Destination On The Left

Brook grew up in Norfolk, NE and moved to Casper in 2015. During her time here she has fallen in love with the people of Casper and the sense of community. Brook is the CEO at  Visit Casper  and her favorite part about her position is continually forming strategic partnerships with fellow community members and working together to come up with creative solutions for impossible problems. When she's...

As the U.S. managing director for China's largest independent advertising agency, Humphrey Ho helps American brands reach their ever-growing base of Chinese consumers. Spearheading the opening of  Hylink 's American headquarters in Santa Monica, where he resides, Ho has scaled the operation up to 40 employees and secured the company's key spots with industry leaders like Brand USA and Hawaiian Air...

Ben conceives and carries out the strategic direction for the overall brand positioning, messaging and marketing platforms. Ben is the brainchild of Catch Des Moines' new the "S's are Silent" brand campaign. In this episode of Destination on the Left, I am joined by Ben Handfelt, Director of Creative and Communications at Catch Des Moines. We discuss the tactics and strategies Ben and his team are...

Darienne Mobley is a personal coach, professional development trainer, motivational speaker and team building facilitator who brings a world of experience and wealth of wisdom to her clients. As an industry trailblazer, Darienne works with individuals, helping them embrace life and leadership. She also partners with organizations, leading them to greater long-term success by developing effective a...

With a talent for creating special events that blossomed while working for my dad's car stereo shop, I got my start in marketing at Frontier Field in Rochester and I began serving as the executive director of the internationally known Lilac Festival. Later on, I headed the Canandaigua, New York Business Improvement District while also performing projects for the tourism promotion agency  Visit Roc...

Brian Bossuyt has been marketing the  Pocono Mountains  for the past 20 years. He was the Sales and Marketing Director for Camelback Mountain Resort for 18 years, and now serves as the EVP, and CMO of the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau. Developing marketing campaigns that target two of the country's largest DMA's, New York Metro and Philadelphia Metro, has kept Brian on top of his game by forcin...

Cyndi Bartley is the Operations and Marketing Director at Visit Lake Norman. Throughout her entire professional career, she has been devoted to the hospitality and tourism industry. She began her role there in 2007 as a marketing intern and continued elevating her position and responsibilities to her current role today. During her time with Visit Lake Norman, she continues to enhance their ambassa...

Episode 152: Brian Zerges is a Licensed Real Estate Broker and sole owner of  Finger Lakes Premier Properties  (FLPP) for the last 25 years. After earning a BA from The Rochester Institute of Technology, Brian spent over seven valuable years as a Licensed Real Estate Broker in California specializing in commercial sales, syndication and property management. These experiences positioned him well to...

As the U.S. managing director for China's largest independent advertising agency, Humphrey Ho helps American brands reach their ever-growing base of Chinese consumers. Spearheading the opening of  Hylink 's American headquarters in Santa Monica, where he resides, Ho has scaled the operation up to 40 employees and secured the company's key spots with industry leaders like Brand USA and Hawaiian Air...

Dan Janes is the CEO of  Madden Media , a destination marketing agency focused on increasing tourism and workforce attraction for communities across the country. Like many in this industry, Dan comes from a unique background, having been a successful entrepreneur in a big data and analytics company and having served as an Army officer and West Point graduate. On this episode of Destination on the...

The 2019 NYS Tourism Excellence Award winners will be honored at the New York State Tourism Industry Association's annual meeting on September 27. I had the privilege of talking to each of the winners about their award-winning programs, how those programs impacted tourism in their area and what they learned from being part of the program. The interviews had underlying themes of creativity, partner...

The 2019 NYS Tourism Excellence Award winners will be honored at the New York State Tourism Industry Association's annual meeting on September 27. I had the privilege of talking to each of the winners about their award-winning programs, how those programs impacted tourism in their area and what they learned from being part of the program. The interviews had underlying themes of creativity, partner...

Judi Hess is the Director of  Visit Binghamton , a position she has held since June 2016. Prior to her promotion, Judi was the Manager of Tourism & Special Events for over 20 years. Visit Binghamton is a department of the Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce that is focused on increasing tourism in Broome County. Visit Binghamton is the official tourism promotion agency for Broome County. Judi h...

