Your Collective Team Partners

Dr. Maree Forbes Gaughan, who leads each project that of Community Economic Partners/National Travel Center is engaged in, is CEO of the nationally recognized organizations dedicated to helping small cities and towns, and rural communities thrive. Through her leadership, communities across the country have strengthened their economies, enhanced their sense of place, and built sustainable futures rooted in their unique assets.

Deb Brown, who serves as Chief Success Officer for Community Economic Partners/National Travel Center and participates in engagements, has a long and varied career that has taken her from a small town in Iowa to a leading, well-known professional role who has helped countless communities succeed. As a result of work in nearly 80 small towns and cities, and rural communities across the country, Deb has become one of the best “on the ground” engagement communicators there is.

As a Certified Economic Development Professional, currently working on a PhD in Economic Development, Jim Gibson brings a very practical, yet broad perspective to his work, having held a variety of positions during a nearly 25-year career. He has served as a City Administrator, City Manager, the Regional Services Manager for a Council of Governments, in a combined position of Assistant City Manager and Economic Development Director, and Finance Director and Management Analyst for a City. In addition, he is a Certified Government Financial Officer and served as the Economic Development Director of a Municipal Development District.

Jamie Beasley is a seasoned economic development professional with a strong record of leadership in rural revitalization, small business support, and regional capacity building, rural entrepreneurship, housing and childcare, tourism strategy, and organizational development. She has served as Executive Director of the Pike County Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Corporation in Illinois, leading strategic initiatives to support local entrepreneurs, attract investment, strengthen infrastructure, and grow the region’s tourism economy. Jamie brings over a decade of cross-sector experience, including past leadership roles with the Northeastern Nevada Regional Development Authority and the Yukon 66 Main Street Association.

As a Certified Planner of the American Planning Association, John Shepard brings over 25 years’ experience in planning and economic development. He has led comprehensive plans, strategic plans, and economic development initiatives for municipalities and counties across the Midwest and Mountain West, including award-winning work recognized by the American Planning Association. His project portfolio also includes economic impact studies, Main Street revitalization, creative placemaking, and downtown redevelopment, all directly aligned with goals of building a supportive environment for entrepreneurs and the retention and expansion of existing businesses.

Like so many others on the Community Economic Partners/National Travel Center team, Chadley Hollas brings a multitude of varied experiences to his work. Beginning his career in hotel management, including a stint with Marriott and Sage Hospitality, he worked as the National Events Manager for M.O.R.E., planning and executing large-scale events nationwide, managing logistics and personnel, accommodating as many as 25,000 attendees. Chadley’s work as Director of Tourism for Salado, Texas, resulted in an increase in hotel tax revenues by 25% in two years’ time. More recently, he has worked in agritourism, after learning from the ground up, as the owner of a goat dairy.

Ms. Koenecke brings a varied background of tourism accomplishments to Community Economic Partners/National Travel Center, supported by a Masters in Travel and Tourism Management from New York University. She is especially conversant in benchmarking of both peer and competitive destinations, and able to tie the best practices and success stories of the destinations directly to the advantages they will provide a client destination. Prior to going back to school, she served as a professional tour guide across Asia, Europe, and Oceania, providing direct insight into visitor behavior patterns and experience design. Brianna also spent time in the Peace Corps in Indonesia where she developed and implemented a community-based teacher training program. She also has extensive experience in conducting surveys and developing research protocols across diverse contacts.

Diann Bayes has been involved in delivering strong results in tourism for more than 30 years. Again, as with all of our professionals, she has had a varied career, starting as the Executive Director of a combined Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visitors Bureau in a small town in Texas. From there, after serving as the Executive Director of the McKinney Convention and Visitors Bureau, she served for four years as the SVP of Member Services and Development for the Texas Travel Alliance, a 700+ member organization where she assisted with program development of the Texas Travel and Tourism College and Rural Tourism Workshops. More recently, Diann served as Vice President of Discover San Angelo and President of Visit Tyler, where she oversaw Visitor Center operations.

Cortney Bloomer formerly served as the manager of the Destination Development programs for the Nevada Department of Commerce/Travel Nevada, delivering economic development through the development of tourism in rural communities throughout the state. In this role, she developed strong skills in facilitation of community meetings, Main Street development, community workshops and more, as a way to bring together constituents with often diverse and competing opinions, to work toward agreement on what must be accomplished to meet the goals. In that position, Cortney worked tirelessly with a statewide network of partners and strategies to strengthen collaboration and build capacity and followed along with each client community previously equipped with a plan, through an additional four years.

Jessica served as the Communications Manager for the Iowa Tourism Office of the Iowa Economic Development Authority for 15 years and another 12 as the Manager of the Iowa State Fair. Especially important was her work as the Vision Iowa Program Manager, during which she administered funding for community infrastructure projects.

A graduate of Pratt Institute with a Master of Science in Historic Preservation and a Bachelor of Hospitality and Tourism Management from New York University, and with involvement in virtually every project the team works on, Ethan is well prepared to engage with communities. He has been involved in researching and writing histories of people and places in New York City, Upstate New York, and in towns along Route 66, as well as overseas in Italy. His graduate thesis explored the revitalization of Main Streets along Route 66 using the Albergo Diffuso, an Italian community-based heritage tourism development model that spreads guest rooms and amenities across multiple vacant buildings in historic town centers.

Like so many of the Community Economic Partners team, Erik has had a multi-dimensional career that has included an economic growth corporation, Chamber of Commerce, business financial services, Main Street, and local initiatives support. Throughout his career, he has partnered with communities and organizations to design and implement practical, results-driven strategies that spark economic activity and enhance quality of life. His work integrates strategic planning, market analysis, community engagement, and destination marketing to create clear paths toward revitalization and long-term sustainability.

After many years of traveling the world for CNN, producing stories for a diverse portfolio of clients including the Food Network, Discovery, T-Mobile and several publications, Greg has come home to America. He has refocused his work on communities in the United States and what makes them livable.

When needed, Debra creates websites for our clients that are attractive and very visitor and user friendly. A Master’s in Mechanical Engineering enables her to pay attention to detail, rare in the technology world.