San Francisco Travel Association Announces New Board Chair

(San Francisco) Feb. 10, 2023 – San Francisco Travel Association, the official destination marketing organization for the City and County of San Francisco, announced that Kirsten Komoroske, Executive Director of The Walt Disney Family Museum, has been named the association’s new Board Chair, effective Feb. 7.

San Francisco Travel’s Board of Directors elected Komoroske at the association’s annual retreat this week following the resignation of current Board Chair Ike Kwon. Currently the Chief Operating Officer and Head of Government Affairs for the California Academy of Sciences, Kwon is relocating to his hometown of Chicago to take a new role as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Field Museum. Komoroske will chair the board through Kwon’s remaining term until December 31, 2023, when Chair Elect Terry Lewis, the Complex General Manager at Hilton San Francisco Union Square and Parc 55 San Francisco, assumes her two-year term as Board Chair.

“We are thrilled to have Kirsten take the helm as SF Travel’s Board Chair at this pivotal time for San Francisco’s tourism industry and SF Travel. She brings a wealth of experience and acumen to the role and will be critical in charting the organization’s future as Co-Chair of the CEO Search Committee,” said San Francisco Travel President and CEO Joe D’Alessandro, who announced in December 2022 that he would retire at the end of this year. “We also want to thank Ike for the many years he’s served on the board, including the past 14 months as Board Chair. He has been a tremendous leader and supporter of SF Travel and believes deeply in San Francisco and the mission of SF Travel. We wish him well in his new role at the Field Museum.”

Komoroske joined The Walt Disney Family Museum as Executive Director and Member of the Board of Directors in 2013. The Walt Disney Family Museum is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that celebrates the life story of Walt Disney, and is located in the scenic Presidio of San Francisco. Komoroske has held a number of executive, legal and board positions, including General Counsel and Vice President of Human Resources for Tyco Electronics Corporation, Vice President of Human Resources at Groupon, Inc., and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA. Prior to her position at the museum, she worked as a practicing lawyer, advising organizations on a wide range of strategic, business, venture capital and private equity, and HR issues.

In 2018, Komoroske was elected to the Board of Directors of the Hiller Aviation Museum and San Francisco Travel. She served on San Francisco Travel’s Finance Committee in 2021 and as Vice Chair, Executive Committee Member, and Chair of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Council in 2022. She will co-lead the search for D’Alessandro’s successor with Lewis this year.

“I’m honored to support the important work of SF Travel’s CEO and Board of Directors as its new Chair. It’s a challenging time for San Francisco, but it’s also a time of great opportunity. My goal is to help harness the creativity and innovation of the SF Travel stakeholders and Bay Area community to forge a path to a robust recovery and reimagined future. San Francisco is an iconic, exquisite, vibrant city that has shown its resilience many times before, and I am hopeful that, in this role, I can help contribute to another comprehensive comeback,” said Komoroske.

Kwon said, “It has been a privilege to lead SF Travel since December 2021 and serve on the board for the last decade. I’m proud of the successes we’ve enjoyed during my tenure, with the return of tourism and conventions to the city. I know SF Travel and San Francisco will be well served by Kirsten, who has been a key board member since 2018 and brings great insight and a passion for San Francisco to the role.”

SAN FRANCISCO TRAVEL

The San Francisco Travel Association is the official destination marketing organization for the City and County of San Francisco. Tourism is San Francisco's largest industry. More than 25.8 million people visited the destination in 2019, spending nearly $10 billion, and over 86,000 jobs are supported by tourism in San Francisco.

For information on reservations, activities and more in San Francisco, visit www.sftravel.com.

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United Airlines is the preferred airline of the San Francisco Travel Association.

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