Sonoma County Tourism recently announced the promotion of Frank Phillis to vice president of marketing and communications.
Phyllis will fill the position vacated in March by Todd O’Leary, who served in that role for more than five years with the Sonoma County Tourism Bureau before leaving to become president and CEO of the Alexandria Tourism Bureau in Virginia.
Phyllis joined Sonoma County Tourism as director of brand marketing in June 2021. The following June, she was one of nine recipients nationwide to receive eTourism’s 2022 Emerging Tourism Star, according to an announcement at the time. The program recognizes “intelligent individuals from the tourism industry across the nation who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in the digital travel space.”
According to a May 6 news release, during her tenure as brand marketing director, Phyllis was involved in growing the presence of Sonoma County Tourism’s “Life Opens Up” brand and led projects such as the launch of the Sonoma County app and updates to the SonomaCounty.com website.
Phyllis began her career at technology company Sun Microsystems in Silicon Valley before moving into the electronic entertainment industry, where she honed her marketing skills at companies such as Electronic Arts and Capcom.
Over the next decade, Phyllis held director-level roles at various consumer goods companies before joining the tourism industry, according to the announcement.
“The vice president of marketing and communications is a critical role for SCT,” said Claudia Vecchio, president and CEO of Sonoma County Tourism, in the release. “Creating compelling invitations through a variety of traditional, digital and social media channels designed to reach travelers throughout Northern California and in target domestic markets is key to driving the destination’s success.”
“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead this incredibly talented team and help make Sonoma County a top choice among travelers,” Phyllis said in the announcement. “Destinations are complex consumer brands, and influencing consumer purchasing decisions to choose to travel to Sonoma County in a very crowded marketplace is a core goal for the team.”
Phyllis graduated from Sonoma State University with a Bachelor of Business Administration majoring in Marketing.
