Meeting News - November 5, 2007 - (Page 10)

CVBs Houston Lures Back Ortale As New CVB Chief Houston—Concluding a long and rocky search for a new convention and tourism chief, the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau has hired Greg Ortale as its new president and CEO. Ortale, currently president and CEO of Meet Minneapolis, that city’s CVB, will assume his new position on Dec. 3. It will mark the return of Ortale, 58, to the Houston bureau, where he was the number-two person between 1979 and 1987, prior to going to Minneapolis. “I stress to meeting planners that Houston is a great product,” said Ortale. “Houston continues to invest and understand it’s a competitive business, and that it must put its best foot forward.” Houston had been without a CVB chief since last January, when Jordy Tollett left the bureau at the expiration of his Houston CVB taps contract. Earlier in the year, he Greg Ortale as next took a leave of absence for president and CEO for the organization. unspecified medical reasons, and Mayor Bill White urged the board to conduct a search for a new president. The board itself was divided over Tollett’s leaving. Last summer, the CVB offered the job to Stephen Perry, president and CEO of the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau, only to have him turn it down. Ortale said he was approached shortly thereafter in August by the CVB’s chairman, Thomas Jones, during ASAE’s annual convention in Chicago. “Greg brings to the table an extensive background in the travel and convention industry,” said Jones. “He is known to be a decisive and assertive leader.” Ortale has challenges ahead. The city’s hotel occupancy rate through the first eight months of the year was only 67.9 percent, according to Smith Travel Research— 15th among the top 25 lodging markets in the United States. Perhaps because of that, however, Houston is a bargain, with an average daily room rate of $90.67. Among the top 25 U.S. markets, only four other destinations have lower room rates. Ortale will have plenty of infrastructure on hand with which to promote the city. The George R. Brown Convention Center offers nearly 1.2 million sf of exhibition, meeting, and registration space thanks to a 2003 expansion. The 1,200-room Hilton Americas-Houston is across the street, and there are 60,000 hotel rooms overall in the Greater Houston area. “Houston has everything it needs to succeed,” said Ortale. Filling in for Ortale at Meet Minneapolis will be Melvin Tennant, senior VP of operations and innovation, until a replacement is found. Edited by Elizabeth West elizabeth.west@nielsen.com Former Bookkeeper At Fresno CVB Jailed For Embezzlement Fresno, CA—Deanna Gonzalez, former bookkeeper for the Fresno Convention & Visitors Bureau, was sentenced to three months in jail and an extended probation period for embezzlement. In June, Gonzalez pleaded guilty to grand theft felony for embezzling nearly $50,000 from the bureau to fund a shopping spree in December 2006. In an attempt to avoid jail time for Gonzalez, her lawyer previously agreed to a schedule for Gonzalez to pay back the money stolen from the bureau, plus $12,269 in restitution. Although Gonzalez has paid back $30,000 of the $49,900 she took, Fresno County Superior Court Judge Rosendo Pena sentenced her to jail time. Gonzalez was handcuffed in the courtroom and taken away. Attorney Christopher Caine voiced frustration with the sentence.“She will be unable to pay restitution if she loses her job,” he said.“It’s as simple as that.” Faced with serving up to one year in prison for the felony that nearly caused the CVB to lose city funding, Gonzalez could have fared worse. Fresno, located in California’s Central Valley, attracts both regional and national groups. The city pays the bureau to bring in conventions and meetings that generate revenue from hotel taxes. The CVB has been in turmoil for the better part of a year after the embezzlement discovery and a controversy over a no-bid contract granted to a board member to produce the bureau’s annual visitors guide. The bureau recently announced a restructuring of its business model and several new board members. The search for a new director is ongoing. H —Section by Christopher Hosford www.meetingnews.com “[Ortale] is known ” to be a decisive and assertive leader. Philly Leaders Convene for Promotion of Life Sciences Philadelphia—The Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau’s new Life Science Congress had its first meeting last month, in a kickoff to promote the city’s suitability and expertise in support of health and medical meetings. The partnership between the CVB and the city’s substantial medical infrastructure of hospitals and universities calls for local experts to meet with national and international organizations, sell them on the virtues of Philadelphia, and offer 10 MeetingNews local services as added features of their programs. “We’ve blended into the new Life Science Congress our existing Health Care Congress program, and now focus on promoting meetings in research, biotech, pharma, venture capital, and health care,” said Danielle Cohn, vice president of marketing for the CVB. Some 50 members of the executive committee met, along with a broader network of 200 other members of Philadelphia’s health and life sciences community. “It’s a wonderful web of people,” Cohn said. Charlottesville Reaches Out Charlottesville, VA—The Charlottesville Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau has rolled out a section on its website, www.pursue charlottesville.com, soliciting site content from local members that will apprise visitors of the destination. Executive Director Mark Shore said the CACVB’s small staff relies on the local community and hospitality industry to help promote the area to meeting planners. It will also use the information to update its collateral material and pass it on to the state tourism website. November 5, 2007 http://www.meetingnews.com

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Meeting News - November 5, 2007