This position will have responsibility for driving industry engagement, shaping the association’s event strategy, and both developing and executing a plan to generate the resources necessary to support U.S. Travel’s expanding advocacy efforts and full suite of modern association benefits.
The U.S. Travel Association announced today that association veteran Ellen Davis joined the organization as Executive Vice President of Business Strategy and Industry Engagement. Davis is the first addition to the executive team since Geoff Freeman was appointed CEO in 2022.
“Ellen has an impressive association track record of uniting stakeholders, diversifying value propositions and creating thoughtful growth strategies,” said Geoff Freeman, U.S. Travel Association president and CEO. “I am thrilled to be working alongside Ellen again and know she will play an instrumental role in the next level of value creation for the U.S. Travel Association.”
Davis joins U.S. Travel from the Consumer Brands Association, where she built a strong community of industry CEOs, substantially grew membership and created new educational offerings – efforts which drove a 50% increase in revenue in three years.
Prior to joining Consumer Brands, Davis spent 17 years with the National Retail Federation in positions of increasing responsibility, culminating as President of the NRF Foundation, NRF’s philanthropic arm. In that role, she created programs to galvanize the industry around the importance of retail careers and entry-level talent and generated significant funding to position retail jobs as a preferred place to begin and advance a career. She is also well-known for her role in defining the official kickoff to the online holiday shopping season known as “Cyber Monday.”
“Travel is essential to the U.S. economy and – like retail and consumer products – an industry that impacts millions of people every day,” said Davis. “I’m proud to join the talented team at U.S. Travel, excited to serve the industry with excellence and intend to deliver even greater value creation for all our stakeholders.”