Doreen Burse has been named senior vice president of worldwide sales at United Airlines. Burse, who will report to executive vice president and chief commercial officer Andrew Nocella, will be responsible for leading United’s global sales strategy. She will work to enhance the airline’s existing sales programs while building new partnerships and driving overall revenue. A veteran of more than 30 years in the travel and tourism, Burse most recently served as the vice president of Marriott’s global sales for the U.S. and Canada. She led a cross-functional global account team serving hundreds of accounts, representing about 1,000 associations, 250 corporations, and hundreds of group intermediary partners, travel management companies, retail agencies and other organizations. Her first day at United will be March 1, 2021.
Cleo Battle, the current chief operating officer at Louisville Tourism, will take over as the organization’s new president and CEO on June 30th. He’ll succeed the current president and CEO, Karen Williams, who is retiring. Battle joined Louisville Tourism in 2013 as executive vice president. He became chief operating office in 2019. Prior to joining the Louisville agency, Battle spent 12 years as vice president of sales and services for the Richmond Convention & Visitors Bureau in Virginia, where he also served as its director of sales and sales manager. A Denver native, he began his hospitality/tourism career in the hotel industry working for Embassy Suites, Holiday Inn and Sheraton Hotels.
Carroll Rheem has announced that she is leaving Brand USA, where she was vice president of research and analytics, and where she served for nearly eight years, developing a reputation as one of the most highly regarded speakers at travel industry conferences, roundtable discussions, board meetings and special events—punctuating her remarks with wry humor and animated slides. She has decided to launch her own practice and, as she told colleagues in a social media entry, will make an announcement on the matter in the near future. Before her tenure with Brand USA, Rheem was director of research for PhoCusWright Inc.
Sven Schikarsky is the new chief product officer of DER Touristik, Germany. The company is the second largest tour operator in Germany. Schikarsky joined DER Touristik in the spring of 2018 as vice president, capacity and revenue management. He ate became senior vice president, sun & beach prior to his new role. Before DER Touristik, Schikarsky was managing director, tour operating for FTI Touristik, another major German tour operator.
Sarah Ridgway Willoughby is leaving the Greater Wilmington (Del.) Convention and Visitors Bureau. Willoughby, formerly director of tourism development at Winterthur Museum, has been with the bureau since 2004, and has served as its executive director since 2008. Willoughby is moving to Hernando, Florida, with her husband, Gary, who retired this past summer
Robert Cavaliere, currently global chief product officer and head of underwriting for the travel line of business at Allianz Partners, a leading travel insurance and assistance company based in Richmond, Va., is taking over as chief sales officer in the U.S. He has been with the company for more than 18 years in a number of leadership roles. He replaces Ricky Horwitz, who will continue to focus on his role as global chief sales officer for the Travel line of business.
After more than 15 years leading the tourism industry in Pennsylvania’s Adams County tourism industry as president and CEO of Destination Gettysburg, Norris Flowers has announced his retirement, effective April 1. Flowers joined the organization in 2005. Destination Gettysburg will soon conduct a national search for a new president & CEO.
Christopher Marino has joined the world of travel public relations as an account executive at the Lou Hammond Group, located in mid-town Manhattan. Marino previously worked in the area of global communications for New York City & Company before the latter was forced to make some huge job cuts due to the global pandemic wrought by the COVID-19 crisis.
Marissa Weaver has been named public relations coordinator for Visit Tampa Bay. She moves to the travel and tourism industry with a background that includes tenures with Feeding Tampa Bay and AmeriCorps Vista.
In Brazil, Fernando Tanaka has joined Rappi Travel as non-air manager. He comes to his new position from Sorte Online, where he was head of business development. Prior to that, he held managerial positions with CVC and Decolar.
Meetings management company Groupize has expanded its team with a number of executive hires, including the appointment of Courtney Bruen as sales director. She comes to her new role from Convene. Where she was account sales director. Previously, she served as a senior sales manager at Longwood Venues & Destinations.
Danny Crowe has joined marketing performance business Go Inspire. A former JG Travel Group sales and marketing director, he has some 40 years of experience that includes in-house roles at major financial services, retail and travel brands.
Aoife Delaney, director of marketing & sales at the DMC (Destination Management Consultants) Network, has been named president of the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE) in 2021. Aoife has been an active member with SITE since the start of her career in the meetings and incentive industry and has served in a volunteer capacity with the association throughout her membership, co-chairing the SITE Young Leaders Committee in 2009 and 2010, and Chairing the Global Conference in 2011 in addition to serving on the International Board of Directors.
