Melissa Mahon and Aaron Levinthal
Global experience agency MAS promotes experienced leaders to chief officer roles.
Mahon will serve as chief operating officer. She has been with MAS for over seven years, most recently serving as EVP, business and operations. She brings extensive experience in live event production, finance, operations and sustainability. Mahon is also a 2021 Smart Woman in Meetings: Innovator award winner.
Levinthal takes on the role of chief experiential officer. He brings over 30 years of experience leading large-scale events all over the world. Most recently having served as EVP of production at MAS, he brings a comprehensive understanding of creative and production complexities as well as the importance of key partners and team building.
Angela Blackstock
Limelight Hotels’ forthcoming property, Limelight Boulder, has appointed Blackstock as director of sales and marketing. With over 30 years of experience in the hotel industry, including serving on opening teams in the same position at both Embassy Suites Boulder and Hilton Garden Inn Boulder, she will now be part of the team opening the first hotel project on the University of Colorado, Boulder campus in 2025.
Bradley Cance
Cance takes on the role of general manager at The Ritz Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara. Throughout his over three decades in luxury hospitality, he has managed a number of prestigious properties. He is known for his focus on employee, guest and owner engagement, and has led hotels through significant renovations and achieved top ratings for his hotels. He was also recently appointed as a board member for Visit Santa Barbara.
Phoenix Porcelli and James Frankis
Convene, a hospitality company that manages and designs meeting, event and office spaces, promotes two senior leadership team members.
Porcelli will serve as head of sales. She will lead a team of 83 meeting and event sales professionals in 37 locations across nine cities around the world. When Convene acquired etc.venues in 2023, she played a key role in integrating the sales teams. She has worked with Convene for seven years, during which she has led the development and expansion of a global Enterprise Sales Team and an Inbound Sales Team, created a new incentive and commission structure and opened 17 new venues.
Frankis is appointed head of product, and will oversee the design, product standards, customer experience and packaging across Convene’s portfolio. He will lead a seven-person team to design meeting and event spaces, define product metrics and pricing and work cross-functionally to curate experience delivery and brand standards. In addition, he will help to inform the company’s expansion strategy, create brand identities and standards and manage a Client Advisory Board to design and implement the product roadmap. He has worked with Convene for six years.
Chandra Allison
Sphere Entertainment welcomes Allison as executive vice president, sales and service. With 30 years of experience in the hospitality and events industries and a reputation as a distinguished sales and marketing leader, Allison will drive Sphere’s sales strategies, developing and implementing sales and service strategies aligned with the company’s overall business objectives and strategic direction and work to develop a corporate conference business for product launches and other events.
Read More: By the Lights of the Sphere
Jamie Williams
The gaming division of The Cordish Companies, Cordish Gaming Group, appoints Williams as director of sales of Live! Casino & Hotel Louisiana, the first Live! branded property in Louisiana. She will plan and manage the overall strategic sales and marketing initiatives for the property, leading the sales and marketing team and working closely with the food and beverage team to advise on event execution and strategy.
Kristie Byrd
Hotel management and development company Concord Hospitality promotes Byrd to divisional vice president of sales and marketing. Byrd has worked with Concord Hospitality for 13 years, and her portfolio spans renowned brands including Marriott, Hilton, Choice, Hyatt and IHG. She will continue to assist and oversee these brands in her new role, working with each hotels’ general managers to impellent divisional sales and marketing strategies.
James Robinson
Visit Anaheim promotes Robinson to senior director of meeting sales. He joined Visit Anaheim in 2022 as part of the convention sales team after over six years with the sales team at Visit Long Beach, where he handled various markets and group sizes. He has also spent many years in the hospitality industry, serving as director of group sales for the Westin Long Beach and as a senior sales manager for Sheraton Park Anaheim.
Justin Deyo
Hospitality America promotes Deyo to corporate director of operations. He will focus on mentoring and developing hotel leaders, driving the organization’s performance standards and providing strategic support for renovations and new hotel openings. Deyo joined Hospitality America in 2013, and also has served as the inaugural chair of Hospitality America’s Leadership Council.
Janet Broomfield
Associated Luxury Hotels International (ALHI) welcomes Broomfield as director of global sales. With experience across brands including Anantara, Corinthia Hotels and Rocco Fore Hotels, and in key positions at Moevenprick Hotels & Resorts and Marriott Hotels, she brings extensive experience in the hospitality market, particularly in the UK, and demonstrates excellence in driving sales and visibility.
