The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors announced today that Ed Simon will be joining the Bureau, as Senior Vice President of Convention Sales & Services, for the destination, as of February 26, 2018.
Simon brings more than 20 years of leadership experience and business development within the hospitality industry. His depth of industry knowledge and his proven ability to generate significant sales production, as well as build high-performance sales teams, will be key to growing the destinationโs customer base for the Broward County Convention Center and the destinationโs lodging sector.
โEdโs market expertise, industry connections and sales abilities fit perfectly with our goals to aggressively promote Greater Fort Lauderdale as a top-tier convention destination and drive greater market share in quality meetings, group, convention and exhibition business, said Stacy Ritter, President/CEO, Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau. โHe is a great addition to the Bureau in this leadership capacity.โ
Prior to joining the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau, Simon created and launched the Association Meeting Buyers Collective, a first-of-its-kind membership based organization to enhance the buying power for the association industry. Before AMBC, he was vice president of sales for Destination Hotels, with more than 40 prestigious properties coast to coast, where he was responsible for the redevelopment and execution of brand-wide national sales strategies, led a team of 10 national sales professionals and doubled the companyโs national sales revenue in two years. Other key positions held by Simon include VP of Sales and Marketing at Remington Hotels and Regional VP of Sales at Associated Luxury Hotels International.
In his role at the CVB, he will lead the strategic and tactical efforts for the significant expansion of the Broward County Convention Center including an additional 500,000 square feet of meeting space and an upscale 800-room headquarters hotel, to maximize the economic value of these important tourism assets for Greater Fort Lauderdale.
โWith development at its peak, and a growing international reputation for Greater Fort Lauderdale, the timing is ideal to launch a determined and fresh approach to group sales development. Iโm excited to join the innovators at the Bureau to help lead a new pathway to success,โ said Simon.
Simon joins the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors at time when the destination is experiencing significant growth in hotels in all lodging categories, expansion programs and new flights at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and terminal and cruise line developments at Port Everglades cruise port.