Karen Trevino
Karen Trevino, formerly senior vice president and COO of the North Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau, was promoted to president and CEO on Jan. 1.
She succeeded Bob Major, who retired on Dec. 31.
“Karen’s extensive history with the CVB and most recent role of senior vice president and COO make her the perfect candidate to lead this great team into the new year and beyond,” Melanie Hoggard, A&P Commission chairman and owner of Moe’s Southwest Grill Arkansas, said in a news release. “Her dedication and love of promoting our city’s tourism and hospitality industry are unparalleled and we look forward to working with her in this endeavor.”
Due to the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent restrictions on operations, North Little Rock hotel occupancy was down 20% in 2020 compared to 2019 and restaurants saw a 10% year-over-year decrease in revenue from January-October.
“2020 was difficult. But the hospitality and tourism industry will lead the recovery of the economy,” Trevino said in the release. “We have an opportunity to make a real difference in 2021 and in the future.”
She also said, “We are making a concerted effort to work closer with our neighborhood groups to identify and develop tourism opportunities in their areas. A program for (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) is also in the works in partnership with the city to ensure all visitors and locals feel welcome in North Little Rock.”
Trevino brings four decades of tourism and hospitality experience to the role, including work as a group tours consultant at the Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism; assistant and later executive director of the then-named North Little Rock Visitors Bureau; director of operations for the Arkansas Hospitality Association; hospitality and tourism professor at Pulaski Technical College’s Arkansas Culinary Arts & Hospitality Management Institute; director of Skal International Arkansas and administrator for the Arkansas Tourism Development Foundation.
Being named Tourism Person of the Year at the 2011 Arkansas Governor’s Conference on Tourism and being inducted into the Arkansas Hospitality Association’s Hospitality Hall of Fame in 2010 are among the numerous awards Trevino has received.
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