Maryles founded Casto Travel in 1974. Drawing from her early experience as manager of in-flight services for Philippine Airlines, Maryles turned her company into the largest privately owned travel management agency in the Western United States.

Maryles continues to provide leadership and strategic vision for the company that delivers comprehensive travel management services through its business units: Corporate Travel Management, Concierge Services, Visa Passport, Group Travel, and Vacations. She also oversees all operations and client management for our APAC operations.

Casto Travel has been ranked in the Top 100 Fastest Growing Businesses in both Silicon Valley and San Francisco and has won numerous entrepreneurial and service awards. In May 2006, Silicon Valley Business Journal ranked Casto Travel second in revenues among Silicon Valley Women-Owned Businesses.

Active in several civic, philanthropic, and industry organizations over the course of her career, Maryles currently serves on the board of directors for the Commonwealth Club of California (at one point serving as the board chair), International Women’s Forum – Northern California, Silicon Valley Creates, El Camino Hospital Foundation, and the Committee of 200. She also previously served on boards for the Bring Me a Book Foundation, First Act of San Jose and Leading Hotels of the World.

Marc is President & Chief Executive Officer of Casto Travel. He leads the company’s operations and directs strategic corporate planning, sales endeavors, and information technology development. His direct duties also include oversight and management of all international development, notably expansion within Asia through Casto Travel Philippines, Inc.

As a highly engaged person within the industry, Marc serves at an executive level on multiple travel and other industry related boards. Marc has served as the Chairman of the Board for the San Jose Visitors and Convention Bureau / Team San Jose, the Commonwealth Business Travel Group, and the ASTA Corporate Advisory Council. He has also held board positions for Business Travel News, CTAP, American Society of Travel Agents, the Mayor’s Task force for San Jose Airport, and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, as well as numerous hotel advisory boards.

Marc has been recognized by the Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal as one of the “Top 40 Under 40 Business Leaders in Silicon Valley.” In 2014 he was the recipient of the Barbara O’Hara Advocacy Award by ASTA, and the same year as a “Distinguished Citizen” by the Boy Scouts of America. In 2016 ASTA also honored him as the inaugural recipient of the prestigious Paul M. Ruden Award for Industry Champions.

As a native of California, you can frequently find him out in the hills hiking with his kids or sneaking off to the coast to go scuba diving.

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Fran’s extensive expertise to build a strong sales and account management team to support new business opportunities while ensuring successful client retention is pivotal to her role at Casto Travel. In addition, Fran continues to develop and strengthen strategic partnerships throughout the industry.

Fran possesses vast knowledge and experience in travel management, client implementations, project management and global consolidations.

As busy as she is in continuing to advocate Casto’s services, Fran finds time to serve on the board of directors of Unfolding Outdoor Adventures for Women and Fully Alive Community Church.

In 1997, Fran was a proud recipient of YWCA’s “Women in Industry Achievement” award.

Casto icon Magda Alarcon, an industry veteran since 1978, is a Vice President at Casto Travel and oversees the Concierge and Groups divisions.

Ms. Alarcon joined Casto in 1988 to start the VIP service desk, then moved up to become the San Francisco Branch Manager in 1993. She also served as General Manager and Director of Corporate Operations before her VP position.

Ms. Alarcon, who lives in the Bay Area, relocated from Honolulu in 1983, where she started her travel career.

“Magda’s post as Vice President is a well-earned progression in her career at Casto,” says founder Maryles Casto. “In her time here, Magda has repeatedly proven her ability to keep the corporate department focused on providing exceptional customer service to each client, every time.”

As Vice President of Finance, Mona oversees Casto Travel’s strategy to bring reporting in the travel industry to new levels, providing our clients with clear insights into their travel spending.

Her pre-Casto roots lie in the banking and housing industries, but her heart has always been in the travel industry after the impression her college hospitality classes left on her.

In 2008, Mona’s dream of working in the travel industry became too strong, so she joined Casto. She brought to Casto her unique and strong perspective on reporting learned in her previous career path.

In her role as Vice President of Corporate Operations, Lynn oversees Casto Travel’s corporate travel division as well as our visa passport group.

Lynn began her career in Connecticut and has spent over 30 years in the corporate travel world. She joined Casto Travel in 2003 and has served in a number of positions of increasing importance, from manager to director and now vice president.

Lynn thoroughly enjoys creating solutions and providing customer service in ways that help clients achieve their goals. From the sales process all the way thru implementation, she carefully listens, considers all the needs, and delivers smart solutions. When determining service configuration, she brings about the staff best suited for the program.

Travel is extremely personal and her greatest success is the success of her team and their success is our delighted clients.

Meredith Donaldson is the Director of Vacations at Casto, where she leads a passionate, innovative team of luxury travel advisors that inspire and plan bespoke trip experiences. In her role overseeing the Vacations division, Meredith drives growth through business development initiatives that focus on modernized marketing programs and cultivating industry partnerships.

As a born adventurer, travel is not only Meredith’s passion, but her lifestyle. After graduating with a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma, she moved to San Francisco and launched her career in travel. Beginning in the Casto Vacations support position, Meredith quickly advanced to a frontline advisor and eventually transitioned to an Independent Consultant (IC) with Casto to establish her own brand: World Citizen Travel. In 2017, Meredith returned to Casto to foster the next generation of travel advisors and be an ambassador for Casto Vacations beyond the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2018, Meredith joined Casto’s leadership team.

Meredith was named as a Top 30Under30 Travel Agent in 2016 by Luxury Travel Advisor. This was followed up in 2017 by being highlighted as one of Luxury Travel Advisor’s Trendsetters.

Meredith currently serves as a committee member of Signature Travel Network and is part of their Young Travel Professionals (YTP) group, designing educational travel experiences for YTP’s members to grow their destination learning and organizing events for members to discuss the future of the evolving travel industry with special guest speakers.

Never in one place for too long, you can find Meredith hunting for the best local coffee shops around the world.

Mark Rippstein is the Director of Online Marketing at Casto Travel. In his role, Mark oversees our online presence, making sure that those who have an experience with Casto, including those working at Casto, have a clear understanding of our values and services.

By leading our online properties, Mark is tasked with keeping everything on brand, accurate, and secure. His primary focus is our websites (for Casto Travel, Casto Vacations, and Visa By Casto) as well as their related social ties. Mark also provides oversight when it comes to having a clear, consistent and positive brand message, particularly pertaining to customer satisfaction, lead generation, and recruiting.

Before graduating from Santa Clara University with a degree in business marketing, Mark developed a strong and diverse work ethic at his parents scientific research company. Starting there in his early teens, he jumped in wherever needed, from sweeping floors and counting inventory to soldering circuit boards and setting up trade shows…he even launched their first web presence in 1996. Most recently, Mark spent over 10 years at Google forming and overseeing diverse and dispersed teams and projects. It was through his travels during that time that his appreciation for travel management, especially for trusted and knowledgeable advisors, grew into something that led him to Casto.

Throughout his years of working on the web, Mark has become an advocate for consistency, simplicity and security. He believes that we should all strive for quality in everything we do…even when it comes to arranging your next vacation.

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