VisitPITTSBURGH Chief Sales Officer Andrew Ortale announced that John Leinen and Razak Kadiri have joined VisitPITTSBURGH’s business events sales team. Leinen will serve as the national sales director and work out of VisitPITTSBURGH’s Midwest satellite office, while Kadiri will serve as the national sales manager and work out of VisitPITTSBURGH’s Washington, D.C., satellite office.
“We are delighted to welcome John and Razak to our business events sales team,” Ortale says. “They both possess a tremendous amount of knowledge on their markets. John is a seasoned veteran and well respected within our industry, while Razak is an ambitious rising star who has exceeded expectations at every stop of his career. Their combined experience will no doubt help our business events sales team as we continue to tell the Pittsburgh story to meeting planners.”
Leinen, an accomplished sales executive, has accumulated 12-years’ experience in destination marketing organizations, which he earned following an extensive career in the hospitality industry. He spent the last four years as Vice President of Sales and Services at Destination Madison where he led sales processes and service standards with a 10-person team.
Prior to his time at Destination Madison, Leinen also served as vice president of convention and tourism sales at Reno Tahoe USA (2010-17) and held several positions at Sage Hospitality (2007-10) and Omni Hotels (2001-07).
Active within the industry, Leinen previously served as the ASAE Industry Partner Alliance/Committee Chair and the Destinations International Sales and Service Committee Co-Chair.
Kadiri brings with him more than seven years of experience serving as the primary contact for logistics support and customer service for more than 20 B2B tradeshows and events. He spent the last two-and-a-half years as the Senior Event Services Coordinator for NTP Events in Alexandria, Virginia. There, he managed the on-site exhibit booth sales process for designated events, as well as assisted the sales manager with booth sales, resulting in 70%+ of the floor sold onsite. Additional responsibilities included serving on NTP’s Virtual Event Taskforce, training newly hired coordinators on CRM platforms and organizing virtual booth space selection processes for multiple clients.
Prior to his most recent appointment, Kadiri also served as event services coordinator (July 2018 – Sept. 2019), sales coordinator (Jan. 2017 – July 2018) and sales and event services coordinator (Jan. 2015 – Jan. 2017) for NTP Events.
An active member of the International Association of Exhibitions and Events’ (IAEE) Young Professional Committee, Kadiri was previously named an IAEE Under 35 honoree. He received his Bachelor of Science, Social Science from Frostburg State University and also earned his Certificate, Hospitality & Tourism Management from Florida Atlantic University.
