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Phillip Jones is out as president and CEO of VisitDallas in a move that the organization called a “mutual decision.” Jones came under fire earlier this year after the Dallas City Auditor’s Office released a report about VisitDallas’ questionable spending and lack of transparency. The audit found, for instance, that Jones, who makes $700,000 a year, also expensed a $543 Tumi backpack and spent more than $17,000 on 18 hotel stays, despite VisitDallas rules limiting hotel reimbursement to $180 a night in all cities except New York, where the reimbursement can be $250 per night. Mark Woelffer, VisitDallas’ board chair, thanked Jones for his “great career” at the agency. Said Jones: “It has been a privilege to lead VisitDallas during an important period of growth for the organization and now it’s time for my next challenge.” Jones came to the agency in November 2003. Previously, he had been secretary of the Louisiana Department of Culture Recreation and Tourism for nearly 8 years.

 

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Kyle Edmiston has been promoted to the post of president and CEO of Visit Lake Charles. He succeeds the retired Shelley Galloway Johnson who had served the agency for more than 30 years. Edmiston joined Visit Lake Charles in January 2018 as chief operating officer. Previously, he had been assistant secretary of the Louisiana Office of Tourism for nearly six years. Prior to that, Edmiston had been president and CEO of the Ruston-Lincoln CVB.

 

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After 18 years with the company, Theodora Dimopoulou has left DER Touristik. In her position as vice president of air transportation, she had been responsible for all air matters, such as tour operators and consolidators within the company. Previously she had been country manager for Germany & Austria for World Span, and was a sales rep at American Airlines.

 

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Patrice Geske, director of marketing (Canada) for the Globus family of brands and a 10-year employee, has chosen to retire at the end of June this year. “Patrice will definitely be missed, not only by our team here in Canada and around the world, but by the many travel retailers and suppliers she has dealt with over the years,” said Stéphanie Bishop, managing director for the Globus family of brands in Canada. Geske joined the company in 2009 as marketing manager. “This has been a wonderful part of my 38-year career,” she said, “And I will miss my friends and colleagues in the Globus family around the world.”

 

 

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Colleen Buchanan has been appointed as destination sales manager at Visit San Antonio. Buchanan joined the bureau in Jan. 2017, as destination experience manager. She will work with partners at the Henry B. González Convention Center, hotels, meeting venues and attractions to coordinate in-market site visits.

 

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Destinations International has hired Paula Beck as its new director of marketing in an effort to develop and implement analytics-driven marketing and branding strategies. Beck served as director of sales & marketing for eight years within Aramark’s Parks & Destinations division. From 2006 – 2010, Beck worked as marketing manager at onPeak in Chicago, a provider of hotel accommodations for events. She had been doing consulting work since moving to Alexandria, Virginia, in 2018

 

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Eatwith (formerly VizEat), which specializes in immersive culinary activities, has appointed Ken Frohling as director of global development. A leading tourism specialist for more than 25 years, was recently vice president of global partnerships for the attractions division of TripAdvisor. Prior to that, he was part of the Viator.com management team, worked as a strategic advisor at Tiqets.com, served as Americas Region Manager at Cendant Corporation (HotelClub.com and RatesToGo.com), and was a sales manager at Atinera and at Renaissance Cruises.

 

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Edward D. Sevilla has been appointed to the new position of senior vice president and chief development officer for the USS Constitution Museum in Boston. Sevilla joins the organization from national philanthropy consulting firm Grenzebach Glier + Associates (GG+A), where he served as senior vice president and a member of the leadership team. Earlier in his career, he served as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer in Hong Kong. The USS Constitution visited Macao, across the harbor from Hong Kong, during its world tour in 1844-6.  The USS Constitution, launched in 1797 and named by President George Washington after the nation’s founding document, is the world’s oldest commissioned naval vessel still afloat.

 

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Greg Takehara has been named CEO at Tourism Cares, the official philanthropy wing of NTA, which is based in Norwood, Massachusetts, and is widely known for its charitable work. Takehara, who has been with the organization for six-and-a-half years as a board member, was previously president of Kansas City-based Trip Mate Inc.

 

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United Airlines has announced the hiring of Mariana Trevizan as sales manager for São Paulo, its main market in the country. She replaces Guilherme Dal Secco, who left the company in December. Mariana has more than 15 years of aviation experience. In the last two she worked at Copa Airlines, but previously served with Etihad, British and South African Airways.

 

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David Filipiak has move up to the post of general manager at the National Geographic Encounter in New York City. Filipiak was previously director of sales for the attraction, which he joined in late 2016. Prior to that, he was director of groups at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum and, before that, manager of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

 

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Solenn Le Brazidec has been named general manager of Paris-based FCM Travel Solutions, which is part of the Flight Centre Group. She was promoted from the position of operations director for France & Switzerland. Le Brazidec has been with the company for 11 years.

