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To Whom It May Concern: It gives me great pleasure to recommend Todd Nielsen and Eos StudyTours to you. My acquaintance with the organization is long standing. In 1998, when I was elected President of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA), the oldest and largest archaeological organization in North America and the publisher of Archaeology Magazine, we were operating a tour program out of our office that sent over 200 passengers a year on archaeological study tours worldwide. In most years, however, we were doing so at a loss or merely breaking even. Although we regarded these tours as part of the educational mission of the AIA, the amount of work involved, as well as financial risk to the organization, had become unsustainable. It was at that time that one of our Trustees recommended that I contact Todd Nielsen and Eos StudyTours. Todd’s proposal to run the tour program for the AIA was most impressive. Not only would his company undertake all of the planning, organization and marketing of AIA’s tours, but it proposed to work closely with our academic members to provide an exceptionally high quality educational experience for our travelers. In addition, Eos would provide a risk free management system, so that the AIA would not be exposed to financial loss and/or liability, while at the same it would be guaranteed net revenue based on a percentage of gross tour revenue. As a result, for many years thereafter, the tour program provided more income to the organization than any other line item in the budget. As an archaeologist, I have had first-hand experience lecturing on many study tours that Eos managed for the AIA. In all cases I found that the staff at Eos welcomed my suggestions as a tour was being developed and encouraged my feedback upon its completion. Moreover, they worked with the companies providing the tours to guarantee that the educational experience was first and foremost among the goals of each trip. Because of my exceptionally good experience with Eos StudyTours, I was delighted to recommend Eos to Carleton College when the College undertook the restructuring of their Alumni Adventure program. For all the reasons mentioned above, the College was eager to explore a relationship with Eos, and after a visit to their office in New Hampshire, Carleton entered into an agreement with Eos to manage their international tour program. The first tours have now taken place to enthusiastic reviews both from the passengers and from the Alumni Affairs office. New tours are being planned in consultation with members of the faculty who are willing and eager to connect with alumni and share their expertise with them. From the perspective of the AIA and Carleton College, one of the main benefits of working with Eos is that Eos remains very much in the background. In most cases passengers are unaware that the day to day operations of the AIA and Carleton tour programs are being managed by Eos, which is exactly the business model that Todd Nielsen has been striving to cultivate for so many years. Todd and his staff are eager to provide distinctive and in-depth travel programs that explore a wide range of international travel experiences, from archaeology, art history, geography, and natural history, to exploration both on land and sea. His many years of doing just that have made Eos uniquely qualified to manage travel programs for a wide variety of non for profit organizations such as the AIA, Carleton College, and the many other organizations with which they have worked. I would be happy to speak with you further regarding my experience with Eos over the past 13 years. Please feel free to contact me by email with your questions or to arrange a time when we can speak by phone. Sincerely, |
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