CHICAGO
Choose Chicago announced the promotion of Dawn Young, CEM, senior director of sales, to the position of vice president of Hotel Sales. Young, who brings more than 25 years of experience in the hospitality and tourism industry, began her new role on May 1, 2018.
Young is a vital part of Choose Chicago’s convention sales team and their responsibility of annually booking more than 2.6 million room nights, including confirming more than 55 new meetings annually into McCormick Place, North America’s largest and most flexible convention center.
“Dawn exemplifies integrity, loyalty and an incredible talent in sales strategy and production, while also providing our customers with phenomenal customer service,” said Marc Anderson, executive vice president of Choose Chicago. “Our Hotel Sales team, consisting of 12 sales professionals, now confirms nearly one million room nights with meetings of all sizes for our hotel partners. Dawn is the perfect leader to strategize and build on the team’s success and bring our sales productions efforts to the next level.”
Young joined Choose Chicago’s sales team in June 2005 as director of association sales. Her focus has spanned from soliciting association accounts over 1,000 peak rooms for both hotels and McCormick Place to generating new business and key account management for associations at McCormick Place. Additionally, Young has managed intermediary partnerships including Experient, HelmsBriscoe and ConferenceDirect. Young was then promoted to senior director of sales in February 2016.
Young is an active member of the Greater Midwest Chapter of Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA), having held both director and treasurer positions, and is a past Chair of PCMA’s National Membership Committee. She currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Midwest Chapter of International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE). Young achieved her Certification in Exhibition Management (CEM) designation in December 2013.
Prior to joining Choose Chicago, Young held positions of national sales director for the Long Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau and director of sales for both the Hotel Inter-Continental Chicago and the Swissotel Chicago.
