Julie Pingston, executive vice president/chief operating officer and David Buckenberger, senior vice president of Business Development of the Greater Lansing Convention & Visitors Bureau have earned the Certified Destination Management Executive (CDME) designation, the only integrated executive program specifically designed for the destination marketing industry.
Pinnacle Venue Services has named Dezarae Anderson as the General Manager of the Birch Run Expo Center. This will be a promotion for Anderson, as she previously worked as the Sales, Marketing & Event Manager at the Expo Center.
Cruise around greater Detroit and you’ll see plenty of promotion — from metro airport wall displays to highway billboards — spotlighting Motown as America’s greatest comeback city.
And, fortunately for meeting and event planners, the metro area’s tourism website also has evolved during these many years of economic rebirth and marketplace rebranding.
So it was good to see the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau staff all smiles this week after Skift named the visitdetroit.com website as one of the 25 best tourism board websites in the world for 2017.
Robert Snyders, who retired in late March 2017, served for 20 years as the National Sales Director for Experience Grand Rapids.
“Bob has been an integral part of the sales team at Experience Grand Rapids,” says Tom Bennett, vice president of sales and services of Experience Grand Rapids.
Thomas J.W. Voss has just been appointed managing director of the 1,048-room-Fairmont Austin, opening the summer of next year. He will be responsible for overall operations, performance and strategic direction for the newest and largest Fairmont hotel in the U.S.
With more than 35 years of experience in the hospitality industry, Voss has held a number of positions, including executive roles with Starwood Hotels.
They're kind of a big deal.
It was announced in late February that during the month of March uber-restaurateur Stephen Starr would be introducing a unique "Support our Schools" program in his 20 Philadelphia restaurants.
Philadelphia schools have long been a subject of discontent and Starr’s plans to raise $100,000 during the one-month period would help support multimedia labs, elementary school playgrounds and six-week summer internships. Starr’s restaurants average 40,000 customers per week and diners would be encouraged to add a donation when paying their bill.
