Troubled CVBs Get New Heads

New faces will be in the top spots at the Palm Beach County (Fla.) Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Fresno (Calif.) Convention & Visitors Bureau after both were rocked by scandals.

Jorge Pesquera, current president and CEO of the Aruba Hotel and Tourism Assn., recently signed a contract with the Palm Beach County CVB to be president and CEO of the $10 million tourism agency.

"You might say he defines the CVB professional," said Jim Stuber, legal counsel and interim director of the bureau.

Pesquera will fill the spot left by 19-year veteran Warren McLaughlin, who resigned in December after a CVB employee, Donna Duffer, was fired for embezzling almost $1.6 million in bed tax money and membership dues during a three-year period to pay gambling debts. The theft also led to the resignation of Lee Davis, vice president of finance.

After pleading guilty to charges of grand theft and money laundering, Duffer was sentenced in July to 10 years in prison. A judge ordered her to pay restitution for the amount she took.

Pesquera is no stranger to CVB controversy. He's had the top destination management job in Aruba since 2004 and weathered the bad publicity the Dutch island received after the May 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway, an American teenager on a senior trip there.

"I think it was attractive to the search committee that he was proven under fire," Stuber said. "I think that is helpful."

Pesquera also is a member of Destination Marketing Assn. Intl.'s Destination Marketing Accreditation Program board, which was founded to establish a consistent standard for destination marketing operations, Stuber added.

"I am delighted and honored to have been selected to lead the Palm Beach County Convention and Visitors Bureau from a fine slate of candidates," Pesquera said in a statement. "Palm Beach County ranks very high on the list of classic destinations with a global appeal. To have the opportunity to shape its future development is a dream come true for anyone in the destination marketing world."

Before his current position, Pesquera was president and CEO at the Puerto Rico Convention Bureau for 10 years and held senior executive positions at Hilton Intl. and Conrad Hotels. He is a 30-year veteran of the tourism industry.

Though Pesquera is scheduled to assume his new position Nov. 1, Stuber said there is a chance he might start earlier. Stuber will remain interim director in the meantime.

In Fresno, the CVB is starting a national search for a new executive director after the current head of the bureau, Wayne Bennett, announced his resignation, effective Aug. 31.

The search could take four to five months, Bennett said.

There's been some controversy at the bureau during his tenure. A bookkeeper, Deanna Gonzales, was accused of stealing $56,000 by using bureau credit cards to charge purchases at stores.

Bennett also signed a three-year contract with Pacific Publishing to print the bureau's visitors guide without board approval. Pacific's president, Gordon Webster Jr., was on the bureau's board at the time the contract was awarded. Webster resigned from the board in June, but Bennett said his resignation had nothing to do with the incidents.

"All of that has been resolved," he added.

Bennett was married in April and said he was stepping down so that he and his wife could travel.

"The bureau is in very, very good shape," he added. New controls were enacted and measures put in place to ensure financial oversight at the bureau.

In the meantime, the board named Oran Cogdill interim director. Cogdill is co-owner of the Best Western hotel in Fresno.

Bennett said he would stay at the bureau through August to help Cogdill learn the business.

"I want the transition to be very smooth," he added.