The president and CEO of Visit Lauderdale, the organization tasked with attracting tourists, conventions and major sporting events to Broward County, is not stepping down for another year. But officials say it’s not too soon to start looking for her replacement.
The job was posted in mid-May, and the search is nationwide in scope.
“Our next tourism leader will step into a phenomenal opportunity to scale up our convention and leisure travel footprint,” said County Administrator Monica Cepero. “We are looking for a highly visible, engaged, and strategic executive who can champion Broward County’s incredible destination.”
Stacy Ritter has served in that role since 2016, following two decades of service in elected office, first as a state representative in the Florida House, then as a Broward County commissioner. She said her eventual departure from Visit Lauderdale has never been a secret — she enters the state’s retirement program on May 31, 2027, and that is when she will leave her post.
With its miles of beaches, almost year-round warm weather and proximity to the Everglades, Broward attracts nearly 21 million visitors a year. Tourists add an estimated $14 billion to the local economy, according to Visit Lauderdale, formerly known as the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau. With that much at stake, the county is willing to pay a new CEO between $156,000 and $249,000 a year for the right candidate.
“We’re looking to compete nationally and internationally,” said Broward Vice Mayor Robert McKinzie, chair of the county’s Tourist Development Council, a board that advises the Broward County Commission on programs and spending proposals.
“We don’t want this job to be a place where we just send another commissioner on the dais,” McKinzie said.
His comment may have sounded like a swipe at Ritter, but McKinzie said he wanted someone who could carry on the momentum that she established in her 10 years on the job. That, he said, is why an early start on the search is needed. “I expressed my desire to move forward quickly to keep the momentum moving forward.”
Two people have held the job in the last 30 years: Ritter and Nicki Grossman, who served from 1995 until 2016. Grossman, too, was a commissioner before she was appointed to head what was then the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau.
She replaced an assistant county administrator who held the job since the Convention and Visitors Bureau was founded in 1987.
At the time, Fort Lauderdale was still shedding its reputation as a rowdy Spring Break destination, a decision that left local businesses worried the revenue from the packed beaches would be lost. Grossman was among the local leaders who wagered that hotels would rather rent $125 rooms to couples and families from the U.S. and abroad rather than have 10 teenagers pack themselves into $60 rooms.
“They honestly undid what Fort Lauderdale was and turned it into something they wanted it to be,” said Grossman, now retired but still living in the county. The county convention center opened in 1991 as part of that strategy.
All but gone were the drunken teenagers who crowded the beaches and State Road A1A for two months a year. In their place came national conventions reflecting a wide diversity of communities, including civic and sports associations. Broward sold itself as part of the destination package for the Super Bowls in 2007 and 2010.
Even the Organization of American States, with representatives from 34 governments in North, Central and South America, chose Fort Lauderdale for its 2005 meeting.
When Grossman announced her departure, a national search left then-County Administrator Bertha Henry with a choice between someone with tourism industry experience and Ritter, someone who knew how to sell Broward County.
Key changes came under Ritter’s leadership, though she does not take credit for all of them. The convention center was expanded, offering more space for larger events. The Omni Fort Lauderdale Hotel, adjacent to the convention center, opened its doors late last year, offering 801 guest rooms along the Intracoastal Waterway.
And the bureau changed its name and motto.
“Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau was a mouthful,” Ritter said. “We looked at what others were doing with their branding and marketing.”
In the end, Ritter sold the idea of capitalizing on the recognizability of the “Lauderdale” name but adding “visit” as a call to action. For the motto, Visit Lauderdale dropped “Hello Sunny” and replaced it with “Everyone under the sun.”
Visit Lauderdale worked hard to market the destination to audiences it previously ignored. Officials partnered with CNN for a three-minute broadcast from Pier 66 last New Year’s Eve. And when Visit Lauderdale bought advertising time for the 2024 Rose Parade, the agency got its own float — bonus advertising on a national broadcast.
When she first took the job, Ritter joked that she was happy to take a job that left politics behind. Now, she says she was wrong about that: “This is the most political job I’ve ever had,” she said.
Her replacement, she said, will have to be someone who can balance the competing demands of elected officials on the local, state and national level.
“My successor will be able to come in and focus on the marketing and promotion of the destination,” Ritter said.
On top of political savvy, Grossman added three more job qualifications she’d like to see in the next Visit Lauderdale president: A strong marketing background, connections in the tourism industry, “and a tankful of guts.”
Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457.