The Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau (HVCB) welcomes Mary Neister to its team as vice president of Meet Hawaii. In this position, she will have the responsibility of leading HVCB’s sales efforts for meetings, conventions and incentives (MCI), and work in partnership with the Hawaii Convention Center team to grow the meetings market for the Hawaiian Islands.
Neister brings more than 30 years of sales and marketing leadership experience to the Bureau, most recently serving as director of sales and marketing at the Hilton Waikiki Beach hotel for the past two years. Prior to that, she held positions as director of sales and marketing for the Boston Park Plaza Hotel and Towers, and director of sales and marketing for The Milford hotel in New York City. She has also held similar positions with Starwood Hotels and Resorts in the Bahamas and Boston.
“Mary’s background and experience in on-property, area and regional sales at both the hotel and ownership levels are an ideal fit for this position,” said John Monahan, HVCB’s president and CEO. “Her success in leading sales and marketing efforts for large group houses in various Mainland and off-shore markets will be a tremendous asset to HVCB’s management team. Her ability to lead and direct sales teams in finding new MCI business, combined with her influence and industry relationships, will benefit Hawaii greatly in the selling of the Islands’ attributes as a competitive meetings destination.”
Neister will focus on single-property sales efforts for Meet Hawaii in collaboration with the Hawaii Convention Center, which will concentrate on citywide group business. She assumes the HVCB leadership responsibilities for MCI previously held by Karen Hughes, who departed from the Bureau in September to spend time with her family on the Mainland and in New Zealand.
