Tourism executive and travel communicator Kara Franker is the new president and CEO for Visit Florida Keys, the operations corporation for the Monroe County Tourist Development Council. Franker has been CEO of Colorado’s Visit Estes Park since 2021 and is scheduled to begin her new position in the Keys on September 9.
“Kara’s diverse experience with tourism marketing, her legal and executive management background, and her enthusiasm and love of the Florida Keys make her a candidate exceptionally qualified to oversee Florida Keys tourism marketing,” said Diane Schmidt, a TDC and VFK board member and chair of the selection committee comprised of Keys community leaders.
Franker is a Certified Destination Management Executive (CDME), regarded as the tourism industry’s highest individual educational achievement by Destinations International. She is the co-author of two tourism whitepapers on artificial intelligence and holds an executive certificate in artificial intelligence and business strategy from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Among Franker’s top goals in the Keys is to achieve Destination Management Accreditation Program certification for the Florida Keys & Key West through Destinations International. Her planned initial activities include embarking on a listening tour to get to know Keys residents and stakeholders.
Franker is an at-large board delegate to the U.S. Travel Association. She is also a member of Destinations International’s CDME board, its foundation and its global leadership and governance and nomination committees. She previously served as a senior vice president of marketing and communications for Visit Lauderdale in Broward County, FL.
As founder of Kara Franker Inc. in Miami, she worked with clients Visit Florida and the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau on strategic communications plans. Franker is also a seasoned travel journalist and a former Miami-Dade County assistant state attorney.
For more information, visit www.fla-keys.com.
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