Patten Wood currently works at the U.S. Travel Association (formerly Travel Industry Association) as the National Councils Program Coordinator. In this position he manages the National Council of Destination Organizations (NCDO) composed of over 400 U.S. city, regional, and rural destination management organizations and the National Council of Attractions (NCA), which consists of nearly 300 domestic attractions. This role includes acting as the liaison between U.S. Travel’s NCDO and NCA Board of Directors, Organizing all board meetings, and Overseeing contract negotiation and annual budgeting for both councils.
Before this position, Patten worked as a Research Assistant within the Research Department of U.S. Travel. There he collected economic data and wrote numerous state-level tourism economic impact reports in collaboration with U.S. Travel’s Chief Economist.
Prior to this Patten worked as a Survey Manager for National Geographic’s Center for Sustainable Destinations where he managed the responses of over 400 travel-related experts for National Geographic Traveler’s “94 Places Rated: World Heritage Sites.” Results were published in the 2006 Nov. / Dec. issue.
In the summer of 2008, Patten completed his Master of Tourism Administration (concentration: Sustainable Destination Management) degree at The George Washington University.
His interests include travel, photography, running, and cooking.
