LARRY ALEXANDER, who has served as president and CEO of the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau for nine years, has spearheaded the successful transition of the organization into metro Detroit’s leading tourism economic development agency. He was responsible for the creation of the Tourism Economic Development Council, a Bureau subsidiary that has implemented several new tourism improvement projects in the Detroit region, including highway beautification, convention center expansion studies, hospitality training, local and national image enhancement projects and other infrastructure enhancements.

Alexander also created the Detroit Metro Sports Commission, another wholly-owned Bureau subsidiary charged with marketing the region as a destination to host marquee sporting events as well as amateur sports. Alexander led the effort that landed Super Bowl XL and the NCAA Men’s Final Four, the AAU Junior Olympics and the USBC Women’s Bowling Championship, among many other sporting events.

Alexander’s core responsibilities include directing a staff of 50 employees that specialize in convention sales and tourism marketing. He is a hospitality veteran with over 30 years in hotel industry executive positions. He serves on numerous boards throughout the Detroit region, including the Riverfront Conservancy, the Parade Company and the National Kidney Foundation.

JESSIE ALLEN, general manager of the Orange County Convention Center, boasts a career that spans 29 years with Orange County, Florida. Fourteen years ago, Allen assumed the role of deputy director of the Orange County Convention Center. In this position, which was later renamed general manager, he is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the facility, the second-largest convention center in the nation.

In the early years of his career, Allen managed several departments within the Orange County Government structure.

DON H. BARDEN is owner, chairman and CEO of Barden Companies, Inc., the Majestic Star Casino, Waycor Development Company and Namibia, Africa-based Barden International, Inc. In December 2001, Barden acquired the Fitzgeralds Casino Hotel with properties in Las Vegas, Mississippi and Colorado. His international conglomerate operates in the casino, real estate development, entertainment and automotive sales, service and manufacturing industries from his corporate headquarters in downtown Detroit.

With a business career spanning more than 30 years, Barden is recognized as one of the top Black entrepreneurs in the country. He has guided Barden Companies and its affiliates from earnings of $600,000 to 2004 revenues of more than $372 million, making it one of the largest African-American-owned businesses in the country.

Prior to establishing Barden Companies, Barden spent 20 years in Lorain, Ohio, where he became the first elected Black city councilman in Lorain history and served two terms before leaving to pursue other business endeavors.

KATHLEEN J. BERTRAND is a native Atlantan and a 23-year veteran of the hospitality industry, having joined the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau in 1983 and worked her way up, first as Membership account executive, later as Advertising & Membership manager, and in 1990 as vice president - Membership & Community Affairs.

In January 2003, Bertrand assumed the title of vice-president – Community & Government Affairs. She has been instrumental in the ACVB’s development of its diversity marketing programs – programs whose success has been validated by the TIAA naming Atlanta as the number one destination for African-American travelers for the past five years. Through her concept and direction Atlanta Heritage has been published as a visitors guide aimed at the African-American traveler for the past 16 years, and atlantaheritage.com was launched as the first web-site of a major CVB to concentrate on African-American local sights and attractions.

Bertrand has been recognized by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as one of “Atlanta’s Top Hospitality Industry Leaders,” for the past 11 years by the Atlanta Business League as one of “Atlanta’s Top 100 Black Women of Influence” and “Black Meetings & Tourism Magazine” has recognized her for the past eight years as one of the “Most Influential African-Americans in the Meetings & Tourism Industry.”

ERNEST P. BOGER, CHA, FMP, CHE, assumed the chairmanship of the Hotel & Restaurant Management Department within the School of Business and Technology at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, MD, Princess Anne, at the beginning of the Spring 2006 Term.

Dr. Boger moved from Bethune-Cookman College (B-CC), where he completed 17 years as head of the Department of Hospitality Management. Similar to B-CC, Dr. Boger will retain CEO accountability for a thriving Bachelor of Science Degree Program, designed to produce entry level managers for a variety of Foodservice, Lodging and Travel/Tourism related careers. With 40+ years of industry operations and training expertise, he is recognized as the “Dean” of Black College Hospitality Educators.

