DEPARTMENTS
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:
John Solis
Senior Vice President of Sales & Client Services
(713) 853-8926
Nathan Tollett
Vice President, Citywide Convention Sales
(713) 853-8977
Jason L. Purifoy
Director of Sales
(713) 853-8338
View Sales Staff »
CLIENT 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 Houston First Corporation vendors.
View Client Services Staff »
EVENT SERVICES
Contact:
Paul Casso
Vice President of Membership and Events Services
(713) 853-8275
View Event Services Staff »
MARKETING/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
Chief Marketing Officer
(713) 853-8919
View Marketing Staff »
FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION
Support mechanism for day-to-day business operations. Responsibilities include financial management, office management and technological resources.
Contact:
Karen Williams
Sr. Vice President, Finance
(713) 853-8304
View Finance and Administration Staff »
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:
Alfred Cervantes
Vice President / Executive Director of the Film Commission
(713) 853-8957
View Film Commission Staff »
VISITOR INFORMATION SERVICES
The function of Visitor Information Services is to provide detailed information to visitors to Houston about what to do and experience while visiting our city.
Contact:
Norma Ponce
Tourism Coordinator
(713) 853-8912
View Visitor Information Services Staff »
TOURISM
Tourism works with domestic and international travel trade, including wholesale, retail and online agencies and tour operators in order to reach the traveling consumer. The Tourism team also participates in travel and consumer trade shows and organizes sales missions and familiarization trips to reach its key clients. This department also handles visits to Houston by international media to generate exposure for Houston in international markets. Lastly, they manage the Visit Houston Marketplace.
Contact:
Jorge Franz
Senior Vice President, Tourism and Industry Relations
(713) 853-8306
View Tourism Staff »
PARTNERSHIPS AND EVENT DEVELOPMENT
Leads in the generation of revenue and resources for HoustonFirst Corporation through corporate partnerships and grant acquisitions. Manages the development, growth and execution of innovative tradeshows, conferences and events to be held annually in Houston.
Contact:
Aimée McCurtain
Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy
(713) 853-8383
View Partnerships and Event Development Staff »
REVENUE MANAGEMENT & RESEARCH
The Revenue strategy and Research team supports all departments with data and analytics to help drive economic growth for our market.
Contact:
Demi Hoang
Sr. Director, Facility Revenue & Control
(713) 853-8104
View Revenue Management & Research Staff »
PEOPLE & CULTURE
The People & Culture Department is responsible for every step of the employee life cycle and connects all team members to the Houston First values that enrich their work life. This includes recruiting, onboarding, training, performance management, recognition programs, team member relations, benefits administration, internal communications, team member engagement and diversity, equity & inclusion initiatives.
Contact:
Tim Moyer
Vice President, People & Culture
(832) 370-3251
View P & C Staff »
GENERAL AND OPERATIONS
Contact:
Elliot Franklin
Distribution Supervisor
(713) 853-8303
View General and Operations Staff »
