Judy Young

A 501C6 organization serving 2,700 business members with a staff of 16, two facilities, and a $4.2 million budget.
Vice President – Convention & Visitors Bureau | 2017 – 2021
Responsible for program design, product development, marketing direction, convention and tourism sales, logistics and supplier management, department administration, and advocacy. Supervised a direct staff of eight and 143 volunteers. Collaborated with 362 industry stakeholders and senior city-government officials.

• $38 million fifteen-year contract package won by impactfully presenting data that proved the positive economic impact of tourism on the community exceeded that of competing interests.
• Salvaged high six-figure tax revenues by acquiring, learning, and applying a SaaS platform that provided access to the economic factors of short-term rentals allowing previously neglected assessment and tracking.
• $20 million strategic-plan bundle funded by establishing the veracity of justifying data through cross-correlation of financial results from multiple market personas, psychographic profiles, and traditional demographics.
• $760,000 in overlooked taxes retrieved by defining a plan and tactics to evaluate the size of the short-term rental market, amend permitting and penalty structures, and ensure proper appraisal and collection.
• $625,000 in CARES funding authorized by presenting the city council with a strategic CVB marketing plan supported with economic impact data, revenue forecasts, and industry estimates of travel recovery.

• 3.8 million annual viewership of information promoting seasonal activities and attractions built by writing and distributing via public-relations newswire articles focused on the originality of the events.
• 94% compliance with river-recreation rules attained by designing an informative website, social-media messaging, and geofence-activated announcements in convenience stores, parking lots, and entry points.
• 32% first-year increase in the media/film/races/rallies segment realized by devising a communication map that linked nine stakeholder groups through a cell phone database and face-to-face meetings.
• Avoided adding full-time staff to handle an increasing workload by acquiring appropriate SaaS programming and training staff, vendors, and volunteers to work effectively within the cloud.
• 24% rate-of-growth in the city’s visitor economy spurred by identifying and pressing collection of tax-revenue omissions, forecasting spending trends, and sharpening the RFP process.

• Communicated subtly to the visitor industry the town’s financial condition dealing with COVID by choosing not to replace a vacated position and instead rewriting job descriptions and reallocating responsibilities.
• Forecasted declines in city revenues due to pending COVID restrictions to within .06% of actual experience by designing and repeatedly evaluating each component of a three-element scenario with a nine-month horizon.
• Prepared the city’s visitor business for a post-COVID recovery by managing seven distinct campaigns altered in response to changing government messaging including expanding social-media presence, instituting influencer programs, securing CARES funding, and renegotiating all existing contracts involving spending.

Vice President – 175th Anniversary | 2016 – 2021
Directed an international celebration of the anniversary. Raised funding, installed staff and operating procedures, directed design and creation of events and collateral materials, and negotiated with the city for approvals and permits.

• $750,000 raised to support the celebration by creating awareness and interest through management of city galas, parades, retailer involvement, signage, production of a time capsule, and a U.S.-Europe live stream “simultoast”.
• Orchestrated a multi-continental toast with the German founder by coordinating support of vendors in the two countries and traveling to Germany to oversee the streaming of a European mayor and town royalty saluting home-based local, country, and state officials.

Director – New Braunfels Convention & Visitors Bureau | 1997 – 2016
Led policy and program development that increased hotel-occupancy-tax revenue 150%. Modernized the department’s administration through installation of supportive technologies.

• 60,000 square-foot convention-center addition facilitated by funding an expansion study, demonstrating patience with government processes, maintaining program advocacy for 12 years, and communicating statistical information with clarity. After the bond passed, elected to the committee charged with completing the project.
• 99% unanimous approval by authorizing entities received across two-plus decades by building trust and a favorable image for the CVB team through continued professional performance, transparent interaction, and repeated successful delivery of stated objectives.
• Accelerated area recovery following disastrous 500-year flood by guiding the structure of response activity and proving the value of the region to the state’s overall economy earning favored funding and assistance.
• Championed the addition of new high-school athletic facilities by using personal playing experience and persuasive talents to convince local and state officials of the value to students and benefits to the community.
• Persuaded the area’s largest campground owner to upgrade primitive facilities after three years of extolling the “make more money serving fewer people” philosophy. The change produced a 16% bump in revenue the first year.
• 5% annual hike in hotel-occupancy and sales tax procured for each of 17 years by driving a 30%-60%-73% stepped reallocation of marketing funds from traditional delivery mechanisms into digital technology.