Our Corporate mission is to provide exceptional service with satisfaction guaranteed.
Kelly Colmenares
Project Manager
New York City
Kelly Colmenares one of our most enthusiastic and engaging Project Managers. Always smiling, she is always eager to create exceptional client experiences.
Bilingual in Spanish and English from birth, she also speaks and understands Italian having studied abroad in Italy. She has a degree in Events Management and Tourism from the University of Florida. Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Kelly was raised in New York and Miami. She later relocated to New York to pursue a hospitality career.
Kelly is often our point person for requests from Spain, Mexico and much of Central and South America. She is skilled at crafting and sourcing the perfect sites for Incentives and Meetings and then equally talented at managing the programs from arrival to departure.
She possesses a wonderful ‘locals’ knowledge of special neighborhoods and sites in several mega regions. Since joining the company, she has crafted and managed programs on the East and West coasts, in Hawaii and throughout the Midwest.
Kelly is particularly adept in managing detailed, complex Incentives and Meetings.
Julie Dutar
Project Manager
New York City
Julie is one of American Guest’s multinational staff members. Fluent in French and English, she is wonderful in translating the nuances between the cultures. She brings a wealth of Corporate program planning to each task along with a European flair and understanding of the client’s goals.
Born in San Francisco, she was raised in heart of Paris, France. She travels easily between her French culture and her American heritage.
Julie first expressed her interest in travel at a very young age and then later realized satisfied her desire by traveling to and discovering new destinations around the world.
Julie has a Master’s Degree in Tourism Management. After graduation, Julie fulfilled her wish to work in the USA where she started as an event planner in a destination management company. She has been planning incentive programs along with meetings, conferences and events since 2012. She enjoys dual American- French citizenship and is completely bilingual in speaking and writing.
She is known by friends and relatives as a joyful person and someone who is diligent and adaptable.
Julie is a project manager at American Guest
Carolina Neri
SENIOR GROUPS & INCENTIVES MANAGER
New York City
Carolina is a people person my nature.
A native Brazilian, Carolina is bilingual in Portuguese and English and generally fluent in Spanish. These talents allow her to move easily between requests from Brazil, Portugal and many Spanish speaking countries and our domestic suppliers. She understands the very important cultures in these countries and translates those requests into super effective Incentives, Meetings and Events.
Carolina has an innate ability to create special client relationships. It is her ability to tackle any situation or task with comfort and dexterity that only comes from experience. This makes her an invaluable team resource.
She is equally skilled in crafting and sourcing a wonderful Incentive or Meeting program as she is in being on site to manage a program. Carolina has a Bachelor's Degree in Hospitality Tourism Management - College of Technology/CUNY.
Her experienced based knowledge of international markets, cultures and backgrounds enhances the team’s ability to deliver excellent client proposals.
Carolina has more than 9 years of experience in curating, contracting, coordinating and managing projects from Manhattan to Maui and Miami to Las Vegas.
Julie Roth
VICE PRESIDENT
New York City
Julie is one of the most engaging and respected executives in the industry. With a personal commitment to clients and an attention to detail, Julie enjoys a wonderful reputation among both corporate clients and business associates. From California to the east coast, from Canada to Mexico, Julie has created lasting professional relationships that transcend the assignment and enjoys a level of trust from her clients that only excellent performance can produce. She grew up near Main Line, Pennsylvania with a strong Canadian heritage and is well travelled both domestically and internationally.
Vanessa Alfonso
PROJECT MANAGER
New York City
Vanessa is the consummate professional in the design, sourcing and planning of corporate Incentives and Meetings; as well as larger leisure groups. A native of Colombia, she has been involved in similar programs in France and Holland. Speaking and writing to clients in Spanish, French, and English, she focuses on serving clients from France, Spain, South and Central America, and Mexico. With her experience across multiple industries, she offers clients a multi-cultural understanding of their special requirements so that programs exceed client expectations. She is known for her attention to detail, depth of design and uniqueness. She is concise and very well organized for both the client and the supplier. Married to a French national, she has two sons and resides in New Jersey
Maria Basiou-Petropoulou
CONTROLLER
New York City
Maria Petropoulou is among the longer tenured staff members. She joined the Accounting Department nearly 10 years ago after working at HSBC-USA. In her role as a Controller in the company, she focuses on the key financial analytics and assists management in maintaining banking and financial relationship and on efficient A/P and A/R tasks. She works very well with both clients and suppliers alike. Maria has a BBA from Zicklin School of Business - Baruch College. Originally from Greece, she in now a resident of NYC where she resides with her husband.
mpetropoulou@americanguestusa.com
Richard Williams
CEO
New York City
Richard is involved in nearly every project or task. A co-founder of the company, he recruited a team that works with a personal dedication to excellence. For over 30 years, Richard has had ownership and partner roles in hospitality and planning companies. Whether in marketing, sales or operations, he is known for an ability to sense the client's core needs and set up a plan to exceed their goals. Married with 5 adult children, he resides with his wife 30 miles east of Manhattan.
John Williams
PRESIDENT
New York City
John, a co-founder of the family-owned company, brings a tireless ability to accomplish every task in a manner designed to reflect so very well on our clients. Involved in hospitality at an early age, he has the skills developed only from doing the hardest and most challenging jobs. His leadership is defined by respect, reliability, and the highest level of integrity. John and his wife reside in New York and are the proud parents of two daughters and a son.
jwilliams@americanguestusa.com
Ashlee Ernst
SOURCING MANAGER
Austin, Texas
While Ashlee grew up a California resident she is our in house “Vegas Expert”. After spending 11 years working in hospitality on the Las Vegas strip she decided she needed a change and relocated to Austin, Texas. Ashlee has always had a passion for travel and continually looking for the new “it city” to explore or country to visit. Her most recent travels have taken her to Bali to further explore her other passion for yoga. She is always willing to go above and beyond for our clients and makes sure that no detail is missed when planning your perfect trip!
Melissa Glazier
Sales / Business Development
Miami, Florida
Melissa Glazier is a Sales and Marketing professional with 15 years of experience in the Hospitality Industry. She graduated from Florida International University where she obtained a MBA.
Based in Miami since 2008, Melissa has been raised in Tampa Bay, FL, grew up in Auckland, NZ and moved to Sydney, Australia, where she graduated from High School.
Melissa is known by her friends and relatives as someone who is connecting with and to people but also with animal and nature. Melissa is always hardworking, she received the Employee Engagement Award from a prestigious company where she used to work with. She speaks English and has been learning Spanish for few years now.
She has many skills in market and competition analysis, creating events, account generation and proposal and follow up
At American Guest Melissa is in charge of the Sales and Business Development.
Lina Blalouz
Assistante Project Coordinator
New York City
Lina Blalouz is the assistant project coordinator at American Guest. Born in France, Lina is a student at Emlyon Business School (Paris and Lyon, France). She is responsible for marketing communication programs at the company. Among her tasks is preparation of the company newsletters and interacting with the various social media platforms where American Guest is prominent.
Lina brings to the role her very broad and successful experience in fashion blogging. Along with her twin sister, Lina shared fashion content to a large international following. A recent high-level athlete in track and field, Lina enjoys traveling around the world and discovering new cultures. She speaks French and English and has studied German, Russian and Spanish for the past several years.
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