Brevard County, Florida (Space Coast Office of Tourism) has selected veteran Florida marketing executive Peter Cranis as its new head of tourism development. Cranis has spent his entire professional career in various marketing and related communications positions in Florida. He most recently served as head of marketing and sales for ICON Orlando (formerly the Orlando Eye), the 400-foot observation wheel in Orlando’s International Drive tourism district. From 1999 to 2016, Cranis was vice president of global consumer and convention marketing for Visit Orlando. Cranis replaces Eric Garvey, who served as executive director of Florida’s Space Coast Office of Tourism for nearly four years before departing last July.
Hans van de Velde has been selected as the new chairman and CEO of TUI France. Based in Levallois-Perret, van de Velde, former tour operator director of the company, will chair its executive committee. At the same time, Serge Laurens, who has served as deputy chief executive officer, director of marketing, online & customer experience and head of external relations, also takes responsibility for the TUI and third- party distribution networks.
Jennifer Breed has been named account manager, USA West at Musement. Based in Las Vegas, Breed comes to the new job from The Las Vegas Monorail Company, where she had served for five years as director of sales and marketing.
The Providence Warwick CVB has named the bureau’s vice president of marketing and communications, Kristen Adamo, as its president and CEO. She succeeds Martha Sheridan who left the bureau in December to become President and CEO of the Boston CVB.
Adamo joined the Providence bureau in 2005 as the director of communications and was promoted to vice president in 2007.
Helen Tate (left) and Stephanie Robertson have joined the Canadian specialist Canadian Affairs as travel trade sales executives. Together, the pair bring almost 50 years’ travel experience to the company. Tate’s 30 years’ travel experience is mainly in senior sales roles with companies such as The Travel Corporation, Titan Travel and Travelworld. Robertson started her career in travel in 2000 and has held a range of sales and business development positions at All Leisure Holidays, Insight Vacations and Trafalgar Tours.
Colin Skerritt has been named Brand USA’s regional director in Canada. He’s be based in Toronto. Skerritt has more than 15 years of experience in the travel and tourism industry in Canada. From 2016 to 2018, Skerritt was director of tourism in Canada for the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority (ABTA). Prior to his time at ABTA, Skerritt handled corporate and leisure sales and marketing programs for Air Canada, where he was the global accounts manager from 2010 to 2016
TravelBrands has announced that Shannon Smith has been promoted to director of sales, Ontario. Smith brings 19 years of experience and a wide range of expertise to the role. Her travel career began in 2000 when she worked as a Cultural Rep at Epcot for the Walt Disney World Company. Since then she has had many different roles at a variety of organizations including Carlson Wagonlit Travel and Encore Cruises and now TravelBrands.
Stephen Braun has been appointed marketing manager for tourism, external affairs, for The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Braun comes to the role from Macy’s, where he served for four-and-a-half years and was national manager, tourism marketing and development.
JG Travel Group has appointed former Thomas Cook head of marketing Danny Crowe as sales and marketing director. He is responsible for marketing across all four brands in the group: Just Go Holidays, Omega Breaks, Cruise Connections and Albion.
Raphael Magalhães has been hired as the new sales manager of Visual Tourism for the São Paulo market. (Visual is a subsidiary of CVC.) He comes to the company after almost two years with Flytour. Magalhães resume also includes tenures with Nascimento Turismo and MMTGapnet.
Lisa Strader was recently named director of Visit Southern West Virginia, based in Beckley. She joined the agency after spending more than a dozen years doing independent public relations and managing websites. She also served for nine years as marketing director for Songer Whitewater, an outdoor adventure company in southern West Virginia.
