Vanessa Ledesma-Berrios has been promoted to chief operating officer of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA), the first woman in its history to hold the post.
Ledesma-Berrios joined CHTA in 1999 and was the Association’s conferences and events director.
She joins a new look executive team including CEO Frank Comito, and Matt Cooper as chief marketing officer.
The team will oversee strategic plans for the group of 32 national hotel associations which number more than 600 hotels and 300 allied members.
"In developing our new team of executives to lead CHTA, we knew that Vanessa Ledesma-Berrios was the right person to be the COO having managed all of the Association’s events for the past 16 years as well as the day-to-day operations for the past two years when she was last promoted to Director of Operations and Events," said Emil Lee, president of CHTA.
"The appointment of a female to the position of COO is an important milestone for CHTA," Lee said.
Before joining CHTA, Ledesma-Berrios worked as a meeting planner and conference organiser at Maritza Negroni & Associates.