Creating a great customer experiences with hospitality, food and beverage has been a passion of Suzanne's since her very first job. Suzanne is always looking for ways to bring new and interesting experiences to guests, and that is what she brings to Red Shed Brewery. As head of innovation and marketing, Suzanne seeks to be the connection between Red Shed and the brewing industry, working with her...

Jim Walter has been in the Destination Marketing world for the past 16 years. He got his start leading Madison County Tourism in upstate NY for 10 years as its executive director. For the past six years, he has led the sales and marketing efforts for  Visit Cheyenne in Wyoming . He is a former president of the New York Travel and Vacation Association and is currently the president of the Rocky Mou...

Josh Collins has a background grounded in live entertainment and experience design. He helps brands develop better rhythms of connecting with their audiences both online and off. After 15 years of traveling the world with brands like Stevie Wonder, The Roots, John Legend and more, Josh was attracted to take over and lead the Visit Franklin brand for Franklin, Tennessee, located just south of Nashv...

Kevin Costello is the President of the Steuben County Conference and Visitors Bureau, the official tourism promotion agency for Steuben County, NY. Kevin manages a team of five tourism professionals who tell the destination's story with a strategic and research-based approach to increase accommodation occupancy and tourism expenditures within Steuben. In his previous position, Kevin served as Dire...

Brittany Gibson is the Executive Director of the  Seneca Lake Wine Trail . Her experience with wine began as Advertising Director and Wine Club Manager at  Fulkerson Winery , a position she held for 10 years. In her previous capacity at the  Watkins Glen Area Chamber of Commerce , Brittany was responsible for promoting Schuyler County's tourism industry by creating and implementing tourism marketi...

With a talent for creating special events that blossomed while working for her dad's car stereo shop, Nicole Mahoney got her start in marketing at Frontier Field in Rochester. She also began serving as the executive director of the internationally known Lilac Festival. Later on, she headed the Canandaigua, New York Business Improvement District while also performing projects for the tourism promot...

Gina Nacey is president and executive creative director of  Adventure Creative , an agency based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Their focus is on active lifestyle brands, recreation, and destination marketing. Gina has led the strategy and creative direction of Explore Minnesota's brand new "Find Your True North" campaign, and the Minnesota Zoo's "Where Amazing Lives." Adventure Creative helped Sun RV...

Mandy Hagadorn serves as marketing manager at  New York Kitchen , an event and education space for all things food and beverage in New York State. She grew up on a farm near Canandaigua, New York. She graduated with a degree in anthropology from Nazareth College. After college, Mandy got involved with event planning in both her personal and professional life. At New York Kitchen, she started as an...

Drew McLellan is a marketing veteran who has run  his own agency  for over 25 years, helping clients create authentic love affairs with their customers. He also helps other agency owners learn how to take their business to the next level through cohort groups and resources through  Agency Management Institute . He loves to create "Aha" moments for his clients, peers, and audiences across, through...

We recently attended the 2019 NYS Tourism Conference in Buffalo, New York and interviewed presenters, conference attendees, and Tourism Excellence Award winners. My interviews focused on the conference themes of inclusion, fostering community engagement, and "tourism is everybody's business", as well as key takeaways from the conference. This episode focuses on some of the award winners, and I hop...

We recently attended the 2019 NYS Tourism Conference in Buffalo, New York and interviewed presenters, conference attendees, and Tourism Excellence Award winners. My interviews focused on the conference themes of inclusion, fostering community engagement, and "tourism is everybody's business", as well as key takeaways from the conference. This episode focuses on some of the award winners, and I hop...

We recently attended the 2019 NYS Tourism Conference in Buffalo, New York and interviewed presenters, conference attendees, and Tourism Excellence Award winners. My interviews focused on the conference themes of inclusion, fostering community engagement, and "tourism is everybody's business", as well as key takeaways from the conference. This episode focuses on some of the award winners, and I hop...