Charlene Lopez, veteran hospitality sales leader and Vice President of Sales at Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau (ACVB), will be promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Sales Officer for the organization beginning Jan. 1, 2024. In this role, Lopez will be responsible for efforts to increase visitation to Atlanta through the development and implementation of all sales programs for ACVB. She will oversee trade show sales, in-house sales, international tourism sales and convention services, establishing strategy for each and ensuring their objectives align with the corporate strategy.

Lopez will also maintain partnerships with hotels and convention facilities and serve as the Sales Liaison to ACVB’s Executive Committee and Board of Directors. Lopez will be the highest-ranking woman in the organization’s history, serving as the first female C-level executive since ACVB was established 110 years ago.

Clarion Events promoted Mike Carlucci to Chief Revenue & Customer Delivery Officer for North America, making him the first person to hold the position at the company. In this role, Carlucci will lead North America’s sales, operations and service arm and work across the commercial and central department teams and contractors to develop and deliver customer-centric strategies. Most recently, Carlucci was Executive Vice President Revenue & Customer Delivery at Clarion Events, where he has worked since 2014.

Visit Anaheim named Ronnie Collins as its Senior Vice President of Sales, effective March 27, 2023. In this role, Collins will lead the Sales and Services Division, lead and direct overall revenue strategy, convention and meeting sales, destination services, tourism and partnership sales. Collins brings nearly 20 years of experience to his new role and for the last six years has been the Director of Sales for Visit Phoenix.

Chris Connelly joined Visit Seattle as Senior Director of Sales. Previously Connelly worked as the Area Director of Group Sales for The Seattle Collection at Hyatt Hotels Corporation, which represents Hyatt Regency Seattle, Grand Hyatt Seattle and Hyatt at Olive 8. He brings 11 years of hospitality sales experience to the role, and will oversee the day-to-day activities of the Convention Sales team at Visit Seattle.

RX announced the appointment of Sajid Desai as General Manager for RX India. Desai joined RX in January 2023, and in the General Manager role he will help grow RX’s exhibitions and digital capabilities in India. Prior to RX, Desai has worked at Informa as Event Director – International Assignment, Nüernberg Messe India as CEO and dmg events as Country Director.

Mark Vaughan, Executive Vice President and Chief Sales Officer at the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau (ACVB), announced he will retire at the end of 2023. Vaughan has spent nearly 20 years at the ACVB, serving as the Executive Vice President of Sales when he started there in 2005. The ACVB’s sales team won many awards under his leadership, and while Vaughan was there, convention bookings increased from 1.3 million room nights to 1.7 million annually and total visitation increased to 57 million prior to the pandemic from 32 million.

John Burke is now the General Manager of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC). Prior to this role, Burke served as Deputy General Manager at the KLCC, overseeing the venue’s security infrastructure as it was upgraded, managing the development of hybrid and virtual event spaces and platforms as well as leading sustainability initiatives. Burke succeeds Alan Pryor as the General Manager.

ASM Global named Leonie Patrick the new General Manager of the Moscone Center in San Fransisco, Calif. Patrick is the Vice President, Convention Sales at the San Fransisco Travel Association, where she has worked the last 21 years. A native of the city, Patrick has a successful track record for promoting San Fransisco over the course of her two decades in the industry.

Karen Chupka has become a member of the MBB-Advisory Partner Group, bringing more than 30 years of experience in events and exhibitions to the consulting group. Chupka worked at the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) for more than three decades where she oversaw the sales, marketing, operations and conference development for the annual CES, the largest technology event in the world. Near the end of 2022, she started her own consulting firm, Chupka Consulting LLC, which focuses on strategy development and helping companies share their tech story, with CTA being her first client.

Heather Farley was named Chief Executive Officer of Access Intelligence. Most recently, Farley served as Access Intelligence’s Chief Operating Officer, a role she held for nine years, and has spent nearly 30 years with the company in a variety of leadership roles. She also served on the boards of the Software & Information Industry Association, Specialized Information Publishers Association and the Society of Independent Show Organizers.

Reach Heather Farley at hfarley@accessintel.com