New appointee joins Destination BC’s Board of Directors

The Government of British Columbia has announced the appointment of Penny Wilson as the newest member of Destination BC’s board of directors.

Wilson starts in her new role immediately. She brings with her more than 30 years of experience in senior marketing and executive leadership roles in the technology industry.

Her previous roles include chief marketing officer (CMO) at Juniper Networks, and CMO and senior vice-president at Macromedia, in addition to executive positions at Alias|Wavefront and Merrill Lynch. At Macromedia, Wilson led the company’s worldwide marketing efforts through a successful $3.4-billion acquisition by Adobe Systems Inc.

As CMO of Hootsuite, the most widely used social media platform, Wilson leads the company’s global marketing, growth and customer support organizations driving market leadership, brand awareness, demand generation and the creation of memorable customer experiences.

Active in the community, Wilson pursues her passion for lifelong learning and mentoring of early-stage companies. She enjoys spending her free time exploring the outdoors with family and friends.

Destination BC is governed by a board of directors composed of nine private-sector directors, who are appointed by the minister responsible for tourism, based on recommendations provided by the tourism industry. All board-chair appointments are governed by the overriding principle of selection based on merit and are handled by the Province’s Crown Agencies and Board Resourcing Office.

Destination BC is an industry-led Crown corporation that works collaboratively with tourism stakeholders throughout the province to co-ordinate tourism marketing at the international, provincial, regional and local levels, and to support regions communities and Indigenous people in developing or expanding tourism experiences, businesses and jobs.

Quick Facts:

In 2015, the tourism sector:

• employed 127,000 British Columbians;
• paid $4.5 billion in wages and salaries;
• supported nearly 19,000 tourism-related businesses in B.C.; and
• contributed $7.4 billion toward the Province’s GDP.