News Release
February 2, 2011
Contacts: David Blandford
(206) 461-5806
dblandford@visitseattle.org
Seattle's Convention and Visitors Bureau Appoints New Board Chair and Directors
SEATTLE – Seattle’s Convention and Visitors Bureau (SCVB) announced the election of Mark Barbieri as Chair of its Board of Directors and the addition of four new directors.
Barbieri began his term January 1 and will lead the organization’s executive committee throughout 2011. He has served as a member of the SCVB Executive Committee for the past year and follows the successful chairmanship of Matt Van Der Peet, General Manager of the Sheraton Seattle Hotel.
Barbieri is Executive Vice President of Washington Real Estate Holdings, LLC where he is responsible for asset management, property management and leasing of a 3.6 million square foot portfolio of commercial real estate investments in the Northwest, including One and Two Union Square, the largest office project in the Puget Sound area.
He serves on the board and executive committee of the Downtown Seattle Association, serves on the board and is the former chair of the Seattle/King County Building Owners and Managers Association and is former chairman of the board of the Pike Place Market Foundation and Metropolitan Improvement District.
New SCVB Executive Committee members include Steve Vissotzky, General Manager of the Grand Hyatt Seattle and Hyatt at Olive 8, who assumes the role of Second Vice Chair, and Zahoor Ahmed, Vice President of R.C. Hedreen Company, who serves as Finance Chair. Rounding out the 2011 SCVB Executive Committee are: Matt Van Der Peet; Frank Finneran, President of Frank K. Finneran & Company; Craig Schafer, Owner of the Hotel Ändra; Jeff Singsaas, General Manager of Events & Studios at the Microsoft Corporation; and Jeffrey Wright, Chairman of the Space Needle Corporation.
Also joining the SCVB board as directors in 2011 are Jane Kilburn, Director of Public Affairs for the Port of Seattle, and Leslie Kunde, Director of BCA Customer Relations at The Boeing Company.
Seattle’s Convention and Visitors Bureau is a non-profit economic development agency responsible for competitively marketing Seattle as a destination for meeting and convention groups and leisure travelers. As a membership-based organization, SCVB connects more than 1,000 local businesses with the lucrative visitor market. Some 8.8 million visitors spend $6.8 billion in Seattle and King County annually, contributing $416 million in state and local tax revenues. Direct visitor spending benefits hotels, retailers, restaurants, attractions, transportation services and other businesses, and supports jobs for more than 50,000 people in the Seattle region.
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