Leadership-focused Keynote Conversations for the Travel and Tourism Industry

Mark Mohammadpour helps leaders build healthy, confident, and connected teams through high-energy, high-impact keynote conversations tailored for travel and tourism professionals.

Trusted By

Logos of the NTA National Tour Association, Meetings Today, Club Ichi, and Travel Oregon.

The Data Behind Healthy Cultures

Healthy Culture Isn’t Just a Perk. It’s a Business Strategy.

Helping you design and execute this strategy is my specialty. Backed by data. Built for impact.

0% Lower Turnover
Engaged, healthy teams dramatically reduce attrition costs.
— Gallup, 2023
0x Performance
Well-being investments correlate with higher financial performance.
— Deloitte, 2024
0x Attrition Risk
Toxic culture drives employee exits faster than pay gaps.
— MIT Sloan, 2023

The Trillion Dollar Question: How to relieve stressed travel and tourism employees while experiencing record growth?

The travel and tourism market is booming, with projections showing by 2029 it will generate $1.11tn in revenue (1). Yet the employees who are driving that growth are becoming increasingly exhausted.

Recent research suggests the “effectiveness of ethical leadership in reducing employee burnout in the hospitality sector.” (2).

Meet Mark Mohammadpour

Mark leads Keynote Conversations™, interactive, no-podium experiences that transform audiences into participants. As the founder of Chasing the Sun®, Mark helps leaders build healthier cultures that reduce burnout, retain top talent, and drive stronger results.

A former global Public Relations executive who lost 150 pounds, Mark blends Fortune 500 leadership with lived experience.

Audiences describe his sessions as relatable, actionable, and real.

With 200,000+ lives impacted and 99% of attendees rating his talks as valuable, Mark ensures people leave not just inspired, but ready to act.

Keynote Conversation Topics

  • Purpose: Create the conditions for healthy, engaged employees.

    Audience: Managers and Executives

    About: What people remember about their jobs are the people they work with: the leaders they trust, the teammates they rely on, and the managers who care. This keynote outlines five steps, based on The CHASE Model (TM), to Lead a Culture of Well-being that improves productivity, retention, and morale.

    Outcomes:

    • Understand why Modernizing “Employee Well-being” is your company’s secret weapon.

    • Learn how to create a Healthy Culture tailored to the specific roles and responsibilities of your team.

    • Use strategic communication to drive healthy behaviors that retain employees and improve productivity.

    • Apply the CHASE Model to address specific team culture scenarios.

  • Purpose: Healthy leaders are the irreplaceable connection to healthy employee cultures.

    Audience: Managers and Executives.

    About: Business is changing fast. Expectations of leaders are rising. This interactive conversation provides managers and executives with the tools to prioritize their well-being, enabling them to lead with clarity, compassion, and confidence.

    Outcomes:

    • Build resilience through intentional self-leadership.

    • Communicate strategy with empathy and impact.

    • Get buy-in across the org for a culture-first approach.

    • Balance leadership responsibilities without burning out.

  • Purpose: Inspire belief. Build trust. Lead with heart.

    Audience: All employees.

    About: Empathy isn’t soft. It’s a leadership strategy. In this interactive conversation, Mark uses stories to teach the science and skill of cognitive empathy—and how to use it to manage up, down, and across any organization.

    Outcomes:

    • Understand the neuroscience behind empathy in leadership.

    • Use perspective-taking to strengthen workplace relationships.

    • Design culture campaigns that people believe in.

    • Bring in new perspectives to challenge your assumptions.

  • Purpose: Personal well-being and social connection drives passion at work.

    Audience: All employees.

    About: Passion for your Company and its Mission requires energy and commitment to show up for your customers and stakeholders. How do we prioritize our well-being to show up for ourselves, our teams, and our supporters?

    When people are confident and feel healthy, they’re more likely to develop psychological ownership, which means they feel their work and the company's mission have purpose. This investment significantly boosts engagement, and engaged employees are far more likely to believe in the mission.

    This high-energy, data-driven, and fully interactive conversation will empower employees to be healthy and confident, so they can show up as their best selves at work and, most importantly, live healthy lives with loved ones.

    Outcomes:

    • Relatable, practical, and actionable ways to prioritize your well-being and thrive.

    • The importance of community and collaboration through mentorship.

    • How to stay motivated by consistently connecting your purpose to the mission.

A man in a dark suit speaking at an event with an audience of women seated in front of him, some taking pictures. A large screen is in the background.

Event Support and Outcomes

  • “If your agency is experiencing a challenge with turnover, managing a hybrid culture or employee engagement, or are just ready to commit to an organizational well-being strategy, talk to Mark.”

    — Rebecca Martin, EVP, Culture & Talent, Beehive Strategic Communication

  • “Mark’s superpower is empathy and that is the through line for all his passionate work. This empathy, driven by his own backstory, sustains his energy to keep enhancing his business to meet the ever-changing needs of his clients.”

    — Sara Jackson, Park National Bank

  • “Mark is an incredibly dynamic speaker who is also relatable, knowledgeable, and entertaining. His upbeat, jovial attitude combined with his professional philosophy on leadership, makes him a force for affecting positive change in the workplace.”

    — Taylor Strunk, CWPC

  • "Mark is an incredible resource for professionals working to balance their lives, careers, and health. We all need to be reminded that it’s not just ok, but critical, to put ourselves first so that we can show up most effectively for everyone else around us. Thanks, Mark, for being such a source of motivation and inspiration for us all!”

    — Ann Smith, Founder, A.wordsmith

A quote on a yellow background with the Club Ichi logo in orange and white. The quote praises Mark as a keynote or workshop leader and recommends him for tactical and practical leadership tips.
A man in a blue blazer giving a presentation to an audience, with a colorful bar graph on a large screen behind him.

Working With Mark

  • We use Mentimeter and Talkadot software to ensure interactivity, inclusiveness, and feedback are delivered.

  • No off-the-shelf materials here! We develop your session tailored to the specific challenges you’re facing.

  • We’ve hosted sessions virtually and in-person, attendance of five to 1,000+, from one-hour to multi-day.

  • We’ll spend time before your event to ensure we’re aligned on goals, expectations, and success factors.

    We’ll also schedule time after the event to discuss feedback and immediate next steps.

A yellow background with a quote in black text praising Mark's engaging use of technology at a session, attributed to Todd Probus of the National Tour Association. The NTA logo, green and blue, is in a white circle at the bottom right.
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Beyond the Main Stage

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Sample Keynote Excerpts

Topics are also easily adaptable for leadership and staff retreats and trainings.

The future of leading healthy, engaged employees: Your Culture of Well-being.

The Buoyant Leader: the irreplaceable connection to healthy employee cultures.

Leading With Empathy: Lessons from “Ted Lasso”

Work With Mark Mohammadpour.

We look forward to learning more about you and your company and how we can play a role. Please fill out the form below, and we will respond to your request within 48 hours.

1. https://www.statista.com/outlook/mmo/travel-tourism/worldwide

2. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9597687/