Experience Ruston

Why now?

• August 2026: Leah Freeman joined as Director of Marketing & Communications on August 10.¹ She held the assistant role from 2023 to 2025, working on digital advertising, email, social and Peach Festival content, and comes back from a B2B marketing job.¹ She takes the seat Tori Davis held before her promotion to CEO.²³
• July 2026: Tori Davis took over as President & CEO on July 1. The board voted for her unanimously on May 28 after what it called a national search.⁴³ She had been interim from February, when Amanda Carrier left after 13 years, six of them as CEO.⁵⁶
• August and September 2026: the board agendas list a “Strategic Planning Proposal”, a “Funding Program Proposal” and a “CVB & Chamber Operating Agreement” for approval.⁷⁸ Minutes for those meetings are not posted yet.⁹
• June 2026: the board approved a wayfinding signage plan from Arnett Muldrow & Associates.¹⁰
• 2026 lodging tax: up 35.3% in January, 28.8% in February and 17.57% in March, and up 16.25% for the year through May.^1112413
• Staff page, September 2026: Anna Graney, Destination Services Coordinator, is no longer listed, and no opening is posted.¹⁴¹⁵

Is there money?

• 2025 revenue was $1,332,088. Occupancy tax brought in $852,899, state funds $272,429 and the Peach Festival $160,475.¹⁶
• 2025 spending was $1,425,726, including $243,199 on advertising, $324,976 on grants, $383,767 on payroll and $53,979 on research.¹⁶ Spending has exceeded revenue for three years running: -$116,117 in 2023, -$87,859 in 2024 and -$93,638 in 2025.¹⁷¹⁸¹⁶
• Reserves are about $1.35M in cash and CDs with $2,632 of liabilities (December 31, 2025).¹⁶
• The advertising line has stayed close to $243,000 a year: $261,844 in 2023, $242,992 in 2024 and $243,199 in 2025. In 2024 it was budgeted at $324,631 and cut to $245,000 during the year.¹⁷¹⁸¹⁶
• The occupancy tax came in $69,101 under its 2025 budget of $922,000.¹⁶ Davis reported it up 4.4% for 2025 as a whole.¹⁹
• Grants to local attractions are a large share of spending: $435,000 in 2024 and $324,976 in 2025. In December 2025 the board gave $91,000 to the North Louisiana Exhibition Center and split the rest among three museums.¹⁸¹⁶²
• The 2025 treasurer repeatedly urged the board to find alternate revenue streams.²⁰²¹²²
• The 2026 budget was approved on October 28, 2025, but its figures are not published.²³

Who decides?

Runs marketing

• Leah Freeman, Director of Marketing and Communications (joined August 10, 2026)²⁴¹
• Anna Miley, Marketing & Communications Assistant²⁴
• Jeff McGehee chairs the board’s Marketing Committee, which reviews the annual advertising and media plan.²

Leads the bureau

• Tori Davis, President & CEO (from July 1, 2026; with the bureau from 2020)²⁴³
• Jennifer Mamon, Director of Destination Sales¹¹
• Board of nine, chaired by Brandon Norris, with Brandon Logan as vice chair and Mallory Patterson as treasurer. Members report back to the City of Ruston, the Lincoln Parish Police Jury, Louisiana Tech and Grambling State.²⁵⁸

Titles are from the staff page and 2026 board minutes. Contact details are on their staff page.

Who do they work with?

• Agency of record or media buyer: not named. The audits report advertising as one line, and the 2026 Advertising and Media Plan was approved but not published.¹⁶²
• Website: Craft CMS, with images through imgix and a Snapsea gallery. No developer is credited.²⁶
• Visitors guide: the 2026 guide (32 pages, dated September 24, 2026) carries no publisher or design credit.²⁷
• Wayfinding: Arnett Muldrow & Associates (June 2026).¹⁰
• Research: Retail Strategies, on a joint retail study with the city and police jury; the Louisiana Tech Center for Economic Research, on Peach Festival impact.²⁰²⁸ Board reports cite visitor data and website attribution data without naming a vendor.²¹
• Sports and partners: a Louisiana Tech Sports Properties agreement for 2026-27 and a Ruston Sports Complex sponsorship.¹³¹¹
• Auditor: David M. Hartt, CPA, for FY2024 and FY2025.¹⁸¹⁶

When do they buy?

• The fiscal year is the calendar year. The 2026 budget was previewed in September 2025 and approved on October 28.¹⁶²⁹²³
• The advertising and media plan goes to the Marketing Committee first and then to the board in December.²
• The board meets monthly at 8:00 a.m., usually on the fourth Thursday, and posts its agendas and minutes online.⁹
• The annual audit goes to the board in July or August and is filed with the Louisiana Legislative Auditor.¹³³⁰
• No RFP or procurement page was found.³¹

What they’re running

• Louisiana Peach Festival: the 76th was held on June 6, 2026, run with the City of Ruston and Downtown Ruston. It drew 32,000 people in 2025, a record.³²²²
• Meetings marketing: “Small Markets Can Pull Big Strings”, aimed at meeting planners, won the Louisiana Travel Association’s Tourism Campaign of the Year (budget up to $29,999) in January 2026.³³
• Seasonal campaigns: Louisiana Tech Homecoming and Holidays in Ruston (2025).²³ The 2025 chair suggested “Sports Capital of the South” as a future theme.²
• Sports: 285 youth and collegiate sporting events were held in the parish in 2024. The bureau convened hoteliers, the city and the sports complex in 2025 over hotel rates on event weekends.²⁸³⁴³⁵
• Destination grants: $385,000 in grants and sports tourism support in 2024.²⁸

