Several convention and visitor bureaus have
made changes at the top in the past year, and the results of new
leadership promise to be worth watching. Of the four CVB leaders
profiled here, two are entering the high-profile chief executive
slot for the first time, one is taking the reins of both a bureau
and a convention center, and one is stepping eyes-wide-open into an
office mired in controversy. M&C talked to these CVB chiefs
about the challenges they face in their new posts and how their
efforts will influence meetings.
Scott Beck, President/CEO
Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau
Few CVB executives likely can claim they owe their career
path to a Hollywood heartthrob. But Scott Beck, president and CEO
of the Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau since last
August, credits Robert Redford.
A newcomer to the bureau world, Beck, 42, was born and raised
in the hospitality industry: His father managed the Sundance Resort
in Utah after Redford purchased it in the late 1960s. Beck and his
siblings helped out with day-to-day operations, and he hasn’t
looked back since.
Beck eventually served as Sundance Resort’s director of sales
and marketing, then became general manager of Cedar Breaks Lodge in
Brian Head, Utah, before becoming GM of Salt Lake’s Marriott City
Center in 2000. It was in that position that he became acquainted
with the world of bureaus, first as a member and then as a board
member of the Salt Lake CVB. When the position of president and CEO
opened up following the death of former head Dianne Binger last
March, Beck was ready to take the challenge of marketing an entire
city.
“As a hotelier, I did not jump out of bed in the morning to
inspect five rooms my interest was in sales and marketing,” he
says. “So, this was the ultimate opportunity to use the skill set I
developed in the hotel industry and the ability to promote and
market a destination I love.”
Key challenges: Beck knows the challenges Salt
Lake City faces are in the association market. “The city is not
perceived as a strong destination for tourism and attractions,” he
concedes. “We need to work on that to have more long-term success.”
Further, with this summer’s completion of the expansion at The Salt
Palace, Beck’s team will be under even more pressure to increase
business.
Future plans: Already, Beck is overseeing a
restructure of the bureau’s compensation and incentive plans, and
he orchestrated a merger of the formerly separate meeting and
tourism marketing teams. But sales strategies are foremost on his
radar. Plans include offering more focused and strategic site
inspections for planners. “We will be going after pieces of
business that seem to be good fits for us especially education,
medicine and science,” he says. “Instead of going out and asking
planners to join 25 of their peers on certain dates, we are doing
personal invites, asking them to visit us at their
convenience.”
Adds Beck, “I think the sense of urgency I developed in the
hotel world helps. Even though association planners may be talking
about booking business here in 2012 and 2013, we have to take care
of those customers today, returning their calls, sending thank-you
notes... I hope it sets me apart, and I hope it’s a competitive
advantage.”
Jeff Beckelman, President/CEO
Palm Springs Desert Resorts Convention &
Visitors Authority
It’s not surprising Jeff Beckelman is being called a “Mr.
Fixit,” given his appointment last October to the top spot at the
Palm Springs (Calif.) Desert Resorts Convention & Visitors
Authority, a bureau that suffered a turbulent 2005. Beginning with
the forced retirement of president and CEO Michael E. Fife in
March, the CVB endured the controversial departure of other key
personnel and the threatened secession last autumn by Palm Desert,
one of eight communities represented by the bureau (which also
covers Cathedral City, Desert Hot Springs, Indian Wells, Indio, La
Quinta, Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage).
All the tumult created an atmosphere similar to what Beckelman,
59, faced in his previous position at the Reno-Sparks (Nev.)
Convention & Visitors Authority, where he was hired in 2000
following the firing of the previous president and CEO. In his five
years there, Beckelman oversaw the completion of the renovation and
expansion of the Reno-Sparks Convention Center (owned and operated
by the bureau) and put together a new sales team.
Beckelman’s résumé is heavy with experience in the hospitality
and travel industry. Early on, he worked for the Memphis Convention
& Visitors Bureau and the Albuquerque Convention & Visitors
Bureau. And before beginning his Reno job, he served for 12 years
with the Las Vegas Sands Corp., parent company of The Venetian and
the Sands Expo and Convention Center.
Of his new role, Beckelman says, “Our job is to bring new
business here [the Palm Springs Convention Center completed its
expansion last month], and meeting planners are going to hear from
us. We need a lot of research to understand our customers I did
that when I got to Reno, and it helped us target who to go
after.”
Another area he plans to target is incentives, a market he
worked closely with during his tenure at The Venetian.
Key challenge: Two months into the job,
Beckelman’s top priority is quelling Palm Desert’s threat to pull
out of the bureau. “Our organization is 15 years old,” he says.
“For many years, this model worked, but the other communities have
grown and changed in that time. My biggest challenge: to bring all
the members to the table.
