Corrina Ferguson will join the staff of the Williamsburg Area Chamber and Tourism Alliance on May 9 as the new director of the Williamsburg Area Destination Marketing Committee.
Ferguson is leaving a position as vice president of destination marketing, new media and strategy for VisitNewEngland.com, which is a privately owned tourism site marketing the New England states. Ferguson’s responsibilities included managing sales and marketing activities and the travel planning site. She also managed the site’s social media presence, which had a fan base growth of 90 percent on Facebook under her leadership.
She also worked as the director of marketing and general manager at Natures Art—The Dinosaur Place for 12 years.
“The addition of this position underscores the importance the region places on marketing the area as a world-class destination,” said Bob Harris, Alliance senior vice president of tourism, in a news release. “We are excited to have Corrina in this position to lead those efforts and look forward to reporting many future successes.”
The Marketing Resource Task Force, a part of WADMC, will continue monitoring the 2013 advertising campaign as Ferguson comes into her new position. With the help of four new advisory groups, Ferguson will start work on the 2014 campaign.
The new advisory groups will be the WADMC Creative Advisory Group, WADMC Website Advisory Group, WADMC Booking and Call Center Advisory Group and WADMC Public Relations Advisory Group. The groups are not yet in existence; requests for participation in the groups will soon be sent out.
“As a believer in the positive power of collaborative marketing efforts, I am incredibly impressed with the programs already in place here in the Historic Triangle,” Ferguson said in a release. “I am looking forward to using my years of destination marketing experience to refine and strengthen our regional marketing efforts.”
Ferguson graduated from Clark University with a bachelor’s degree in biology. Her husband and three daughters are in the process of moving to the area and expect to be here full time once school lets out for summer vacation.
Harris did not provide comment on Ferguson’s salary, but said WADMC gave a cap amount of $100,000 to cover her salary and full benefits including health and dental insurance, a 401K savings plan and disability. The Alliance and WADMC have an agreement that WADMC will fund Ferguson’s salary but she will have an office in the Alliance.
