Thank you to our 2021 Annual Conference Guest Speakers

Bennish D. Brown, President/CEO

Augusta Convention & Visitors Bureau

Bennish Brown has served as President/CEO of the Augusta Convention and Visitors Bureau (ACVB) since July of 2018. The ACVB is the official destination marketing and management organization responsible for telling Augusta’s story and promoting the Augusta region as a preferred visitor destination. Bennish previously served for six years as the President/ CEO of the Tacoma Regional Convention & Visitors Bureau in Tacoma, WA, and before that at the Rock Hill (SC) Convention & Visitors Bureau for 12 years. Before working in the tourism industry, Bennish spent nearly two decades in communications. He has worked in the radio industry, including time as an on-air radio personality. He has been a newspaper reporter, and worked in many aspects of public relations and public information. He holds a bachelor’s degree in broadcasting and a master’s degree in public relations from the University of South Carolina. Full Biography

Bob Somers, Senior Vice President – Global Sales

Delta Air Lines 

Bob Somers is Senior Vice President – Global Sales for Delta Air Lines. In this role he is responsible for leading a global sales team focused on maximizing premium revenue and share performance with Delta’s commercial account base around the world. Since joining Delta in 1983, Bob has held various positions of increasing responsibility in the Sales and Marketing divisions.  Most recently, Bob served as Vice President - Global Sales where he was responsible for Delta’s relationship with its largest agency, corporate and specialty accounts. With more than 37 years of industry experience, Bob’s background at Delta also includes positions such as Managing Director – Corporate and Specialty Sales and General Manager – Global Corporate Sales. Prior to joining the Sales department, Bob worked in Airport Customer Service as well as Marketing, Advertising and Sales Promotions. Bob is a member of the Global Business Travel Association and was honored with the GBTA Allied member of the year in 2016 as well as one of the Business Travel News 25 Most Influential Business Travel Executives in 2016. He serves on the boards of the Foundation for Hospital Art, the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year, Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau, The College Football Hall of Fame and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, where he serves as Chairman.

Cedricia Thomas, Instructor/Facilitator of Leadership Development

The Leadership Institute at Columbus State University 

The Leadership Institute at Columbus State University M.S., Organizational Leadership, Columbus State University B.A., Music Performance, Columbus State University

Prior to her current position as an Instructor and Facilitator for Leadership Development at the Leadership Institute, she served in Student Affairs as a Student Development Specialist for Student Leadership and Special Events. During this time, she advised student leaders, organizations and spearheaded leadership programs for the student body to include: an extended orientation and leadership experience for incoming Freshman, annual student leadership conference, and student organization trainings and workshops. In addition, she has worked in various facets of higher education including Fraternity and Sorority Life, Parent Programs, and Admissions. Cedricia is a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Certified Practitioner, who enjoys helping others gain greater self-awareness, become a more productive leader, build stronger teams, and make a significant impact within their organization and community.

Chenelle Mcgee, CTA, CTIS, TMP, President / CEO

ShelbyKY Tourism Commission & Visitors Bureau

From fine art to military boots and now the travel industry, Chenelle is always excited to take on new challenges and adventures. The Art Institute of California is where she first embraced a need for structure. Instead of taking a more traditional path of agency life, she jumped on the opportunity to have an adventure as an Intel Analyst with the United State Marine Corps. The Marketing Director position at the ShelbyKY Tourism Commission, provided a much-needed form of community and the experience needed for when the President | CEO position became available. Chenelle is a certified bourbon steward and serves on the Board of Directors for the Kentucky Black Bourbon Guild, where she strives to educate minorities on Kentucky’s native spirit, while honoring historical trailblazers.

Cheryl Hargrove, Hargrove International, Inc. 

Author, Instructor, and 35-year travel industry veteran, Hargrove is best known as the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s first Director of Heritage Tourism. During her tenure with the organization, Hargrove developed the key steps and principles for sustainable tourism focusing on history and culture. She recently worked with the Georgia Department of Economic Development, Tourism Division, as Director of Industry & Partner Relations. Hargrove also served as Associate Director of National Geographic’s Center for Sustainable Destinations where she assisted international destinations develop and market their place-based experiences...Her consultancy currently focuses on cultural heritage tourism assessment, planning, development and management as well as nonprofit/tourism business sustainability. Her firm created and is currently managing the Appalachia Nonprofit Resource Center, an online learning platform and reference bank for instruction in fundraising, financial management, and mission/operations (through March 2022.) In the past decade, she has assisted more than 150 destinations, government agencies and businesses, including work in every state in the U.S and in 13 countries. Through USAID and U.S. Department of State, she participated in international tourism leadership and training programs for cultural heritage tourism in Kosovo, Serbia, Albania, and Croatia. Hargrove is frequently asked to speak at international and national conferences, including the World Heritage Forum in Copenhagen, the Canadian Museum Association, the China Leadership Summit, the Educational Travel Conference, and APEC Tourism Policy Forum, plus numerous state and regional conferences. Cheryl's Full Bio

