Print

Tourism Industry & BACVA News

For Immediate Release: October 2, 2007

Media Contacts Only:
Sara Hisamoto
Baltimore Area Convention & Visitors Association
410-659-7071
shisamoto@baltimore.org

BACVA Hires Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer

Philadelphia Tourism Executive to Lead Baltimore's Marketing Efforts

(Baltimore, MD) -Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association (BACVA) President and CEO Tom Noonan today announced the hiring of Sam Rogers for the newly created position of executive vice president and chief marketing officer at BACVA. Rogers will oversee all leisure and convention marketing for the bureau and assume the role as Noonan's second in command. He joins BACVA on October 10.

Rogers is a skilled destination marketing executive who spent a combined 15 years working for the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau (PCVB) during two separate tenures. He was vice president of the tourism division from October 1997 to April 2005 and was charged with managing the marketing communications, tourism sales and membership departments. He also worked at the PCVB from January 1980 to September 1987, during which time he served as vice president of the communications division in charge of convention and tourism marketing, advertising, public relations and collateral.

After leaving the Philadelphia bureau the first time in 1987, Rogers joined Elkman Advertising and Public Relations in Philadelphia, where he spent nearly eight years and rose to the position of executive vice president. Rogers managed a diverse portfolio of consumer, financial and business-to-business accounts. His clients included the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's tourism program, the Pocono Mountains Vacation Bureau, Friendly's Restaurants and the Greater Philadelphia Economic Development Coalition. In 2005, Rogers left the PCVB the second time to launch a new destination management company in Philadelphia, Amicus International Hospitality Services, which works with domestic conventions and meetings and international groups.

"Sam brings extensive experience in destination marketing to Baltimore," says Noonan. "He's spent most of his career selling and promoting Philadelphia and he's passionate about marketing and tourism. Sam's skill set and knowledge will be a tremendous asset to Baltimore's tourism industry as we raise the bar and look for creative and innovative ways to drive new business to Baltimore with limited marketing dollars."

As executive vice president and chief marketing officer at BACVA, Rogers will be responsible for all marketing programs and campaigns including Web site development, graphic design and publications. He will also be charged with increasing BACVA's marketing budget through strategic and corporate partnerships.

Rogers also worked as the director of marketing and communications for the City of Norfolk, Virginia, from June 1994 to October 1997. While there, he developed a $3 million annual regional tourism campaign branding the area from Williamsburg to Norfolk/Virginia Beach as "The Virginia Waterfront" and created the Virginia International Arts Festival, which debuted in 1997. He also served as the executive director of the Norfolk Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Rogers' career accomplishments include executing a marketing communications campaign to promote "We the People 200," celebrating the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution in 1987; raising $6 million over a three-year period to develop and launch Philadelphia's first international consumer marketing campaign, which increased market share from 1.5 percent to 2.2 percent and captured the Travel Industry Association of America's Odyssey Award in 2004; and creating a multifaceted initiative to "re-package" Philadelphia as an experiential destination by developing hands-on and behind-the-scenes tours and a new Web-based itinerary planning program called Planit Philadelphia.

Early in his career, Rogers worked in the Pennsylvania Department of Commerce's tourism office as chief of publicity and information; Harrisburg Patriot News as city editor; and Steubenville Ohio Herald Star as front page editor.

He is a graduate of Colgate University in Hamilton, New York.

 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association (BACVA), a membership-based organization, is the official destination development and marketing leader for Greater Baltimore, responsible for generating incremental economic benefits to the community through the attraction of convention and leisure visits.