About Us

Sean K. Winton

Founder, President

Born in Glasgow, Scotland and raised in a small west coast village called Maidens, Sean immigrated to New Hampshire at the age of 15 with his family. His first taste of travel apart from flying to the States, was at the age of 18 when he received an invitation to join a crew to deliver a forty-two sailing vessel from Newport, RI via Bermuda to St. Thomas, USVI. The adventure alone is a story in itself but having experienced the cultures of these two amazing destinations as a young adult, he was hooked on traveling.

His passion for travel evolved over the years where he became known to his friends as “that guy”; the one that does all the travel planning on behalf of the group! As far as a career in travel, that only became a reality after a humble firing from his first cooperate job in 1995. After a summer of self reflection, he acted on his entrepreuneuial spirit and decided to explore starting a travel company that leveraged one of his native Scotland’s most sought after commodities… golf!

So in 1996 and thanks to a very fortunate introduction to a fellow ex-pat, Sean began his travel career “proper” in New York City running the golf desk for Protravel International, a well known Virtuoso travel agency. In his time on Madison Avenue his understanding for servicing high net worth and discerning clientele was refined. Also, having personally traveled with his golf clients over the years, Sean quickly learned that it was much about what you did after the round of golf than it was playing it. After all, a round of golf only takes on average four hours and it was from all of the other destinations interests that his clients requested and did while on tour, pre and post round, that became the inspiration for the next challenge of his career – Distincte Travel Group, a lifestyle travel company.

In 2016, the Distincte lifestyle brand was established initially supporting a partnership that Sean had established with HSN and its subsidiary brand, Travelsmith. Today, Distincte has evolved to become a full service travel company powered by the passion points of its clients that continue to trust in its leadership and team of knowledgeable travel advisors.

Although Sean is still very much involved in the golf travel side of the industry, Distincte is a result of the natural evolution of a successful career in the travel industry; an industry that Sean remains passionate about and always has him thinking outside of the box.

Karen O’Neill

Director of Operations

After 20 years in the hospitality and events industry, Karen joined our team to follow her true passion in travel. Karen is also an accomplished Realtor licensed in the great State of Florida. These combined resumes allow Karen to take her seasoned experience in assisting individuals with their most important life purchases and apply it to the servicing needs of her Distincte clients seeking that once-in-a-lifetime travel experience. Karen is a mother to two loving boys and high on her travel wish list a family sojourn to Iceland and a cruise around the Mediterranean. Lucky boys!

Amy Kunkel

Director of Marketing

Amy joined Distincte Travel to head up the company’s marketing responsibilities. Passionate about travel, her true qualifications for this position were borne out of the day to day commitment as a full time mother raising and homeschooling five wonderful children. Real “life-experience” is a characteristic and a badge of honor found throughout the Distincte team and Amy has that in spades allowing her to effortlessly create attractive and engaging storylines. Kalymnos in the Greek Isles for a destination wedding is a favorite and although Amy has traveled extensively, the Blarney Stone in Ireland still awaits her kiss.

Sandra Romeo

Director of Business Development

Sandra has a passion for travel and decades of experience in sales and marketing within the travel industry. She has expertise within various segments of the business, and has worked with hotels, cruise lines, destinations, and a travel agency consortia. She also had a career stint in international marketing, brand management and research having worked for consumer goods companies Pepsi and Gillette while living overseas. While not an experienced golfer, Sandra did take her first golf lesson ever while she was an expat in Russia . . . she now has her sights on taking more lessons in the near future and her “bucket list” of travel always seems to get longer rather than shorter!

Bill Curtin

PGA – Travel Director

A proud member of the PGA of America since 1997, Bill offers a wide range of experience in golf, including twenty years as the Head Golf Professional at Sakonnet Golf Club in Little Compton, Rhode Island. Appointed as a PGA Ambassador in 2006, Bill has traveled the world representing the PGA, and has organized golf trips and traveled extensively with his membership. With an accomplished playing record, including winning the 2002 Rhode Island PGA Championship, one of Bill’s favorite rounds of golf was played over the links at Muirfield in Scotland, with Royal Dornoch, in the Scottish Highlands and home to Donald Ross, being high on his golf bucket list.

Taylor Dudley

Marketing Executive

Taylor is part of today’s new generation of travelers whose passion for this industry has only just begun. He is also our resident foodie with dreams of seeking gastronomic pleasures set in the planet’s more interesting destinations…Bangkok’s Chinatown, Istanbul’s city food tour, and to hang out with with Berlin’s best street food experts at Markthalle Nuen are high on his must visit and “eat” list!  Although Taylor’s career in travel is just getting started, his key role at Distincte is in our sales and marketing division.
Taylor is also one of our Inspired Traveler members and if you ever find yourself visiting his home town of St. Pete, see where recommends to eat and drink.