Intrepid Travel Appoints First-Ever "Impact Officer"

06.08.2024 - 19:31 / skift.com / U.S.Senate / Jesse ChaseLubitz

Intrepid Travel announced Tuesday that Payton Iheme will join the company as its first “impact officer” to lead global sustainability and impact initiatives, as well as its not-for-profit foundation. 

“I think the big area that we will need to push, and when I say we, I mean as a collective, is making sure we’re making space for lesser-represented voices,” said Iheme in an interview with Skift. “Whether that be women or people with disabilities, we need to make sure that they have equal access to some of the benefits of travel and community.” 

Iheme didn’t provide specifics about where Intrepid is lacking, but she said that she would focus on increasing transparency.

“It’s nerve-racking for everyone involved to show the work behind the scenes, but we think that’s really important,” she said. “You’re going to be seeing our goals, where we are, and where we’re not doing so well.”

As Impact Officer, she will help create and complete the rest of Intrepid’s 2030 strategy. 

That includes policies like committing 1% of total revenue towards The Intrepid Foundation, which donates to local organizations in the destinations Intrepid travelers visit. She will also produce a strategy focused on sustainable travel, responsible business, and diversity and inclusion within the company.

She also wants more opportunities for customers to travel closer to home – which can have less environmental impact – and she plans to help lead investment into new markets, specifically the U.S.

Iheme will work on a slew of what she calls “pillars,” and said diversity and representation, as well as community impact in destinations would be “a key part of any of them.”

Iheme grew up in the U.S. as the daughter of an immigrant on one side and a multi-generational American on the other.

She did part of her high school in Jamaica and another part in Texas. She joined the military at 17 before going to college in Mexico and Cairo. Whenever she was abroad, she lived with local families and studied the local language. 

She has worked as an adviser in the U.S. Senate and the White House and has crafted public policy for Facebook and Bumble. One of her successes while at Bumble was advancing legislation that penalizes sending unwanted sexual images.

Iheme views her new position as bigger the travel industry. “I think the big thing here is, I’m not looking at this as just what should travel do,” she said. “I’m looking at this as, what should the world be doing?”

Intrepid’s new women-led tours in Saudi Arabia are about “focusing on the hosts, not just the travelers.”