Cookie Smoak, President 

ATL Airport District  

Passion, energy and humility describe Cookie Smoak’s tenacious spirit that has led her to a successful career in destination marketing. She brings over 36 years of sales and marketing experience to her role as president of the ATL Airport District. Her mission is to generate economic development for the cities of College Park, East Point, Hapeville and Union City by effectively marketing the community as a preferred tourism, convention and meeting destination. In this role, Smoak leads a team of destination marketing professionals while managing a multi-million dollar budget. Her bright personality and welcoming attitude make her the perfect trailblazer for the District. Before joining ATL Airport District in 2013, Smoak served as the director of convention services for the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau (ACVB). During her tenure with the ACVB, Smoak was responsible for all convention services personnel and was the liaison between sales, membership, meeting planners and the public sector. Her work with the ACVB ensured group satisfaction, account retention and promoted financial return to the City of Atlanta. Cookie's Full bio.

Elliott L. Ferguson, II, President & CEO

Destination DC (DDC)

Elliott Ferguson serves as President and CEO of Destination DC (DDC), the official destination marketing organization for Washington, DC. A 30-year veteran of the travel and hospitality industry, Ferguson leads DDC’s efforts to generate economic opportunity for the District through meetings and tourism, overseeing the organization’s convention and tourism sales, marketing, finance and business development operations. Ferguson began his tenure with DDC in December 2001 as the Vice President of Convention Sales, became Senior Vice President of Convention Sales and Services in 2005 and has served as President and CEO since 2009. Prior to DDC, he was Director of Sales and Vice President of Sales at the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau and Director of Sales at the Savannah CVB. Ferguson was National Chair of the board of directors for the U.S. Travel Association from February 2019 to February 2021, where he guided the board and association’s efforts to advance policies that facilitate more international and domestic travel. He is currently chair of the compensation committee. In January 2021, he was named Board Chair of Tourism Diversity Matters, an organization focused on creating diversity, equity and inclusion opportunities at all levels of the workforce. He has been instrumental in advancing conversations about race and racism throughout the hospitality industry. As the tourism industry grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, Ferguson is focused on strategic recovery with many organizations including DDC’s Recovery Advisory Committee, Connected DMV and the Downtown Recovery Work Group. Elliott's Full Bio. 

Emily Hopkins, Director of Place 

NewTown Macon

Emily Hopkins serves as Director of Place at NewTown Macon where she leads NewTown’s placemaking efforts in downtown Macon and manages Macon’s Main Street program. Throughout her career, Hopkins has created signature experiences highlighting Macon’s historic architecture and downtown’s 120 storefront-level businesses. During her tenure at NewTown Macon, she has produced 30+ events that have attracted 1.2 million people to the urban core and led destination marketing efforts for downtown Macon. Additionally, Hopkins serves as the primary liaison between downtown business owners and NewTown Macon staff. In this role, Hopkins has reinvigorated the Downtown Macon Community Association, helping increase attendance by 30%, and led NewTown’s COVID-19 response. Hopkins serves on the boards of the Downtown Macon Community Association, the Macon-Bibb County Arbor Conservation Board, the Macon Film Festival, and the Rotary Club of Downtown Macon. Hopkins holds degrees from Clemson University and the Cooperstown Graduate Program at SUNY-Oneonta.

Jill Anderson, Marketing Senior Director 

Meet Minneapolis

Jill Anderson is the Marketing Senior Director at Meet Minneapolis – joining the organization in her first ever Destination Marketing role in February 2017 (right before Minneapolis was set to host the 2018 Super Bowl and the 2019 Final Four).  She is responsible for leading the marketing strategic planning and execution for the organization – overseeing website content development and leading the work of the internal marketing team.  She also somehow became the organization’s go-to for any and all PowerPoint Presentations. Jill has over 20+ years of marketing experience working in retail, restaurants and advertising agencies with Marketing leadership roles at Target and International Dairy Queen – and agency work with respected brands such as U.S Bank, Kellogg’s and Wrigley.  When not passionately marketing and enjoying the city of Minneapolis – you’ll find Jill fishing for Walleyes on Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes or cruising the winter trails in her snowmobile.

