The Scottsdale Convention & Visitors Bureau has hired a national sales manager for the Northeast market as well as the Mid-Atlantic market. In addition, the CVB has also promoted a former national sales manager to director of sales and services.
Erika Pumphrey and Stuart Evans will fill the vacant national sales manager positions, while Kelli Blubaum will assume the role of director of sales and services.
A seven-year veteran of the Scottsdale CVB, Blubaum oversees an eight-person team that provides destination information to U.S. and Canadian meeting and incentive planners. She also will continue to oversee the western region, which includes Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington.
“We are thrilled to have Kelli leading such a talented sales team,” said Rachel Sacco, president and CEO for the Scottsdale bureau. “Plus, Erika and Stuart’s extensive sales and marketing experience will help to showcase Scottsdale as a premiere destination to meeting planners throughout the United States.”
Pumphrey’s sales region includes nine states reaching from Pennsylvania to Maine; Evans’ region spans five states, including Illinois, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. He also is responsible for the Washington D.C. market.
Pumphrey comes to the Scottsdale CVB with more than 10 years of marketing and sales experience with Marriott and the Fiesta Bowl, where she oversaw sales for 40 annual events, including the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and Insight Bowl. Pumphrey has a degree in hotel restaurant administration from Washington State University.
Evans joins the Scottsdale bureau with 13 years of experience, almost all of which has been in the hospitality industry. Stuart worked in sales at The Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa in Florida, The Westin Innisbrook Golf Resort in Tampa, and the Sheraton Norfolk – Waterside Hotel in Virginia. He has a degree in business management from Radford University in Virginia.
During the Scottsdale bureau’s 2010-11 fiscal year (July 1, 2010 – June 30, 2011), the convention sales team booked $64.8 million in meetings business. The Scottsdale Convention & Visitors Bureau is responsible for marketing Scottsdale as a premier travel and meetings destination to national and international target audiences, including meeting and incentive planners, travel agents, tour operators and individual tourists.
