SpeedVegas, the soon-to-be opened Las Vegas attraction that offers customers a racetrack driving experience in exotic racing cars, has announced that Pavy Mueller has joined the organization as director of global sales. A 20-year veteran of the tour and travel industry, Mueller’s CV includes tenures with Four Season Hotels and, most recently, Sundance Helicopters. Her responsibilities will include corporate meeting/incentive group and leisure/wholesale markets.

 

Gina Romanelli has been promoted to the post of director of sales at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pa. Romanelli has been with the attraction since 2004, most recently as director of group sales. Prior to joining the National Constitution Center, she worked for Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

 

Charles D. McKee has been named as head of marketing for Malaysia Airlines. McKee has 27 years’ experience in the airline, hospitality and travel sectors, including tenures with Air Canada and lastminute.com. Most recently he was vice president of marketing at Canada’s Delta Hotels & Resorts.

 

Samie Barr has been named as Hyatt’s new vice president of global brands. Barr, who has more than 25 years of consumer and retail experience, joins Hyatt from Starbucks, where she spent more than 14 years in a range of senior brand management roles. She has also worked for Nintendo.

 

Fanny Yeung has been named general manager of Sabre Travel Network’s Hong Kong operations. Yeung previously spent 20 years with Abacus, which was recently acquired by Sabre. She then moved to Travel Innovation Partners where she was responsible for product analysis and implementation support.

 

 

Reed Travel Exhibitions has appointed David Hidalgo Ayala as new show director, ICOMEX and Event Production Forum, for the Reed Exhibitions Mexico Portfolio. Prior to joining Reed, Ayala was general director of the Yucatan CVB.

 

Neil Beard, former Lowcost Travel Group head of worldwide purchasing, has joined Superbreak, where he serves as head of product and purchasing for London, reporting to sales and product director Jane Atkins. Before Lowcost Travel Group, Beard spent six years contracting hotels for the London Olympic Games.

 

After serving just over than 20 years in the post, Phil Hannes has left his is job as director of tourism development for the Anaheim CVB. He is making the move to join his wife, Marilyn K. Hannes, who is vice president, of global sales, Seaworld Parks and Entertainment in San Diego, and has been transferred by the company to Orlando. Prior to his tenure with the CVB, Hannes held sales positions at the Holiday Inn Buena Park and the Doubletree Club Hotel in Santa Ana. For those interested in contacting Phil can reach him via phannes@sbcglobal.net.

 

Johanne Bélanger has been appointed president and CEO of Tourism Toronto, effective Sept. 1. Bélanger, who has been a member of the organization’s board of directors since 2009, was president of Freeman Audio Visual Canada for the past 10 years and has been globally recognized for her work. She replaces David Whitaker who left Tourism Toronto last May to become chief marketing officer of Brand USA in Washington, D.C.

 

Tere Frank Stamoulis, a long-time Southern California travel marketing professional, has been named as California representative and strategic marketing consultant for GO 1 2 3 CITY HOP, a new sightseeing transportation company that targets Chinese FIT visitors to Southern California. The new entity is a division of CHD, Inc., a Las Vegas-based DMC. Stamoulis, whose professional CV includes tenures in senior staff positions at both the Long Beach and Santa Monica CVBs, has run her own consultancy for more than a dozen years, specializing in marketing projects for destinations.

 

Gordon McCreadie has been appointed director of sales and marketing B2B, Travel 2 and Gold Medal. Previously the sales and marketing director for Travel 2, the role will see McCreadie lead a sales and marketing team with direct reports that includes Ruth Hilton, Tracy Hirsz, Stephanie Lord, Rhona Jenkins and Alison Cockburn.

 

Also at Travel 2 and Gold Medal, Lisa Smith, current operations director for Gold Medal, will expand her role to lead the contact centre sales and operations teams for both Travel 2 and Gold Medal as director of operations. Smith’s direct reports include Bev Dumbleton, Kathryn Sharples, Kristian Slater Scott, Daniel Pound, David Irving, Felice Bretman, Shayna Swinhoe and Fraser Fairley.

 

Announcement of the two promotions above came from Andy Freeth, who had recently been named as managing director of both Travel 2 and Gold Medal following the acquisition late last year of both businesses by Dubai-based dnata, a part of the Emirates Group. Freeth’s third and final direct report, the B2B director of product and commercial, is yet to be confirmed.