Worth knowing

• It is a public body, not a nonprofit, so it files no 990. The Lincoln Parish Police Jury created it, state law authorizes it to levy an occupancy tax of up to 4%, and its audits are public on the Legislative Auditor’s site.^16363730
• The FY2025 audit has two findings. One is that one employee does most of the accounting. The other is that “a gift was purchased for a board member”, which the auditor called a donation of public funds; no action was recommended.¹⁶
• Carrier’s salary as agency head was $79,490 in 2024 and 2025.¹⁸¹⁶ Davis’s pay as CEO is not yet published.
• The staff page and press releases do not agree on titles. The appointment release calls Davis’s former role “Vice President of Marketing & Communications”, and Anna Miley’s bio still says she supports a Vice President.³²⁴
• The Chamber of Commerce rents space in the bureau’s building. In July 2026 the board required it to submit a payment plan for unpaid rent, and an operating agreement with the Chamber went to the board in September.¹³⁸

Footnotes

1. “Experience Ruston Welcomes Leah Freeman as Director of Marketing & Communications”, Experience Ruston, 2026-08. ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. Board of Directors minutes, Ruston Lincoln CVB, 2025-12-18. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

3. “Experience Ruston Board of Directors Appoints Tori Davis as President & CEO”, Experience Ruston, 2026-05. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

4. Board of Directors minutes, Ruston Lincoln CVB, 2026-05-28. ↩ ↩²

5. “Experience Ruston Announces Leadership Change”, Experience Ruston, 2026. ↩

6. “Experience Ruston’s president, CEO to step down in February”, KNOE, 2026-02-09. ↩

7. Board of Directors agenda, Ruston Lincoln CVB, 2026-08-27. ↩

8. Board of Directors agenda, Ruston Lincoln CVB, 2026-09-24. ↩ ↩² ↩³

9. Meeting Agendas & Minutes, Experience Ruston, updated 2026-09-23, read 2026-10-13. ↩ ↩²

10. Board of Directors minutes, Ruston Lincoln CVB, 2026-06-18. ↩ ↩²

11. Board of Directors minutes, Ruston Lincoln CVB, 2026-03-26. ↩ ↩² ↩³

12. Board of Directors minutes, Ruston Lincoln CVB, 2026-04-23. ↩

13. Board of Directors minutes, Ruston Lincoln CVB, 2026-07-23. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

14. Destination Pulse org page for experience-ruston, changes seen 2026-09-01, read 2026-10-13. ↩

15. Careers, Experience Ruston, read 2026-10-13. ↩

16. Financial Statements for 2025, Ruston-Lincoln Convention and Visitors Bureau, David M. Hartt, CPA, 2026-06-18 (LLA issued 2026-09-23), pp. 6-7, 12-15, 19. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³

17. Financial Statements for 2023, Ruston-Lincoln Convention and Visitors Bureau, Heard, McElroy & Vestal, LLC (LLA issued 2025-03-26), pp. ii-iii, 15. ↩ ↩²

18. Financial Statements for 2024, Ruston-Lincoln Convention and Visitors Bureau, David M. Hartt, CPA, 2025-06-28, pp. 7, 14, 16, 20. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

19. Board of Directors minutes, Ruston Lincoln CVB, 2026-02-23. ↩

20. Board of Directors minutes, Ruston Lincoln CVB, 2025-01-23. ↩ ↩²

21. Board of Directors minutes, Ruston Lincoln CVB, 2025-05-22. ↩ ↩²

22. Board of Directors minutes, Ruston Lincoln CVB, 2025-06-26. ↩ ↩²

23. Board of Directors minutes, Ruston Lincoln CVB, 2025-10-28. ↩ ↩² ↩³

24. Who We Are, Experience Ruston, updated 2026-08-25, read 2026-10-13. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

25. Board of Directors minutes, Ruston Lincoln CVB, 2026-01-22. ↩

26. rustonlincoln.com home page source, read 2026-10-13. ↩

27. 2026 Ruston Visitors Guide, Experience Ruston, 2026-09-24. ↩

28. “Tourism Remains a Strong Economic Driver for Ruston & Lincoln Parish”, Experience Ruston, 2025-05. ↩ ↩² ↩³

29. Board of Directors minutes, Ruston Lincoln CVB, 2025-09-25. ↩

30. Audit reports list, Ruston-Lincoln Convention and Visitors Bureau, Louisiana Legislative Auditor, read 2026-10-13. ↩ ↩²

31. rustonlincoln.com sitemaps, read 2026-10-13. ↩

32. “76th Annual Louisiana Peach Festival Set for June 6”, Experience Ruston, 2026-05-22. ↩

33. “Experience Ruston Celebrates Louey Award and Additional Achievements”, Experience Ruston, 2026-02. ↩

34. Board of Directors minutes, Ruston Lincoln CVB, 2025-08-01. ↩

35. Board of Directors minutes, Ruston Lincoln CVB, 2025-08-28. ↩

36. R.S. 33:4574.1.1(A)(18), Louisiana State Legislature, read 2026-10-13. ↩

37. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer searches, 0 results, read 2026-10-13. ↩