Panel names candidates for state tourism director

By Cy Ryan (contact)

Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009 | 1:17 p.m.

CARSON CITY -- A Carson City woman and two men from outside Nevada are the top candidates to become state tourism director.

A panel of the state Tourism Commission has narrowed down the list of applicants to six to be interviewed Jan. 21.

Not on the list was Kirk Montero, the Reno airline employee who Gov. Jim Gibbons appointed to lead the commission last month. The commission rejected the appointment.

Three names were at the top of the commission’s list.

Tamara L. Hollingsworth is general manager of Vacation Resorts International and a senior partner in her own consulting firm at Lake Tahoe. The other two were Dann H. Lewis of Brunswick, Me., and Tom Jensen of Freeland, Wash.

Lewis is project manager for the Transportation and Tourism Research Initiative in the Maine Department of Transportation. Jensen is a realtor affiliated with Windermere Real Estate and was a co-founder of a tourism council in Washington.

The panel, headed by Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki, also decided to include three others. They are Kim Stoll, corporate director of marketing for the Peppermill Resort Spa Casino in Reno; Pasquale Barone, who is managing director for global sales for Eos Airlines in New York and Charles Pullen who is regional account supervisor for Zimmerman Advertising in Northern California and Nevada.

There were more than 60 candidates for the job.

Krolicki said after the telephone interviews by the panel, the top candidates will be interviewed by the full commission, probably later in the month. Under normal procedure, the top three would then be forwarded to Gov. Jim Gibbons who would make the final selection.

But Krolicki thinks the governor will propose merging the tourism and economic development commissions. The lieutenant governor doesn’t support the consolidation saying there would be $500,000 or less in savings and it would hurt the efforts to attract more tourism and business to Nevada. Krolicki and the commission have butted heads with the governor on naming a new tourism director.

Gibbons went forward, without the nominations from the tourism commission, and selected Montero for the $117,000 a year job to succeed Tim Maland who resigned in September. The governor said this important position was vacant for more than three months which is too long.

The commission balked at the action of the governor and went forward with the procedure outlined in the law.

Krolicki said the commission was operating efficiently now with Chief Deputy Stephen Woodbury filling in as acting director.