The global incentive travel community mourns the passing of Christopher “Chris” Perks, a true founding father of the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE) and one of the original thinkers who helped shape incentive travel as a professional discipline.
Born and educated in the United Kingdom, a third-generation hotelier, Chris brought a deeply ingrained understanding of hospitality to everything he touched. Over a career spanning Europe, Asia, North and South America, and the Caribbean, he became widely recognised as a marketing innovator and strategic leader, earning the affectionate moniker “Mr. Miami” for his outsized influence on the city’s tourism and business events identity.
Chris was not merely an early leader of SITE — he was present at its creation. As one of five founders of the Society of Incentive Travel Executives (SITE’s original name) in 1973, he helped define an organisation intended to educate, professionalise and globally expand the incentive travel industry. Elected SITE President for 1975–1976, he used his term to accelerate internationalisation, champion education through the School of Incentive Travel, and strengthen European and Canadian participation at a formative moment in SITE’s evolution.
His professional career mirrored that global ambition. Chris held senior executive roles with Doral Hotels & Resorts, Loews Hotels, Omni Hotels and Americana Hotels, serving as Managing Director of Doral Resorts of Florida and later Executive Vice President of Doral Hotels & Resorts Management Company. He also advised cruise lines, independent resorts and CVBs, and served on advisory bodies at state, national and international level — including the U.S. Department of Commerce USA–Japan Travel Trade Advisory Council, reporting to the White House during the Reagan and George W. Bush administrations.
Yet what made Chris Perks exceptional was not only that he helped found SITE — but that he remained faithful to it for more than three decades.
Through The Opus Group, which he co-founded and led with his partner Lisa Cherry, Chris returned to SITE in a rare second act of service. Together, they conceived and elevated the SITE Foundation Invitational, transforming it into a world-class fundraising event and one of the most successful and enjoyable initiatives in the history of the SITE Foundation. Their work blended commercial credibility, creative programming and genuine joy — and left a lasting financial and cultural legacy for the Foundation.
Chris was known for his larger-than-life presence, sharp intellect, humour and fearlessness in debate. He spoke his mind, defended internationalism when it mattered, and never lost sight of the human connections at the heart of incentive travel. As he once reflected, SITE gave him “a worldwide network of friends and industry colleagues who share a common bond and passion for delivering the ultimate travel experience.”
Chris Perks died on 26 January 2026, surrounded by a lifetime of achievements and friendships. He is survived by three sons and two grandchildren. SITE today — global, confident and outward-looking — bears his unmistakable imprint.
Few individuals can claim to have shaped an association at its birth, guided it in its formative years, and later helped secure its future. Chris Perks did all three.
