Roswell Tourism Executive Director Announces Retirement

ROSWELL, GA — The Roswell Economic Development and Tourism board of directors has launched a search to replace its longtime leader. Dotty Etris, executive director of the agency since 1992, has announced plans to retire at the end of the year.

The Chason Group has been chosen by the board of directors to lead the search, which is expected to take three to four months. The Chason Group, a search firm specializing in assisting chambers of commerce, economic development organizations, foundations and nonprofits, hopes to have an executive director in place before the end of 2018.

“Dotty has built a solid foundation for tourism in Roswell,” said Ken Davis, chair of the board
and president – North Georgia, Renasant Bank. “The board is taking a very methodical and transparent
approach to finding the next leader of tourism for the organization while at the same time looking for
new ideas on growing the number of visitors to our area."

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The executive search will take place in three phases. The first part will be the listening segment in which community, non-profit, government and business representatives will be interviewed by Chason representatives to obtain feedback on how the search committee should shape the position description for the next executive director as well as the skill sets that are most important.

The next segment is the “casting of the net” and identifying candidates that fit the traits identified in
phase one. A position announcement will be posted on the organization’s website as well as Georgia
Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus, Georgia Travel Association, Georgia Southeast Tourism
Society, Georgia Economic Developers Association and various other social media sites that correlate
with tourism and economic development.

The final phase of the executive search will initiate the narrowing of the candidate pool and interview
process. A detailed application has been developed and will be provided to the candidates who meet a
predetermined set of criteria. After review and vetting, the search committee anticipates interviewing
the leading four to six candidates. The Chason Group will serve as the contact for candidates.

In July the board of Roswell Inc and Visit Roswell changed its name to Roswell Economic Development and Tourism, Inc. The 501(c)(6) non-profit continues to operate the public presence of both tourism and economic development programs under their respective brand names.

Changing the name allows the organization to better and more fully reflect the scope of work of both entities which continue to operate under separate leadership and individual contracts with the city for delivery of specific services.

Photo: Dotty Etris. Credit: city of Roswell