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People & Places Presented by Association News (June 2016)
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CVBs/DMOs
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Stacy Ritter has been named president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale (Florida) Convention & Visitors Bureau. Ritter, a Broward County commissioner, will begin her new role in June following the retirement of Nicki Grossman, the CVB’s former president and CEO.

Ashley Johnson has been named president and CEO of Visit Laguna Beach (California). Johnson has worked at Visit Laguna Beach for 10 years, most recently as its director of brand marketing and communications.

NYC & Company has named Patricia Herrera regional director of Southeast and global MICE sales, responsible for the Southeastern United States, Europe and South America. Herrera previously served as area director of international sales for Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants’ New York collection.

Murray Ryan has been named vice-president of sales for the Greater Madison (Wisconsin) Convention & Visitors Bureau. Most recently, Ryan served as director of sales for the U.S. Association Team for Tourism Toronto.

Tamara McGiboney has been named group sales and development manager of Visit Carlsbad (California). McGiboney has more than 25 years of experience and most recently worked with Visit Newport Beach (California) in the role of business development.

Kris Cristofaro has been hired as a sales manager for the DuPage (Illinois) Convention & Visitors Bureau. Cristofaro previously served as director of sales at the Hampton Inn/Chicago-Carol Stream.

Shanna Smith has been named the new chief of staff of the San Antonio Convention & Visitors Bureau. Smith was previously the bureau’s partner-relations manager for three years. She has more than 10 years of hospitality experience.

Joe Tominaro has been appointed marketing and communications manager at Visit Lake Geneva (Wisconsin). He previously worked at several firms in the Chicago area as a consultant for strategic executive marketing, branding and public relations.

Hospitality & Suppliers

Sean McCarron has been appointed general manager of the Waldorf Astoria/Orlando in Florida. McCarron has more than 15 years of experience and most recently served as hotel manager of the Four Seasons/Las Vegas.

Jacques D’Rovencourt has been promoted to general manager of the Hilton Americas-Houston. D’Rovencourt had served as the property’s hotel manager since 2011. Before that, he was resident manager of the Hilton/Baltimore.

Ralph Scatena has been appointed general manager of the Orlando World Center Marriott in Orlando, Florida. Scatena has more than 30 years of industry experience and was previously general manager of the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa in Palm Desert, California.

Steven Ellingsen has been appointed general manager of the Hilton Chicago–Oak Brook Hills Resort & Conference Center in Oak Brook, Illinois. In his most recent role, Ellingsen was responsible for leading the Whitehall Hotel in Chicago.

Mark Piatkowski has been named general manager of Omni Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa in Rancho Mirage, California. For the past four years, Piatkowski has been the general manager of the Omni Mandalay Hotel at Las Colinas in Irving, Texas.

Larry Auth has been appointed hotel manager of the Omni/Fort Worth in Texas. Auth has more than 26 years of hospitality experience and most recently worked as director of sales and marketing for the Worthington Renaissance Hotel, also in Fort Worth.

Nathan Midkiff has been named director of sales at the Silversmith Hotel in Chicago. Midkiff previously worked as sales manager at several other Chicago properties, including theWit Hotel and the Talbott.

Kim Thompson been hired as director of sales at the Hawks Cay Resort in Duck Key, Florida. Thompson has more than 25 years of industry experience and most recently served as director of sales for the Beach House in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

Michael Stephens has been named managing director of the Lansdowne Resort & Spa in Leesburg, Virginia. He most recently served as general manager of the Grand Hyatt/São Paulo in Brazil.

The Westin/Nashville, scheduled to open in October in Nashville, Tennessee, has appointed Richard Yamaguchi as director of group sales and Jessica Burd as sales manager. Yamaguchi previously served as sales manager at the Sheraton Music City Hotel, also in Nashville, and Burd was formerly account director at the W/Atlanta-Midtown.

The Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa in Tucson, Arizona, recently appointed Julie Tainter as director of sales and marketing, Maria Elena Armenta and Marc Van Dam as group account directors and Deborah Weiss as group sales manager. Most recently, Tainter served as director of sales at the Westward Look Wyndham Grand Resort & Spa, also in Tucson. Armenta previously served as a regional director of sales for the Preferred Hotel Group. Van Dam formerly worked as the North American sales director for Savision Inc. And Weiss was previously a sales manager for the Omni Tucson National Resort.

Karen Fey was recently named sales representative of the Plano Centre in Plano, Texas. Prior to this position, Fey worked as the public information specialist for Visit Plano.

Provenance Hotels has promoted Jennifer Cole to area director of sales for Seattle properties. Cole joined the organization in 2013 and most recently served as complex business travel sales manager, overseeing Hotel Max and the Roosevelt Hotel, both in Seattle.

Construction & Expansion 

The Kimpton Cardinal Hotel has opened in downtown Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Located in the first six floors of the historic former headquarters of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, the property offers 174 guest rooms and 6,375 square feet of function space.

The Hotel Indigo/Savannah Historic District has opened in Savannah, Georgia, in a 19th-century building between Ellis Square and the Savannah River. The 252-room property offers 6,000 square feet of flexible meeting space.

The Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas has completed a remodel of all 3,211 guest rooms and suites, the final phase of the resort’s $100 million renovation, which began in 2015. The resort is home to the 2.1 million-square foot Mandalay Bay Convention Center.

The Renaissance/Chicago Downtown has completed the final phase of its multimillion-dollar renovation and expansion, which introduced the 3,0000-square-foot Looking Glass Ballroom, a rooftop bar and an additional 4,000 square feet of meeting space. Last year, the property completed a renovation of its lobby and 520 guest rooms and 40 suites. The hotel now features nearly 34,000 square feet of meeting space.

The Hyatt at The Bellevue in Philadelphia recently completed the renovation of its 172 guest rooms, foyers, halls and elevator lobbies. The hotel offers 30,000 square feet of event space.

The Loews/Boston has completed renovations of its 5,000 square feet of meeting space. In 2014, it underwent a $12 million renovation to convert its historic building—formerly the Boston Police Headquarters—into its modern incarnation: a 222-room hotel with six meeting rooms, each named after a former Boston police officer.

Following a six-month renovation, the Atlanta Airport Hotel has been rebranded the Red Lion/Atlanta Airport. Features include 246 refurbished guest rooms, complimentary airport shuttle service, an outdoor pool and 3,200 square feet of meeting space.

The 2,300-villa Westgate Lakes Resort & Spa in Orlando, Florida, recently introduced 20,000 square feet of new meeting and banquet space for a total of 36,000 square feet of event space. Other new amenities include a 500-car garage and a valet drop-off area. The expansion is part of a $20 million enhancement that is expected to add a restaurant and retail spaces later this year.

In Memoriam

Betsy Rosemann, executive director of Goldsboro Travel & Tourism in North Carolina, passed away on May 2 at the age of 55. She had led Goldsboro’s travel and tourism department since 2005, when it was under the umbrella of the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce. Rosemann was also a member of numerous associations including the North Carolina Sports Association and the North Carolina Travel Industry Association.

In lieu of flowers, Rosemann’s family has requested that memorial donations be made to the Humane Society of Wayne County at P.O. Box 821, Goldsboro, N.C. 27533.

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