Earney Lasten is a seasoned academic leader, researcher, and entrepreneurial consultant with over 30 years of international experience spanning six countries. Holding a Ph.D. in Education with a Hospitality Management Track from the University of Central Florida, Dr. Lasten has dedicated his career to bridging the critical gap between academic research and real-world industrial execution. His expertise is multidisciplinary, integrating advanced data science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning with core competencies in tourism, hospitality, and business analytics. As a lifelong learner and innovator, he holds a Post Graduate Program certificate in AI & Machine Learning from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, and he actively applies these technical skills to develop sophisticated SaaS solutions, including the Payroll Plus Pro & HRM System, and comprehensive e-learning ecosystems like Connect2Teach.us. Throughout his distinguished career, Dr. Lasten has held key faculty and leadership positions at prestigious institutions in the United States, Vietnam, the United Arab Emirates, Colombia, Curaçao, and Aruba. He is a prolific researcher with over 25 peer-reviewed publications and has led numerous grant-funded projects, ranging from national tourism strategy development to willingness-to-pay studies for national parks. His latest work, The Experience Masterplan: A Universal Blueprint for Planning, Designing, Funding, and Delivering