Staff
Michele Michalewicz - CEO/Owner
Michele started her career working in Yellowstone during the summer while attending South Dakota State University. In 1983, she accepted a full-time position with TW Services at Yellowstone National Park in the Group Tour Department. In 1987, Western Leisure, Inc. hired Michele as Director of Operations. In the time that followed she rapidly rose through the organization to the position of President and Owner. A long-time supporter of the travel industry, Michele has actively served the National Tour Association on various committees and has volunteered in many roles since 1988. She served on NTA's board of directors and was Chairman in 2009. She also served on the Best Western Tour Advisory board, and has served on the Amtrak Tour Advisory board. She was also appointed to the National Park Service’s Concessionaire Management Advisory board and served as the Tourism representative from 2010 – 2015. Michele has also received her designation as a Certified Tour Professional in 1991.
Nicole Doherty - President
Nicole started with Western Leisure in 2019 bringing her 30+ years in Marketing and Sales to the travel industry. Growing up, Nicole spent every summer in the National Parks (Glacier, Yellowstone, Zion, Olympic, Mt. Rainier, Bryce, and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area , etc.) with her family as her father worked for the park service. Before coming to Western Leisure, Nicole worked as an electrical engineer in the electronics industry in design, sales and marketing.
Mayuko Davidson - Director of Operations
Mayuko started as an intern at Western Leisure while attending Brigham Young University in 1996. She was hired to work operations and was a tour guide with the Japanese market. She was hired full-time as an operations manager for the Japanese department when Western Leisure decided to expand that market in 1998. In 2004, she took over Japanese sales and ran the Japanese department until 2010. In 2010 Western Leisure decided to concentrate our efforts on customized group tours and Mayuko is now working as Operations Manager in the Domestic market. Mayuko is a Japanese national and Western Leisure supported her working visas since 1998 until she finally obtained a permanent resident status in 2008.