Mark Crabb has been named vice president of convention sales and destinations services at the Greater Palm Springs CVB. He joins the bureau from Sonoma County Tourism, where he served for nearly 10 years. Prior to that, he was deputy director of the Lee County (Fla.) visitor and convention bureau.

Andrew Botterill, former dnata Travel Europe chief executive, has taken a majority stake in Travcorp Holdings Ltd. He will become chairman of Travcorp – which comprises OTA Holidaygems.co.uk and the B2C Destination2.co.uk – on February 1. Botterill left dnata last year after three years leading the integration of Gold Medal Travel, Travel 2 and The Global Travel Group, among others. Prior to that he was chief executive of Stella Travel Services UK and also Global. Botterill told the British travel trade publication TTG that he hopes the company will become a platform for the acquisition of further travel businesses.

Kristine Puckett is the new deputy tourism director for the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism.  She will be in charge of marketing and the operations budget for the department. Also, she’ll coordinate the annual Arkansas Governor’s Conference for tourism. Puckett has worked with the department since 2002, and was formerly the development manager.

Jennifer Davies has been named by the San Diego Tourism Authority (SDTA) as the organization’s first director of cultural tourism, Balboa Park. In her new role, Davies will oversee the SDTA’s Balboa Park-focused cultural tourism initiatives, working to promote Balboa Park as a nationally recognized cultural icon and generate travel to the San Diego region. Prior to joining the SDTA, Davies served as the assistant dean of external affairs for UC San Diego Extension and vice president of external affairs for the Downtown San Diego Partnership.

In France, Top of Travel announced that Jean-Claude Gaudin has taken over responsibility for Top of Travel Group Services. Jean-Claude has over 20 years’ experience in the groups market, notably at Thomas Cook, where he held the position of group operations manager.

Montréal-based Air Transat has appointed Liz Langan as its UK sales manager for southern England. Langan joins from Oman Air. Langan has 15 years of experience in airline sales working with airlines including Air Canada and Etihad Airways before joining the Canadian leisure carrier.

Ian Chambers has been named head of media and digital marketing at TUI UK and Ireland. Chambers joins the company after serving Monarch Airlines for more than a dozen years in a variety of senior positions, including that of chief commercial officer, for Monarch Airlines which, along with Monarch Holidays, shut down three months ago.

Julie Greenhill has joined The Greg Evans Consultancy in London as director. Greenhill has more than three decades of experience in the UK tour and travel Industry, holding various roles including product and marketing managerial posts for the USA, Canada and the Caribbean. She has worked in representation since 2007 serving such clientele as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Texas, Scottsdale, Louisiana and the Deep South.

Steve Ellis has been hired to assist U.S. Tours, a leading American tour operator, with sales, marketing and strategic planning. Ellis has been a leader in the Tour and Travel Industry for 40 years and brings a wealth of knowledge and unique experience to this new role. Ellis recently retired from Dixie Stampede where he worked these past 6 years after selling his business “Steve Ellis Tours” to U.S. Tours, which is owned by Bob Cline.

Gustavo Syllos has left his position as chief marketing officer of São Paulo-based Costa do Sauípe after little more than two years in the job. The move follows the recent acquisition of Costa do Sauípe by the Rio Quente Group. Costa do Sauípe CEO Mark Campbell is expected to remain with the company, but will return to the position of Operations Director, making room for Rio Quente’s CEO, Francisco Costa Neto. Syllos said he will return to his consulting firm, Form and Content.

Decolar.com, one of the largest OTAs in  Brazil,  confirmed that André Alves no longer holds the position of country manager of the company in Brazil. The company’s commercial flight manager, Paulo Padula, is temporarily in charge. The company gave no reason for the departure of Alves, although it did indicate that there were no immediate plans to name replace Alves.

In France, Claude Blanc (left) is leaving his position as president and co-director of Travel & Co. He had co-founded the group with Jacques Judéaux (right), who remains alone at the head of the company.  Blanc remains a 20 percent shareholder and wants to embark on a new start-up project that he does not yet want to disclose. Travel & Co is the owner of East West Travel, which includes Australia Tours, Alma Latina and Asia Infiny, Terres de Charme, Back Roads brands and Local Travel Heroes brands. Discover Albany also created a new position, partnership & community relations manager and promoted Danielle Walsh serve in this role. Walsh was formerly sales coordinator.

