Hospitality Group Promotes Johnston Resident to Senior Post

Johnston resident Elaine Wilcox was recently named the Vice President of Membership at the Rhode Island Hospitality Association, a group representing the state's hotels, restaurants, and tourism-related businesses.

“Elaine has been a tremendous asset to the Association and I could not be more pleased with her growth within the organization,” Dale J. Venturini, President and CEO of RIHA, said in a statement. “We are confident that she will continue to be instrumental in building relationships with new members of the hospitality and tourism industry.”

In her new position, Wilcox will be responsible for recruiting new food service and lodging members into RIHA and will be accountable for locating, prospecting, closing, and retaining membership. She’ll also be responsible for selling sponsorships and helping save members money through valued partnerships. 

For more than six years, Wilcox has served as RIHA’s Sales and Partnership Marketing Manager, developing industry partnerships and recruiting new members to the Association. Since she started at RIHA, she has helped increase membership by more than 30 percent.

Prior to joining RIHA, Wilcox served as Marketing Coordinator for Neptune-Benson in West Warwick, where she created programs to identify sales leads and opportunities, created and managed a marketing program and was responsible for all advertising, news releases, and brochures. Before that, she served as Events Manager at the Swansea Mall for 11 years.

Wilcox earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications/Advertising, Magna Cum Laude, from Boston University’s College of Communications.