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Executive Bios

The staff of Meet Minneapolis, the Official Convention + Visitors Association, are experts in many areas of the tourism and convention industry.

Executive Spokespeople

SP-MelvinTennant

Melvin Tennant

CEO/President

Melvin oversees the day-to-day operations at Meet Minneapolis and iDSS, including the professional and support staff. Melvin serves as the voice of MeetMinneapolis through speaking engagements, civic activities and political council meetings. He has served as interim president and CEO of Meet Minneapolis since November 2007.

  • Areas of expertise: Overall direction and goals of the organization, industry trends, innovative solutions

SP-BillDeef

Bill Deef

vice president of global partnerships

Bill and his department promote Minneapolis as a viable travel destination to tour operators, individual tourists and niche markets in order to attract regional, national and international leisure travelers. Since 1987, Deef has made significant contributions to the Minnesota tourism industry;from serving as a chair of the Washburn Academy of Hospitality and Tourism to working as a liaison for Minneapolis's sister city program.

  • Areas of expertise: Minneapolis-Saint Paul's international travel markets, group travel, airline service to and from the market, what attracts travelers to Minneapolis-Saint Paul.

SP-LauraMcCarthy

Laura McCarthy

interim vice president of marketing

Laura is responsible for overseeing all the marketing for the organization including advertising, branding, public relations, web-based communications, social media, e-marketing, publications and creative services. Laura strategizes and manages leisure, convention and destination marketing programs that create awareness of the Minneapolis Saint Paul area, drive traffic to websites, and generate hotel room bookings. With more than 16 years in marketing communications under her belt, she's been with the organization for 8 years.

  • Areas of expertise: Web-based marketing of destinations, cultural tourism (attractiveness of MSP as an arts and culture destination), culinary tourism (MSP as an emerging culinary destination), branding of the marketplace, key tourism assets of Minneapolis Saint Paul

Other Media Spokespeople

SP-ConnieStelter

Connie Stelter

Public Relations Manager

Connie is responsible for public relations for the destination and leisure travel market. She serves as the primary liaison between Meet Minneapolis and local and national media while administrating media tours, writing and editing and conducting media analysis. Connie has been a part of Meet Minneapolis since May 2007.