Looking back with the man who looks forward…
Have you ever wondered how Jake Steinman got involved in the tourism industry with his own brands in what he likes to call “the toy box of life”?
Read the interview here.
Transitions and People in the News
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Congratulations! Last week at ESTO in Minneapolis, Kyle Edmiston, CDME, Assistant Secretary of Tourism at the Louisiana Office of Tourism, was named 2017 State Tourism Director of the Year. Read the press release from U.S. Travel Association here.
At the August Florida Governor’s Conference on Tourism, U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow honored Gov. Rick Scott with the Distinguished Leadership Award for “his commitment to growing travel in Florida amid multiple challenges.” Read more here.
At the Valley Forge Tourism and Convention Board in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Ed Harris has been promoted to Chief Marketing Officer. Ed will be contributing as a panelist at the 2017 eTourism Summit on Day One, Track One in a Show and Tell Session: Steal These Ideas.
Robin Fahr is Director of Marketing & Communications at Visit Tri-Valley, responsible for destination marketing for Pleasanton, Livermore, Dublin, and Danville in the San Francisco Bay Area’s East Bay. Previously, she had been an on-air anchor and host/producer for a local television station. Robin spearheaded The Tri-Valley Ice Cream Trail, a unique product to replace the Secret Somm campaign produced by her predecessor, Emmy Kasten, who has moved to Las Vegas.
After serving for 15 years on the job, Bob Doak is retiring from his post as president and CEO of the Chattanooga Area CVB. A veteran of more than three decades in the travel and tourism industry, Doak was previously general manager of the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel, as well general manager of the Chattanooga Golf and Country Club.
Ross Levi has been named Executive Director of Tourism for New York State’s Empire State Development. Levi, who joined Empire State Development in 2012 as vice president, marketing initiatives, succeeds Gavin Landry, who took over recently as director of the Americas for Visit Britain.
Seth Forman is Vertical Director, Travel & Tourism, at Quantcast, a data-intelligence platform using big data and machine learning. Seth was previously General Manager, Destinations, at Travelzoo for six years. In that role, Seth has presented sessions at previous eTourism Summit gatherings.
Transitions: A Hodge Podge of People and Positions
DMO Bits & Bobs and a Hodge Podge of People
Lynn Dorsey, the former executive director of the Webster Parish (La.) CVB who gained national attention after she accidentally live-streamed herself nude (The Travel Vertical: “What Not to Do,” 1/11/2017) on a bureau phone, has received a settlement of $37,000 after being dismissed from her post last winter. Dorsey reportedly live-streamed herself nude in what was intended to be a private session with her husband while she was in a Baton Rouge hotel on business. Instead, the video was streamed from Dorsey’s work-assigned smartphone to the tourism board’s public Instagram account.
John Reyes moves from EVP and chief sales officer of San Francisco Travel Association after six years to become COO of Visit Sacramento as of Aug. 14. Previously, he was president and CEO of the Monterey County Convention & Visitors Bureau as well as president and CEO at Florida’s Visit Jacksonville. Reyes also worked at San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau for 18 years, progressing from national sales manager to director of travel industry sales to vice president of sales.
Mary Cusick is leaving her position as director of Tourism Ohio effective August 1. Cusick was named to the post in 2013, joining the state agency after spending much of her professional career as a senior marketing and communications executive for Bob Evans Farms and Bob Evans Restaurants.
Mary Grimley has promoted to the position of vice president of sales for Visit Dallas. A member of the organization’s sales team for the past 14 years, Grimley has had numerous jobs at the DMO, serving lastly as director of group sales. Previously, she spend 15 years with Starwood Hotels & Resorts.
Ashley Kingman has been promoted to the post of tourism manager at Travel Portland. She had been tourism coordinator for the organization.
Stephanie Nowack, president and CEO of the Tempe Tourism Office is retiring at the end of 2017. Nowack has headed up the organization for 18 years. Nowack plans on teaching a sports tourism class at Arizona State University.
Gavin Landry is resigning from his post as executive director of tourism for New York State to take on the job of director of the Americas for Visit Britain, with offices in São Paulo, Los Angeles, Toronto and New York City. Landry had been with New York State for 4½ years. He also served for a dozen years as president of the Saratoga Convention and Tourism Bureau.
Brand USA has named Maria Sheetz as director, partnership development. She leads the organization’s effort to develop and maximize partner engagement, retention, and growth in Brand USA’s cooperative-marketing programs. Sheetz has 16 years of experience in the travel and hospitality sector; she was senior director for national sales and business alliances at Amtrak. She also worked for Choice Hotels International as senior director for account management and marketing.
Michael Jacobson has been promoted to the newly-created post of senior director, industry relations and political engagement at U.S. Travel Association. Jacobsen has been with US Travel since 2010, joining the organization as manager, political action committee and grassroots advocacy.
