About Us
Tourism in Peru is largely built on powerful images of Indigenous culture—shaping the sights, flavors, and experiences that draw visitors from around the world. Yet the rural (campesino) communities who sustain these traditions often receive limited long-term benefit from an otherwise highly profitable industry. As one of the country’s largest economic sectors, tourism depends on cultural richness that is not always equitably supported or reinvested at the local level. This imbalance underscores the need for more responsible, community-centered approaches that honor and directly benefit the people whose knowledge and heritage make these experiences possible. It is through our shared interest in fostering this community-led approach, together with our combined academic and professional expertise, that led us to co-create the Center for Regenerative Communities.
Kerri Blumenthal, Ph.D.
Executive Director & Co-Founder
Kerri is a qualitative researcher and educator from the United States. She conducted fieldwork in Cusco and the Sacred Valley from 2013-2019 where she focused on issues of globalization, social change, and environmental ethics within the Andean tourism landscape. Kerri lived in the Sacred Valley and worked in sustainable development until 2025, when she returned to the U.S. to run CRC from the Los Angeles administrative headquarters. She is passionate about bringing greater transparency and equity to the Peruvian tourism industry, particularly as it creates more opportunities for historically disenfranchised communities.
César Enrique Navarro
Co-Founder
César Enrique Navarro is a tourism and hospitality administrator with 27 years of experience in operational management, the development of micro and small enterprises (MSEs), and commercial leadership in tourism. Over the past seven years, he has specialized in corporate social sustainability in collaboration with communities, developing a horizontal management model recognized nationally and internationally. He is dedicated to training tourism leaders with a sustainable, ethical, and community-based approach.