 

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After twenty years as a commercial manager, Sérgio Vianna is no longer part of the tour operator Abreutur. “After two decades working in the same company, I just have to thank Abreu. It was a school for me, a carrier that puts the customer first,” Vianna told a Brazilian travel trade journal.

 

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Kim Butler has a new position as director of marketing for Dania Pointe, Florida—a 102-acre premier mixed-use development with almost 1 million square feet of retail and restaurants in addition to Class A offices, hotels, luxury apartments and public event space which it bills as “in the heart of South Florida’s tourist mecca” Butler was vice president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale CVB for nearly four years before she left the bureau Clarks also served as director of marketing communications for the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority in Atlantic City before moving to Florida.

 

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James Villas has appointed Expedia’s Andreas Nau as its new managing director. Nau was managing director EMEA at Expedia where he served from 2011.He has also worked at Tui where he led the hotel contracting strategy and managed its car hire division. Nau began his new job on May 15.

 

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Monya Mandich has been named global vice president, marketing, at Expedia Group. Previously, she served as senior director, global marketing and public relations, for the company. Mandich joined Expedia in 2009 as manager, marketing and communications.

 

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Long-time tour and travel industry leader Matt Stiker has been named president of Garrand Moehlenkamp, a Portland, Maine communications and marketing agency. He had been serving as chief marketing (and Nourishing) Officer. Siker is a former chief marketing officer for City PASS, and has also served as executive vice president and chief marketing officer for the San Francisco Travel Association.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Erika Elisabeth for 23 years at Harlem Spirituals /New York Visions /Maven DMC

 

Suzanne Evans for 13 years at Trendy Tours LLC

 

Dennis Edwards for 12 years at Greater Raleigh Convention & Visitors Bureau

 

Joseph Cappuzello for 10 years at Group Leaders of America, Select Traveler, Going on Faith, African American Travel, SMM & Boomers Groups Conferences

 

Alisa Bailey for 7 years at Charleston (West Virginia) Convention & Visitors Bureau

 

Esther Roth for 6 years at AlliedTPro

 

Morgan Maravich for 4 years at NTA

 

Christopher Barrett for 2 years at Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau

 

Luisa Mendoza for 1 year at BSE Global

 

Penny McNamara for 1 year at Meeting Point North America

 

Source: LinkedIn

 

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.

 

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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.

 

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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.

 

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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.

 

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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.

 

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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

 

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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.

 

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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.

 

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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.

 

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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.

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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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beverly Roberts for 26 years at AVS Tours & Travel

 

Shirley Smith for 21 years at Central Pennsylvania CVB

 

Sandra L. Spires for 19 years at Meeting Point North America

 

Nick Wayland for 19 years at TravMedia.com

 

Margaret Zola for 10 years at American Ring Travel

 

Wendy Dobrzynski for 5 years at Circle Wisconsin

 

Heidi Steffen for 8 years at Nordmanns-reiser AS

 

Ron Price for 6 years at Arlington Convention & Visitors Bureau (Texas)

 

Debbie Kenton for 5 years at Hotelbeds Group

 

Yves Fore for 3 years at America & Beyond

 

Ryan Thompson for 2 years at Odyssey, The Story Studio

 

Source: LinkedIn

Karen Shiers has been appointed vice president of sales, North America for Merlin Entertainments PLC. Shiers joined Merlin in 2011 as part of the company’s management trainee program and since then has worked across the world in various sales positions, from Madame Tussauds New York to New Openings EMEA to LEGOLAND Japan. She will be moving to Orlando from her current role as head of sales and revenue management for LEGOLAND California Resort.

 

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Keiko Matsudo Orrall has been named executive director of the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism (MOTT).  Prior to her appointment Orrall served in the Massachusetts Legislature for four terms as a Representative for the 12th Bristol district. Orrall lost in her bid for a seat in the State Senate to incumbent Democrat Deb Goldberg last November in the general election. She succeeds Francois-Laurent Nivaud, a management consultant and former hotelier who held the job for three years.

 

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Mike Waterman has been let go from his position as president and CEO of Visit Houston. He held the post since May 2015 and also served as chief sales and marketing officer for Houston First. The decision not to renew his contract was made by Brenda Bazan, president and CEO of Houston First. Visit Houston (formerly the Houston CVB) was structurally aligned within Houston First five years ago and the employees became employees of Houston First. However, the bureau and Houston First remain separate entities. Waterman came to Visit Houston in 2015 following more than 20 years in senior sales and marketing positions from Renaissance Hotels and Resorts, and then Marriott International.