“We are working hard to represent Palm Desert,” he continues.
“They were not being represented correctly and were right to
threaten to pull out.” At press time he said, “We will convince
them in the next several months to stay.”
Future plans: Beckelman says one area is
especially ripe for new marketing efforts. “Everyone knows Palm
Springs,” he notes, “and what we need to do is build upon
that.”
In addition, the Palm Springs Desert Resorts CVA might be up
for a name change. The organization was one of the first bureaus to
adopt a branding strategy and a brand promise, but Beckelman is not
convinced these have been entirely successful. Soon after taking up
his post, he offered up a new name, the California Desert Resort
and Business Authority, to help quell the concerns of the other
communities that Palm Springs dominates the bureau’s marketing
efforts. At press time, the board tabled the move to deal with more
pressing issues.
Karolyn Kirchgesler, President/CEO
St. Paul RiverCentre Convention & Visitors Authority
When Karolyn Kirchgesler signed on in December 2004 to
head the St. Paul (Minn.) RiverCentre Convention & Visitors
Authority, she got two jobs instead of one. But that was exactly
why this career CVB executive, who stepped down from the top post
with the Greater New Haven (Conn.) Convention & Visitors
Bureau, wanted the job.
Weeks before her arrival in the Minnesota capital, the city
approved a merger of the CVB and the RiverCentre Authority, which
oversees the convention venue. St. Paul is one of a handful of
communities that have merged their bureaus and convention centers.
“I was excited to be part of the whole merger process,” says
Kirchgesler, 43. “It’s the way of the future for our
industry.”
So far, Kirchgesler says, the merger has been a good thing,
especially the unification of the sales forces. “Most CVBs sell
room nights, while convention centers want to sell shows that bring
a lot of revenue to the building but that do not necessarily fill
hotel rooms,” she notes. “We’ve looked at the needs of both sides,
and now we have a common goal.”
In the year she’s been in charge, Kirchgesler has set more
aggressive goals for the sales staff, and 2005 was the bureau’s
best year to date. She also revamped staff incentive packages,
basing them on bookings instead of leads.
Key challenge: “One of things we are looking
at is attracting a new headquarters property,” Kirchgesler says.
“We have the 475-room Radisson Riverfront Hotel, but the challenge
is the distance between hotel and convention center. Plus, we need
a hotel with more guest rooms to accommodate large groups.”
Future plans: Kirchgesler says her
organization is looking into branding, a trend echoed by some of
her peers at the Washington, D.C.-based Destination Marketing
Association International, formerly the International Association
of Convention & Visitor Bureaus. “CVB sounds so bureaucratic,
but the problem is we’ve established ourselves, and planners and
tourists know us as such,” she says. But from a marketing
standpoint, she says, “We need to find something more catchy.”
John Reyes, President
Jacksonville and The Beaches Convention & Visitors Bureau
John Reyes had spent 18 years in various sales positions
at the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau, but his goal was
to someday head a CVB. Yet, when he applied for the top spot at the
Jacksonville (Fla.) and The Beaches Convention & Visitors
Bureau, he says he went to the subsequent interview “just for the
experience of it. I was the only candidate who was not already
president of a bureau.”
The upshot? “I was surprised I got the job,” he admits.
Reyes, 48, assumed his post just one week after Jacksonville
hosted the Super Bowl last February, an event that put the
northeast Florida city front and center. “The Super Bowl raised the
destination’s status,” notes Reyes, “and Kitty Ratcliffe [Reyes’
predecessor, who left to take the post of executive vice president
at the New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau] did a nice job
of pulling together a good team. The board wanted me to take things
to the next level.”
Key challenge: Reyes wants to get buy-in from
the local community and that will require spreading the word on
what the bureau does and how meetings and tourism impact the local
economy. One way he plans to heighten awareness is through media.
“When I came into the CVB industry, we advertised to audiences
outside the destination,” he says. “Now, we have shifted some of
our ad dollars to the local market. They need to see us and know
what we are doing.”
Future plans: Growing the meeting and
convention facilities to attract larger groups is a major
goal.
“We are deciding on a convention center,” the bureau chief
says. “Do we expand the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center? It
has 78,000 gross square feet, so we can only go after
5 percent of the association/trade show market. An expansion would
allow us to attract a greater share of the market. Or should we
build another, larger venue that can attract as much as 85 percent
of the market?”
Reyes also would like to see more large hotel chains build
meeting properties in the area. “It’s up to us to demonstrate a
business model that shows growth to attract these chains.”
And, finally, he would like a new name for the bureau. “I will
be introducing to the board the importance of clarity a name change
or revamp would provide,” he says.