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Tauck World Discovery was founded as Tauck Tours in 1925 by Arthur Tauck Sr. His son, Arthur Jr., joined the business part-time as a tour director in 1950 while attending Lehigh University. After graduation and a tour of duty in the Air Force, Arthur Jr. returned to Tauck Tours and became its President in 1958.
Tauck remains a family business today. Arthur Jr. is the company’s Chairman of the Board, and his children share ownership of the company. The members of Tauck’s third generation have made significant contributions to the company’s operations, and today Arthur Jr’s son-in-law, Dan Mahar, serves as Tauck’s CEO and Board Director. Arthur Jr’s daughter, Liz Tauck Walters, is also a Board Director who oversees Tauck’s corporate and family philanthropic efforts.
Tauck World Discovery is a three-time winner of Travel + Leisure magazine's award as the “World's Best Tour Operator and Safari Outfitter,” and by many other standards as well, it is the world leader in upscale escorted travel.
Arthur C. Tauck, Jr.
Chairman of the Board, Tauck World Discovery
Chairman, Tourism Cares For Tomorrow
Chairman, Tauck Foundation
Arthur C. Tauck, Jr. is a true visionary in the global tourism industry, with a career spanning 50 years as a travel industry leader. In 1958, when Arthur took over his father’s small tour business, the company offered just six itineraries on the East Coast and carried approximately 2,000 travelers per year. Today, Tauck World Discovery operates over 100 land journeys, ocean and river cruises, safaris and family adventures, bringing many tens-of-thousands of travelers to more than 60 countries worldwide each year.
Among his many accomplishments, Arthur:
- Introduced the first-ever chartered air / motorcoach tour packages.
- Linked the National Parks of the American West by using air and motorcoaches, at a time when the rest of the travel industry was still relying entirely on rail.
- Pioneered the use of chartered airplanes to reach Hawaii.
- Invented Heli-Hiking, which opens pristine alpine environments in the Canadian Rockies to travelers from age 9 to 90, by combining chartered helicopters and luxury mountain lodges.
- Launched the “Yellow Roads of Europe” series, named for the less-traveled scenic routes marked in yellow on European road maps.
- Is an industry leader in philanthropy, through his role as Chairman of Tourism Cares, through Tauck World Discovery’s corporate World of Giving initiatives, and through the efforts of the family-run Tauck Foundation, which he also chairs.
A graduate of Lehigh University and a veteran of the United States Air Force, Arthur is a past president of both the USTOA and the NTA, and has served on the Board of Directors of the TIA.
Daniel W. Mahar
CEO/Board Director, Tauck World Discovery
The son-in-law of Arthur Tauck, Jr., Dan Mahar is CEO of Tauck World Discovery. He is also a member of the company's Board of Directors. Dan is responsible for shaping the company’s long-term strategic direction, implementing its short- and mid-term strategic plans, maintaining Tauck’s unique corporate culture and commitment to excellence, and overseeing Tauck’s day-to-day operations in more than 60 countries worldwide.
Dan began his career at Tauck in 1996, and served as VP Sales and Marketing until 2003. He started Tauck’s New Ventures group in 2002, leading to the creation and launch of Tauck Bridges in 2003 to serve the needs of the growing family travel market. Dan also spearheaded the company’s launch into European river cruising.
Prior to joining Tauck, Dan worked in strategic planning and product line management for Nortel, where he became general manager for their network applications. He then moved to Global Crossing in their new business development, and launched their Internet services company.
Dan holds a bachelor's degree from St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY, where he double-majored in Economics and Government. He and his wife, Kiki Tauck Mahar, are the parents of five young children.
Elizabeth Tauck Walters
Board Director, Tauck World Discovery
A daughter of Arthur Tauck, Jr., Liz Tauck Walters is a Board Director for the company. As a teenager and during her early twenties, Liz worked in a variety of roles for Tauck (including giving tours of the Dartmouth College campus to visiting Tauck groups, while enrolled as a student there).
Today Liz oversees Tauck’s many “World of Giving” corporate philanthropy initiatives, as well as the Tauck Foundation, a private, family foundation established in 1994. Liz graduated Cum Laude from Dartmouth College with a bachelor’s degree in Government, and she received an MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. She resides on Bainbridge Island, WA, with her pediatrician husband Fred and their three young girls.
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Three generations of Taucks have been pioneers in escorted travel since our first tour through New England in 1925. Today, Tauck family members continue to guide our company and oversee more than 100 legendary Tauck travel experiences.
Arthur C. Tauck, Jr.
Daniel W. Mahar
Elizabeth Tauck Walters
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