Kelly de Schaun, Executive Director
Galveston Island Park Board of Trustees
A native Texan, Kelly de Schaun obtained a B.Sc. from the University of Houston in Hotel/ Restaurant Management and a minor in Spanish. After graduation, Ms. de Schaun enlisted in the US Peace Corp where she completed two years of service in the Dominican Republic as a Community Development officer. Upon completion of service, she was hired by the country’s preeminent tourism development company, Grupo Punta Cana, where she served as the Executive Director for the company’s not for profit conservation organization- the Punta Cana Ecological Foundation. As Founding Director, she was responsible for the conduct of biodiversity studies, development of trails and creation of interpretative guides for a 1,500 acre private nature preserve.
Two years later, “Indian Eyes” (Ojos Indigenas) nature preserve was awarded the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association’s “Green Hotelier Award” for exemplary efforts in the conservation of the environment. This recognition propelled Kelly to a regional position as the Executive Director of the Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism (CAST), a subsidiary company of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association, a regional body covering 35 countries and representing over 4,000 hotel properties. As the Executive Director, Ms. de Schaun was charged with the delivery of programs for green certification, retrofitting and facilities management, community integration and emergency management. Obtaining, in excess of $7 million in assistance from the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), World Bank/ International Finance Corporation and US Agency for International Development, she successfully implemented regionally accepted programs which serve today as an international benchmark for resort facilities in developing countries.
After numerous years of travel, she gave up the regional position to return to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic where she served for four more years as a company executive responsible for Environmental and Community Affairs. In this position she managed the Punta Cana Center for Biodiversity and Sustainability, a research and education facility that works with diverse universities to develop solutions to the complex social and environmental challenges related to development and tourism. Participating universities included Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology, the Summer Ecosystem Experience for Undergraduates from Columbia University, Harvard’s Consortium for Caribbean Biodiversity, Lab of Entomology of Berkley University, University of Miami marine sciences summer lab and the Planning School of Virginia Tech.
After over 15 years working in the Caribbean tourism industry, she returned to Texas to obtain a Masters in Community and Regional Planning from the University of Texas in Austin. Upon graduation, she returned to the Caribbean to accept the position of Executive Director of the La Romana Hotel and Tourism Association, a destination management organization tasked with the management of governmental relations, collaborative marketing campaigns, capital improvement projects and infrastructure campaigns. In this position she was awarded several regional accolades for her planning work, including a commendation from the Ministry of Tourism and the national hotel association. She also served as the Vice President of the La Romana Tourism Cluster, an Inter-American Development Bank funded initiative seeking to integrate marginalized communities and develop ecotourism opportunities in the “Park of the East” (Parque del Este), the country’s most visited national park.
She returned to her home State of Texas in 2012 to assume the position of Executive Director of the Galveston Island Park Board of Trustees. The Park Board of Trustees manages the island’s Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, as well as the destination’s most popular tourist beaches.