Mark Romig

Mark is Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for New Orleans & Company, the city’s destination marketing organization. From 2011 through 2019, he was President/CEO of the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation (NOTMC), the city agency that promoted New Orleans as a leisure tourism destination. His efforts at New Orleans & Company include strategic marketing and promotion that includes print, broadcast and Internet advertising and public relations. New Orleans & Company is known for its critically acclaimed, award winning advertising campaigns and its cutting-edge web and social media presence, which reach millions of people annually and help generate over ten billion dollars in visitor spendingWebsites: NewOrleans.com; GoNOLA.com; Facebook.com/NewOrleans, Instagram and Twitter: @VisitNewOrleans and @GoNOLA504. . Mark is also the stadium announcer for the New Orleans Saints, succeeding his father, Jerry who served in the same role for 44 years.

Dr. Kim Williams

Dr. Kim Williams started in her role as the Chair of the Department of Hospitality & Tourism Management at the University of North Texas (UNT) in February 2019. Dr. Williams was selected as a Leadership Fellow in the UNT Faculty Leadership program for the 2019-20 academic year. She was also appointed to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s Hospitality Administration Field of Study Advisory Committee. Dr. Williams serves as the Faculty Advisor for the Disney College Program in partnership with the UNT Career Center. Prior to her role at UNT, Dr. Williams previously served as the Director and Graduate Coordinator of the Lester E. Kabacoff School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Administration at The University of New Orleans (UNO) where she focused on the recruitment and retention of students and community engagement. Dr. Williams’ research interests include hotel operations, human resources, crime and tourism, resilience, business continuity, and virtual reality in hospitality training. Williams has published in numerous journals including the Journal of Teaching in Travel and Tourism, Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality & Tourism, Advances in Hospitality and Leisure, and the International Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Administration. She presented her research at conferences in Hong Kong, Dubai, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii. She received the Best Paper Award at ICHRIE for a paper entitled, “A Conceptual Framework for Attracting Generation Y to the Hotel Industry Using a Seamless Hotel Organizational Structure.” Dr. Williams was featured in the City Business-New Orleans Ones to Watch for Education for 2018.

Dr. Sanjukta Pookulangara

Dr. Sanjukta Pookulangara is an Associate Professor in Merchandising and Digital Retail at University of North Texas. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Missouri. Her research expertise includes multi-channel retailing, social media with emphasis on SNS and Visual Commerce, consumer behavior, social responsibility with emphasis on slow fashion and pedagogy. Additionally she is certified in User Experience and received UX Certificate from Nielsen Norman Group:UXC, with specialization in UX- Research. She also currently serves as the Graduate Coordinator for the Merchandising Division.

Jiyoung Kim