CTCSB BOARD ELECTION NEWS

“As the State of Connecticut’s official meetings and sports event sales and marketing organization, it is essential that our governing Board includes insightful business leaders who value the importance of the convention and the hospitality industries to our state and local economies,” explains H. Scott Phelps, President of the Connecticut Convention & Sports Bureau. “John O’Toole, Sen. Paul Formica and Andrew Wolf all are dynamic assets to our already active Board, led by its Chair Paul O. Robertson, as our Bureau works to generate new convention, conference, meeting, and sports event business and revenue for Connecticut.”

John A. O’Toole is Community Relations and Economic Development Lead for Eversource. He is responsible for supporting the companies’ efforts in the community, economic policy, business and community development in Connecticut, and serves as the company’s chief liaison to key state and regional economic development organizations. A longtime supporter of the importance of the conventions and major events to the state’s economy, he has been a CTCSB Board member ever since the organization was established four years ago. Prior to that, he served as an Advisory Board member of the former Greater Hartford Convention & Visitors Bureau which expanded in 2012 to cover the entire state as the CTCSB.

Sen. Paul M. Formica has been the State Senator for southeastern Connecticut’s 20^th Senate District since 2015, representing the residents of Bozrah, East Lyme, a portion of Montville, New London, Old Lyme, a portion of Old Saybrook, Salem, and Waterford. He currently serves as Co-Chair of the State Legislature’s Tourism Caucus. Prior to his election to the Senate, he was First Selectman of East Lyme for seven years, and was the Chairman of the Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments. A longtime resident of East Lyme, Sen. Formica has been the owner and operator of Flanders Fish Market & Restaurant in East Lyme for 31 years.

Andrew Wolf is the Director of the City of New Haven’s Department of Arts, Culture and Tourism (DACT). He is Special Advisor to Mayor Toni Harp for International Trade, and also is the Municipal Coordinator for New Haven Sister Cities, and the Executive Director of New Haven Festivals, a non-profit fund-raising and programming “platform” that promotes funding sponsorships and related cultural engagement initiatives in New Haven. Before his return to his native New Haven in 2014, he served as President of the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles, and worked at CBS and The United Nations.

The Connecticut Convention & Sports Bureau (CTCSB) is a public-private partnership that is funded by dues from members and by the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) and Connecticut Office of Tourism. Working in partnership with the state’s businesses, institutions, nonprofit organizations, and their surrounding communities, the CTCSB markets all of the state – convention and meeting venues, hotels and attractions, and sporting venues – as a premier destination for international, national, regional and statewide conferences, conventions and major sports events. In the last fiscal year alone, CTCSB business resulted in more than $61.6 million spent by convention, meeting and sports events attendees during their visits to the state, generating more than $4.7 million in Connecticut taxes. Over 22,500 Connecticut jobs in the hospitality industry were supported by these events as a result of these bookings.* The Connecticut Sports Advisory Board, a division of the CTCSB, focuses its efforts on attracting and serving international, national and regional sporting events. For more information about the Connecticut Convention & Sports Bureau, visit www.CTmeetings.org or call 860-728-6789.

*DMAI economic calculator FY 2015-2016

Pictured (left to right): Sen. Paul Formica; Andrew Wolf; and John A. O’Toole.

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