Joseph Marinelli, President 

Visit Savannah

With more than 30 years of experience in the tourism and hospitality industry, Joseph Marinelli currently is the president of Visit Savannah, the destination marketing organization for Savannah, Georgia and Tybee Island. Prior to taking the helm of Visit Savannah in January 2007, Joe served as Senior Vice President at Experience Columbus, the convention bureau for the Columbus, Ohio region. Prior to his 10 years in Columbus, Joe served in sales and marketing roles for Westin Hotels and Resorts in Detroit, Pittsburgh, Charlotte, Washington DC and at the famed Plaza Hotel in New York City. Now in his role overseeing Savannah’s primary tourism marketing organization, Joe and his team focus on attracting both the leisure visitors and conventions/meetings to the Savannah area while driving business to the more than 2,000 members of the Savannah Chamber. Joe is currently the Public Policy Chair for the Georgia Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus and is a board member of the Destinations International Foundation. Joe is also on the Boards of the Savannah Convention Center, the Tourism Leadership Council, the Savannah Voice Festival and the Savannah Music Festival. Joe's full bio. 

Josh Sherwood, Head of Digital Strategy

MediaOne North America 

Josh is a managing partner of MediaOne. He has worked with top brands and technology partners in many verticals, including hoteliers, tourism boards, auto, financial institutions and more. Annual working budgets have ranged from thousands to over $20 million in a single annual budget. Brands include: Hard Rock International and All-Inclusive Resorts, Visit Sevierville (Tennessee), Kentucky Tourism, Explore Minnesota, Pilot Pens, Toyota, Cooper Tires, Florida Prepaid College Plan, Tobacco Free Florida, Visit Myrtle Beach and many more. Josh is tireless when it comes to digital campaign performance. He has been pitched by all the top ad platforms and noticed a hole with very few focusing on Google Analytics and what happens after the click. That is his key for MediaOne to deliver high performance campaigns. Every angle is pursued to provide insightful data through custom analytics reporting. This puts the team in a position to look well beyond just impressions, clicks and click through rate (CTR).

Katie Williams, Director 

Athens Convention and Visitors Bureau

Katie Williams serves as the Director of the Athens Convention and Visitors Bureau in Athens, Ga. In her role, Williams leads the marketing and sales strategy, and collaborates with community partners to further develop tourism for economic development. From 2009 – 2020, Williams served as the founding Executive Director of Discover Dunwoody, the convention and visitor’s bureau organization for Dunwoody, Ga. She began her tourism career in Thomasville, Ga.  A native of Marietta, Ga., she attended the University of Georgia where she received a degree in Public Relations.  Williams is certified as a Travel Marketing Professional by Southeast Tourism Society.  She currently serves as President of the Board of Directors for the Georgia Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus.  In 2015, she was named a “30 Under 30” tourism professional by Destinations International. 

Lindsay Fruchtl, Vice President of Marketing 

Augusta Convention & Visitors Bureau

Lindsay Fruchtl joined the Augusta Convention & Visitors Bureau in January 2016 as the Vice President of Marketing. Prior to joining the Augusta CVB team, Lindsaymost recently worked as the Senior Marketing Manager with the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce and Visitor & Convention Bureau (VCB) in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. In this role, Lindsay was responsible for the planning and management of all marketing programs, content, media placement, production, and metrics reporting for the Chamber’s VCB with a focus on leisure, meetings and groups, co-op, international tour and travel trade, sports and cultural heritage segments. From 2009- 2013, Lindsay served as the Marketing Director for Visit Tybee on Tybee Island, Georgia. In 2013 she was selected as one of Generation NEXT Savannah’s Rising Stars in Business and has her Travel Marketing Professional (TMP) certification from the Southeast Tourism Society. She is a graduate of Leadership Augusta and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications from Brenau Women’s College in Gainesville, Georgia.

Lisa Anders, Executive Director

Explore Gwinnett

Lisa Anders is the Executive Director of Explore Gwinnett, Gwinnett’s official tourism agency and film office. Explore Gwinnett’s mission is to draw conventions, meetings, conferences and sports tournaments to Gwinnett’s convention center, hotels, and event facilities, as well as destination marketing of Gwinnett County’s cities. Explore Gwinnett is currently overseeing the public-private expansion of the Infinite Energy Center, as well as working with North American Properties on the $600 million dollar Revel mixed use project. Lisa is Gwinnett County’s Camera Ready representative, serving as the county liaison to the booming film and movie industry as well as to the Georgia Film Office. Lisa serves on the boards of the Aurora Theatre and Partnership Gwinnett PFE. She is a Certified Destination Management Executive, 2018 graduate of Atlanta Regional Commission’s Regional Leadership Institute and a 2013 Leadership Gwinnett graduate.  Lisa and her husband Jim have 2 kids, Ben and Isabella, both college students.   

