About the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau

The Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau (GHCVB) is the primary sales and marketing arm of the city of Houston and Harris County.

The mission of the GHCVB is to improve the economy of Greater Houston by attracting conventions, tourists and international government officials to the area through sales and marketing efforts.

Convention Sales
The role of the department is to book the greatest possible number of hotel room nights generated from tradeshows, conventions and meetings.
 
Sales tactics include direct sales and meeting planner education via advertising, industry events, tradeshows, direct mail, relationship marketing, networking, distribution of collateral and city orientation visits.

Contact:
Ken Middleton, vice president of convention sales
(713) 437-5215, kmiddleton@ghcvb.org

Convention Services
Works with meeting planners to provide a wide range of services once a meeting is booked.

Services include site visits to hotels and facilities, itinerary building, housing and room block consultation, distribution of collateral materials, creation of custom collateral and customized attendance-generating promotions.

Works as a liaison between the meeting planner and GHCVB members.

Contact:
Sara McPhillips, executive director of convention services and membership
(713) 437-5241, smcphillips@ghcvb.org

Communications
Promotes the Greater Houston area through advertising, public and media relations, sponsorship, special events, promotions, Web site and collateral development.

Contacts:
Holly Clapham-Rosenow, vice president of marketing
(713) 437-5208, hclapham@ghcvb.org

Lindsey Brown, director of marketing
(713) 437-5275, lbrown@ghcvb.org

Finance and Administration
Support mechanism for day-to-day business operations of the GHCVB.

Responsibilities include financial management, human resources, office management and technological resources.

95 percent of GHCVB’s budget is funded through public sources: the city and county; 5 percent is funded through membership dues and other miscellaneous sources.

Contact:
Karen Williams, vice president of finance and general manager
(713) 437-5264, kwilliams@ghcvb.org

Houston Film Commission
Promotes Houston, Harris County and the Eastern Gulf Coast region of Texas as a destination for film production.

Coordinates all marketing, advertising and sales efforts. Provides professional location services to film, video and print industries.

Contact:
Rick Ferguson, executive director
(713) 437-5248, rferguson@ghcvb.org

Houston International Protocol Alliance
Office of protocol and international relations for the city of Houston.

Facilitates all aspects of Houston’s relations with the international community.

Serves city government, the consular corps, visiting dignitaries, the corporate sector, international service and non-profit organizations.

Major responsibilities include: serving as official host to visiting dignitaries, serving as the city’s official liaison to Houston’s consular corps (88), advising the Mayor, city officials and citizens on international issues and protocol and serving as liaison to Houston’s 16 sister cities.

Contact:
Deanea Leflore, executive director
(713) 227-3395, dleflore@ghcvb.org

Houston Visitors Center
Offices include the Visitors Center at City Hall, the satellite kiosk at Katy Mills Mall and the Bay Area Houston Visitors Center in Webster, Texas.

Department includes the information phone bank, the GHCVB receptionist area and the promotional procurement department.

Contact:
Cherry Eno, director
(713) 437-5286, ceno@ghcvb.org

Veronica Nielsen, visitor information manager
(713) 437-5560, vnielsen@ghcvb.org

Membership
Responsible for maintaining and retaining GHCVB members.

Plans ongoing member events such as monthly membership mixers, business-to-business networking events, seminars and member orientations.

Contact:
Regina R. Drake, CTC, Director, Membership Services
(713) 437-5283, rdrake@ghcvb.org

Tourism
Charged with increasing travel to the Greater Houston area by individuals and tour groups, as well as increasing attendance to area hotels, attractions and restaurants.

Directs solicitation to domestic and international travel trade, including wholesale and retail agencies, tour operators and direct consumer outreach.

Participates in trade shows, sales missions, targeted sales calls and familiarization trips to generate leads or business prospects for GHCVB partners.

Contact:
Jorge Franz,  executive director
(713) 437-5267, jfranz@ghcvb.org