LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville Tourism has named Cleo Battle as its new president and CEO.
Karen Williams has served in that role for the city's tourism agency since 2014. She announced Friday that she would be retiring on June 30.
"The hospitality industry is an extremely competitive market for leisure and meetings business. Under Karen's leadership, the Louisville landscape evolved with greater opportunities to incent highly sought-after conventions and tourism and the city was experiencing record growth in visitation prior to the pandemic," said Board Chair Donald Lassere in a news release.
Cleo Battle, who is currently the chief operating officer of Louisville Tourism, will take his new role as president and CEO on July 1. Battle has worked in the hospitality industry for more than 30 years. The Commission of Louisville Tourism is confident Battle is the right fit for the position, after working with Williams for the past eight years.
Battle said his priorities moving forward will be to maximize Louisville's opportunities as a destination and help the city succeed in recovering and rebounding from the pandemic.
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