The Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board

Tourism) has announced that Tom Mullen will join the organization in the newly created position of Senior Vice President, Strategic Alliances. Mullen will be responsible for new business development, corporate alliances and partner, member and visitor relations.Mullen spent more than 20 years with American Express Travel Related Services, Inc. where he most recently held the position of Vice President, Sales and Account Development, Merchant Services America. In this position, he drove incremental business and enhanced partnership value, and managed more than 1,600 merchant relationships throughout Los Angeles, Northern California and Hawaii.Mullen served in a variety of other roles during his tenure with American Express including General Manager, Travel Services, Hawaii, Guam and Micronesia; Director, Merchant Services, Hawaii; Manager, Business Development and Strategic Planning; Manager, Finance & Administration; and Financial Analyst. Mullen has also been very involved with the Los Angeles travel industry, recently completing his second term as Chairman of LA Tourism’s Board of Directors.Mullen has also been active throughout the tourism industry at large, serving on the Board of Directors of the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Board, where he was also Chairman and headed the North American Marketing Committee; the San Francisco Travel Association; the Hawaii Hotel Association; the Hawaii Restaurant Association; the Oahu Visitors Bureau; and the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), Hawaii Chapter. In 1998, he co-founded the Hawaii Culinary Education Foundation and has chaired the organization since its inception. Mullen received a Bachelor’s of Business Administration from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in Honolulu.“Tom’s extensive experience developing new business and building partnerships, combined with his knowledge of our local tourism industry make him an ideal addition to the LA Tourism senior management team,” said the organization’s President and CEO Ernest Wooden Jr. “He consistently drove strong results across a broad range of initiatives at American Express and always with a strong relationship-building focus that will now serve us well. I welcome his expertise as we drive toward our goal of 50 million visitors by 2020 to increase the positive economic impact of tourism for the LA community.”Source: Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board