 

Bob Gilbert has left his position as vice president of sales and marketing for the new Las Vegas attraction, Exotics Racing—just five months after joining the company earlier this year. Through his brief tenure with the company, Gilbert—a widely known veteran in the tourism and hospitality industries who has authored numerous articles and served as the senior sales official of such organizations as Delaware North, Helms Briscoe and Best Western International—had maintained his consultancy, Captivation Marketing. A member of NAJ’s Strategic Advisory Council, Gilbert can be reached at bob@bobgilbert.net.

 

Andreas Lambeck is leaving his post as e-commerce manager for Alltours by “mutual agreement’ after two years on the job. He was responsible for re-launching the group’s online portals and improving its search engine placements.

 

 

 

Timo Salzsieder has been named chief operating officer at the E-commerce group Tomorrow Focus as the company continues its transformation into a travel retailer. Salzsieder will be responsible for product management and IT. Salzsieder was already chief operating officer for the group’s main portal, Holidaycheck.

 

 

Marcel Mayer has left his position as product and sales director at direct sales tour operator Berge & Meer—it is part of TUI— in order to pursue new career opportunities. The company has named Thomas Rolf (right)as his replacement.

 

Andreas Zahn has been appointed tourism director for Ameropa-Reisen,  with responsibility for packages, including holiday packages, city trips and events.

 

Sue Arko, the now semi-retired founder of Free Spirit Vacations and Events, which is based in Gilbert, Ariz., has announced the hiring of a new general manager for the company: Tish Losure. A 30-year veteran of the tour and travel industry, Losure began her career in the hotel sector, working as a national director of tour and travel for major hotel chains, including Baymont Inns, La Quinta and Red Lion. Losure later moved to the tour operator side of the industry, serving at New Horizons Tour and Travel and LEAD USA. (Photos: Arko, top, and Losure)

 

Long-time hospitality industry veteran Tony Chawla has been let go as a result of a restructuring within IHG. Chawla had been with IHG for more than 15 years, first as a regional director of international sales for several years in San Francisco and, since September 2003, as a key account director in Los Angeles. Prior to his tenure with IHG, Chawla had served as director of sales for the Holiday Inn in Hollywood and, later, as general manager of the Holiday Inn Hollywood Walk of Fame. He began his career in 1976 with the Hotelfschule brand in Europe.

 

The UK group tour specialist On The Go Tours has appointed Carl Cross as managing director of its global operations. He joins from Flight Centre UK where he was general manager retail product, marketing and consumer experience. Cross will split his time between offices in Australia and the UK, as well as in Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. His appointment follows the departure of general manager Pru Goudie, who has left after two tours of duty with the operator totaling 12 years.

 

Online booking service HotelPlanner is moving to larger headquarters within West Palm Beach, Fla.,  say co-founder and CEO is Tim Hentschel—he is the son of Noel Irwin-Hentschel, founder and chair of AmericanTours International—and fellow co founder and CIO John Prince. The move to larger facilities is intended to accommodate a 167 percent increase in the number of its staff, from 45 to 120, over the next five years. All totaled, the company has about 90 workers across its offices in Florida, Las Vegas, London and Hong Kong. The move to the new 15,000-square foot space at the PNC Bank Building on Datura Street in West Palm Beach is expected to take place Dec. 1. (Photos: Hentschel, top, and Prince)

 

Ben Roseveare has joined London-based Mark Warner Holidays as the company’s new head of sales and marketing. Roseverare joins Mark Warner from his previous role as marketing director at Intrepid Group. He was also previously sales and marketing director at Exodus Travels. He brings with him 15 years’ experience running sales and marketing teams in the active and adventure holiday sector.

 

 

The Springfield [Illinois] CVB has named Gina Gemberling executive director after she had served in the post in an acting role for the past 16 months. In addition to acting director, Gemberling—she has been with the CVB bureau since 1992—has served as a sales manager, a services manager and the director of sales and marketing for the bureau. She succeeds Fred Puglia, who retired from the position in early 2014.

 

 

Cori Day, director of tourism for the city of Independence, Mo. is leaving the post after four years to join Visit KC, where she has been named vice president of sales and services for the organization. Her first day at her new assignment will be Aug. 31. Before her tenure at Independence, Day served for four years as convention sales manager for the Columbia (Mo.) CVB.

