The City Advertising and Promotion Commission (CAPC) continued its interview process with two more candidates for the executive director position, Tammy Leonard and Jeff Ruffolo. Leonard’s experience is with optometry marketing, and she said she believes in creating a team-environment with residents and business owners. Her first order of business would be getting the community involved and building CAPC employees up to become community leaders.
Leonard said she wants to be able to show CAPC food and lodging proprietors they are receiving a good return on the tax money they collect for advertising and promotion. When Leonard asked the commission if they feel the city’s tourist tax collectors believe this now, there was hesitation, and commissioner Debbie Reay said as a lodging owner she feels it is good, but commissioners agreed there was room for improvement. Leonard believes the city tax collectors should feel fully satisfied with CAPC progress, and believes that is a true measurement of Return of Investment.
Leonard has experience with large budgets, advertising, social media, and print, but ultimately calls herself a visionary. She has been visiting Eureka Springs since 1989, has seen some division within the city, and would like to see the city make substantial improvements toward community collaboration and visitor growth.
Ruffolo’s experience is in senior business management and he’s worked with global media communications for committees such as the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games generating over $3 billion in revenue. He has experience in budget analysis, marketing, and business growth.
He told commissioners he’s an agent of change and says he asks questions all the time, including the line items of the current budget. For advertising, Ruffolo said he would put the entire advertising budget into the digital market. He wants to sell tour packages through major airlines websites, and issue new media headlines two-to-three times a day.
Ruffolo said he does not micromanage, he works collaboratively, and keeps his staff moving at all times. “It’s business, it’s not personal. Nothing is personal,” he said, adding that he believes Eureka Springs needs help and he could do good work here.