“The U.S. Travel Association is incredibly saddened by the passing of our colleague and friend, Patricia Rojas-Ungar. For 10 years she was a cherished member of the U.S. Travel family, a talented, effective, highly regarded and passionate leader for travel. She rightfully earned multiple honors as a top lobbyist in D.C., most recently by The Hill in 2020.
Her husband Michael and her 5-year-old twins, Vivienne and Noah, were everything to Patricia and she would light up talking about them…We hope you all will honor her memory and her love for her family by offering support to Noah and Vivienne and their future education. U.S. Travel is honored to make a commitment and we hope that if Patricia touched you in some way, you will consider doing the same.” gofundme.com/f/support-the-ungar-family
Roger W. Miles, chairman of the board of Miles Partnership, will be honored as the 2021 inductee into the U.S. Travel Association Hall of Leaders.
Distinguished individuals are named to U.S. Travel’s Hall of Leaders for “sustained, noteworthy contributions that have positively impacted the travel industry and raised industry-wide standards.”
Upon founding Miles Partnership in 1990, Miles leveraged his background in business and engineering to bring an analytics-driven approach to destination marketing, leading to the development and evolution of groundbreaking digital marketing strategies. He played an instrumental role in the creation and utility of destination travel websites.
Miles is also credited as a leading voice in evolving cooperative marketing models from media-driven display advertising into content-rich storytelling. Core to this approach was the creation of tangible assets—articles, photos, videos and more—to help DMOs promote themselves to digital audiences. Miles was instrumental in developing programs that helped individual tourism businesses collaboratively market with local DMOs, and local DMOs partner with state tourism organizations. This approach also helped build out national programs in support of Brand USA.
With this induction, 103 travel industry luminaries have been named to the U.S. Travel Hall of Leaders since it was established in 1969. Read more here.
Gov. Tony Evers has appointed Anne Sayers to lead the state’s tourism efforts as secretary-designee of the Wisconsin Department of Tourism. Sayers previously served as the interim secretary since Sara Meaney left the administration in November of 2020 and previously held the role of deputy secretary since 2019.
Nevada Division of Tourism (Travel Nevada) has selected Antonette Eckert as Chief Industry Development Officer. She previously served in several DMO executive roles: Senior Director-Global Tourism Development at San Francisco Travel Association; Advertising & Co-op Marketing Manager, then Director of Asia Marketing at Visit California; and Executive Director of Visit Vacaville (CA).
Charlene Hoffman is the new CEO at Boulder Convention & Visitors Bureau, succeeding Mary Ann Mahoney who retires after 20 years (The Travel Vertical, 9/1/21). Hoffman, who joins the bureau in 2014, has been promoted from her role as Operations and Financial Officer.
Brian McCartin, president & CEO at Tempe Tourism Office, has announced his retirement. He joined the DMO in 2017 following his 14-year role as EVP at Travel Portland in Oregon. Michael Martin, EVP, will serve as interim president/CEO.
Lisa Baird departs Visit Oakland, her work home since 2017, where she has most recently served as Director of Marketing. She joins the agency world at Mering/The Shipyard, based in Sacramento, California.
Madison Dawson has been named director of tourism for the Eureka Springs City Advertising & Promotion Commission in Arkansas. Most recently, she served as the tourism development manager for the Muskogee Chamber of Commerce in Oklahoma.
In North Carolina, Morgan Brookshire, communications coordinator at Childress Vineyards, has been selected as the next Executive Director of the Lexington Tourism Authority. Outgoing executive director Robin Bivens is retiring later this year.
In Michigan, Cadillac Area Visitors Bureau recently named Kathy Morin as the new Executive Director amid an ongoing “reassessment” of the organization’s direction. She joined the bureau in 2018 as Group Sales Manager and became Marketing Manager before being appointed as Interim Executive Director.
In Paris, France, Marie Loyola joined Article Onze Groupe to promote Travel South USA in the French and Belgian markets. She had previously been with the team at Office du Tourisme des USA.
Meet Chicago Northwest has appointed Gus Martinez to lead a team of three as Director of Sales. He joins from Maritz Global Events as has also been in sales roles with Cincinnati USA and Visit Milwaukee.
Hot Springs Association has named Vicki Nash as Executive Director. As Founder and CEO of Resort Trends, Hot Springs of America and its associated conference, Hot Springs Connection, she has a background that includes Snowmass Village Resort Association, Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association, and Colorado Travel & Tourism Authority.
Matt Stiker has joined BVK, the marketing & advertising agency, as Senior Vice President-Travel. He is Brand Lead at The Art of Good, working pro bono to support small businesses impacted by the pandemic. Most recently, he was Managing Director at Destination Think.
Tempest welcomes Sidney Abramson as Community Engagement Specialist. He joins following seven years at Louisville Tourism, where he had most recently served as Digital Marketing Manager.
Maggie Bunting has joined Zartico as Marketing Coordinator. She has most recently been working on educational programming and communication around Covid-19 safety practices at the University of Tampa, her alma mater.
Episode 11 is live at 7 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021.
Register today. At $99, virtual attendance won’t break the bank.
The 22nd Annual eTourism Summit is taking place live on Sept. 20-22 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Which of these three options is right for you?
- In-person marketer registration at $1495
- Virtual registration at $99
- Virtual company pass for your organization at $995
These top three reasons for attending eTourism Summit come from recent past delegates.
“Collect fresh ideas from my peers”
“Make great new business contacts”
“Create long-lasting friendships”
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