YACHT PROGRAM MANAGER

Jillian has been navigating the icy seas of Arctic expedition travel since 2004. Jillian’s main role with Arctic Kingdom is coordinating yachting expeditions into the high Arctic, Greenland and Labrador. She has travelled the region extensively leading groups of travel journalists and guests alike. Jillian also heads up programming in Labrador, specifically in the Torngat Mountains National Park, having worked closely with the people of Nunatsiavut to develop tourism in the region for the past 2 years.

During her three years based in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Jillian worked at Nunavut Tourism helping to develop the destination’s budding tourism industry in a sustainable way. Proudest accomplishments are increasing visitor counts through effective communication between communities and tour operators, learning to kite-ski, and thriving during sub-zero camping trips. From there, Jillian moved on to Cruise North Expeditions doing everything from trip design and expedition guiding to marketing and sales. She developed an intricate knowledge of the Eastern Arctic coast line and must-visit destinations.

Jillian’s family are multi-generational commercial fishermen, hailing from the northwest coast of British Columbia. Jillian has never been far from the ocean and all the things nautical. She started working on the family ships at 11, and spent every summer until she was 22 working at sea for as long as a month.
Jillian is an accomplished writer and contributes travel articles to the Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper, and Frommer’s Travel Guides.