A tourism professional with over 30 years of experience in the industry, Barry White serves as the President/CEO of Chattanooga Tourism, the convention and visitors bureau for the greater Chattanooga area. In his role, he is responsible for overseeing all the operations of the agency including marketing, sales, public relations, visitor services, sports events sales and services, and stakeholder relations.
Barry came to his position in 2017 after serving for 23 years as the President/CEO of the Augusta, GA Convention & Visitors Bureau. He started as their director of sales in 1991 and was named to President/CEO 3 years later. Under his leadership, there was a renewed focus on tourism growth and collaborating with elected officials and other partners at the local and state level to expand the city's convention center and to bring new hotels Augusta.
During his tenure as the Augusta CVB’s president and CEO, White compiled an impressive list of major accomplishments including:
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Increased Augusta’s total hotel revenue every year since 1994, including an 18 percent increase from 2014 to 2016.
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Initiated and fostered a $48 million expansion to the city’s convention center.
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Designed and secured funding for a new $1.5 million city wayfinding and beautification project.
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Developed “Destination Blueprint,” a master plan identifying, and prioritizing, Augusta’s future tourism development projects.
A native of Kingsport, TN, White is a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Marketing. He is certified by the United States Chamber of Commerce’s Institute of Organizational Management and is a Certified Destination Management Executive by Destinations International. He serves on the Tennessee Tourism Committee and on the Board of Directors of HospitalityTN.