Kelli O'Dell Joins Knowland as a National Sales Director

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. February 18, 2013

Washington, D.C. - February 18, 2013 - The Knowland Group today announced that Kelli O'Dell joined the company as a National Sales Director, Professional Business Development. Ms. O'Dell's book of business and customer relationships includes meeting planners in the Greater Washington, D.C. market and portions of the Mid-Atlantic. In addition to assisting and serving her established clientele, Ms. O'Dell will be working closely with Knowland's Sales Enhancement Team, using Knowland's massive database of meeting planner information to deliver lead opportunities to hotels who are current Knowland clients. She will be assisting in closing and converting leads into definite business as well as generating additional leads from her own extensive client relationships, in addition to helping meeting planners negotiate group contracts.

Ms. O'Dell has more than 20 years of senior-level sales and marketing experience within the hospitality industry. Prior to joining the Knowland, Ms. O'Dell was National Sales Manager for the Krisam Group (DC Mid-Atlantic Region-Association and Corporate Group Markets), Senior Sales Manager for an Interstate Hotels & Resorts portfolio with over 200 properties, as well as Director of Sales with Affiliated Hotels & Resorts, where she represented a collection of domestic and international hotels and resorts while overseeing over 500 accounts. In addition to Ms. O'Dell's national sales experience, she was Director of Sales in several Washington, DC metro area hotels. During her tenure at Interstate Hotels, she was among the top IHR Interlead company producers, with lead generation for over of $2 million and $1.7 million in 2008 and 2009 respectively. Ms. O'Dell is a member of ASAE, the Center for Association Leadership, Destination DC and DC Connections.

“I am looking forward to helping meeting planners save time and money in site selection by assisting them when searching for the perfect hotel or venue in any city”, said O'Dell. “I am excited to advocate for meeting planners during their contract negotiations and after-the-sales solutions.

“We are pleased to welcome Kelli to our PBD team,” said Knowland CEO Michael K McKean. “Kelli's rich book of business and extensive customer relationships in the Greater Washington D.C. and Mid-Atlantic region will be advantageous to Knowland as it expands its client base into new markets and turns leads into definite business.”