Florida Attractions Association

Eileen Forrow is VISIT FLORIDA's Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing, directing all domestic and international interaction with travel agents, tour operators, meeting planners as well as participation in travel-trade and consumer shows. Before coming aboard in 1999, she was president of EFC Marketing America, a private tourism promotional firm. Her extensive career has included positions with international tour operators, airlines and destination marketing organizations.

An acknowledged national leader in the media relations, public relations and public affairs arena, Karen Moore is a sought after national speaker, having addressed many Fortune 500 companies and recently at the “White House Summit on Women Entrepreneurs in the 21^st Century.”  Karen serves on more than a dozen boards and is the recipient of numerous national honors. 

Since inception in 1992, Karen has grown Moore Consulting Group into one of the country’s leading public relations firm, “Top 75 in the Nation” as listed by O’Dwyers. 

The Tallahassee Democrat’s Business Matters recently ran an article featuring Karen Moore noting, “Karen Moore, chief executive officer of Moore Consulting Group, is easy to like. More importantly, she is easy to trust and she has quietly become one of the most influential women in this area of the country.”  

Dr. Kathleen Deagan is Distinguished Research Curator of Archaeology and the Lockwood Professor of Florida and Caribbean Archaeology at the University of Florida’s Florida Museum of Natural History.

Dr. Deagan’s research has focused on the archaeology of the Spanish colonial period in Florida and the Caribbean. She has conducted excavations in St. Augustine, Florida since 1972, including the identification and excavations of Ft. Mose, America’s first free black community, and Florida’s first Spanish settlement at the Fountain of Youth Park.

Since 1980 Dr. Deagan has worked at Spanish colonial sites in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Deagan has directed excavations in collaboration with José M. Cruxent at Christopher Columbus’s first town in America, La Isabela and has also directed archaeological programs at Concepción de la Vega in the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Real, Haiti. Deagan has also worked since 1984 at the site of En Bas Saline, Haiti, a large Taíno town thought to have been the location of La Navidad, Columbus’s first fort, in 1492. She has been a consultant on historic preservation and archaeology in Spain, Venezuela, Panama. Peru, Jamaica and Honduras.

Dr. Deagan was awarded the “Order of La Florida” by the City of St. Augustine in 2007 for distinguished service to the city.

Elaine McLaughlin currently serves as Strategic Operations Director for the University of Florida, Tourism Crisis Management Institute offering online crisis management courses and workshops for destinations, hotels and attractions throughout North America.  She also serves as volunteer president of the Friends of Florida State Parks – a statewide citizen advocacy group dedicated to supporting the state park system.

Elaine who served as executive director of the Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel Visitor and Convention Bureau for over 12 years has an impressive local, state and national record.  Twice named as one of the leading women in tourism by Travel Agent Magazine, Elaine led the Bureau in innovative programs that fully integrated the tourism industry with the overall goals of County government. 

In 1995, McLaughlin represented Florida at the White House Conference on Tourism, and for over 6 years served on the Florida Commission on Tourism and the board of Visit Florida.   The first person in Florida to achieve the prestigious Certified Destination Management Executive, she also served as the President of the Florida Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus.

            Dr. Lori Pennington-Gray is an Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Tourism Research and Development. She has consulted with several destination marketing organizations, designing research to identify front-end positioning and results oriented evaluation. In addition, her research has focused on understanding the current state of affairs in various sectors in the industry's planning and preparedness.

Currently, Dr. Pennington-Gray leads the Tourism Crisis Management Institute which was established in 2007 within the Center for Tourism Research and Development. The aim of the Institute is to assist the tourism industry in developing comprehensive tourism crisis management initiatives with respect to crisis reduction, readiness, response and recovery.

Amy Elliot is Director of Training and Business Programs at Integrated Insight, Inc.   Amy is an experienced executive focused on enabling organizations to improve performance through business alignment, training, leadership development and winning talent strategies.

Prior to joining Integrated Insight, Amy spent thirteen years at the Walt Disney Company where she was responsible for delivering integrated Human Resources strategies and providing domestic and international HR support. She also held responsibility for training and service standard initiatives for Resorts Food and Beverage at the Disney University.  

Dr. Alcock’s research covers issues of sustainable development, trade and global environmental politics with a focus on climate, energy and marine policies.   Prior to obtaining his Ph.D. Frank spent five years as an international policy analyst/energy economist at the U.S. Department of Energy.

            Steve Berlin is Vice President & Publisher at Miles Media. With more than 25 years of publishing experience Steve has the gray hair to prove it!  Steve launched his first website in 1995 and has worked in tourism publishing for the past seven years with Miles Media, helping clients implement integrated electronic marketing solutions via web, email and social media platforms.

            Elena Prostova is Creative Director and a member of the Miles Media New Business team.  Elena leads a multi-national design team that speaks fluent web, print, mobile and e-marketing.  A nine-year veteran of the company, Elena plays a key role at Miles in evaluating emerging technologies and creating new electronic solutions for clients to help them connect with consumers.