Chelsea Ruby has been tapped to become the next tourism commissioner of West Virginia. The transition team of Governor-elect Jim Justice, a Democrat who takes office Jan. 16th, has announced Ruby’s nomination for tourism commissioner. She will be replacing Amy Shuler Goodwin, who was appointed in 2014 by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, also a Democrat. Ruby currently serves as the primary spokesperson for the Department of Commerce and runs the state department’s advertising agency.
Jan Dimova is among the group of professionals whose positions were eliminated when Meeting Point North America, the USA-based receptive tour operator of FTI—it is located in Orlando—put a company restructuring into place at the beginning of this year. Dimova, who had served with Meeting Point for 13 years, was product manager for a 17-state region across North America. She can be reached via jdimova@cfl.rr.com.
TravelNevada, the state’s tourism promotion office has established the Larry J. Friedman “Industry Partner of the Year Award” in celebration of long-time Nevada tourism industry leader Larry Friedman, who worked in sales and marketing for various Nevada tourism entities during his career, and spent more than 26 years at the Nevada Commission on Tourism, now called TravelNevada. Friedman retired from state service on Dec. 28, 2016.
Luis A. Alvarado has been promoted to the position of associate director of sales and marketing for Entertainment Cruises in New York City. He had served for nearly five years as team manager for corporate and travel industry sales for the company. Well-known in the New York City area, Alvarado’s resume includes tenures in senior sales positon at several New York hotel properties as well as a previous stint (2002-2007) at Entertainment Cruises.
Scott Fortner has been named executive director of Idaho’s Visit Sun Valley. A veteran of more than 25 years in the tour and travel industry, Fortner comes to his new position from Breckenridge, Colorado, were he served for nearly a decade as director of marketing.
