Six state tourism director candidates interviewed

By Richard N. Velotta (contact)

Fri, Feb 6, 2009 (2 a.m.)

Some Nevada Tourism commissioners, wary that their board could be merged with the Nevada Economic Development Commission, agreed Jan. 21 to meet this month with six prospective tourism directors to fill a 4-month-old vacancy.

State law requires the commission to recruit candidates for the position and submit three names to the governor for consideration. Gov. Jim Gibbons tried to appoint a director without commission direction, but his plan was rejected and commissioners voted to proceed with their search.

Since then, Gibbons developed a budget proposal that would merge the commissions and eliminate the director’s job. But because the Legislature could reject that plan, the commission decided to press ahead.

Four commissioners on the director search committee interviewed the six top people via telephone. Afterward, the group decided trimming the list to three would, in essence, take the decision out of the hands of the commission, so the committee agreed the board should interview all six in person.

Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki, who heads the commission, said he hopes the interviews would occur in early February in Carson City in conjunction with a “tourism day” at the Legislature at which tourism representatives could meet lawmakers and lobby to preserve the commission and some of its funding.

Gibbons’ proposed budget for the next biennium with the merged commissions trims the state’s tourism budget by 58 percent, Krolicki said.

The Tourism Commission unanimously opposes merging the two boards, saying their missions are separate and require different skills. Most Economic Development commissioners also oppose the idea.

Because the likelihood of a merger won’t be known until after the Legislature convenes, commissioners are reticent to forward the names of three finalists until they know whether the commission is even going to exist.

Krolicki said the proposed merger is “tremendously shortsighted,” considering that former Gov. Richard Bryan formed the two commissions as a means of generating revenue for the state.

“We’ll do the budget drill if we must,” Krolicki said, “but it’s my preference to keep the commissions separate.”

Tourism commissioners are lobbying lawmakers to keep the commissions separate, and commissioners are hoping the merger question is resolved early in the session, but they’re also realistic in understanding the Legislature has larger problems to deal with than their issues.

Regardless of the commission’s future, the four-member search committee spoke to four men and two women who are vying to replace Tim Maland, the tourism director who resigned in September.

Three of the applicants are Northern Nevadans; the three from out of state have held high-level tourism positions.

The candidates are:

• Pasquale Barone. Currently with Eos Airlines in Purchase, N.Y., Barone was president of PLJC Consulting, creating sales and marketing plans for various tour operators after a 28-year career with United Airlines where he was national manager of international leisure sales in Chicago. He also sold United Airlines products to travel agencies in the southeastern United States in Orlando, Fla.

• Tamara Hollingsworth. The Carson City resident is the senior partner for Hollingsworth & Associates in Incline Village, consulting on hospitality and tourism initiatives for the Lake Tahoe area. She formerly was regional director of operations for Lake Tahoe Resort Property Management Inc. in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., and was an assistant manager for the Olympic Village Inn in Squaw Valley, Calif.

• Tom Jensen. Currently a Realtor affiliated with Windermere Real Estate on South Whidbey Island in Washington state, Jensen’s tourism career includes a stop with the International Tourism Councils LLC, an organization he founded to develop tourism relationships with Argentina, Vietnam and Peru. He also worked with travel and advertising consultants Dave Syferd & Partners, MA Network, Mutual Travel and Doug Fox Travel and did marketing work with the Heavenly Ski Resort and Ski Lake Tahoe & Sierra Ski Marketing Council.

• Donn Lewis. With a lengthy list of domestic and international tourism and aviation work behind him, Lewis last year completed a one-year transportation and tourism research initiative for Maine. He also served as an acting commissioner for the Maine Economic and Community Development Department and was the state’s director of tourism for 12 years. Lewis held positions with Cirrus Air, Pocono Airlines, Virgin Islands Seaplane Shuttle and was tourism director in New York during its “I Love NY” campaign. He also was a West Coast consultant for Montana’s tourism initiatives.

• Charles Pullen. Currently a Reno-based sales supervisor of Northern California and Nevada for Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Zimmerman Advertising, Pullen was in ad sales for the Reno-Tahoe Visitor and RLIFE magazine, both in Reno, and was an account executive for DRGM Advertising in Reno. He also held management positions with the Silver Legacy Resort in downtown Reno, Caesars Tahoe in Stateline and Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

• Kim Stoll. A resident of Nevada for more than 35 years, she was most recently the director of marketing, advertising and publicity for the Peppermill Resort in Reno, a position she had for nearly a decade. Previous jobs include stops at the Boomtown in Las Vegas (now the Silverton), Maxisoft Software in Reno, the Atlantis Resort in Reno, the Gold River Resort in Laughlin and Ameristar’s Cactus Pete’s Resort in Jackpot. She also had an internship with former Gov. Paul Laxalt.

Krolicki told all applicants about the uncertainty of the position, but each said he or she still wanted to be considered.