 

 

Abby Spatz has joined New York City & Company as chief marketing officer. She’ll lead the company’s marketing group and will oversee the in-house creative, digital, editorial, photography and video teams. Spatz comes to NYC & Co, from the spa and beauty brand Bliss, where she served as the head of integrated marketing and communications. Prior to that Spatz spent 20-plus years working across a range of marketing functions with global consumer lifestyle brands for several major global ad agencies and entities such as American Express, where she was senior brand manager.

 

Mufi Hannemann, the former mayor of Honolulu, is returning to the Hawaii Lodging & Tourism Association as president and CEO. He replaces George Szigeti, who was just appointed as president of the Hawaii Tourism Authority. Hannemann had previously served as president, and later, CEO of the association—in 2011 and 2012. Well-known in Hawaiian politics, he served as mayor of Honolulu from 2005 to 2010 and was an unsuccessful candidate for governor in 2014.

 

Amir Eylon has left his post as vice president of partner engagement for Brand USA to return to Columbus, Ohio and take over as president of the Longwoods USA operation. The company is the globally-known research firm that conducts Longwoods Travel USA®, the largest ongoing survey of American travelers, as well as advertising return on investment research in 12 countries around the globe. Before joining Brand USA in 2012, Eylon had served for five years as state tourism director of Ohio, based in Columbus. Prior to that, he had been executive vice president of the Ohio Hotel & Lodging Association.

 

Cindy Allen has been named chief marketing officer for American Express Global Business Travel. In this role, Allen will oversee the company’s brand positioning, marketing, product marketing and corporate communications and industry relations functions on a global level. Before joining Amex, Allen served as vice president, Travel Management Company (TMC) Services, at Concur.

 

Aimie Johnson has been appointed as business development manager for North America Western Region for Kuoni Group Travel Experts. Based in Denver, Colorado, Aimie will be responsible for developing group travel business for the Kuoni Group Travel Experts and Travel Bound brands.

Johnson brings to the position nearly a decade’s sales and marketing experience gained with the Globus family of brands.

 

Stacey Cohen moves from AlliedTPro, where she last worked in groups, to Travalco as senior market manager for the New York region.  She can be reached at Stacey@travalco.com.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, Miami-based Travalco has also hired two group specialists from the Russian Service Bureau, a receptive operator based in Florida that has been decimated by the precipitous decline in Russian inbound business due to effect of the collapse of the ruble as well as economic sanctions put into place by European nations following Russia’s annexation of the Crimea and its later, supporting role in the shooting down on July `7, 2014 of an Air Asia flight over the Ukraine. Aleksandr Sigalus has joined Travalco three months ago as manager of group and incentives; he can be reached at Aleksandr@travalco.com.  Also from the Russian Service Bureau,  has been hired as group specialist.

The FTI Group has reorganized management board responsibilities into five business areas following several recent personnel departures. Roula Jouny, head of the incoming agency Meeting Point and the Youtravel bedbank, has been appointed Chief Content Officer with responsibility for service, quality management and supplier relationships.

 

At DER Touristik, Gerd Christian Finck has been appointed as head of corporate development, with responsibility for market research, company strategy and portfolio management. In another appointment, former Condor and Traveltainment manager Frank Seedorff has joined the group as head of the DER.com website.

 

As it fills out its UK leadership team, Dubai-based dnata has announced the appointment of Andy Freeth as managing director of Travel 2 and Gold Medal. The announcement came from Andrew Botterill, European CEO for dnata Travel B2B; he indicated that it is selecting directors for its UK operations from existing management roles. Freeth will announce his own senior management team over the coming few weeks, with a further announcement to follow shortly. Freeth has served for more than eight years with the Stella Travel Group, also a part of the dnata portfolio.

 

Roshan Mendis has been appointed as Sabre Travel Network’s senior vice president for Asia Pacific. Mendis joins the team following 12 years with Travelocity.com, where he was most recently president of the Americas, until its 2015 sale to Expedia. He was also formally president of Zuji.

 

 

Benjamin Maddy has joined Discovery Times Square as director of sales and tourism. Maddy comes to the position from Dave & Busters, where he served for more than 10 years, lastly as national marketing and tourism sales manager.

 

 

Elizabeth Qian Hansen has notified her friends in an e-mail that, after a little more than two years as director, Chinese & Asian Leisure Market for the Venetian Palazzo in Las Vegas, the company has restructured its sales force and has eliminated her position as of July 8th. Before joining the Venetian Palazzo, she served for six years as director, China Market/international leisure sales manager, for Caesars Entertainment.