Bill founded Longwoods in 1978 and has built the firm into a leading travel research consultancy that conducts strategic studies globally for clients at the national, state, city, and regional levels.

He began his career as an academic, teaching psychology, research methods and statistics at Western University, and was invited to the University of Western Australia as Distinguished Visiting Lecturer. He switched to market research when he was hired to design and manage a multimillion-dollar advertising ROI study for the CEOs of the phone companies across Canada. 

Bill is internationally recognized as a leading figure in marketing, advertising, and tourism research. His work has been cited in broadcast and print media, including USA Today, Newsweek, the New York Times, and the Times of London. He is a regular speaker at governors’ conferences and meetings, such as the Advertising Research Foundation, the American Marketing Association, the Brookings Institution, The Travel & Tourism Research Association, the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement, the Economic Development Administration, the European Society of Marketing Research, and the Public Relations Society of America. 

Bill has served on the boards for a number of organizations, including Georgia Tech, Waterloo University, Ryerson University, the University of Florida, the Travel & Tourism Research Association, and Destinations International. He was honored as a Ryerson Fellow, Executive in Residence at Temple University, and was commissioned an Honorary Citizen of New Jersey and Kentucky Colonel.

Bill holds a B.A. (Honors) from the University of Toronto and a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Michigan.

A thirty-year veteran of the Travel & Tourism industry, Amir leads the entire team responsible for the development and execution of all facets of the organization from program development to customer acquisition and retention. 

He joined Longwoods in 2015 from his previous role as Vice President, Partner Engagement with Brand USA, the public-private partnership serving as the destination marketing organization dedicated to increasing international visitation to the US. He led the team responsible for helping to increase Brand USA's partnership base and ensuring that participants received excellent service throughout Brand USA's deployment of joint marketing programs. During his tenure, Brand USA grew its base to 475 partners, comprised of destination marketing organizations, convention and visitor bureaus, attractions, travel brands, airlines, and tour operators.

Prior to joining Brand USA, Amir served as Director of the Ohio Office of Tourism. Under his leadership, the state's marketing programs realized a tremendous return on investment and contributed to the growth of the state's $40 billion tourism economy. The programs he developed leveraged industry and nontraditional partnerships that generated $14 in new state and local taxes for every $1 invested and included active participation by thousands of Ohio's tourism-related businesses. He has also served as Executive Vice President of the Ohio Hotel & Lodging Association, Assistant Director of the Ohio Tourism Division, and Sales & Marketing Manager with the Steuben County Conference and Visitors Bureau.

He has been recognized with a number of Industry honors including: Top 25 Extraordinary Minds in Sales & Marketing award (2014) by the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI); The Ohio Tourism Industry's Highest Honor, The Paul Sherlock Award; and The State of Ohio Distinguished Service Medal.

Amir holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Dayton.

George brings more than two decades of experience in tourism marketing and research to the Longwoods team and its clients. He was the Vice President responsible for Travel Michigan at the Michigan Economic Development Corporation from 2001 - 2014. Under his leadership, Travel Michigan and its advertising agency, McCann Detroit, created and launched the award-winning Pure Michigan brand, which Forbes ranked among the top ten tourism promotion campaigns worldwide. During his tenure, the annual tourism promotion budget rose from $5.7 million to $30 million.

Prior to joining Travel Michigan, George served as Ohio’s Tourism Director, and he was named State Tourism Director of the Year in 1997. He is the only person to have received this honor twice.

George served on the U.S. Department of Commerce Travel and Tourism Advisory Board, the Board of Directors of the U.S. Travel Association and the Board and Executive Committee of the National Council of State Tourism Directors. He was elected as Chair of the Council four times. In 2014, he led the effort to create the National Council of State Tourism Directors Alumni Group and was elected the group’s first chair.

The Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) named George one of the “Top 25 Extraordinary Minds in Hospitality Sales and Marketing.”

At Longwoods, George has consulted with and/or presented to the state tourism offices in Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming, as well as convention/visitor bureaus in Asheville, North Carolina; Chester County, the Poconos, State College and York, Pennsylvania; Lake Geneva and Green Bay, Wisconsin.  

George is the author of three travel-related books and a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.

Michael serves as chief methodologist at Longwoods International and has personally directed projects in 12 countries for numerous clients, e.g., Canada, Bermuda, Hawaii, Colorado, Nova Scotia, and Denver.

He is a rare breed, being equally comfortable moderating focus groups — he has conducted many hundreds of group discussions across North America — or performing statistical analysis of large-scale image, branding and ROI surveys. 

After receiving an Honors B.A. in Economics from the University of Toronto, Michael began his career working with two leading financial institutions and the Financial Post. Since 1979, he has applied his analytical skills to market research, progressing to senior positions with three major research companies prior to joining Longwoods. 

Michael manages to balance his remarkable left-brain abilities with his right-brain creative talent, as an organist, choir conductor, and award-winning gardener.

Victor has over 20 years of experience in marketing research. Before joining Longwoods as Research Manager in 2004, Victor was Consumer Insight Manager at Warner-Lambert, Inc., a global consumer and pharmaceutical products manufacturer. In that capacity, he was responsible for directing the research for several category-leading brands. 

At Longwoods, Victor oversees the requirements of our many projects, including sample and questionnaire design, fieldwork, data processing, analysis, and reporting.

He holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Hawaii.

Anna Blount is Longwoods’ first Director of Research Services, where she manages client relationships, business development, and provides project oversight. She helps our clients translate their research results into actionable insights, as well as working to drive forward Longwoods’ thought leadership through various public relations initiatives.

Before joining Longwoods, she was the Director of Market Research for MMGY Global, a leading integrated travel and hospitality marketing agency.  Anna led the agency's signature Portrait of American Travelers® syndicated research project for six years, authoring multiple reports based on the data on travel trends and potential visitor segments.  Additionally, she managed custom quantitative and qualitative research projects for a wide variety of destinations, hotel brands, and other travel service providers and supporting trade associations.

Prior to MMGY Global, Anna was a member of the market research team at Publix Super Markets, Inc., a Fortune 100 regional grocery chain. While there, she managed and contributed towards primary and secondary research projects, including customer segmentation, product trends, and competitive intelligence. 

Anna received a Master of Science in Architectural History and Criticism from the University College London, as well as a Master of Arts in Visual Culture from the University of Westminster. She received her Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of South Florida.