Team San Jose is ramping up efforts to promote San Jose as a tourist destination by hiring a vice president of marketing and communications.
Laura Chmielewski’s ample experience and proven success will benefit Team San Jose to drive tourism and increase brand visibility globally.
At Team San Jose, Chmielewski will lead the charge for developing a new brand campaign to cement California’s third largest city as a premier destination for leisure travelers.
Team San Jose CEO Karolyn Kirchgesler stated, “Laura is an excellent addition to Team San Jose given her success with destination branding and versatility in developing marketing campaigns across multiple media platforms. San Jose has historically thrived on business travel, but with the strong economy and continued development of downtown, San Jose is attracting leisure travelers as never before.”
Chmielewski joins Team San Jose after serving as director of marketing and communications at The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel (Lee County, Fla.), and deputy director at Chicago Office of Tourism (City of Chicago).
In four years with The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel, Chmielewski developed new content and messaging strategies that generated international media coverage and yielded a 47 percent increase in bed tax revenue.
“When captured effectively and authentically, destination story-telling has the potential to grow the economy, create jobs and change lives,” said Chmielewski. “I’ve had the opportunity to explore San Jose, and I’m amazed by the wealth of history, culture and charming neighborhoods. I’m excited to help shape San Jose’s story into a brand that appeals to the global leisure market.”
Most recent accolades include 2014 U.S Travel Association’s Destination Council’s Destiny Award, 2014 Travel & Leisure SMITTY Award and 2014 Webby Award.
For more information on San Jose, visit www.sanjose.org.
