Experience

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  BayArea Destination Management, Inc.

  • Owner

    • Jan 1996 - Present

    BayArea Destination Management is a full service DMC in the greater Tampa Bay area and services clients with meetings in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Tarpon Springs, Wesley Chapel and Sarasota.BayArea DMC assists clients with transportation, entertainment, events, decor, in room gifts, spouse tours and staffing of all kinds.BayArea DMC prides itself in helping meeting planners run successful meetings.

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  Destination Tampa Bay

  • Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida Area

  • Director of Sales and Operations

    • Jan 1987 - Dec 1995
    • Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida Area

    I set up and opened Destination Tampa Bay in 1987 and it soon became the top Destination Management Company in the greater Tampa Bay area.I was in charge of advertising, promotions and sales for the company from it's inception.When I first opened the company Tampa only had a small convention center and the same was true in St Petersburg. A big part of sales was tour and travel/receptive and I handled everything from Step on guides (whom I trained), to spouse tours, to multi-day motor coach tours. When the Tampa Convention Center (TCC) opened the business mix changed and I of course changed our focus to the convention business and all of their needs: convention shuttle, airport meet and greet, entertainment, theme parties, speakers and anything else someone having a meeting might need or want.My focus has always been to treat my clients the same way I would like to be treated. As iIdo with everything I emerged myself in Tampa Bay, it's attractions, its venues, its history, its streets and all the backroads to get there faster. This is what a true DMC should know and is expected to know. I know this area better than the town I grew up in.

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  AAA Auto Club South

  • Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida Area

  • Director of Goup Travel

    • Apr 1975 - Nov 1981
    • Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida Area

    • Oversaw/directed the AAA group travel department• Selected tour destinations and planned tours via motor coach, air, cruise• Trained tour guides for cross country and international tours• Oversaw group tours for 16 branch offices on Florida’s west coast• Vetted and negotiated with vendors which included but were not limited to transportation, hotels, restaurants, attractions, DMCs in other cities to which our tours visited.• Wrote tour copy for all tours including printing layout and editing• Placed advertising for promotion of tours to the public and pre-formed groups