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WEILL WAS CREATED TO HELP CLIENTS LARGE AND SMALL POSITION, PROMOTE AND SELL THEIR DESTINATION, SERVICES OR PRODUCTS. We work with clients to analyze their potential, as well as their target audiences, and then recommend the most effective methods and campaigns possible. We strive to highlight what makes a client's product unique...what sets them apart from all the others.
THE WORLD OF TRAVEL ISN'T A BUSINESS CATEGORY INTO WHICH WE JUST HAPPENED TO FALL. No, to us, it's a passion. One might even say it's an obsession. Which explains why - as immodest as it may sound - we're very good at what we do.
Geoffrey Weill, Berlin, 2005
MEMBERS OF THE WEILL TEAM come from a variety of backgrounds. We're multilingual. And multinational. We combine a transatlantic sensibility with all-American talent and flair. We've worked with and for government tourist offices, tour operators, airlines, hotel chains, travel agencies, non-profit organizations, public relations specialists, advertising agencies, marketing experts, research specialists, graphic designers, printers, writers, journalists, authors, magazines, newspapers, film makers, impresarios, and with all levels of print and electronic media.
FOUNDED IN 1995 at the express request of one of our clients, WEILL has grown from a one-room-one-client-1.5 staff company, to a noted, award-winning boutique PR firm with multiple clients and a continually expanding staff of specialists in tourism public relations.
"WHAT SETS US APART," says company president, Geoffrey Weill, "is that this company was founded, and continues to be run and staffed, by people, like me, who simply enjoy writing about travel, about hotels, about the romance of taking a vacation. We are this eclectic grouping of individuals who can think of few things more pleasurable than waxing lyrical about the perfect hotel or the most divine meal...people who get a kick out of enthusing others about travel, and who, of course, are passionate about traveling themselves.
"In creating this company, my goal was never to have it burgeon into a machine that courts and wins accounts - only to have them handled by junior staff. Each and every one of our clients has one of two WEILL Vice-Presidents in charge of its work on a daily basis, and I too am involved in every level of activity."
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KEY BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Geoffrey Weill, President
Born and educated in England, Geoffrey Weill has lived in the United States since 1973. His career began with Thomas Cook, first in London, then as Assistant Manager of the Thomas Cook office on New York's Fifth Avenue, then as Manager of the Thomas Cook office in Baltimore. His career has been entirely devoted to positions and fields related to travel.
 From 1976 until 1984, Weill was Executive Director of Israel's Ministry of Tourism, in North America with primary responsibility for the Israel Government Tourist Office's Public Relations and Advertising . From 1984 until May 1995, he directed the AJCongress International Travel Program, an outreach program to forty countries around the world, sponsored by one of America’s oldest human rights organizations.
In the summer of 1995 he opened WEILL (Geoffrey Weill Associates), a company specializing in tourism and travel-related promotion and public relations. The company has grown and broadened, and WEILL has won some 40 HSMAI public relations awards.
Geoffrey Weill is a widely published travel writer and photographer and has visited more than 90 countries. He has lectured on travel and tourism at Oxford University, England, at New York University and at a  variety of United States locations. He has co-chaired two conventions of the Society of American Travel Writers. He has appeared on CBS, NBC, CNN and a variety of local television and radio stations. He has also served as a guest lecturer aboard RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 and guest historian aboard the ms Silver Cloud. He speaks, reads and writes four languages, and can struggle by in two more.
Geoffrey Weill, with wife Noa, daughter Zoe and son Benjamin, in Cape May at the Congress Hall Christmas tree.
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Ann-Rebecca Laschever, Senior Vice President
 A former journalist and travel writer, Ann-Rebecca Laschever has 20 years experience in the publishing and travel public relations industries combined. As a journalist, she has written and edited articles for top consumer publications including Glamour, Audubon, Newsweek.com, Caribbean Travel & Life, Fitness Swimmer, Ladies Home Journal, Gourmet, Conde Nast Traveler, Successful Meetings, PC Magazine, SmartMoney and Birnbaum Travel Guides.
Before joining WEILL in 1996, Ann-Rebecca Laschever worked at a public relations agency on accounts that included the Australian Tourist Commission, the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Sandy Lane Hotel in Barbados, the Halekulani Resort in Hawaii, Cox & Kings tour operators, the Tourist Office of Spain, the Bahamas and the Northern Territory (Australia).
She has worked with top editors at publications around the country as well as with producers of such television programs as CNN Travel Guide, Extra!, the Today Show and the Travel Channel. She has developed promotions with radio stations and department stores on local and national  levels including Brooks Brothers and Bloomingdale's.
A world traveler for over 20 years, Ms. Laschever has lived in England, France, Taiwan and Russia, teaching English in the latter two. She has visited over 40 countries in Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa. She received a B.A. in English Literature and French Language from Georgetown University; a diplôme simestrielle from the Sorbonne in Paris and a certificate in Chinese from Tunghai University in Taiwan. She speaks French, Chinese and Spanish.
