New Orleans CVB Expands Its Award-Winning Sales Team

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contacts:
Jennifer Day/Jenn Lotz
New Orleans CVB
504-566-5019
jday@neworleanscvb.com/jlotz@neworleanscvb.com

New Orleans CVB Expands Its Award-Winning Sales Team
Former CVB employees Ted Pennison and Sharon Sibley return home to New Orleans and to the
CVB to promote the city as a top meeting destination

NEW ORLEANS – May 24, 2011 – The New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) is announcing that Ted Pennison and Sharon Sibley have come back home to join the award-winning convention sales team. Both convention sales managers join a team of CVB representatives dedicated to promoting New Orleans as a future meeting destination.

Through his role as a senior sales manager at the New Orleans CVB, Pennison will work with associations and corporations across the Eastern Seaboard, in Florida, the Gulf Coast region and Texas. His primary focus is pharmaceutical and convention center business. With more than 15 years of experience in destination sales and marketing with convention and visitors bureaus, Pennison brings the knowledge and skill required to work with meeting and convention customers. For more than seven years, Pennison worked as a sales manager and senior sales manager for the New Orleans CVB, after which he joined the Greater Phoenix Convention and Visitors Bureau, first as the associate director of sales and later as the director of convention sales. He can be contacted at tpennison@neworleanscvb.com or at 504-566-5023.

As a convention sales manager, Sibley will handle the Midwest/Northeast association & corporate markets for the New Orleans CVB. Her specialty will be groups utilizing up to 400 peak rooms Sibley began her career in the hospitality industry when she worked as a sales coordinator and later as the billing and business center supervisor for Royal Productions. From 2003-2006 she worked for the New Orleans CVB as the membership services coordinator where she planned member events and assisted the CVB’s 1,000 members. Following a move to Houston in 2007, Sibley worked as the contract management coordinator for Vinson & Elkins, LLP, an international law firm. Sibley can be contacted at ssibley@neworleanscvb.com or at 504-566-5037.

“Combined, Ted and Sharon bring nearly 25 years of tourism industry experience to the New Orleans CVB,” said Nikki Moon, vice president of convention sales for the New Orleans CVB. “Their familiarity with the New Orleans CVB and vast knowledge in the meetings and conventions industry, brings the type of background and required experience to sell New Orleans. It’s a privilege to welcome them back to our CVB team.”

The New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau is a nationally accredited, 1,000-member destination marketing organization and the largest and most successful private economic development corporation in Louisiana. We create $5 billion in new capital each year- more than any other business sector- by attracting millions of visitors, special events and conventions. The CVB and its members influence thousands of decision-makers and millions of visitors to choose New Orleans through direct sales, marketing, public relations, branding and visitor services at our New Orleans headquarters and offices in Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago and four foreign countries. Consistently recognized as one of the top five CVBs in the country, the New Orleans CVB celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2010. For more information, please visit www.neworleanscvb.com.

*Photos available upon request
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