Laura Mandala
When Managing Director Laura Mandala founded Mandala Research 13 years ago, her goal was a simple one: to provide the most accurate, reliable research along with expert analysis to help clients understand the results. Dozens of clients and hundreds of research projects later, Laura’s goal still drives the company’s mission and provides our inspiration for continuing to offer accurate results with personalized service. From designing research methodology to developing an action plan based on the results, our company can do it all. Our mission is to be your trusted partner – to offer you the best in research services at every level – so you’re making the right decisions at the right times. Information is the key to bringing ideas full circle – let us help you get there.
What sets our company apart from others?
- Our experience. Managing Director Laura Mandala has more than 25 years of research experience and is an expert in methodology design and implementation.
- Our personal service. From your first inquiry to the final discussion of your results, you will get personal attention from Laura and our expert staff.
- Our approach. We help bring all the necessary partners to the table to find out exactly what you need. And we bring our partners to the table. Mandala Research regularly works with organizations like the U.S. Cultural & Heritage Tourism Marketing Council, Shop America Alliance, the U.S. Department of Commerce – and a host of industry-specific associations and alliances – to ensure we are putting each project in proper context and working with the most up-to-date information.
- Our products. In addition to customized research, we have a unique set of syndicated studies – and affordable opportunities to subscribe to those studies – that leave our competition behind. In addition, Mandala Research hosts Travel Answer, an online traveler panel that can answer questions about niche travel markets in as little as 24 hours.
Learn more about Managing Director Laura Mandala’s background and expertise.
Regina Binder
As director of research for Mandala Research, LLC, Regina Binder brings more than 25 years of experience in domestic and international tourism, historic preservation, visitor planning and destination development. She has worked with tourism and cultural ministries, NGOs, regional and federal authorities, CVBs and destinations to help achieve their goals.
Ms. Binder brings her proprietary methods of qualitative analysis, community outreach, and placed-based branding to the work of Mandala Research. Her connective visioning and engagement processes are designed to align the interests of the diverse stakeholder groups involved in tourism, preservation and planning.
Regina is passionate about mitigating visitor impact while increasing the social and economic benefits from tourism to local communities. Her ‘sense of place’ methodology helps create destinations that enhance the quality of life for residents and provide great visitor experiences. She is an advisor to the United Nations, several multi-lateral funding agencies including IADB and the IMF, global real estate developers and all levels of government.
Ms. Binder serves as senior research fellow and advisor on sustainable tourism to The Kenan Institute’s Center for Competitive Economies (University North Carolina-Chapel Hill.) In 1998, she received the ‘Save America’s Treasures Award’ from Hillary Clinton for her preservation of The Nantucket United Methodist Church (1822). In 1999 she won the award for Outstanding Tourism Destination from British Airways for her work on The Rheged Discovery Center in England. In 2010, she was invited by the World Bank to present her approach to reusing heritage assets to catalyze economic and social growth.
Regina Binder understands how communities can create both a vibrant economic center while preserving the integrity of a region’s culture and heritage. She has been integral to both the preservation and development of Cape Code and Provincetown, MA. Her many contributions include both creating and Chairing the Provincetown Historic District, Chairing the master planning board and zoning revision committee, and serving as a Director of the Public Pier Corporation .
Her other work on the Cape includes: consulting to the Lower Cape Community Development Corporation, working on preservation projects with the Cape Cod National Seashore , serving on the advisory committee to the National Park Service for the Peaked Hill Bars Historic District, and serving as a member of the Provincetown Community Compact Board of Directors.
Regina Binder’s career has also taken her around the world. She worked on heritage sites such as Angkor Wat in Cambodia and the Markets of Trajan (100 AD) in Rome, and has developed sustainable tourism plans and cultural routes in Northern Perú and Galicia in Spain. Binder also spent five years as consultant in cultural resources to the National Park Service.
She is a regular speaker at national and international sustainable tourism and cultural heritage conferences, including those sponsored by ICOMOS and the World Bank.
Binder holds a Master of Science degree in Historic Preservation from the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University in the City of New York, and a BA in Art History from Vassar College.
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