FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Meet Minneapolis welcomes Business Development Manager Karen Mahoney

Two sales promotions also announced

MINNEAPOLIS August 19, 2014 Meet Minneapolis, Convention and Visitors Association, is pleased to announce Karen Mahoney as the new destination sales business development manager. She brings more than 25 years of experience in the travel and hospitality industry with a strong sales background to the new role.

Mahoney most recently worked as a group sales representative for the Mall of America. In that position, Mahoney was responsible for building revenue through group sales, meetings, special events and tickets sales, as well as establishing relationships with corporate and private accounts and managing contract negotiations. Previously, she worked as a meetings, events and conference manager for Cygnus Business Media, where she was responsible for all expositions, conferences, events and meetings.

In this newly created position, Mahoney will identify innovative ways to promote Minneapolis as a convention and meetings destination. Working with destination sales, marketing, research and local partners, she will implement tactical strategies with the goal of growing Minneapolis share of the convention and meetings market.

In addition, Mahoney will lead Meet Minneapolis partnership with key third party convention planning companies insuring Minneapolis stands out from the pack with this growing segment.

Having a dedicated manager focused primarily on feeding the sales funnel will ultimately result in more converted business and higher ROI, said Brent Foerster, senior vice president of Destination Sales, Meet Minneapolis. Karens past experience in sales and as a meeting professional make her an ideal choice for this position.

Promotions announced

In addition, Meet Minneapolis is pleased to announce the promotion of two of its staff members:

• Stephanie Grimaldi will become the new manager of East Coast national accounts and will have oversight and management responsibilities for the teams responsible for those accounts. Grimaldi joined Meet Minneapolis in 1998 as a national account executive for the Washington, D.C., team based in Minneapolis, and has contributed to the sales success of the organization. She has 25 years of industry experience.
• Nathan Hermiston will become the new director of destination sales and will have oversight and management responsibilities for non-East Coast accounts. Hermiston joined Meet Minneapolis in 2010 as a national account executive and has been instrumental in many sales successes, as well, including Meeting Professional International World Education Congress, which was in Minneapolis Aug. 2-5, 2014.

ABOUT MEET MINNEAPOLIS

Meet Minneapolis is a private, not-for-profit, member-based association. It actively promotes and sells the Minneapolis area as a destination for conventions and meetings, works to maximize the visitor experience and markets the city as a desirable tourist destination to maximize the economic benefit of the greater Minneapolis area.

Meet Minneapolis is accredited by the Destination Marketing Accreditation Program (DMAP) of the Destination Marketing Association International.

Find out more:

Online: www.minneapolis.org and http://go.minneapolis.org

On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/meetminneapolis?ref=ts

On Twitter: http://twitter.com/meetminneapolis

On Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/meetminneapolis/

#askMPLS

When visitors attending events in the city have questions about where to go, what to do or just need directions, all they need to do is ask by using the Meet Minneapolis hashtag #askMPLS on social media. Staff members are on the ready to respond to questions and assist to ensure a great visitor experience for all who come to Minneapolis.

MEDIA CONTACT

Kristen Montag, media communication manager, 612.767.8038, kristenm@minneapolis.org, Minneapolis_PR on Twitter.