The U.S. Travel Association announced that Destination DC President & CEO Elliott L. Ferguson II will be its new national chair, succeeding Wyndham Hotels and Resorts’ President & CEO Geoff Ballotti.

Matthias Schultze, managing director of the German Convention Bureau, was named the recipient of the Joint Meetings Industry Council’s 2018 JMIC Profile and Power Award. The award recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to advancing the meetings industry forward.

Martha Sheridan was hired as the president and CEO of the Greater Boston CVB.

Convention and visitors bureaus (CVBs) and destination marketing organizations (DMOs0 are becoming increasingly inventive in the ways they assist planners. These entities can be game-changers when it comes to helping stage outstanding meetings and events. Ventura County Coast, Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau, Destination DC and Visit Savannah share strategic ways to utilize their services and some improvements on tools.

Cedar Rapids, Iowa’s GO Cedar Rapids CVB ceased operations after incurring $2.3 million in debts from producing the “newbo evolve” festival, according to a report in The Gazette, a local area newspaper.

Santa Barbara was selected as the host destination for Visit California’s Pan-China California Advisory Board (CAB) meeting. This prestigious group represents the executive leadership of China’s top tour operators, travel agencies and airlines, including dominant brands like Tuniu, C-trip and United Airlines. Every other year, Visit California brings this CAB group to the Golden State for a VIP familiarization tour in addition to the annual business meeting to discuss strategies, market insights and other timely topics impacting tourism business between California and China.

Approximately 1,400 attendees from over 70 countries convened in Rapid City, S.D., at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center May 20-25 for the 2017 World Finals of the ACM (Association of Computing Machinery) International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) sponsored by IBM.

InterActivity 2018 (Association of Children’s Museums Annual Conference) took place in Raleigh May 15-18. The theme of the conference was “Open Source Play... Sharing the Creative Code.” The staff at our local Marbles Kids Museum were the local organizing committee for this event, and they worked with the Association of Children’s Museums to give attendees a genuine Raleigh experience.

Vicki Carstens is executive director with Iowa Student Councils.