About USA Tour Pros

The largest online tour guide training and professional networking site. Dedicated to career development and offering quality travel courses that teach travel and tourism management. Preparing tour professionals for a profitable travel career while showcasing tour guide jobs from tour operators across the USA.

Our History

Our story began in February 2004 as a moderated Yahoo Groups community that grew to over 200 tour professionals. By February 2008 we had launched the Internet's first resource, blog and forum web site for tour guides and called it USATourPros.com

In February 2009 we introduced another industry first, Virtual Tour Director (VTD). The VTD videos serve as a training and resource series to acclimate Tour Professionals to the physical layout and ticketing procedures at tour attractions and vendors.

In January 2010 our founder, Tom Schoenewald, and then teaching assistant Alice Devereaux, conducted the first of a series of sold out Sightseeing Guide License Study Sessions for NYC  & Washington DC which led to the 100% Licensing of its participants, 95% of which earned the coveted "star" for excellence.

By April 2010, USATourPros.com had reached 500 members and we decided to introduce the USA Tour Pros Facebook page in order to create additional interaction and networking opportunities for the Tour Pros community.

However the crowd kept growing and demanding more so in March of 2011 Joseph Cromwell joined us to begin development of the first fully integrated social media network and online training center for tour guides based in the USA. The site was launched Aug 5, 2011 and the rest is history.

Our Leadership

Tom Schoenewald

Founder & President

A travel enthusiast of over thirty years with family, friends, schools, summer camps, and sports leagues, Tom Schoenewald earned a Tour Director Certification in December 2003 and became a full-time tour director in 2004. In November 2009 he was named the “Tour Manager of the Year” by USA Student Travel of El Dorado Hills, CA.

He is a licensed tour guide for both New York City and Washington, DC. Over the past six years (2004-10) he has led over 7,000 passengers on 160+ over-the-road tours of major US cities and National Parks.

Tom led summer-camp student tours of the Northeastern US and Canada between 1989-2001.

His educational background includes a BA in Communications from Rowan University and a MA in Public Communication from Fordham University.

He has been an instructor of public speaking at St. Peter’s College (Jersey City, New Jersey), and has also taught English as a second language (ESL) in the Bronx, New York, and in both Jungl-li and Taipei, Taiwan.

Through the years he has worked in various capacities with IBM (Austin, Texas), Hyatt Hotels (Austin, Texas), the National Football League, National Basketball Association, Sands Hotel and Casino (Atlantic City), San Jose Sharks (NHL), Camp Wildwood (Maine), and Camp Cedar (Maine).

Since 1997 he has been a mentor in the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program, earning 1998 NBA Volunteer of the Year" award, presented to him by current NBA Commissioner David Stern. He has also volunteered in New York City as an instructor in the Ice Hockey in Harlem organization and with God’s Love We Deliver.

Joseph Everett Cromwell

VP Marketing & Content

An innovative and creative professional with 20 years marketing and management experience in the leisure travel and hospitality industry.

Joseph is the former Director of Tour Management at Collette Vacations and previous Program Director of Edutainment Tours at Walt Disney World's Disney Institute.

Along with a Masters in Education Technology, Joseph's professional experience involves recruiting, training, career development, tour and event management, Internet marketing, content and web design. He has worked closely with talented tour professionals around the world.

Travel: Joseph has visited 6 continents, 25 countries, 273 cities. He manages international group tours to England, Scotland, Ireland and domestic tours of New England. He is a Boston city guide and USA Tour Pros certified and licensed NYC guide.

Passion: A self-proclaimed techno-geek frequently promoting the use of technology to improve personal efficiency and global communication.

Alice Devereaux

VP Live Training & Research Development

Alice Devereaux received her Tour Director certification in December, 2003, and began tour directing in 2004. She is licensed as a Sightseeing Guide in New York City and as a Tour Guide in Washington, D.C. She works mainly in the east from Canada to Florida.

Alice’s educational background includes a BS in education from the College of New Jersey and an MBA in management from Fairleigh Dickinson University. She has additional certification as a Teacher of Students with Disabilities. She is a former elementary education teacher and a current long-time partner in a family business.

At this time working with Catholic Charities, in recent years Alice also has volunteered as an ESL tutor, a recorder of news articles for those who are blind, and a phone worker and board of directors vice-president for the crisis intervention Contact Hotline.

She balances her tour directing with her nearby two children, three cool grandkids, sister’s family, and her brother with special needs. International and domestic personal travel, (including the nooks and crannies of NYC,) the Jersey shore, theatre, and reading, are her loves after her family and friends.