National Cherry Festival Chief Named New President of Traverse City Tourism
Traverse City, MI (PRWEB) July 17, 2016 -- Trevor Tkach, executive director of the National Cherry Festival, has been selected as the newest President/CEO of Traverse City Tourism, this community’s official destination marketing and sales organization.
His selection comes at the end of a four-month search by a special subcommittee of Traverse City Tourism’s board of directors.
In the end, said board chairman Justin Mortier, Tkach impressed the committee with his experience in leading the National Cherry Festival on the national stage, his ties to the Traverse City community and his commitment to a leadership style that encourages independence and creativity.
Tkach grew up in Traverse City, attending Traverse City Central High School and Northwestern Michigan College before earning his bachelor’s degree at Eastern Michigan University. After graduation he worked as an account executive, and later as senior account executive, with the West Michigan Whitecaps baseball team in Grand Rapids. In 2011 he received an MBA from the University of Michigan at Flint.
He joined the National Cherry Festival in 2007 as the Business Development Manager and was named Interim Executive Director in 2011, a job that was made permanent in 2012. He is a member of the Central Michigan University Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and the Michigan Tourism Strategic Plan Service Excellence Committee.
An active member of Rotary, Trevor is the advertising sales chair of the Rotary Show and has been named to “40 Under 40” by the Traverse City Business News eight years in a row. Trevor and his wife Trisha love living in Traverse City with their three children: Lauren, Camden and Carson.
“Working for the National Cherry Festival as its executive director has been an honor and a privilege,” he said. “I'm excited to be able to continue my work celebrating and promoting Northern Michigan in my new role as president of Traverse City Tourism."
“We had some amazing candidates from all across the nation, and Trevor is a natural fit for our organization,” said Mortier. “His passion for Traverse City is evident in everything he says and does. We’ve found a candidate who’s been excited about Traverse City his whole life. This was a very unique opportunity for us, and we believe Trevor’s leadership will provide a great deal of synergy between the two organizations.”
The same feeling was evident at the National Cherry Festival, Traverse City’s signature tourism event, which celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2016.
“Trevor has been an excellent leader of our organization, and has helped lead the Festival’s growth nationally, yet fostering its focus locally on the fruit, and Michigan agriculture,” said Festival President Jamie Callahan. “We are looking forward to continuing a longtime partnership with Trevor at the helm of Traverse City Tourism.”
Organized in 1981 as the Traverse City Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, Traverse City Tourism is a nonprofit corporation. Its focused mission is to stimulate economic growth through the attraction of convention business and leisure tourism development.
Tkach replaces Brad VanDommelen, who stepped down from the post in March after 10 years at the helm of the city’s destination marketing organization to assume new duties as director of the Virginia Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Mike Norton, Traverse City Tourism, http://www.traversecity.com, +1 231-995-3909, [email protected]
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