David L. Heinl, CDME President and CEO Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau

David Heinl has had 28 years of experience in top management in the convention and visitor industry and four years experience in marketing positions in the high-tech industry in the private sector.

Mr. Heinl has been the Chief Executive Officer of both the Hartford, CT and Portland, OR Convention and Visitor Bureaus and prior to that was Director of Sales at the Seattle/King County Convention and Visitors Bureau. He has also held marketing positions with IBM and McCaw Communications in the private sector.

Mr. Heinl is a graduate of the University of Washington in Seattle in Business Administration with a major focus in Marketing. He is internationally recognized in the convention and visitor industry and was President of the International Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus (IACVB) in 1982-83. He was a member of the IACVB Consulting Team for eight years, Chairman of the Tourism Task Force of the Governor's Economic Recovery Council of Oregon, member of the Chairman's Advisory Committee of the American Society of Association Executives and President and Founder of the Oregon Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus.

He was the 1990/91 President of the North Carolina Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus, 1990/91 member of the Association Executives of North Carolina board of directors and past representative of IACVB on the Certified Meeting Professionals (CMP) board of directors.

He was a founding member of the North Carolina Travel and Tourism Board and is a member of the executive committee of the North Carolina Travel and Tourism Coalition. He was the 1997 President of the Travel Council of North Carolina. Mr. Heinl was in the first ever graduating class in 1996 to earn his Certified Destination Management Executive (CDME) designation.

Mr. Heinl has extensive experience in starting new convention and visitors bureaus having successfully accomplished this in Hartford, CT, Portland, OR, and now in Raleigh, NC. He and his wife, Janice, have two grown children... a daughter, Kathleen, and a son, Ben.

Mr. Heinl has been President and Chief Executive Officer of the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau since February 9, 1987. The Bureau separated from the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce upon his arrival to become an independent organization. He directs a staff of 22 with a budget of over $3 million.

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