ORANGE COUNTY

chapter Officers

Officer of Development
Dan Baumgartner

Officer of Communications
Britta Marques

Officer of Membership
Michelle Parent

Officer of Events
Nadia Bess

For information or to contact the Orange County chapter, please email us at sna@millennialsintravel.com.

Officer of DEVELOPMENT

Dan Baumgartner - Balboa Bay resort

Dan Baumgartner, an Orange County native, currently serves as the Director of Leisure and Business Travel at Balboa Bay Resort. He holds a BS in Marketing from Northern Arizona University, along with an MBA and an MA in International Studies, taking him to Shanghai, China for 1.5 years. His tenure in travel began in 2017 as a home-based Virtuoso Advisor before moving full-time to the supplier side including roles with Uniworld Boutique River Cruises and The Joule in Dallas. In addition to launching the Orange County MIT, Dan has served on the Alumni Board for Concordia University Irvine, as well as the Chair for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s Young Professional program, Tomorrow’s Leaders.

Officer of Communications

Britta Marques - FAirmont Grand Del Mar

Britta is the Leisure Sales Manager at Fairmont Grand Del Mar, with a history of strong leadership in Millennials in Travel. She began her career at Altour in Los Angeles, serving as LA MIT’s 2018 Officer of Membership. She then moved to Dallas to join Strong Travel, helping found the DFW chapter as 2020 Officer of Development. In 2022, she transitioned to the hotel side in Orange County and is now excited to launch the first-ever MIT Orange County chapter.

OFFICER OF MEMBERSHIP

Michelle Parent - Valerie Wilson Travel

Michelle currently works remotely as a Meetings & Incentives Coordinator with Valerie Wilson Travel, a Chase Travel Group company. An Orange County native, her interest in travel began at a young age and has only grown stronger. Travel has always felt like a necessity and you will always see her taking photos to capture the world around her. Fresh in the travel business as of 2022, Michelle enjoys opportunities to network and get to know the people of the industry. To further her knowledge, she has completed 23 specialist certifications to date with various hotel brands, cruise lines, and destinations. She is always up for a new challenge and willing to try anything once!

Officer of Events

nadia bess - Besst Travels, LLC

Growing up with a mother who was a flight attendant and a father who was a pilot, Nadia's love for airplanes started early in life and she ended up studying Aerospace Engineering at University of Southern California (fight on!) with a minor in Entrepreneurship. After working as an engineer for over a decade and acquiring her MBA from Chapman University, she found herself traveling internationally every chance she could get (she last visited country # 53) and her friends kept coming to her for help planning their trips. In 2022, she decided to open Besst Travels to fully help others design their dream getaways. Besst Travels is a luxury travel agency that designs experiential-focused trips and bucket-list adventures worldwide. Some of her favorite destinations include Botswana, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Oman, Japan, Mexico, and Macedonia. When she isn't seeking out remote destinations internationally, she enjoys hanging out with her rescue dog Rosey, trying new foods and restaurants, and gardening.