 

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Transat has announced the appointment of Monique Lalonde to the position of director, Agent@Home, for Transat Distribution Canada. She will be dedicated to the development and the maturation of Transat Distribution Canada’s Agent@Home program, to make it the best outside sales agent program in Canada. Monique reports to Susan Bowman, vice president, marketing.

 

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Donna Hanson has been named director of fun at US Integrity Touring, a Maine-based operator that plans and operates student performance group tours. She joins the company from The Maine Tour Collection in South Portland, Maine, where she served for nearly 19 years, lastly as vice president of fun.

 

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Ian Ross has been promoted to the position of executive vice president at Travel Spike, a travel technology and digital marketing company. Ross, who has been with the company for nearly six years, was previously vice president.

 

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The Greater Fort Lauderdale CVB has announced the appointment of Tracy Vaughan as its new senior vice president of tourism & travel industry sales. Starting on April 22, Vaughan will be responsible for the strategic leadership of the bureau’s domestic and international transient sales efforts.
Prior to joining the Greater Fort Lauderdale CVB, Vaughan served as director of global market development for the tourism division at the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) for four and a half years. Prior to that, she was director of international sales and marketing at VISIT FLORIDA, where she served more than 22 years.

 

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Anna Laestadius has been appointed chief creative officer of TUI Group. In her new role she will oversee the global development of the TUI brand. Formerly Nordic marketing chief, she replaces Barbara Haase, who left TUI earlier this year. Laestadius has been with TUI since 2015 and was responsible for the launch of the brand name TUI in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. Before joining TUI she was global vice president brand and marketing for Electrolux Grand Cuisine.

 

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WestJet has appointed Charles (Chuck) Crowder as vice-president, sales and distribution, reporting to Arved von zur Muehlen, chief commercial officer, effective April 29, 2019. Crowder has nearly 30 years as a sales leader in the global travel and aviation industry. He joins WestJet most recently from Avis Budget Group where he served as vice president, global accounts and cross border sales, in charge of developing the global sales strategy with large corporate and travel management companies. Prior to that, Chuck held various sales leadership and general management positions with United Airlines and Continental Airlines in the United States and Europe.

 

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Scott Towers has been named manager of tours at Boston’s Boch Center, which is home to three theatre and a popular venue for the performing arts as well as special events. Towers comes to the job from Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox, were he worked for nine years, lastly as manager of tours at Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox.

 

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Anna Engstrom Klapper has been appointed director of marketing communications for securiport, a Washington, D.C.-based firm that specializes the application of modern technology for border and airport security. Klapper’s CV includes a five-year-plus tenure at Brand USA, where she was once Manager, Global Trade Development

 

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Simon Garrido, former head of sales at Attraction World, has joined Travelopia as head of trade partnerships. Garrido will manage trade sales for Travelopia’s tailor made brands Hayes & Jarvis, Citalia, Sovereign Luxury Travel and Austravel. Garrido, who was previously head of trade sales at Monarch, before its collapse, had also held roles at Airtours, Global and Avis.

 

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Visit Phoenix has promoted Lorne Edwards to senior vice president of convention sales and services. Edwards joined Visit Phoenix in 2012 after a 16-year stint in sales at Hyatt Hotels Corporation, where he served as director of sales and marketing at two Boston-area hotels, among other roles.

 

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Brazilian tour operator RCA Turismo, has hired Maurício Alexandre as commercial director. Alexandre left Sea World / Imaginadora last week after almost a decade as director RCA is Disney select operator and has carrier contracts also selected with Universal Orlando and Sea World Parks, since one of its specialties are trips to Orlando. Mauricio Alexandre has worked for companies such as American Airlines, Walt Disney World, RCA and Sea World Parks.

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Erminia Nigro has joined Air Canada Vacations as its new general manager, sales – Ontario & National Accounts. In this role, she will be responsible for leading a six-person sales team, including five area sales managers and one manager of national accounts. Nigro joins Air Canada Vacations from TravelBrands where she most recently held the position of director of sales, having spent the past 16 years with the company. Prior to that, she spent four years at Sunquest as a Business Development Manager, with her first two years in the industry at Regent Holidays.

 

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Glenn Hollister has been named vice president–sales strategy and effectiveness for United Airlines. Hollister comes to United from ZS Associates, where he was the principal and practice leader for travel and transportation. He also he led ZS associates’ efforts to help travel companies across the commercial functions of marketing, sales and revenue management and other related areas. At United, Hollister will lead the carrier’s strategy, analysis, market development, digital sales, channel management, sales support, sales events, sales training and sales systems teams.