PROFILES of PANELISTS

Mary Brisson

Brisson oversees production of travel news, features and an online “guidebook to the world” at Microsoft’s Expedia.com, an Internet site providing travel information to consumers. Previously she was an editor at Business Travel News.

Kevin Coffey

Coffey is president of Corporate Travel Safety, a travel security consulting firm. A frequent speaker and media guest, he advises executives on how to travel safely and avoid scams worldwide. He has served 16 years with the Los Angeles Police Department.

Gerald J. Desmond Jr.

Desmond, a Sacramento attorney, specializes in travel law and policy. He advises the travel industry on reliability and accountability to consumers, and was involved in the establishment of California’s unique Travel Consumer Restitution Fund.

Jay Dickman

Dickman has been a photojournalist for 28 years, shooting for such disparate publications as Life magazine, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Fortune and Forbes. He won the Pulitzer Prize in Journalism for Feature Photography in 1983.

Arthur Frommer

The renowned travel expert has written dozens of guidebooks, including the seminal “Europe on $5 a Day.” A radio show host and NBC/CNBC travel commentator, he publishes a new quarterly magazine, Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel.

Susan E. Henrichsen

California Deputy Atty. Gen. Henrichsen has spent 20 years prosecuting companies, including travel and tour operators, for false advertising and unfair business practices. She has written and testified extensively on California’s Seller of Travel Law.

Joe McNally

A freelance photographer since the early ‘70s, McNally shoots for publications from National Geographic to Newsweek and just finished a stint as staff photographer for Life magazine. He won the 1998 Alfred Eisenstaedt Award for outstanding magazine photography.

Tom Parsons

Parsons, who has been called “the guru of cheap air fares,” is publisher of the popular Best Fares Discount Travel Magazine, and author of the book “Insider Travel Secrets.” He consults with the airlines and is a regular television and radio guest.

Ed Perkins

Perkins, a nationally known consumer advocate, has been editor of “Consumer Reports Travel Letter” since 1985. He writes a nationally syndicated travel column and is the author of three books, including the annual “Consumer Reports Travel Buying Guide.”

Randy Petersen

Petersen is probably the most widely quoted authority on airline frequent-flier programs, and a very frequent flier himself. He is editor and publisher of the monthly “FrequentFlyer” magazine and editor of the “Official Frequent Flyer Guidebook.”

Christopher Reynolds

Reynolds, the Times’ Travel Writer since 1992, has been a newspaper reporter since 1981. He has written and photographed stories on five continents. He won the Society of American Travel Writers’ top prize, the Lowell Thomas Grand Award, in ’95 and ’97.

Susan Tanzman

Tanzman is an attorney and 25-year travel industry veteran, a former area director and past officer of the American Society of Travel Agents and the California Coalition of Travel Agents. She is owner of Los Angeles-based Martin’s Travel & Tours.

Nevada Wier

Wier’s photography has appeared in publications from Life to Outdoor Photographer to Smithsonian. She instructs photo workshops and has guided outdoor programs in the mountains, deserts and rivers of the world, including 20 years with Outward Bound.

Jane Wooldridge

Writer/editor Wooldridge is an inveterate traveler who has written extensively on travel destinations and issues. She led creation of the award-winning Destination Florida travel Web site and is overseeing development of the Miami Herald’s online travel site.