As Chief Executive Officer of AdventureLink, Jeff will oversee corporate strategy, sales, marketing, technology, product development, operations, customer care, financial management, human resources and investor relations.
Prior to joining AdventureLink, Jeff Dossett was Senior Vice President, Audience Experiences for Yahoo! North America. In this role Dossett was responsible for editorial, content and programming of all consumer "touch-points" including Yahoo!'s industry-leading media, communications and community products and services in the United States and Canada. Dossett joined Yahoo! from Microsoft Corporation where he was executive producer and general manager of the MSN Media Network in the United States, providing overall leadership for audience, content and programming strategy and execution.
Dossett joined Microsoft in 1991 as Director of Sales and served in a variety of senior sales and marketing roles including general manager of Microsoft’s Canadian subsidiary. In 1997, he transferred to Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington headquarters. At this time, he became general manager of the Internet Customer Unit, leading business development efforts to establish technology and service relationships with global network operators. In 2000, Dossett joined MSN to provide strategy and business development leadership for Microsoft’s leading e-commerce services. He then served as Chairman & CEO of MSN Carpoint® (now MSN Autos), DealerPoint® and general manager of MSN HomeAdvisor® (now MSN Real Estate & MSN Lifestyle).
In 2002, Dossett took two years away from his career at Microsoft to pursue his passion for adventure with a goal to climb the highest mountain on each of the seven continents, known as the “Seven Summits”. Reaching the summit of Mount Everest on May 24, 2004, Dossett became the third Canadian in history to successfully complete the Seven Summits. In 2008, Jeff was expedition leader for Everest Team INSPI(RED), a personal initiative to build awareness of (PRODUCT) RED™ and to inspire others to join the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa (see www.teaminspired.com). On May 22nd, 2008, Jeff became the second Canadian in history to reach the summit of Mount Everest for the second time.
Dossett serves on the Board of Advisors of 1) VillageReach (www.villagereach.org), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization working to save lives and improve well-being in Africa by increasing community access to healthcare and other essential services, 2) GOOD Worldwide Inc. (www.good.is), an integrated media platform for people who want to live well and do good and 3) LiveMocha (www.livemocha.com), an online language learning service designed to help people communicate across borders, languages, and cultures by providing accessible and innovative language learning services in an engaging, interactive, social format.
Dossett holds a degree in business administration with honors from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario in Canada. He is married and has three children.
Born in Cape Town, my travels began courtesy of the South African Army at age 17. Before turning 18 I 'traveled' to Namibia, Angola and Mozambique. (No passport required.) Over the next two years I 'became' African, a status derived not simply by being born on the continent, but by seeing Africa, as the Zulu people say, 'with African eyes'.
Following a degree in Economics at the University of Cape Town I toiled for three years as an Economist in South Africa’s largest insurance company. I then went back to UCT to complete an MBA and started to look at the vast (and back then untapped) opportunities that the region provided in tourism. I was fortunate enough to team up with an entrepreneur with similar interests and for the next 13 years concentrated on building Gametrackers into the 'fly-in safari' model that has since been successfully emulated in over 100 lodges in Botswana and in many other wildlife and naturalistic havens throughout the world. The company was sold to Orient Express Hotels in 1993.
Over the years my travels in the adventure space have taken me to over 100 countries on six continents. Many, if not most, of these trips could not have been sourced with commonly available information to travelers in a market like the U.S. Now, anyone using AdventureLink can find these operators directly without the layers of intermediation, and information slant, that defined the market before we came along. It’s great to think that travelers now have a whole new set of tools to find, and experience, the places and people that make us think differently about our world.
Khalid Lasne is AdventureLink's Technology Manager. His role is to develop and lead company initiatives. No small task.
As part of this role, Khalid is tasked with aligning strategic business, operational functions and processes within AdventureLink to achieve targets set by leadership team. In this roles, he is instrumental in the development, submission and administration of the technological strategies.
An Australian who received distinction in Masters from the RMIT University, also earned the prestigious Deans List Honors of 2002.
With the fundamental education in place, Khalid hit the market with his skills and worked in Financial, Insurance, and manufacturing sectors. Working for such companies as March Vision Care, Arizcon corp and Leading Synthetics, Khalid enhanced his skills with hands-on experience.
