WEBA Annual Meeting  Friday, Dec. 10, 8 to 10 a.m., gourmet networking breakfast buffet at TEMPO Restaurant, 4231 Duke St., Alexandria.

TOPIC: “Bright Spots in a Dark Economy.” WEBA members $20, non-members $25. Speakers include:  Barbara Watts, owner of independent Alexandria retailer, REUNIONS, in the Fairlington Shopping Center; Stephanie Brown, director of the Alexandria Convention and Visitors Bureau; Kerri Chase of Bright-Start Learning Center, and Portia Hood, Sales Manager, Mark Center Hotel

WEBA members $20; non-members $25.

For reservations, contact Nancy Benjamin at 703-772-6716 or brahmopticians@aol.com

Speakers:

STEPHANIE PACE BROWN

President and CEO

Alexandria Convention & Visitors Association

As president and CEO of the Alexandria Convention & Visitors Association, Stephanie Pace Brown leads a multi-dimensional sales and marketing program to increase visitor spending in the City of Alexandria. Alexandria’s tourism industry contributes greatly to the local economy, annually reporting over $22 million in direct taxes to the City.

Brown leads a staff of ten travel and tourism professionals in the areas of tourism marketing, communications, sales and visitor services, managing a budget of $2.5 million.  She also oversees the management of the Alexandria Visitors Center at Ramsay House. 

Brown was formerly Associate Director of Mount Vernon: George Washington’s Estate & Gardens, for Public Affairs, with oversight of advertising, marketing, media relations, special events, and group sales.  She directed the opening of the Donald W. Reynolds Museum and Education Center in 2006, which resulted in $8 million of earned media and increased attendance of 59 percent at Mount Vernon in the first quarter following the opening of the new facilities.  There she worked collaboratively with Mount Vernon’s board of directors and donors, as well as community groups, destination marketing organizations, tour operators, hoteliers, and meeting planners.  She joined Mount Vernon as Director of Marketing in 2002.   

Prior to her employment at Mount Vernon, Brown was Director of Customer Research at The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation where she managed a comprehensive marketing research program and co-managed a multi-million dollar national advertising campaign. Earlier tourism experience also included serving as Research Manager for the Ohio Division of Travel and Tourism.  

               Brown is a director-at-large on the board of the U.S. Travel Association, and has served on their Research Advisory Committee and National Council for Attractions.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in personnel administration of higher education from Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio, and participated in the graduate program in sociology as a teaching and research assistant at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.

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