ATLANTA, Ga., Aug. 17 – AAHOA, the nation’s largest hotel owners association, announced today the promotion of Heather Carnes to Vice President of Marketing. Carnes will lead the department and join AAHOA’s Executive Leadership Team.
Carnes brings more than a decade of leadership in trade association communications, marketing, and publishing to the newly created position. Throughout her career, she has worked with dozens of associations across North America to help them fine tune their content strategy, increase member engagement and retention, and help them better communicate their value and contributions to society.
“We are very pleased to promote Heather to the position of vice president and to have her join AAHOA’s Executive Leadership Team,” said President and CEO Cecil P. Staton. “Heather’s wealth of experience in communications and marketing have been invaluable in promoting AAHOA’s initiatives, members, and our organization. Her leadership has been exemplary, particularly during this time of national crisis, as she has been instrumental in providing our members and the industry with best-in-class content, and furthering AAHOA as the foremost advocate and resource for America’s hotel owners. We are eager to work with Heather in this new role and explore her ideas to elevate AAHOA’s brand and reputation,” Staton said.
Prior to joining AAHOA, Carnes worked for Red House B2B Marketing where she collaborated with global household name brands on their content marketing and strategy. Carnes also served in multiple roles, including Senior Content Strategist, at Naylor Association Solutions, where she managed projects for client communications and led campaigns across various media including print, digital, social media, marketing, and branding.
Carnes’ work at Naylor included managing AAHOA’s flagship publication, Today’s Hotelier. Throughout her work in publishing, Carnes became intimately familiar with AAHOA, its mission, and the priorities of the hospitality industry. In 2019, Carnes joined AAHOA’s staff as Director of Marketing and brought her expertise in communications and publishing to the association.
“As the lodging industry adapts to the new realities and considerable uncertainty, our association will need to innovate how we communicate with our members and discover new avenues for outreach and engagement,” Carnes said. “I am excited to continue my work with AAHOA in this new capacity, and I am confident our team will inspire creative solutions to advance the association’s goals and expand our presence in the industry.”
About AAHOA:
AAHOA is the largest hotel owners association in the world. The nearly 20,000 AAHOA members own almost one in every two hotels in the United States. With billions of dollars in property assets and hundreds of thousands of employees, AAHOA members are core economic contributors in virtually every community. AAHOA is a proud defender of free enterprise and the foremost current-day example of realizing the American dream.
CONTACT:
Peter Clerkin
202-945-4950
[email protected]
