Matthew Shollar - Founder & Chief Visionary, Transcend Cruises

Matthew’s passion for all things travel began in his childhood. He brings 25 years of entrepreneurial leadership experience in the luxury travel marketing, sales, and hospitality business development arena to Transcend Cruises. Matthew co-founded and served as CEO of e-Cruise, an online industry wide marketing and retention program, and created and led Chosen Voyage, a niche cruise charter company that has operated numerous full-ship programs with luxury ocean and river cruise lines. 

Matthew subsequently served as a senior VP at INTRAV, a leading specialist cruise and tour operator, and has developed travel programs for clients including Starwood UK, Cunard Line, and Cuisinart. He has also launched cross-marketing programs between luxury cruise lines and retail partners such as Tourneau and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Matthew is a principal at Reception Hotels and Resorts, where he completed development of a 160-room EVEN Hotel, the first adaptive reuse project for the wellness-driven brand, in a historic department store in downtown Pittsburgh.

Matthew is founder and chief visionary of the company. He is Transcend’s lead evangelist, and will oversee all sales, partnerships, ship design, and fleet development efforts.

 On this episode of the show, Matthew shares his one way ticket to a state where we all live together in harmony. Plus, he highlights Transcend, the new charter-only river cruise line with a fleet of its own purpose-built vessels. Matthew spotlights how the company is changing the face of cruising by offering truly customized river cruise experiences for groups, whether a corporate event, family gathering, wedding celebration, and more. Further, he talks about looking at river cruising through the lens of sustainability.

As Matthew lives in Pittsburgh, PA, we wind down the conversation with why everyone in earshot needs to visit the Steel City.