Rainer Jenss brings a wealth of experience and expertise as the Founder of the Family Travel Association. Before putting his professional expertise and personal passion to the ultimate test by traveling around the world for a year with his wife and two young children in 2009, Rainer Jenss was a Vice President and thirteen-year veteran of the National Geographic Society. As Publisher of National Geographic Kids from 2002-2008, Jenss helped transform the publication into the most widely read consumer magazine for children throughout the world. Prior to National Geographic, Rainer worked for CNN International and Business Traveler International.

Since returning from the yearlong trip around the world with his family in 2009, Jenss has dedicated himself to be an advocate for family travel as an essential part of every child’s education. By creating the Family Travel Association, Jenss aimed to establish a collective and unified industry voice that will help change the way families travel – charting a path for the future generations of travelers the industry needs to cultivate.

Having traveled to over 70 countries and counting, Rainer is an authority on the subject of family travel and how it can be used as a learning tool. During his family’s around-the-world journey, Rainer reported for National Geographic Traveler’s award-winning Intelligent Travel Blog, recognized as one of the Top 25 Family Travel Blogs by Babble.com in 2011 and 2012. In 2011, Rainer founded Smart Family Travel, a strategic marketing consultancy helping organizations target traveling families. In 2012, he joined forces with Scholastic to direct a new family travel initiative and content development for the “Smart Family Travel” feature in Parent & Child magazine.

Jenss continues to report on family travel for national travel and consumer media outlets and is a frequent speaker at travel conferences around the world. His writing and advice has also appeared in Global Traveler magazine, USA Today, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Business, The Science Christian Monitor, The Chicago Tribune, and ABC News.