Dr. Boger regularly provides consulting services in hospitality marketing and training to U.S., Caribbean, or African companies and governments. He holds leadership positions with more than 20 major industry organizations, including the Professional Certification Commission of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA). Since last year, he has added the Hotel & Catering International Management Association (HCIMA) and the Doctorate of Management (DMgt) to his dossier.

A prolific writer, Dr. Boger has authored 10 book chapters and more than 100 articles on industry subjects.

BENNISH D. BROWN is executive director of the Rock Hill/York County Convention and Visitors Bureau in Rock Hill, SC. He was hired as the organization’s first executive director in June of 2000 after the official merger of the York County Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Rock Hill Sports Council.

Brown’s primary duties are to oversee the daily operations of the CVB, with specific responsibility for supervising activities that market York County to the sports, group tour, meetings and leisure traveler tourism segments.

Prior to joining the tourism industry, Brown worked in public relations and media relations for 19 years, and held a number of positions in the communications field.

BEVERLY BRYANT is professor, founder and director of the Bachelor of Science degree program in Hospitality and Tourism Administration at North Carolina Central University’s School of Business. She has over 29 years of higher education experience and over 16 years of association conference planning. She is a Certified Hospitality Educator and a Corporate and International Etiquette Consultant. As an outstanding leader in her field, she has participated in the National Leadership America Women’s Forum, and has published articles in refereed journals and contributed chapters in university textbooks on hospitality and tourism.

Dr. Bryant is currently the president of the National Coalition of Black Meeting Planners (NCBMP) located in Silver Springs, Maryland. NCBMP is the premier professional organization for educating African-American meeting professionals. As a meeting planner, she has planned and implemented the National Head Start Association Nutrition Institute and statewide training conferences for Head Start associations in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Alabama. She has also utilized her meeting planning experience to facilitate conferences for the National Cancer Institute on the campuses of Tuskegee University, Dillard University and North Carolina Central University. Dr. Bryant is the president and managing partner of the Protocol School of North Carolina and Management and Training Development. She holds the BS, MS and Ed.D. degrees from Tuskegee University and Auburn University respectively.

RONNIE BURT, while serving as vice president of convention sales and services for the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association since March 2005, assumed the role of interim president and CEO of BACVA in May 2006. Burt is charged with overseeing sales and marketing for the bureau and strategic planning. In this leadership role, Burt is responsible for identifying market growth opportunities for the destination that will drive business demand from the leisure, convention, meetings, and group tour segments, generating greater economic impact for the region.

WANDA COLLIER-WILSON joined the Jackson Convention & Visitors Bureau in 1983 and has served as Executive Director since mid-1998. She is the first African-American woman to hold the executive director position in the City of Jackson, and the first person from within the bureau to ever be promoted to the top spot.

Her duties include fiscal responsibility and overall management of the CVB and a staff of 15, as well as maintaining a quarter-million dollar grant program designed to assist non-profit tourism entities in the city with marketing projects. The focus of the Jackson CVB is developing programs and projects designed to further tourism development within Jackson, which will position the city as a premier convention and tourist destination.

LEWIS H. DAWLEY III, a 20+ year veteran of the convention center industry, serves as senior vice president of Convention Center Operations and Business Development for SMG. Prior to joining SMG he was general manager and CEO of the Washington Convention Center Authority, Washington D.C. Dawley is one of a handful of industry experts to manage the planning, construction and grand opening of four convention centers. Before Washington, Dawley served as the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority’s general manager, where he developed a strategic operational plan for the opening of the 1.3 million-sq. ft. facility and directed day-to-day operations. Dawley also opened and operated the COBO Convention/Exhibition Center in Detroit, where he was general manager from 1977 to 1989, and the Minneapolis Convention Center, where he was director of Operations from 1989 to 1991.

Dawley is a member of several professional organizations including the International Association of Assembly Managers, the National Association of Exposition Managers, the Professional Convention Management Association, the National Coalition of Black Meeting Planners and the Hotel Sales and Marketing Association.