A more than six-month hiring effort culminated Tuesday with the announcement Karen Riordan will be the next president and CEO of the Greater Williamsburg Chamber and Tourism Alliance.
Riordan is expected to assume her new role Jan. 21; there will be a two-week crossover period when Riordan will work alongside current Alliance President and CEO Dick Schreiber, who is staying on until Jan. 31.
Rumors of Schreiber’s departure swirled for several weeks before Schreiber confirmed his planned retirement with WYDaily in early June. In June, the Alliance formed a search committee, which was tasked with finding Schreiber’s replacement.
Early on the committee began to outline the skillset a replacement would need to have in order to fit the role. Meetings were held with the City of Williamsburg’s mayor and city manager and with York and James City Counties’ Board of Supervisors chairmen and county administrators. From those meetings, the committee decided to contract with a search committee.
In September, a national search for a replacement went live through a company called SearchWide. Meetings between the committee and SearchWide firmed up the job requirements prior to the national search; after the search was over, SearchWide used the requirements to narrow down the candidates to 15.
The committee combed through the 15 applicants, finally choosing five for in-person interviews.
“All five candidates that we interviewed had the qualifications to fill the position. Karen has a very deep background in marketing as well as managing people and putting together budgets and working with the business community,” said Bobby Singley, president of RJS & Associates Inc. and chairman of the Alliance.
Riordan has been working as president of SmithGifford, a Falls Church advertising agency. According to a release, she has experience in tourism marketing, including work with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Amtrak, Celebrity Cruises, Choice Hotels International and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.
A graduate of Boston College, Riordan earned a bachelor’s in speech communications; she also studied English literature. Riordan has served as president of the DC Ad Club, chair of Advertising Week DC and was a 2012 honoree by Washington Business Journal’s Women Who Mean Business awards. She received the silver medal from The American Advertising Federation in September.
“I am thrilled and honored to be selected as the Alliance’s next President/CEO,” Riordan said in a release. “I look forward to putting my passion for the destination and my marketing experience to work on behalf of the businesses in the Chamber and to promote the Historic Triangle.”
In an interview, Singley said Riordan will come in and make an assessment of the Alliance. The board of directors and executive committee will sit down with her to come up with a plan for the Alliance; there will likely be some adjustments to the current annual plan, which runs to Sept. 30.
“We’re excited about having her,” Singley said.
