Two women are bringing a power house of more than 40 years of combined experience to market the Big Island Visitors Bureau, announced the bureau Oct. 17.
Donna Kimura was named as the new marketing director and Teresa Cosgrove is taking over as sales manager in the travel bureau charged with promoting the Big Island.
“Having had the opportunity to work with Donna and Teresa in other capacities over the past two decades, I’m extremely pleased to have them join our BIVB ohana [family],” says Ross Birch, executive director of BIVB. “Not only do they bring a solid track record of success and strong network of industry contacts to the team, but also a deep, personal understanding of Hawaii Island and the passion needed to take our destination to the next level. We’re all looking forward to keeping the momentum moving in a positive direction for our island.”
In her position as Marketing Director, Donna will be responsible for development, budgeting and implementation of the BIVB’s annual marketing plan for all major market areas for promotion of Hawaii Island as a leisure travel and meeting/convention destination. This includes working with the BIVB’s sales team, advertising and public relations contractors, and the industry at large to identify markets and trends to ensure current strategies are in line with current market conditions.
With 25 years of experience, Donna worked briefly for BIVB in 2009, managing the activities of its contractors, coordinating promotions, and working on other marketing initiatives before becoming a freelance marketing communications consultant later that year and eventually finding her way back to the bureau. Prior to that, she held public relations and marketing positions with the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, The Orchid at Mauna Lani, and The Ritz-Carlton, Mauna Lani. Kimura is a graduate of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where she earned her master’s degree in linguistics.
Teresa brings more than 15 years of experience to her position as BIVB sales manager where she will provide support to the sales and marketing team in its mission to bring more meetings, conventions, and incentives business to Hawaii Island. Prior to joining the bureau, she was the Leisure Sales Manager at the Hilton Waikoloa Village for 12 years where she served as the liaison between on-property leisure sales and Hilton Hawaii’s regional sales team.
In that role, Teresa conducted site and familiarization tours for wholesale and retail industry agents, participated in industry tradeshows and educational seminars, developed leisure promotions for the FIT, military and corporate travel markets, and was responsible for contract preparation and rate planning for wholesale partnerships and tour group sales. She started her travel career at the Hilton Waikoloa Village in 1998 as its sales administrative assistant and then became its marketing and public relations coordinator in 1999. Teresa is a graduate of The University of Texas at Arlington where she earned a bachelor’s degree in political science. She is the recipient of the 2002 Hilton Circle of Excellence and has earned numerous Quarterly Sales Goal Achievement Certificates of Accomplishment.
BIVB is a chapter of the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, Hawaii’s tourism marketing agency for North America. For more information about Hawaii, the Big Island, visit www.BigIsland.org or call 1-800-GOHAWAII.
