D. Stuart Godwin III, CTC | President, Travel Leisure Alliance
Stuart Godwin III, CTC, began his career as a retail travel agent in 1968 working with his father and his father’s partners in Houston. He later became a partner in the family business.
Stuart’s highly respected father, D. Stuart Godwin Jr. was grandfathered in as one of ICTA’s (now the Travel Institute) original CTCs in 1964 and he was also a co-founder of the ASTA Southwest Chapter in the 1950s.
Stuart III has been an ASTA member since the early 1970s and has served on numerous ASTA committees, including the first ASTAPAC National Committee. LTA is an ASTA Premium Member and Stuart currently serves on ASTA’s Consortia Committee.
In 1984, Stuart became a co-founder and president of Consolidated Travel Services, a regional travel agency consortium. He was named Travel Trade Publications Travel Agent of the Year in 1998 for his advocacy on behalf of the travel agency community. Consolidated had 300 plus member agencies when it was acquired by Vacation.com in 2000. Stuart then served as Vcom’s Senior Vice President for the Western Region for seven years.
In 2007, with funding from a group of friends and private investors, Stuart and his late partner, John Shands, co-founded Leisure Travel Alliance. LTA currently has 300 members and also operates a host agency that provides services to 200 ICs. Stuart’s son, Bobby Godwin, joined the LTA staff in 2011 and now serves as LTA’s vice president. Bobby also serves on the ASTA Consortia Committee.