Living Legends 2024: GLORIA BOHAN

As the founder of the largest woman-owned business in the greater Washington, D.C., area, Bohan has been breaking glass ceilings since before the phrase was invented.

Inspired by her honeymoon cruise on the Queen Elizabeth 2 in 1970, she founded her company in 1972 with one employee. It has grown it into a billion-dollar company with offices worldwide.

Last year, she was named the first recipient of the American Society of Travel Advisors’ newest honor, the Icon Award, and was previously named to Washingtonian’s Most Powerful Women in Washington list. She also was honored with the 2023 Hall of Fame Cruise Industry Lifetime Achievement Award from the Cruise Lines International Association, and received a lifetime achievement award from Travel Weekly magazine in 2021.

A graduate of Marymount Manhattan College, Bohan also was a co-founder of Space Adventures, a space tourism company that has ferried a small number of clients to the International Space Station since 2001.

Omega, which owns Cruise.com, one of the largest sellers of cruises online, and Travtech, a technology development company, was named to the Washington Business Journal’s 2023 Fastest Growing Companies list. The firm’s travel service offerings also include its wholly owned meeting, conference and event management services.