Lisa Messina is joining the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) as Chief Sales Officer to lead and help grow meeting, convention and tradeshow sales for Las Vegas and for the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC), the LVCVA has announced. She will start in early September.
Messina joins the LVCVA from Caesars Entertainment, where she was Senior Vice President of Sales responsible for driving revenue strategy and leading a team of 120 sales directors.
Prior to Caesars Entertainment, she served as Executive Director of Intermediary Group Sales for Hilton Worldwide, in addition to a past leadership role with ConferenceDirect. Messina’s breadth of knowledge and well-rounded perspective will allow her to forge meaningful connections with existing customers, attract new meeting and convention business to Las Vegas and collaborate with resort partners. She is a highly collaborative and respected leader with a proven track record in the hospitality and meetings industry, but it is the diversity of her experience and her customer-focused sales acumen that sets her apart.
“We are very excited to welcome Lisa to the LVCVA team,” said Steve Hill, CEO and president of the LVCVA. “Lisa brings real expertise, deep experience and a proven track record of producing results. She knows Las Vegas, knows our customers and has earned the respect of the entire industry. Lisa is clearly the right person to be the LVCVA’s first-ever Chief Sales Officer.”
“I am thrilled to join the LVCVA and represent Las Vegas, the number one name in tourism,” Messina said. “There is tremendous history to celebrate in Las Vegas but there are also opportunities to make history. We are at a pivotal moment where the landscape is evolving in a fun and transformative way. It gives business and leisure travelers even more reasons to return.”
A 12-year Las Vegas resident, Messina is a graduate of Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and serves on MPI International’s Board of Directors.