Newport creates a chief seat for residents
Discover Newport has two new chief titles. Alex Hurd holds the sales one. He joined the bureau in 2011 as a tourism sales manager, still appears on its destination-expert list, and now lists as chief sales officer on the staff directory. Cassandra Earle holds the other, chief community engagement officer — a title no other organization in Destination Pulse’s records carries.
Newport This Week reported that the bureau created the position, along with quarterly town halls, a resident benefit program and more support for the Route 67 bus (Newport This Week). Earle appears in the seat on the staff directory.
Seventy-three percent of local respondents agreed that uncontrolled tourism growth jeopardizes the city’s heritage and culture, against roughly 30 percent nationally, and the bureau now markets the offseason alone. Visitors still bring $340 million in hotel revenue, $163 million in food service and $64 million in state and local taxes, about two-thirds of that from people who live more than 50 miles away. Hurd’s job protects the spending. Earle’s job answers for what it costs the neighbors.
Alyson C. Adkins, CPA, also carries a new title: chief financial officer, up from vice president of finance. Victoria Cimino remains president and CEO.
Grand Rapids gives an existing job the AI title
Experience Grand Rapids did not add an AI seat. It gave an existing job a wider title. Kim Young, who has run technology there since 2019, is now vice president of technology, data and AI. The same job was vice president of information systems when the organization’s LinkedIn account congratulated her on a 2025 Info-Tech Research Group IT Impact Award, and her bio already covered strategy alongside technology.
Three organizations in the directory now carry AI in a senior title. Greater Raleigh has Vimal Vyas as vice president of data, security and AI innovation. Las Vegas has Michael O’Brien as senior vice president of AI and enterprise performance. Grand Rapids has Young. Las Vegas split one job into two. Grand Rapids widened the job it had.
Norfolk hires a marketing director from inside the city
Sam Black is the new director of marketing and communications at VisitNorfolk, per a TourismIQ announcement in late October. She was bureau manager for external communications at the City of Norfolk (LinkedIn), after nearly a decade at the Downtown Norfolk Council, where she rose from marketing specialist to director of marketing and communications (council profile). All of her marketing work has been in Norfolk: the council, then city hall, now the job of selling the city to everyone else. The bureau’s contact page lists her.
Also on the move
The rest of the week: promotions, retitles and two hiring pairs.
- Derrick Collins moved up from convention sales manager to national account director at Destination DC, per the team page.
- Rachel Greiner’s job at Experience Grand Rapids widened from marketing and social media manager to social media and creator program manager, per the contact page.
- Visit Springfield Missouri added Katie Tewes as content coordinator and Randy Hanner as marketing growth manager, both on the contact page.
- Visit Syracuse added Paul Stannard as marketing & design specialist and Sadie Urtz as social media & marketing coordinator, both on the who-we-are page.
- Modi Ramos moved from communications and community relations specialist to destination development and sales specialist at Visit Midland, per the about page.
Every join and title change on the books this week is on the change feed.