Margaret Woodard, Executive Director 

Downtown Development Authority of Augusta

Mark Jaronski, Deputy Commissioner - Tourism 

Explore Georgia / Georgia Department of Economic Development 

Mark Jaronski serves as Deputy Commissioner, Explore Georgia, the tourism division of the Georgia Department of Economic Development. In this role he oversees the state’s official destination marketing organization, which works to advance Georgia’s $66.3 billion tourism industry that supports 478,000 jobs. Through its home office in Atlanta, 11 visitor information centers, and network of representatives across the globe, Explore Georgia inspires travel to and within the state. Mr. Jaronski is a 25-year travel and tourism industry leader who has worked on iconic travel brands and destinations, and most recently served as CEO of Select Registry Distinguished Inns of North America. He is a veteran of The Walt Disney Company, where he served in a variety of roles over a 16-year career at the company, including Brand Manager of Walt Disney World theme parks and Director of External Communications for Disney Parks Worldwide at company headquarters in Burbank, California. His experience also includes roles as Vice President of Global Communications for Visit Orlando, the official tourism association for Central Florida, and chairman of the Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Travel Association’s Communications Committee. He earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of South Florida and his MBA from the University of Florida. Mr. Jaronski and his wife Nancy have been married for 23 years. They have four children, ages 16 to 10, and reside at Lake Oconee in Greensboro, Georgia.

Mike Robertson, Director of Culture and Brand Partnerships

MediaOne North America 

Mike Robertson is the Director of Culture and Brand Partnerships at MediaOne North America. He is responsible for keeping the mission, vision and values of MediaOne before the team, and providing digital media strategy and account management services for clients in several states. Mike was born in Texas but grew up in Rome, Ga, graduating from Berry College with a BA in History. He also holds a Certificate of Master with a concentration in Biblical Studies from Reformed Theological Seminary. He  trained under senior leadership at MediaOne to become a digital advertising expert and has worked with clients from Texas to Florida and as far north as Maine in the tourism and hospitality Industry. Mike enjoys public speaking around the city of Atlanta, GA, where he, his wife and two sons currently reside.

Peter F. Bowden, President & CEO

VisitColumbusGA

For more than two decades, Peter F. Bowden has been instrumental in growing all aspects of convention and tourism industry in Columbus. He has been president & CEO of Visit Columbus, The Convention & Visitors Bureau, since May 2003, managing a staff of 8 associates. With an annual budget of $1.5 million, Visit Columbus is responsible for marketing Columbus as a convention and leisure destination. Under Bowden’s leadership, Columbus has set new tourism records for the last 15 years, culminating with a record 1.9 million total visitors for each year for the past two years, who spent more than $352 million dollars in FY 2018 alone. Tourism spending has generated over $5.2 billion for Columbus since FY 2003. Bowden has led the work on two city-wide branding campaigns, the latest as a part of Columbus 2025. He has rebranded the Convention & Visitors Bureau, now called Visit Columbus Ga. Bowden and his team have recently re-dedicated a completely renovated Visitors Center in Uptown Columbus, making it again a major anchor destination with in the Uptown area, and has worked to assemble a robust team as head of the Columbus Film Commission to position Columbus as the 3rd Film Hub in Georgia. View Peter's full bio. 

Shana D. Young, M.A., Executive Director 

The Leadership Institute at Columbus State University

Shana is a certified Human Behavior Consultant focusing on helping individuals understand theirs and others personalities in order to improve communication and become a more effective leader.   In addition, Shana is certified in a variety of self-assessment tools and a certified executive coach.  She is the lead on research, development, and writing of strategic plans for many Leadership Institute clients, to include the ‘City of Columbus’s 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness’. 

