visiting Nicaragua, Guatemala, India, New Zealand, Italy, Thailand and Denmark—to name a few! During a trip to Ghana and Tanzania, she discovered her passion for traveling to developing nations. She’s thankful to use this passion in her work for FoTZC, our partner nonprofit dedicated to enhancing educational resources and empowering communities in Tanzania.
Megan Murphy
Guest Relations
Megan’s love of travel has led her to 100 different countries around the globe. Her favorite trip, bar none, was trekking through the expansive, stunning Maasailand of Tanzania on a walking safari. With twin toddlers at home now, travel is not quite as frequent, although she thoroughly enjoys listening to the tales our guests bring back from the bush and is always striving to improve guest experiences.
Jackie Faria
Information Administrator
Jackie enjoys studying languages and linguistics. In her free time, she writes prose and poetry, and plays multiple musical instruments. Her travels have taken her to France, Italy, Switzerland, Mexico, Canada, throughout the U.S, and more recently - touring the Northern Tanzania safari circuit!
Thomas Feagin
Data Administrator
Tom has always enjoyed language. But aside from studying Russian, French, and Chinese, Tom particularly loves the language of computers. His experience includes working with databases, data management, programming, and scripting. In simple terms, Tom solves everyone’s data problems. When he’s not programming computers, Tom enjoys reading science fiction books, watching fantasy films, and keeping up with the latest breakthroughs in technology, medicine, and Space. Tom has visited nearly all of the national parks west of the Mississippi and is eager to visit them all again!
Sarah Jacobs
Receptionist & Guest Liaison
Sarah is a Boston native and is thrilled to join the Thomson Safaris Team! A great love of travel has led her to ski the Swiss Alps, snorkel a Volcanic crater in Maui, sail the British Virgin Islands and scuba dive in Aruba. She dreams of adding Africa and Australia to that list. In her spare time she is an actress exploring the Boston theatre community.
