Meredith Meyer Grelli, VisitPITTSBURGH’s Chairperson, announced five new board members for open positions at its most recent Board of Directors meeting. The appointees fill open seats on the board and will now proceed through the traditional election process.
The new VisitPITTSBURGH board members are:
- Allison Beckner, General Manager, Omni William Penn
- Mamadou Baldé, Managing Director, CBRE
- Gerardo Interiano, Vice President of Government Relations, Aurora
- Stefanie Cedro Mohr, Director of Marketing & Engagement, Carnegie Museum of Art
- David Sher, General Manager, Fairmont Pittsburgh
“I would like to congratulate Allison, Mamadou, Gerardo, Stefanie and David and welcome them to the VisitPITTSBURGH Board of Directors,” VisitPITTSBURGH Chairperson Meredith Meyer Grelli says. “This is such a talented group of individuals who represent a variety of sectors that support VisitPITTSBURGH’s major initiatives including the Tourism Master Plan, Tourism Brand Development and the Tourism Improvement District. Their collective experience and knowledge will help VisitPITTSBURGH as the organization continues to build back Allegheny County’s tourism economy.”
Allison Beckner is an accomplished hotel professional with extensive experience in repositioning assets in branded, independent and lifestyle hotels. A Pittsburgh native, she has more than 15 years of instrumental leadership experience, most recently stepping into the General Manager role at Omni William Penn. Previously, during her time with HEI Hotels & Resorts, Beckner refocused company resources on operational improvements to increase the Guest Service Index rating by 40% across six locations. Most recently in her role as vice president of operations at TPG Hotels & Resorts in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, she led the Southeast region to become the top performer for employee satisfaction, ranking 10 points above the company average, along with achieving the highest profitability margins within the company. Beckner earned a hospitality management degree from Pennsylvania Culinary Institute and certification from Le Cordon Bleu.
Mamadou Baldé is the market leader and managing director for CBRE’s Pittsburgh and West Virginia Operations. In this role, he oversees business operations and manages client relations, new business development and related services for the markets. Baldé serves as the strategic manager for all Advisory Services lines of business, including Property Management, Advisory & Transaction Services, Capital Markets, Project Management and Valuation & Advisory Services. Prior to joining CBRE in 2021, he was President of Fulani Millwork, Inc., and was a Developer-In-Residence with ACTION-Housing. In addition to real estate experience, he also practiced law at Pittsburgh regional law firms. Baldé is a graduate of Liberty University School of Law, where he earned his Juris Doctorate and his Bachelor of Science in Finance.
Gerardo Interiano is vice president of Government Relations and Public Affairs at Aurora, where he leads the company’s efforts to help define self-driving policy and ensure self-driving vehicles are both developed and delivered to roads safely. Interiano has more than 15 years of advocacy, campaign and legislative experience and has brought highly regulated products to market in various industries, including transportation and telecommunications. Interiano has a B.A. and a J.D. from The University of Texas at Austin. He was appointed by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf to the Pennsylvania Highly Automated Vehicle Advisory Committee on behalf of the self-driving industry, as well as the Pennsylvania Workforce Development Board.
Stefanie Cedro Mohr joined Carnegie Museum of Art in 2019 as the director of marketing & engagement. In this newly created role, she brings strategic integrated marketing and communications leadership to the museum and has aligned the marketing function to the greater programmatic ambitions of the institution. Prior to joining Carnegie Museum of Art, Mohr held a variety of marketing and communications roles across the consumer goods, retail and media industries, including Assistant Vice President, Head of Corporate Communications for the Consumer Products Division at L’Oréal and Assistant Vice President, Integrated Marketing Communications for the L’Oréal Paris brand. She also previously spearheaded the PR team for Glamour Magazine and led field public relations for the east coast at Target. Mohr also spent eight years at The Estēe Lauder Companies Inc., working on three different global brand teams including Estēe Lauder, Jo Malone and Origins, with her most recent role being Director of Global Communications. Mohr earned her MBA from Fordham University and BA in Business and BM in Music Theatre from Baldwin-Wallace University.
David Sher is the general manager for Fairmont Pittsburgh, a position he has held since 2020. He joined the Fairmont company in 2010, first serving as Director, Food & Beverage, at Fairmont Château Laurier before transferring to Fairmont Chicago, Millennium Park, in 2013, in the same role. Prior to relocating to Pittsburgh, Sher served as Director, Operations, for Fairmont Dallas for five years. His hospitality career began in 1997 at the Millennium Broadway/Millennium Conference Center New York. He also has worked with: RIHGA Royal Hotel in New York; Sheraton Hotel & Towers in Tel Aviv; InterContinental Hotel, Toronto; Sassafraz Restaurant (Toronto); Simply Zoup (Toronto); and Rosewater/Rosewater ROOM Toronto (Liberty Group). Sher holds a degree from the Institut Hôtelier “Cesar Ritz” Colleges in Switzerland in International Hotel Management. He also participated in the ESSEC Business School & Accor International Hotel Management Program (Hotel General Manager).