Shana coordinates the speakers for The annual Jim Blanchard Leadership Forum which boast past speakers such as Football great Peyton Manning, Entrepreneur and Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban, Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg, Spanx Owner/CEO Sara Blakely, Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Dr. Robert Gates; General Colin Powell; John Maxwell, Malcolm Gladwell, James Carville and Mary Matalin just to name a few. Full Biography

Steven Fulbright, Director of Tourism

Visit Macon

Steven Fulbright is the Director of Tourism at Visit Macon. After moving to Georgia from Norfolk Virginia, he received his Bachelor’s degree from Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, Georgia. His career began as the Events and Education Manager at the Hay House before becoming the Visitor Services Manager at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. He then managed two Visitor Centers for the Macon-Bibb County CVB where he helped over 90,000 Visitors a year discover Macon. His last position was as the Downtown Development Manager and Main Street Manager for Macon-Bibb County.  Steven currently serves as the Board President of the Macon Film Festival and serves on the boards of Historic Macon Foundation, and the International Cherry Blossom Festival. He is the former board chair of the Macon Arts Alliance, the Macon Beer Festival, the Antebellum Trail Travel Association. He’s dedicated his life’s work to cultural and destination development and when he’s not working, he enjoys traveling and exploring other destinations. His goal in life is to connect people and his life’s motto is “Move forward with purpose and direction.”

Tara Bradshaw, Economic Development Specialist

Office of Downtown Development, Georgia Department of Community Affairs

Tara Bradshaw joined the Georgia Department of Community Affairs team in July 2019 and serves as the Economic Development Specialist for the Office of Downtown Development. She brings with her fourteen years of community development experience and a strong passion for making Georgia’s downtown districts premier destinations for business and culture, with a focus on project development, historic rehabilitation financial incentives, and partner engagement. Prior to this appointment, she served as the Executive Director of the Dublin Downtown Development Authority, where her work helped garner over $50 million in public and private investment. Tara is a graduate of Valdosta State University with BBAs in Marketing and Management, and she is a certified Economic Development Finance Professional. Tara and her husband Matthew reside in Dublin, Georgia and are the proud parents of two children, Maggie Claire and Lane.

Tim Reis, CEO

Act 3, LLC

Over a 35 year career in sales, Tim Reis has worked in digital, broadcast and print media.  Most recently, Tim spent 12 years at Google in leadership roles including evangelizing mobile advertising in its nascency and leading teams serving financial services, consumer packaged
goods, mid-market performance and brand agencies. During this time, Tim has been a frequent speaker at industry events such as SXSW,
Advertising Week, SMX, MITX, ANA, 4As, et al, and has been a guest lecturer at Wharton, NYU Stern and continues to guest lecture regularly at Columbia Business School. Earlier in his career, Tim led national ad sales for Plum TV, was President of Forbes Custom Media and created Forbes’ X-media initiative as VP of Sales Development there. For 8 years in Atlanta, Tim ran his own successful publisher’s rep firm. Prior to that he was the southeast manager of Fortune magazine. Today, Tim consults on media, sales and private equity.

Tyler Reinagel, Ph.D., Director

Office of Planning & Research, Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA)

Dr. Tyler Reinagel is the Director of the Office of Planning and Research at the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. He oversees local comprehensive planning and service delivery strategy programs, annual service delivery and financial reporting for the state’s local governments and local authorities, hotel-motel excise tax training programs and annual reporting, and the agency’s GIS and mapping support. A native of Woodstock, Tyler earned his B.A. in American Studies from Fordham University; M.P.A. from the University of Georgia; and Ph.D. in Public Administration and Policy from the University of Georgia, with a research emphasis on state and local budget and finance.

William Pate, President and CEO

Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau

As president and CEO of Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau (ACVB), William Pate is responsible for maintaining tourism as one of the city's top economic drivers. The industry brought an estimated 57 million visitors to metro Atlanta in 2019, generating $16 billion in visitor spending and sustaining approximately 300,000 jobs. A native of Atlanta, Pate is revered locally for his leadership and marketing expertise. In 2020, American Marketing Association’s (AMA) Atlanta chapter awarded him its lifetime achievement award. Atlanta Business League named him its 2019 Herman J. Russell CEO of the Year, Atlanta Magazine recognized him as one of the most influential leaders in Atlanta and Georgia Trend magazine included him on its list of 2019 Notable Georgians. Atlanta Business Chronicle honored Pate multiple times as one of Atlanta's 50 most admired CEOs and named him to its 100 most influential Atlantans list every year since 2009. AMA’s Atlanta chapter also selected him as corporate marketer of the year in 2010. A prominent leader in the nation’s hospitality industry, Pate serves on the board of directors of U.S. Travel Association and Destinations International. Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International honored him as one of the top 25 most extraordinary minds in sales and marketing, and he received the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association award of appreciation for his commitment to diversity and inclusion within the travel industry. Full Biography

Jay Markwalter, Executive Director

Georgia Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus (GACVB)

Jay represents the statewide association of Georgia’s destination marketing organizations as GACVB Executive Director.  GACVB serves as the unified voice, educational resource, advocacy effort, and professional development for our state’s travel and tourism marketing and management professionals. Full bio.