Beasley named VP of Georgia Convention and Visitors Bureau board

ALBANY — Albany Convention and Visitors Bureau chief Rashelle Beasley will now have a greater impact in developing and promoting tourism initiatives statewide after being named the latest vice president of the Georgia Convention and Visitors Bureau Board of Directors this week.

Beasley, who had previously served as the GACVB board’s scholarship chairwoman, will serve a two-year term as vice president before becoming the board’s president in 2019. Beasley will follow current board president and Augusta CVB Sales Director Jay Markwalter, who chose Beasley to be his No. 2.

“It was kind of a shock for me,” Beasley said the appointment. “It’s an appointed position, so the president gets to choose their vice president. When you’re in Albany and you’re so far down in the state and somebody notices you and sees that you can help an organization or lead an organization, it definitely has a feel-good effect and lets you know you’re doing something right.”

Markwalter is definitely someone who thinks Beasley is doing things right. In fact, he said when it came time to choose who would be his “right arm” for the next two years, it was an easy choice.

“She has always been a great peer in the industry,” said Markwalter. “She knows her stuff, and she’s just a great person to be around. There really wasn’t a better fit. She’s the perfect choice, and she is the face for advocacy for Georgia, Albany and the region.”

And advocacy is at the heart of the GACVB’s mission, said both Markwalter and Beasley. As the state’s leading advocacy group for the tourism and hospitality industry, Beasley said the GACVB’s primary focus is to stay in close contact with the state legislature to help ensure that the needs of the state’s tourism groups are being met.

“We keep elected officials thinking tourism, as well as how to best spend money for tourism,” Beasley said. “It’s important for the state of Georgia to get as much tourism funding as possible, so one of the things is making sure that we do our best to voice that Georgia tourism dollars need to be increased on a state level.”

Beasley said the organization also stays close to how legislation that isn’t directly focused on tourism can potentially impact tourism in a negative way, which she feared would have happened if the state had passed House Bill 757, otherwise known as the Religious Freedom Act, during the most recent legislative session.

“When you have things like RFA, the religious freedom act, we need to make sure that tourism is at the forefront and the forethought of how things can impact tourism in a huge way,” said Beasley. “We can lose conference business and those types of things, so we have to make sure that we’re on top of any legislation that could possibly decrease tourism.”

In addition to working with state reps and senators, Beasley said the GACVB also works closely with the Georgia Department of Economic Development and Commissioner Chris Carr to ensure that the state’s economic plans take into account the fact that tourism generates jobs, as well as billions of dollars, for Georgia’s economy.

Staying close to the governor of Georgia is also important for the GACVB, which now works directly with the governor’s office to co-host the annual Georgia Governor’s Conference each fall.

“The Georgia Governor’s Conference and the GACVB annual conference kind of joined together and so now GACVB works with them to lead that conference to ensure that we tell the story of tourism,” Beasley explained.

And while the GACVB appointment has Beasley focused on tourism from a statewide perspective, she said she believes her appointment will mean good things for Albany and for the Plantation Trace region as a whole.

“In this capacity I get to work more on a state level, but that also helps Albany become more recognizable and to have more of a voice,” Beasley said. “I see it as an excellent opportunity not only for Albany but for our whole region to kind of stand out and to be more of a focus.”

Indeed, Markwalter says Beasley’s appointment as vice president of the GACVB will be good for everybody, as the state and region, as well as Albany, will benefit from the knowledge and enthusiasm she brings to the job.

“She’s a major player on many levels,” said Markwalter. “She has always done such a great job representing not only Albany, but the state of Georgia and her Georgia tourism region as well. There is no better advocate for our industry.”