On Dec. 23, Visit Bend announced that CEO Kevney Dugan will leave the organization and take a role with Travel Oregon. Then on Dec. 27, Visit Central Oregon announced the departure of its president and CEO, Julia Theisen. Amid these announcements, both organizations credit these CEOs with several innovative programs and begin the search for their replacements.
Dugan, who’s starting as the VP of Destination Stewardship at Travel Oregon in February, has served as Visit Bend’s CEO since 2008. Dugan was credited with a lot of the organization’s focus on sustainability and resident sentiment.
As tourism grew, Visit Bend started focusing more on how residents were feeling about the industry – how it impacted them when it comes to busier recreation and more traffic. The Sustainable Tourism Lab gave Visit Bend a better understanding of resident sentiment as it related to tourism, Dugan told the Source Weekly.
“By starting to better understand that and starting to engage the community, we were able to understand the unintended consequences of a thriving industry,” he said.
During Dugan’s time as the CEO, the Bend Sustainability Fund was created, which has given nearly $3 million in tourism-generated taxes to local organizations to protect and create local sustainable experiences.
“Taking those dollars and reinvesting them into the community was another way to address what we felt like was some imbalance with the industry,” said Dugan. “We knew our visitors were interacting in the river corridor, they were using our trailheads and trail systems. Yet, we weren’t doing our part to reinvest back into those resources.”
As Bend has grown in tourism and population, Dugan said the organization has changed how it serves the community, attempting to benefit both tourists and residents. “What we’ve tried to do is build a model that says, ‘these visitors, who get to enjoy our community for a shorter term than a local resident, should still be seen as our partners in creating and defining a community that we all want to be a part of,” said Dugan.
Just a few days after Dugan’s announcement, Julia Theisen announced her departure from the regional destination management organization, Visit Central Oregon. Theisen, who spent five and a half years at the organization, will move to Snowmass, Colorado, for her new role as the tourism director. Theisen will remain at Visit Central Oregon through Feb. 24, while the board of directors finds her replacement.
According to a press release, Theisen spearheaded several programs, including the Future Fund, which also gives funds, generated from Transient Room Taxes, to projects that plan to continuously enhance and protect the region, as well as business and workforce development programs.
“This decision was not an easy one for me and was largely driven by a personal desire to leverage my skills and experience in a role that brings me closer to family,” said Theisen.
This article appears in Source Weekly January 4, 2023.
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