Jeff Beckelman has been hired as the new president and CEO of the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority in Nevada, concurrent with the Reno-Sparks Convention Center expansion project. He had been the vice president of sales and marketing for the Sands Expo & Convention Center in Las Vegas.
Pamela Traficanti has been named national sales manager for the insurance company market at the Tucson Convention and Visitors Bureau. Traficanti was previously responsible for the northeastern U.S., Canada, and fraternal markets at the bureau.
John Cassady has been named executive director of the Newport Beach (Calif.) Conference and Visitors Bureau. Cassady brings over 26 years of management, sales, and marketing experience with American Airlines to the bureau. He was most recently the airline's district sales manager in Orange County.
Maria Rivera has been appointed national sales manager for the Washington, D.C., area and the Northeast at the Long Beach Area Convention and Visitors Bureau in Long Beach, Calif. Prior to joining the bureau, Rivera represented the Hawaii Visitor and Convention Bureau as regional director of accounts in Washington.
Peter Garapic has been named corporate sales manager at Opryland Hotel and Attractions, Nashville, Tenn. Garapic most recently was director of sales at the Adam's Mark Hotel in Columbia, S.C.
Brenda O'Neil has been appointed national sales manager for The Greenbrier, in White Sulphur Springs, W.V. O'Neil was most recently national sales manager with The Homestead resort in Hot Springs, Va.
Kim Greca has been promoted to director of sales at the Walt Disney World Swan Hotel and Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Vera Spoto has been appointed associate director of sales to fill the position left vacant by Greca's promotion.
John Rebimbas has joined The Registry Resort, Naples, Fla., as a national sales manager. Rebimbas had worked for Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, where he held the same title. Rachel A. McKenna has joined The Registry as a national accounts manager, responsible for corporate groups from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. McKenna formerly was with LaPlaya Beach Resort, also in Naples.
Karen Sullivan has been named associate director of sales at the Hyatt Regency San Diego. Sullivan had worked as area director of sales and marketing in Las Vegas for Marriott Hotels, Resorts and Suites.
At The Lodge at Ventana Canyon, in Tucson, Ariz., Debbie Moore has been named director of sales. She most recently was director, conference services, at the Miraval Life in Balance, 30 miles north of Tucson.
Michelle Caporicci has been named director of conference services and Ripley Vaughn has been appointed national sales manager at the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel in Dana Point, Calif. Caporicci will oversee a staff of 13. She has worked in the conference services department at Ritz-Carlton since 1998. Vaughn will represent the hotel to clients in the western region, including Los Angeles. Since 1998, he has served as sales manager at La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, Calif.
Josephine Kling, CEO of Landry & Kling Inc., specialists in meetings at sea, has resigned from the company that she and her partner Joyce Landry founded in 1982. Landry, formerly president, assumed the newly created title of president & CEO, effective January 31, 2001.
Martha Fetter has been promoted to director, conference planning, at Travelers Insurance in Hartford, Conn. Fetter has been with Travelers since 1985, starting as associate meeting planner and moving up to senior meeting planner, manager, and then to her new position. She oversees a staff of three.
Meghan McSkimming has been named director of insurance sales, New England, for PGI, Inc., the interactive event and communications agency based in Arlington, Va. Over the course of her 20-year career in the travel, meetings, and incentives industries, McSkimming has been with PGI, IDS/American Express Financial Advisors, and Maritz Travel.
