Intrepid Travel Revamps North American Senior Leadership Team

Intrepid Travel has reorganized the senior leadership team for its North American offices including the creation of a new president of Canada position.

Moving into the role of president of the Americas is current chief customer officer Leigh Barnes, who has been with Intrepid for more than a decade. He will move into this new role in Jan. 2025 and will be responsible for leading all aspects of the region, including operations, sales, and marketing. He will relocate to the U.S. Pacific Northwest. 

Current president of the Americas, Matt Berna, will transition to senior vice president of U.S. sales and operations, and global B2B external sales. He will focus on the development of Intrepid’s domestic operations, including Intrepid-owned Wildland Trekking, U.S. B2B sales, and global business development for Intrepid’s DMC network.

In Canada, Intrepid has appointed industry veteran Christian Wolters as its first-ever president of Canada, as well as general manager, North America marketing, effective July 1. Wolters, who most recently served as CMO at TourRadar for nine years, returns to Intrepid, after an almost 10 year absence. He was a founding member of Intrepid in Canada from 2008 to 2015.

“Intrepid’s brand has grown exponentially in North America – from our first tiny office in California over 20 years ago to our fastest growing region globally,” said CEO James Thornton. “Under this new structure, the Americas will play a key role in our ambitious growth strategy for 2030.”