CH-OCVB minutes 051816 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

Approved June 15, 2016 MINUTES Chapel Hill /Orange County Visitors Bureau Board of Directors Meeting May 18, 2016 The Chapel Hill /Orange County Visitors Bureau met at Extraordinary Ventures, Chapel Hill, NC Board Members Present: Jeffrey Strickler, George Cianciolo, Tim Hoke, Rosemary Waldorf- Chair, Mark Sherburne, Allison Nichols- Clapper, Karen DeHart, Aaron Bachenheimer, Lee Pavao -Vice Chair, Michelle Johnson, Mark Bell, Penny Rich, Lee Storrow, Shannan Campbell Not Present: Andrew Strickland, Nitin Khanna, Annette Stone, Meg McGurk Staff attendance: Laurie Paolicelli, Marlene Barbera, Allison Chambers Also present: Bernard Mann, Publisher /Owner, Our State Magazine, Lisa Ganzzermiller, General Manager, Courtyard Chapel Hill Call to Order Chair Rosemary Waldorf called the meeting to order at 8:10 am. Introductions were given by all. Approval of Minutes Ms. Waldorf requested a motion to approve the April 20, 2016 minutes. Lee Pavao so moved, Tim Hoke seconded. With all members in favor, the minutes were approved as submitted. Guest /host speakers Extraordinary Ventures hosted our meeting and they were represented by General Manager, Cyndi Whisnant. Extraordinary Ventures is a nonprofit that was formed eight years ago by a group of parents of children with developmental disabilities. They have created businesses that provide meaningful jobs and careers for this group of individuals and provide services to the community. There businesses include a laundry, office solutions, gifts, bus crew and the events center. Their goal is to be sustainable long term. Chair Waldorf asked Laurie Paolicelli to introduce Bernie Mann of Our State Magazine. Mr. Mann shared that he has been on the Greensboro CVB board for the last six years and so is familiar with what our board does. He further shared that tourism is the biggest single category for Our State Magazine. Each area of NC has their own unique story to tell. He is seeing an increase of about 6% across the state in CVB budgets. Because of the problems caused by HB2 many CVBs are focusing more on in -state tourism with 60% of visitors being from NC. NC people love their state. People love Chapel Hill but we must keep reminding them because other destinations are reminding them. Ms. Paolicelli asked Mr. Mann if we should feel threatened by Durham. He pointed out that Durham has many things going on; they are different than what is going on in Chapel Hill /Orange County. We want to say this is a very special while being mindful of not being elitist, remembering that only 21% of North Carolinians have a passport and that 26% have a college degree. Dollars spent to promote tourism create more dollars coming back to the community. Mr. Mann stated that he is seeing many small towns around the state revitalizing them.