Fourth with Visit Vallejo
On May 4, before 110 Visit Vallejo members, elected officials, business leaders and supporters, Visit Vallejo held its 29th Annual Tourism Luncheon and Board of Directors Installation. After a two-year pause due to COVID-19, the event returned and was held at the Mare Island Brewery Coal Sheds.
Visit Vallejo holds this luncheon during National Travel and Tourism Week to share with our community the economic benefits of travel and tourism regarding both our businesses and the city's general fund, while recognizing that the tourism industry is Vallejo's second-largest employer.
We were honored to have Barb Newton, President and CEO from the California Travel Association (CalTravel) as our Keynote Speaker. CalTravel is the influential, unified voice of the travel and tourism industry in California and Barb is a leading voice of travel and tourism through advocacy, collaboration, and education.
Vallejo Mayor Robert H. McConnell conducted the swearing-in of Visit Vallejo's new Board for the fiscal year 2022-2023 and our second-year Chair Kirk Smith, Director of Marketing with Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. The Visit Vallejo Board also welcomed two new Directors Krystle Karimian with Krystle Properties, and Stephanie Pacheco with the Courtyard by Marriott Vallejo/Napa Valley. Also sworn in were Beth Kranda with SolTrans, Lauren Blanchard with Savage & Cooke, Mark Walter with Film Mare Island/Cinelease, Paul Wilke with Upright Position Communications, Thomas Hall with Water Emergency Transit Authority (WETA), Rick Naran with Budget Inn Vallejo, Hima Patel with the Regency Inn, Gene Price with the Hampton Inn Vallejo Napa Valley, Brad Sears with Consumer Music, and Deanna Troupe wit BB & B Business Group. And we said goodbye with many thanks to Directors Mike Ioakimedes with the Solano County Fair Association for his seven years of service and Tom Phillips with Recology Vallejo American Canyon who served for six years.
We would like to thank our Presenting Sponsors for making this event happen: Southern Land Company and Recology Vallejo American Canyon. We are grateful to our two Han Solo sponsors: the Regency Inn and Dock of the Bay Festival. And we would like to thank Kate McVine our Mare Island Brewery Coal Sheds Events Manager along with Henock Tesfaw from B& B Floral for their beautiful floral arrangements.
Finally, special thanks to the Visit Vallejo Team: Carrie Baulwin, Manuel Angel, Dalia Vidor, Dean Craig, Lisa Gannon the newest member of our Team, Chris Owens for their expert help with this event and throughout the past nearly three years of the pandemic.
The travel and tourism industry matters for America and for Vallejo. All of us at
Visit Vallejo are excited about inviting visitors to Re-Discover Vallejo – the Spirit of the Bay!
— Mike Browne/President and CEO, Visit Vallejo; Kirk Smith/
Chair, Visit Vallejo