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Allison O’Connor, Kevin Hinton, and Courtney Mesmer
The U.S. Travel Association has announced three senior leadership appointments. Allison O’Connor has been named senior vice president of strategic communications. She brings a extensive experience in global communications, public relations, crisis management, and brand awareness. Her travel industry experience includes previous roles as vice president, public relations and communications, Americas, at Marriott International and global communications at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. She most recently worked as vice president, customer experience at The Boca Raton.
Kevin Hinton joins the organization as managing director, group travel to lead the association’s group travel community. The association executive and meetings industry leader most recently served as executive vice president of strategy at consultancy Minding Your Business. He also served as an executive vice president at Associated Luxury Hotels International (ALHI).
Courtney Mesmer has been named vice president, event programming and experience. She joins the organization to provide leadership and support to the association’s signature events and member experiences. The global event production innovator joins the U.S. Travel Association from WorldatWork, where she worked as vice president of events. She has extensive event design experience at multiple trade associations, including the American Telemedicine Association and the American College of Cardiology.
Joseph Zuziak
Joseph Zuziak has been appointed director of sales and marketing at Hyatt Regency Irvine. He most recently worked as the director of group sales at Park Hyatt Aviara, a luxury resort in Carlsbad. In his 10 years of experience working in hospitality, Zuziak has held a number of key positions, including director of sales for the Marriott Southwest group sales office.
Melissa Klinkhamer, Michael Basteri, and Richard Mankiewicz
Stagedge, a full-service production company for live, virtual, and hybrid events, has announced promotions within the organization. Melissa Klinkhamer and Michael Basteri, both previously serving as senior director of client experience and solutions, have been promoted to senior vice president roles. Klinkhamer will concentrate on ensuring that the leaders of the company are moving toward annual and long-term goals and are in alignment on how to achieve them. Basteri will lead day-to-day operations of the company, responsible for heading up sales and marketing, operations and production, and venue partnerships.
Richard Mankiewicz, who previously served as senior director of production, has been named vice president. In his new role, Mankiewicz will maintain all duties and responsibilities of his previous role while also supporting Basteri in day-to-day operations of the business.