Carla Portalanza
CEO & Principal Consultant
Carla brings 15+ years of experience in the industry working in sustainable tourism planning, product development, and marketing & public relations for the promotion of tourism destinations. She holds a BA in Tourism, a Master in Tourism Policy and Strategy from the University of Catalonia, and a Master in Tourism Administration from The George Washington University with a focus in sustainable destination development and international development studies. At the TEC de Monterrey she earned international certifications in Strategic and Innovate Marketing. With extensive training in the US, Mexico, Spain, Belgium and Taiwan, she is passionate about development through tourism.
Savvy in public policy making, consulting for development projects with international governments and building strategic partnerships, her private consulting practice has taken place in Ecuador, Mexico, Bolivia, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Panama and Paraguay, assisting in projects to benefit municipal and national tourism boards, local communities and SMMEs. She has consulted with global firms such as GeoAdaptive and Branding Latin America serving a list of top clients like the Inter American Development Bank and the International Labour Organization.
Before joining the Ecuadorian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to lead the office of Cultural Affairs and Public Diplomacy at the Embassy of Ecuador in Washington D.C. for 4 years, she spent around 9 years at the Ecuadorian Ministry of Tourism, where she held various managerial roles and served as Undersecretary of Tourism Promotion. Her work was instrumental in developing Ecuador’s promotion strategies to position as a world-class tourism destination.
Photo of Carla taken at Tikal National Park (Guatemala) during a consulting project for GeoAdaptive.
Allison Valdiviezo
Project Manager & Associate Consultant
If you get an e-mail from Alli, rest assured your project is on track! With a curious mind and an eye for detail, she puts her heart into every project in the pipeline helping us achieve excellent results every single time. A passionate tourism advocate and a committed environmental activist, Allison just earned her BA in Tourism Development at ECOTEC University in Ecuador, graduating first in her class.
She has cooperated as an intern in several local projects including a community-based development strategy for Puná Island, and the design of tourism products and themed routes for the municipality of Samborondón, among others. With a promising career ahead, she has worked as research assistant for our consultants in ambitious projects in Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, so far. Today she oversees all the projects in our portfolio as Project Manager.
Photo of Alli taken at Big Bear Lake in San Diego CA (USA) during a family retreat.
Gabriela Murillo
Lead External Consultant
Gaby holds a Master in Tourism from Monash University in Australia, and a BA in Hospitality Management from UTE in Ecuador. Her professional experience includes having worked at Galapagos powerhouse Quasar Expeditions, alongside a prominent career at the Ecuadorian Ministry of Tourism, where she worked as Chief of Staff at the Undersecretary of Tourism Promotion to later become a destination marketing specialist within the organization.
This experience brought her the opportunity to work as the representative of Euroamerica Group in Ecuador. Before joining Creare Global as an external consultant, Gaby proudly served as the Tourism Director of her hometown, Riobamba. In her last consulting assignment, she researched on the impact of COVID-19 in tourism employment for the International Labour Organization.
Photo of Gaby taken at the beach shore in Melbourne (Australia) during her studies at Monash University.
Would you like to join our team?
We are constantly looking to grow our pool of external consultants to strengthen our capabilities, expand our vision and assemble the best team to suit each one of our project’s demands.
Send us an e-mail with your resume and we will schedule a virtual meeting to get to know you.
Our Big Data Partners
We have partnered with The Creative Data Science Company to deliver the data-driven solutions our clients deserve!
Their experience in data science is an asset that powers our projects as we work together to unlock the power of data to create smarter, better tourism.