Our Worldwide Team: Berkeley and Beyond
Backroads people share a single focus: To make your vacation the best it can be.
Our international team of travel experts successfully handles the complex logistics of operating trips all over the globe. We actively recruit exceptional people with special talents to fill all positions critical to the design and operation of our world-class active vacations. First and foremost, we look for individuals who have passion - for travel, the outdoors and for having fun. They must also be enthusiastically committed to meeting Backroads standards of quality and legendary service.
Here's a peek at a few of the people behind our operations:
Having been at Backroads for over 15 years, Michelle is known as "the leader of the leaders." She started working at Backroads as a Trip Leader after graduating from Stanford, and took over management of our Leader Development area a decade ago. Michelle oversees all the hiring of our new leaders, the on-going professional development of our returning leaders, and the in-field management of leaders on trips. When she's not helping to navigate the human side of the business, Michelle can be found on a hiking trail, a yoga mat, or a road bike.
Now in his 17th year at Backroads, Bob Greeneisen, Global Logistics & Transportation Manager, oversees all the "stuff." That's more than 4,000 bikes, nearly 150 vans and trailers (plus all the parts and pieces inside), and over 35,000 square feet of warehouse and office space in three international locations. "With the help of an awesome L&T team, I make sure that every trip has the top-notch equipment it needs from start to finish." Bob, who was once the Concert Tour Manager for pianist George Winston (a job that took him to 48 states), spends his spare time tinkering on his guitar, hiking and skiing the mountains of Utah with his daughter and two sons, woodworking and planning the next family adventure.
Our European General Manager, Stacy Loucks is the daughter of an itinerant military family (i.e. a "military brat") and learned the tools of the travel trade early on (SMILE! Haggle. Be curious. Pack light). Since she missed being born in France like her older brother, she decided to see what all the hype was about and traveled there in high school, which led to her love affair of both France and Europe. She majored in French and spent her 20s living in Nome, Alaska and circumnavigating the globe. Stacy landed her dream job as a Backroads trip leader in 1997 and can currently be found in our Provence hub during the week, and in her free time scouts local swimming holes, pedals around Mt. Ventoux, and haggles for antiques in the local markets.
"As manager of the folks who create our catalogs and help our guests choose the perfect trip, I'm continuously impressed by the energy level of the people I work with - and their passion for quality," says Massimo Prioreschi, Vice President, Sales & Marketing. Massimo has worked, studied and led trips in Italy. In fact, though he was born in Switzerland and raised in Canada, Massimo's heart belongs to Italy. "Tuscany to be specific. It feels like home, because it's where my family is from. It's also the kind of place that gets under your skin—where you find yourself planning your next visit before you've finished the current one."