Ann-Rebecca (right), with husband, Claudio, 4-year-old Jacob and 10-month-old Simon, at Machu Picchu __________________________________________________________________
Eric Goldberg, Vice President
 Before starting his career in public relations, Eric Goldberg had a short stint in publishing with Hachette Filipacchi, editing articles for Cadillac Vision magazine, Century 21 magazine and other custom published titles. Realizing he’d rather be on the other side of the fence, he took his passion for travel and landed at WEILL, where he worked with clients such as the Israel Ministry of Tourism, the Canadian Tourism Commission, and Hotel La Mamounia.
After getting his feet wet in the travel PR business he set out to experience other avenues in the field of marketing, leaving WEILL for a position with Clifford Public Relations, where he managed a diverse array of accounts including The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Ciao Bella Gelato, Harper Collins Publishing, and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. Although his time at Clifford was very productive – he yearned to be back in the travel world and after two years of being away, came crawling back to WEILL.
 A savvy media relations expert, Eric Goldberg has produced placements in many of the world’s leading outlets, including The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Associated Press, Esquire, Forbes, Food and Wine, Travel + Leisure, CNN, The Today Show, The Food Network, and many others.
Since his return to WEILL, he has reclaimed his position as the office foodie – with an uncanny ability to name favorite restaurants and meals in cities around the globe. Like all of his colleagues, Mr. Goldberg marks travel at the top of his “to do” list and has eaten his way through much of Europe, parts of Asia and Africa, and many of the United States. He is a graduate of Hofstra University with a BA in English Literature and Creative Writing.
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Tania Philip, Vice President
Born in Honolulu to British Parents, Tania Philip grew up in Hawaii, Scotland, Paris and Vermont --- a childhood that sparked a passion for travel that continues to this day. Ms Philip lived for four years in Hamburg and speaks fluent German, in addition to French.
Tania joined WEILL in 2000 and has scored a variety of ambitious media successes, including influencing Sports Illustrated to shoot its annual swimsuit issue at CC Africa’s Kichwa Tembo in Kenya. As a Vice President of WEILL she has traveled with journalists to Germany, Israel, Morocco, Japan, Peru, Canada, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa.
Trained at the National Ballet School in Toronto, Tania was a professional ballet dancer before joining WEILL. She performed with the New York City Opera Ballet and Joffrey Ballet in New York, with the Hamburg Ballet in Germany, as well as in the Broadway production of Phantom of the Opera.
Tania graduated Magna cum Laude from Columbia University with a B.A. in English Literature/Psychology. She received Departmental Honors in English and was elected to the Honors Society. Tania gave birth to baby, Chloe, in February 2008.
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Anita Cotter, Vice President
 Joining WEILL in October 2007, Anita Cotter began her career as Associate Travel Editor at Glamour magazine before being appointed Director of Public Relations of The Ritz-Carlton, New York, and Corporate Manager of Media Relations for The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. She was next appointed Director of Public Relations at The New York Palace Hotel and her most recent position was representing London’s Claridge’s, The Connaught and The Berkeley hotels as U.S. Director of PR and Marketing for the Maybourne Hotel Group.
Anita Cotter has a Bachelor’s Degree in English from Vassar, and an MBA degree in marketing and international business from Fordham University. “Anita is a legend in our field,” says Geoffrey Weill, “a person with enormous skills and resources, and she is one of those rare individuals that everybody can’t help but like.”
Anita has served in a variety of roles on the board of the Society of American Travel Writers and is a member of New York Travel Writers and Women in Communications. She and her 5-year-old daughter, Alexandra (above), live in Manhattan.
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Paula Franklin, Assistant Vice President
 Born in San Diego to an American father and a German mother, Paula grew up in Berlin where she completed high school before returning to the United States for college. A world traveler since birth, she has seen most of Europe, Central and North America and with WEILL has led press tours to South Africa, Israel and India (Paula is pictured here in Delhi).
Before joining WEILL, Paula spent a year as an event manager for the Oscar Mayer Wiener Mobile, traveling to some 24 states. After moving to New York in 2003, Paula spent three years in the press department of the German National Tourist Office, where she led numerous press tours to Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.
Paula Franklin has a degree in Art History and Journalism from Howard University...the fifth generation of her family to graduate from the Washington DC school.
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Mark Liebermann, Senior Account Executive
 Before joining WEILL in August of 2007, Mark Liebermann worked for nearly 10 years as an editor and writer, contributing to such publications as InStyle, SHAPE, Natural Health and Empire magazines. For three of those years, Mark served as the travel editor of GENRE magazine, for which he covered Germany, Puerto Rico, Spain, Switzerland and Tasmania and more.
And when the opportunity arose to join "the fabulous team at WEILL" (his words) with whom he had previously traveled throughout Morocco and South Africa, Mark happily decided to “cross the aisle” over to travel public relations. Since joining WEILL, Mark has traveled to snowy Russia and sunny Israel, where he is pictured here, atop Masada.
Born in Canberra, Australia, to American parents, Mark grew up traveling throughout Europe, Asia and around the United States. From his first bite of pain au chocolat in Paris at seven years old to a wide-eyed 4am tour of the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, Mark discovered a twin love of travel and food early on in life—and it has never waned.
A resident for the past 10 years of Brooklyn (home, incidentally, to some of New York’s best food), Mark has a Bachelor’s Degree in English and Comparative Literature from New York University.
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