Joe Veneto is Chief Experience Officer at Veneto Collaboratory (formerly Opportunities Unlimited), a management consulting and training company in Greater Boston. He collaborates with Destination Marketing Organizations, Hospitality Companies, Travel Attractions and Service-related companies to create results that generate economic development, drive customer engagement and loyalty.

Since 1996, Joe has provided consulting services and presented content-rich keynotes and presentations to hundreds of Destinations and Travel Organizations. His areas of specialty include experience design and development, consumer product/vacation packaging, sales development and customer service.

He created the Experience Formula™, a comprehensive process that enables Destinations, Travel Attractions, Retail stores/groups and Service-related organizations to design, develop and deliver unforgettable customer experiences. The formula provides tools and techniques to engineer unique, engaging and innovative experiences that turn customers into an organization’s brand ambassadors.

The process has transformed experiences and the tourism landscapes in destinations such as: Philadelphia, PA; Columbus, OH; Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN; Hilton Head, SC, Virginia Beach, VA; Paducah, KY; Deadwood, SD; Baltimore, MD; the Mall of America and others.

Retail businesses that have implemented the experience include: Vom Fass and Dick’s Last Resort, the Mall of America; Agora Borealis, Shreveport, LA; The Candle Lab, Columbus, OH and others.

As a result of Joe’s Experiential development work in 2012, he launched the Experience Lab™, an annual event that immerses participants in the strategies, content and techniques of the design and development of unforgettable customer experiences.

Joe is a highly respected thought leader and speaker on tourism trends, hospitality topics and customer experience. He presents programs annually at Tourism Industry Conferences, State and Provincial Conferences, to National Associations, Corporations and regional Tourism groups. His thought-provoking, content-rich programs provide business insights as well as innovative ideas that make him one of the Industry’s most requested experts on tourism product development and Experiential Tourism.

Prior to forming Veneto Collaboratory (Opportunities Unlimited), Joe worked for major national U.S. tour operators and Industry wholesalers Grand Circle Travel and Collette Tours to create innovative global travel products to be marketed to consumers. He was part of the team that transformed Collette Tours into one of the nation's largest domestic tour wholesalers. He also worked at Grand Circle Travel in Boston, to launch the company’s successful Cruise Tour venture and developed world-wide Cruise Tour products.

In 2008 he earned his CSP, Certified Speaking Professional, designation from the National Speakers Association. It is an earned designation held by less than 10% of the members of the Worldwide International Speaking Federation.

He began his professional career in travel in 1979 as a Tour Director, escorting busloads of beautiful blue-haired, Bingo card-carrying women (and a few men) on motorcoach and air tours throughout North America.

Joe is a regular contributor of articles to industry magazines and trade journals.

Joe has served on the board of the National Speakers Association New England chapter and volunteers his time for Friday Night Supper, a weekly program serving meals to the homeless in Boston.