On your mark ...
Star-Telegram
The Arlington Convention & Visitors Bureau has achieved a major victory in hiring Jay Burress as its chief executive officer. In Burress, the bureau gets not only a veteran with a respected record in the convention and tourism industry but one with an extensive background in the North Texas market.
Burress has worked 20 years with the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau, most recently as its senior vice president of sales and marketing. Arlington CVB officials said his team in Dallas has exceeded its goals for the last three years. In this line of work, the key measure for such a sales and marketing effort is the number of hotel room nights booked. In fiscal 2006, the team co-managed by Burress booked more than 865,000 room nights.
So Burress has an impressive background. He also has a lot to work with in Arlington: major attractions such as Six Flags Over Texas, the Texas Rangers and their ballpark, the planned Glorypark town center development and, of course, the billion-dollar Dallas Cowboys stadium, home of the 2011 Super Bowl game, under construction.
How could he fail?
Of course, he could. As the saying goes, from those to whom much is given, much is expected. The Arlington CVB under Burress will be expected to achieve maximum results from all of the advantages that the city offers.
At the same time, there is stiff competition for conventions and tourism in Tarrant County. The Gaylord Texan and the Great Wolf Lodge are a great advantage for Grapevine, and hotel expansions and increased marketing efforts in downtown Fort Worth are already drawing more visitors.
Not to mention that Burress will be competing with that crack marketing team that he put together in Dallas.
All of that is to say: Welcome aboard, Jay. And, as we're sure you know, there's not a moment to waste.
The new job starts June 2.
