Email  Print

Women in Business

Meet 30 professionals who embody the modern concept of leadership. Each has vision and passion, and each is innovative and collaborative. Learn how these women are transforming old business models and making their workplaces better.

(page 3 of 30)

Cindy Small

The first few months of 2009 were not looking good for Kent County, says Cindy Small, director of Kent County Tourism. “But June and July were better than the previous year.” Because the lodging tax funds tourism in Delaware, hotel occupancy is Small’s primary focus of measurement—a measure that is growing rapidly, from 1,700 hotel rooms in the county to 2,900 since 2006. Small and her “dynamic, creative, hardworking staff” produce Old Dover Days in May and the Amish Country Bike Tour in September, and market leisure and business travel opportunities. She is planning a big splash for the opening of the Kent County Sports Complex within the next two years. Though she has enjoyed a distinguished career in tourism, she operates at a handicap, because tourism promotion in neighboring states is funded better. “Delaware invests only 25 percent of the lodging tax it collects back into tourism,” she says. “Conservatively, at a $1.40 return on every $1 invested, with a greater investment, we could deliver a greater return for the state, its businesses and its residents.”

THE OPPORTUNITY Tourism pumps $1.5 billion into the economy each year. Small is marketing Kent’s strengths, such as gaming, motorsports, history and heritage, ecotourism and agritourism.

GOING HIGH-TECH Kent County markets via Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, as well as through six electronic newsletters with 12,000 subscribers.
 

Page 4: Tsion Messick