SEATTLE – The Washington Tourism Alliance has appointed Louise Stanton-Masten as its executive director.
Stanton-Masten was president and CEO of the Everett Area Chamber of Commerce when it merged with the South Snohomish County Chamber of Commerce and the Snohomish County Economic Development Council to create Economic Alliance Snohomish County in 2011. She has more than 25 years of experience in organization management, business development, strategic planning and government and community affairs.
She is a graduate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Organizational Management, has directed and served on numerous nonprofit boards and commissions and operated a successful consulting practice, providing public policy and planning to clients in Washington, Oregon and Alaska.
Stanton-Masten was president and CEO of the Everett Area Chamber from 2001-11 and was business development director for Economic Alliance Snohomish County from September 2011 to January 2012, when she resumed her consultancy.
“I am excited to be working with our members and very dedicated board of directors to help advance the tourism industry in Washington state,” Stanton-Masten said in a news release. “Tourism is a $16 billion industry, responsible for more than 150,000 jobs in Washington state. While building upon the successes of the WTA over the past year, we’ll be aggressively working to establish a long-term and sustainable funding model for statewide tourism marketing and promotion in the future.”
Stanton-Masten’s education includes a master’s degree in planning and policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a bachelor of science degree from the University of Vermont. She serves on the Future of Flight Foundation board of directors.
Stanton-Masten succeeds Suzanne Fletcher as WTA executive director. Fletcher stepped down last month after fulfilling her one-year employment contract but remains an active WTA consultant.
The WTA was formed in March 2011 in anticipation of the closure of the Washington State Tourism office. On July 1, 2011, the WTA became Washington’s official tourism marketing organization and assumed ownership and operation of tourism office assets.
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