Education Day 2022 Sustainability Panel Bios

Dr. Aurora Dawn Benton is Founder and Chief Change Agent of Astrapto LLC, which exists to advance positive impact in hospitality, travel, and events. Her passion is to make sustainability practical and approachable. Astrapto assesses and develops sustainability strategy, offers training on a wide range of social and environmental topics, creates sustainability reports, and supports technical implementation of initiatives such as carbon accounting, food waste reduction, and supplier diversity. Aurora’s clients include World Wildlife Fund, Sodexo Live, Baltimore Convention Center, Direct Travel, Accor, and Hilton. She has been a thought leader in industry initiatives such as the Event Industry Council’s Sustainable Events Standards and she was the curriculum designer for the EIC Sustainable Event Professional Certificate course. Aurora has a Doctorate in Business Administration in Social Impact Management.

Leanne is the Vice President of Sales - Western Region at Hertz and has been with the company for 24 years.  Her tenure with Hertz and in the travel industry has helped increase Leanne's knowledge and insights and allowed her to help shape multiple division's directions and how Hertz not only supports customers but contributes in many ways to communities as well.  Sustainability and revolutionizing the industry is one of her passions.  

Leanne recently moved to Phoenix Arizona and is enjoying exploring all that Arizona has to offer.  When not checking out new areas of Arizona Leanne loves spending time with her family and vacationing in new destinations.

Dina's favorite quote is from Ghandi "Be the change you wish to see the in the world.  She has been doing just that for the last 20 years while in the hospitality industry.  By focusing on creating unique, extraordinary, and sustainable hotels - she is bringing that change to the industry. I began my career in design, transitioned into development and construction, evolved into engineering and operations, and eventually pulled it all together into a multidisciplinary hospitality leader. I am responsible for the people and the buildings at Pineapple Hospitality, making sure the stage is set for Pineapple’s amazing team to inspire out of the ordinary experiences. 

I met my husband at work over 20 years ago and our favorite pastime is all types of architecture of all types. We have two beautiful rescue cats and a dog, Molly, Mookie, and Bella. We live on a "hobby farm" with plans to expand the four legged family, maybe a horse or a donkey in our future. And if she isn't busy with all of those things, she will indulge on a piece of key lime pie from time to time!

Pasha Saleh is Head of Corporate Development at Alaska Airlines where he leads the airline's technology investment arm, Alaska Star Ventures, and supports senior leadership in areas of sustainability, operational efficiency, strategy, and emerging technology 

Pasha began his business career as a consultant at McKinsey & Company and has served in executive roles across the aerospace industry in organizations ranging from Silicon Valley startups to large OEM's including Boeing and Beechcraft. 

Pasha earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He holds an Airline Transport Pilot certificate with seven type ratings and has over 8,000 hours of flight experience.