Longtime industry consultant Mary Pat Sullivan will join Northstar Travel Group, parent company of Travel Weekly, as senior vice president, marketing, Retail Travel Group.
Mary Pat Sullivan
In this newly created role, she will lead marketing strategies for Travel Weekly, TravelPulse, TravelAge West and Agent@Home.
Sullivan has been a consultant to Northstar's retail group for 16 years. She's familiar to Travel Weekly's audience as the voice of its webinars and a cheerful on-stage presence, moderating panels, leading think tanks and introducing speakers at conferences.
But she has also worked behind the scenes at the Global Travel Marketplace events, CruiseWorld and the Hawaii Leadership Forum and with the sales team on messaging, sponsorships, partnerships, and content and audience development.
Sullivan has also been the leisure travel analyst for travel research company Phocuswright, also owned by Northstar.
In her new role, Sullivan will report to Northstar Retail Travel Group senior vice president and group publisher Anthony Carnevale, with dotted-line reporting to Alicia Evanko, executive vice president for Travel Group global events.
Travel Group marketing director Catherine Shaw and TravelAge West manager of marketing and sales administration Lisa Frobisher will report to Sullivan.
Prior to launching her consultancy in 2004, Sullivan had been vice president, marketing communications for The Travel Institute.
She began her career in travel at the former travel trade publication Tour & Travel News, starting there in 1988 as a reporter covering Mexico. She rose to destinations editor in 1992 and became editor in chief in 1995. She switched over to a commercial role as publisher in 1998 and became group publisher in 1999.