Ambrose Bittner is the founder and CEO of Red Lantern Journeys, a tour operator focused on arranging tours and treks for small independent groups traveling to Asia. He is an intrepid world traveler, having visited over 30 countries on 6 continents. He has been traveling in Asia since 1988 when he took his first trip to Japan to visit friends, followed 2 years later by a backpacking trip around the world.
Ambrose believes in responsible tourism from all sides, including the tourists and the companies, hotels, and communities that service them. He is on the board of the Mitrata Nepal Foundation for Children, a US-based 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to supporting the children of the Mitrata Orphanage in Kathmandu. He understands that not everyone benefits from tourism and that tourism can cause many problems in developing countries. Often, it is disadvantaged women and children that suffer from these negative consequences and that they are the ones that can benefit society the most when given support and opportunities.
Originally an engineer with a degree in Electrical Engineering from Washington State University, Ambrose worked at the Boeing Company for 8 years mainly in a fiber optic research and development group. Always up for a bit of adventure, he went to Japan for two years on the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) program and taught English at a Japanese high school. After returning to Seattle, Ambrose led the product development team as a founding member of AdvanceOnline, an internet company that delivered web-based training focused on occupational safety and health topics. That company was sold in 2002 to a Texas company at which time Ambrose returned to school to get an MBA from the University of Washington. Upon graduation in 2004, he founded Red Lantern Journeys.
Ambrose is an avid rock and mountain climber, having attempted Mt. Everest in 2005 and with a first ascent of Cerro Tillman in Patagonia in 1996. He continues to climb and is a volunteer mountaineering instructor for the Boeing Employees’ Alpine Society’s Intermediate Climbing Class.
- Views: 300Comments: 1Published version: 8Edited: Oct 28, 2008 4:17 PM