SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. – The Visit Sarasota County (VSC) Board of Directors voted to appoint current VSC Vice President Erin M. Duggan, CDME as the new President and CEO of VSC, effective September 30 when the current President, Virginia J. Haley, CDME retires.
Duggan has been with VSC since 2005, serving first as Public Relations Manager, then Brand Director, and most recently as Vice President since 2016. In her various roles at VSC, she helped create initiatives such as the wildly successful airline marketing incentive program that attracted new air service into the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport.
Eighteen years ago, she developed Savor Sarasota Restaurant Week that annually occurs the first two weeks of June and put Sarasota on the culinary map. Over the years, she has developed award-winning marketing and public relations campaigns.
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“I want to thank the community search advisory committee that assisted the VSC Board in this process”, said Nick Mavrikas, Chair of the VSC Board of Directors. “In Erin Duggan, we have selected a leader in the tourism industry who will be able to take this organization and Sarasota County to the next level into the future.”
Duggan has been a long-time leader in the local community, serving as President of the Junior League of Sarasota and is the Past Chair of the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce’s Youth Leadership Program. She is a graduate of the Gulf Coast Community Foundation Leadership Institute and the Sarasota Chamber’s Leadership Sarasota programs.
Professionally, Duggan has served on the Board of Directors for Destinations Florida, the trade association for all of Florida’s destination tourism organizations, the Board of the Society of American Travel Writers and the VISIT FLORIDA Marketing Council. She was named one of 30 Under 30 by Sarasota Magazine in 2007 and one of 40 under 40 by the Tampa Bay Business Observer in 2016.
Prior to her career at VSC, Duggan served as the Community Relations Manager for the Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County and the Director of Marketing and Communications for United Way of Manatee County.
Duggan is a graduate of Florida Southern College and holds a Certified Destination Management Executive designation from Destinations International and Purdue University. Duggan lives in Sarasota and is married to attorney Patrick Duggan and they have two teenage sons.
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