Jennifer Barbee, a consultant who has specialized in digital marketing projects for the past decade, launches a new business, Destination Innovate, “a company focused on change and futuring for DMOs and corporations.” Before she began her consulting business, Barbee served for six years as president of USDM.net.
More Ch-ch-changes Out There
Brian Wagner, Assistant Commissioner Marketing at Tennessee Tourism Department writes, “We just created a new position at the TN Tourism Dept. – Digital Marketing Manager. Visit tnvacation.com. Contact @Brian.Wagner@tn.gov for the job description.
Matt Stiker is SVP, Digital Media/Adobe Creative Cloud at Edelman in the San Francisco Bay Area. Matt, a past speaker at eTourism Summit, has most recently been with CityPASS and San Francisco Travel Association.
Carrie Tomlinson has joined the Boulder Convention and Visitors Bureau as Digital Marketing Manager. Prior to joining the Bureau, Carrie was an Account Manager at Miles Media.
Carl Livadas has been appointed as the new VP of Data Science at Sojern to expand predictive analytics capabilities and optimization strategies. Carl holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from MIT and has held high level engineering, data science, and optimization roles at Nanigans and Kayak.
Mike Testa, the current chief operating officer of Visit Sacramento, has been named president and CEO. Testa has been with the organization since 2001. He will take over as CEO on July 1, following the retirement of Steve Hammond, who has been with the bureau for 18 years.
Kristen Wenger has been promoted to the post of director of communications at VisitPITTSBURGH. Kristen is a longtime Pittsburgh fan, having joined the bureau in 2000 as public relations liaison.
Transitions: People You Know on the Move
Will Seccombe, former president and CEO of Visit Florida and a 25-year travel industry professional, has been named president of the Connect Travel division, which serves as a strategic marketing partner offering a full suite of digital, social, content activation and cooperative marketing solutions for destinations.
In Washington, DC, Stephanie Arbetter has left her position as coordinator, consumer marketing and social media at Brand USA. She has now joined the team at Delucchi Plus, a content marketing firm driving engagement, sales, influence and loyalty in collaboration with StreetSense.
Teresa O’Neill has been promoted to vice president, global strategic partnerships at Travel Oregon, effective July 1st. She leaves her post as vice president, global sales, to Petra Hackworth, who had been director, global sales. O’Neill, a member of NAJ’s Advisory Council, has been with the organization for 12+ years.
Sarah Dickson has left Destination Marketing Association International, where she was vice president, partnership development. Previously, she was director of partnership development for Brand USA. Dickson also served as director of exhibitions and sponsorship sales for the U.S. Travel Association. Those interested in reaching Dickson, who is available for new opportunities, can contact her at sarahfdickson@gmail.com.
In Northern California wine country, Ken Fischang abruptly resigned in May as president/CEO of Sonoma County Tourism, a position he had held since 2005. Fischang has been named executive director of the Saugatuck Douglas Area Convention and Visitors Bureau in Michigan.
Chief marketing officer Tim Zahner, a 10-year
veteran of Sonoma County Tourism, has been named interim CEO.
In Tallahassee, Leah Garey has left her post as domestic sales manager for Visit Florida and joined Expedia Media Solutions as senior account executive.
Sean Dixon has been promoted to marketing director for the Springfield (MO) CVB. Dixon joined the organization in 2010 as its interactive media manager. He has served for the past year as assistant marketing director.
Talia Cass has been named director of marketing and communications for the Saratoga (NY) Convention and Tourism Bureau. Previously, she has worked as an account executive for the Schenectady County (NY) Convention and Visitors Bureau.
David Holder has announced that he is leaving his post as president of Visit Syracuse after 10 years to join Jones Lang Lasalle as vice president-tourism. Previously, Holder was previously with tourism bureaus in Fredericksburg, VA and Steuben County, NY.
Renee Areng will continue as executive director of Visit Mississippi Gulf Coast until Sept. 30 after being voted out by the organization’s board of directors. Areng came to Mississippi from her post as executive vice president of Visit Baton Rouge, where she served for 12 years.
Keith Talbert has been named associate director of sales for the Oklahoma City Convention and Visitors Bureau. Before joining the bureau, Talbert held several sales positions with Visit Wichita and the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corporation.
Hills Balfour has been chosen by Brand USA as its UK and Ireland representation agency, ending a 5-year partnership with Black Diamond. The new partnership is initially for one year to provide travel marketing, representation and PR. The company already represents several U.S. destinations, including NYC & Company, Arizona, Scottsdale, Las Vegas, Nevada, Hawaii, Ontario, Santa Monica, Fort Lauderdale and the Palm Beaches.
And finally, our sister publication, The Inbound Report, indicates that Svetlana Yazovskikh, executive director of tourism, Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau, is looking for a new tourism marketing professional for the bureau. For more information, click on this link:https://www.appone.com/MainInfoReq.asp?R_ID=1596990.
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