Born in Scotland and a graduate of Edinburgh University, Fiona Jeffery has had a long and accomplished career working in the travel industry, responsible for World Travel Market (WTM) from 1986-2013 both as Managing Director and ultimately as Chairman.

 She created and launched a responsible tourism drive across the industry globally, World Responsible Tourism Day in association with the UNWTO, which is now the largest responsible tourism gathering across the world. And launched the very first Ministerial Summit bringing the public and private sectors together to debate, discuss and shape the industry.

 In 1998, as part of her sustainability drive, Fiona also founded and is Chair of the international water development charity Just a Drop, bringing sustainable safe water, sanitation and hygiene education to communities across Asia, Africa and Latin America, transforming lives. The organization supports 12 out of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals and to date has worked in 32 33 countries and changed the lives of over 1.7  1.9 million people.

 Fiona, as a member of the UNWTO World Committee for Tourism Ethics successfully got agreement at the UN General Assembly to convert the UNWTO Global Code of Ethics into a legally binding Convention. A former Chair of WTTC’s Tourism for Tomorrow Programme and Chair of Africa Travel & Tourism Association she also sits on the Advisory Board for School of Hospitality and Tourism at Surrey University and is a Senior Partner for Finn Partners Global Sustainable Tourism PR Practice and Global Travel Recovery Network. She has lead the ITT Sustainability Committee for the last 18 months.

 In 2012, Fiona was awarded an OBE by Her Majesty the Queen for services to travel and tourism, and in 2013 received the TTG Contribution to Industry Award and the World Tourism Award for her philanthropic vision in creating Just a Drop. She was recognized in the Directory of Social Change Influencer Awards in 2015 and was inducted into the Global Travel and Hospitality Industry Hall of Fame in 2020. She has recently been awarded a Bronze Medal for Individual Leader of the Year from the Global Good Awards and Just a Drop was awarded the Pioneers Award from the Scientific Exploration Society, both in 2023.