With a quirky blend of technical skill and poise, Khalid brings a smooth and thoughtful flair to a challenging position. Originally from India, Khalid has called both Australia and the United States his home. His next trip will likely be Europe, to see some of his favorite places.
I was born in Patna, India, one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world. My father's job in the Archaeological Survey of India involved conservation and restoration of cultural sites like ancient temples. His job took him around South Asia and he took his family with him to as many places as he could. I was no stranger to travel even at that young age, and had the opportunity to visit many ancient sites, some of them world heritage sites. Later, with a BS in the physical sciences, I started a Masters in Statistics, but half way through, gave this up to pursue a Masters in Tourism Administration, something from the past must have surfaced! I have never looked back, and have been working for the travel industry, since. My work has led me to travel in South East Asia, the Middle East, Europe and in the US. This is an exciting time where technology is changing the way we do things in every walk of life. AdventureLink is exploring a new ways of making technology work for both the traveler and those who promote travel. I consider myself lucky to be a part of this movement! (Oh, by the way, when I am not doing all of those grand things, I like to work with my water-colors and cook. The rest of the time I am being read to, by my six year old daughter, and subsequently quizzed on the book that she just read to me).
Back in 1993 I traveled with my Father and Grandfather to Ukraine in search of our long lost ancestors. With a translator in the front seat and a driver guiding the way, the five of us journeyed beyond the pavement to a small farming community. As luck would have it, the first house in the village along the main road had exactly the folks we were searching for. Thus began an amazing week of storytelling and history, which has defined me far beyond my formidable years.
Born to move, I’ve called over 30 places home with major stops in Vancouver, Ottawa, Seattle, Whistler and Connecticut, where I attended the University of Connecticut (B.A. Internet Strategies) because its central location within New England would easily allow me to create single day road trips to explore twelve nearby states. In Whistler, I merged my passions for the Internet and tourism. Following three seasons of skiing deep powder and consulting with hotels and tourism vendors I was ready to move in with the stars (of AdventureLink) down here in sunny L.A. Along the way, I’ve learnt that the traveler within is never settled. Define who you are, travel. Currently on my travel radar is: a trip to Maui to watch the college kids play basketball, Art Nouveau architecture of Helsinki, playing Polo in Argentina, Chill’n with the penguins of the Arctic, Heli-skiing the world’s best peaks in Bella Coola.
Growing up I was fortunate enough to do a considerable amount of traveling. My parents took me to a variety of different places in Canada, Mexico, and here in the U.S. When I was fifteen I accompanied a good friend of mine to visit his family in Colombia for Christmas and New Years. This trip opened my eyes to the world beyond North America. Visiting Colombia had a great impact on me and instilled in me the desire to experience as much of this planet as possible. I was born and raised in Seattle, Washington but moved to Los Angeles, California in 1999. Since then I’ve moved all around Southern California. I spent the past two years in Santa Cruz, California as a student at the University of California, Santa Cruz where I recently graduated with a B.A. in Economics. I’m now back in Los Angeles and very excited to be working in the online travel industry.
Growing up in LA, my parents made certain that LAX was a short drive away if ever the family were inclined to escape the smoggy sunshine. As a kid, I was hustled from Europe to Australia to Hawaii and back again. My dad made certain my sister and I were exposed to new people and places and inadvertently (or maybe it was his plan all along) instilled the travel bug in me. After 4 years of university and graduating from UC San Diego with a BA in Media Art (Photography), I resolved it was time to explore a bit more of the world. I hopped around the Pacific for a couple of months and even managed to squeeze in trips to the Canadian west before joining the AdventureLink team. Travel has undoubtedly fueled my passion for photography and it is a combination of these pursuits that pushes me to seek out new experiences. I continue to travel with both eyes open because for me, travel is as much a responsibility as an adventure. The encounters you have and the respect you give are lasting.
I feel I've only seen and experienced a fraction of what the world has to offer. I hope to capture much more of it through the lens of my camera and will continue searching for those unforgettable places.
Up next is kayaking the San Juan Islands, backpacking in Spain, trekking Bhutan and Tibet, some surf photography in Indo and seeing the northern lights from Finland.