Discover Albany kicked off the New Year with the announcement of three new hires to the sales and marketing departments, including Jay Cloutier, who will serve as director of sales, and Michelle Santos, who will serve as the new marketing coordinator and social media strategist. Cloutier, who previously worked for the Albany CVB for six years beginning in 1999, was most recently a group sales manager for three conference hotels in Albany. Santos previously worked at a boutique public relations firm in New York City and as a project manager at Albany-based Behan Communications. Discover Albany also created a new position, partnership and community relations manager, and promoted Danielle Walsh to serve in this role. Walsh was formerly sales coordinator. And Sara Reed has also joined Discover Albany, serving as the new sales/services administrator. Before joining Discover Albany, Reed was a financial service representative for Nationwide Financial.

Long-time tour and travel industry veteran Sam Rogers is leaving his post as executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Visit Baltimore after more than 10 years in order to become interim president and CEO of Visit Norfolk in Virginia. Rogers had worked at the Norfolk bureau, previously, in the 1990s. He also served as vice president of the Philadelphia CVB from 1997-2005.

In Brazil, the CVC group has announced the appointment of Mariana Alcobas as a sales executive for its TREND Operadora brand. She works out of the company’s office Curitiba, capital city of Paraná, which is just south of São Paulo. Alcobas has more than 10 years experience in the tour and travel industry, including tenures as an account manager at Bedsonline, and as supervisor of sales at Gold Arrow Turismo.

Jeannette Linfoot has decided to leave Saga after two years serving as CEO of the group’s tour operating division. Saga will now bring the tour operating division together with the cruise division under Saga Cruises chief executive Robin Shaw. Before joining Saga in December 2015, Linfoot was managing director – emerging markets at TUI. She started at Thomson (now a TUI brand) in 1995 where she stayed for seven years before moving to Barcelona to lead TUI España between 2002-2003.

Stacey Mitchell, who was recently named director of the Tourism Development Council of Monroe County, Florida (It operates under the Florida Keys & Key West brand) after serving as its director of sales for 18 years, has a successor for her old position: He is Jim DeKeyrel, an 11-year Key West resident and former American Eagle airline station manager at Key West International Airport. Mitchell replaced Harold Wheeler, who retired as TDC director after 21 years at the agency.

Former TUI UK & Ireland CEO David Burling has had his role on the executive board of the company extended another thee years until May 2021. Burling has overall responsibility for the company’s northern region, covering the UK & Ireland, Nordic countries, Canada and Russia, as well as hotel purchasing and the airline platform. He has been a member of the Tui Group’s management bodies for almost six years.

Ron Erdmann, the U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office’s (NTTO) deputy director for research and analysis, has announced his retirement, effective at the end of December. Erdmann, known by virtually anyone who has prepared a table of numbers on inbound travel to the United States, is leaving NTTO after 30 years of service as a federal employee. He is known universally as a professional truly dedicated to his duties—he once returned a phone call on a Saturday night to a recorded message left by INBOUND’s editor—and helpful to anyone with an inquiry.

Dan Lincoln, president and CEO of the Cincinnati USA CVB, and a highly respected and beloved industry professional will retire at the end of the year due to unspecified health concerns, the bureau has announced. The CVB has hired a national search firm to find a replacement. Mike Laatsch, CVB’s chief operating officer, will serve as Interim CEO until a successor is named. Lincoln has served in position since May 2006.

The United States Tour Operators Association named its 2018 board of directors, five of whom serve as the associations’ Executive Committee, at its Annual Conference & Marketplace, Nov. 27-Dec. 1 in Hollywood, Fla. Heading the Executive Committee as newly-appointed chairman will be Dana Santucci, vice president of development at EF Education First, who will joined by Harry Dalgaard, president of Avanti Destinations, as vice chair; Charlie Ball, executive vice president, Princess Cruises & Tours, as treasurer; Scott Wiseman, president, Travel Impressions, as secretary; and Paula Twidale, executive vice president, Collette, as immediate past chair.

Helen Parry is leaving her post as regional sales manager for trade at Jet2holidays to start her own travel agency. Parry had worked at Jet2holidays since 2013. Prior to that, she had worked for 18 years at TUI in various roles, lastly as general manager for TUI UK & Ireland.

Kyle Edmiston is leaving his post as assistant secretary for the Louisiana Office of Tourism to become as the new chief operations officer/deputy director of the Lake Charles/Southwest Louisiana CVB. Edmiston, who had held his post as assistant secretary for nearly six years, was previously president and CEO of the Ruston Lincoln Parish CVB. Active in numerous tour and travel industry organizations, Edmiston currently sits on the board of directors of Brand USA.

The board of directors of Visit Mississippi Gulf Coast has tapped Milton Segarra, currently CEO of Meet Puerto Rico, to be the new executive director of the organization. Segarra, who starts his new position on Jan. 8, succeeds Renee Areng after the board seven months ago did not renew her contract. Segarra has been with Meet Puerto Rico for almost five years. Previously, he held high-level marketing and business development positions with several different organizations.