Sustainability Mavericks: A Conversation with Sven Lindblad of National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions

Sustainability Mavericks continues with a conversation you won’t want to miss: Sven Lindblad, founder of National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions and a driving force behind ship-based conservation travel for over four decades. Since founding the company in 1979 and later partnering with National Geographic, Sven has built a model that channels roughly $500,000 a year into local conservation and community projects in the destinations his ships visit, while deliberately capping guest counts well below what a larger ship could profitably carry.

In this one-on-one conversation, we’ll hear Sven’s origin story, including what he carried forward from his father Lars-Eric Lindblad’s pioneering belief that firsthand experience turns travelers into advocates for the places they visit. We’ll also dig into what it actually takes to run a conservation-first business as a publicly traded company, where that National Geographic Fund money really goes, and what advisors need to know to tell the real story behind small-ship expedition travel, especially when a client is weighing it against a lower price tag. Come ready with questions for a founder who’s been proving conservation and business can work together since before it was an industry buzzword.