Meet our team

Ilia Okromelidze

Executive Director

Ilia Okromelidze, executive director of the Georgian Ecotourism Association and co-founder of the organization. Ilia is a Master of Geoecology and an independent expert of the ISO 14001 standard. He has many years of experience in the field of tourism and environment. He is engaged in academic activities in various educational and scientific institutions, his researches have been published in several scientific journals. Ilia Okromelidze is also a member of various advisory councils related to the field of tourism and the author of the operational manual for the development of hiking trails at the national level

Natalia Bakhtadze Englander

Advisor

Co-founder of the Georgian Ecotourism Association, with more than 26 years of experience in various areas of tourism, as well as multifaceted education, such as sustainable development of tourism, organization of the non-governmental sector, etc. Natalia Bakhtadze Englander has been a member of the association team since the foundation of the organization. Its main competence and role is the strategic development of the organization and direction, as well as the creation, management and development of tourist destinations. Both practical and academic basis is a powerful tool for the development of the country’s tourism both inside and outside the country.

Nato Robitashvili
Program Manager

Program Manager of the Georgian Ecotourism Association. Has 10 years of experience in tourism. She holds a bachelor’s degree in public geography and a master’s degree in cultural management. Since 2011, he has been working in various professional and higher educational institutions. Since 2015, she has been an invited lecturer at the State University of Ilia, since 2017 – at the Caucasus University. Reads lecture courses “Development of tourism product” and “Sustainable development of tourism”.

 

Nino Tigishvili

Project Manager

Graduate of Bachelor and Master program in Administration, Tourism. Currently, she is studying at the Agrarian University, in the master’s program of agronomy. She has been working in the organization since 2018. During this period, she gained a lot of experience in planning and implementing projects of different directions. In addition to organizing projects, she has experience in tourism digital platforms and social media. In terms of media management and information interpretation. Nino works in the academic field as well, since 2020 she has been an invited lecturer at Ilia State University, and since 2021 she has been conducting “rural tourism” trainings in the tourism organization. She also has experience in mentoring small and medium entrepreneurs and working with vulnerable groups (ethnic minorities, IDPs). At the same time, she manages a small family business.

Tengiz Tsertsvadze
Project Coordinator

He has been an associate of the organization since 2018, a tourism specialist by profession. He is actively involved in the projects of the Ecotourism Association, especially in field expeditions and route marking and research. Has knowledge in the direction of adventure tourism, participates in various adventure activities. Involved in marketing and digital marketing projects.

Giorgi Dakuzashvili
Project Manager

Project manager of the Georgian Ecotourism Association. Giorgi is a tourism specialist who joined the association’s team in 2018, although during this time he took an active part in the implementation of many projects. Giorgi is the author of the idea of the outstanding interpreted routes implemented by the Georgian Ecotourism Association and the founder of their spirit. Giorgi at the expense of his own creativity and hard work  Georgia promises to create many more interesting ecotourism products in the ecotourism market. 

Lamara Malkhasian
Project Coordinator

Georgian Ecotourism Association project coordinator. Has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Tourism. She is currently studying at the Master’s program of Nature Protection and Sustainable Development of Ilia State University. Lamara joined the association’s team in 2019 and has been involved in a number of projects so far as a project assistant and project coordinator. Since 2020, Lamara has been involved in CENN’s social entrepreneurship development project. In addition, she has experience in ecotourism, entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship training and mentoring.
 

Mari Dgebuadze

Project Coordinator

Mariam has a master’s degree in tourism management.  She has extensive experience in field research, particularly in route research and community work. Participated in various protected area route network survey-marking projects. Her experience in bicycle tourism is noteworthy, she has conducted info bicycle tours around Georgia for European travel magazines and leads trainings on bicycle tourism and organization of bicycle-friendly services.