The Hawaii Visitors Bureau has named advertising and public relations executive Jeffrey P. Nauser to lead its worldwide marketing effort.Nauser, 54, will start May 1 as the HVB's vice president of marketing, the agency said yesterday.
For about two years, Nauser has run his own marketing and advertising consultancy, dividing his time between the mainland and Hawaii. Before that, he was senior vice president and account supervisor at Peck Sims Mueller Inc., a major marketing, advertising and public relations firm based in Honolulu.
The HVB has been without a top marketing executive since Cathleen Johnson left in November after 18 months on the job. In the job, Nauser will be in charge of the HVB's roughly $12 million annual marketing budget.
Nauser could not be reached for comment.
Paul Casey, HVB president and chief executive, described Nauser in a news statement as a creative, energetic and aggressive marketer.
Casey was attending the Pacific Asia Travel Association annual conference in Bangkok and could not be reached for additional comment on Friday.
Nauser is a 1966 graduate of the school of journalism at the University of Kansas who later got a masters degree in journalism from Missouri State University.
He spent nearly 15 years with Ackeerman, Hood & McQueen Advertising Inc. in Oklahoma City and was senior vice president and management group supervisor when he left for Hawaii in 1988.
He joined the Peck Sims agency in 1991 as account supervisor for the Foodland Super Market account and went on to supervise the account management team handling the agency's McDonalds Restaurants of Hawaii account.
Nauser developed strategies for several major McDonalds campaigns. He also supervised the groups handling advertising for Otaka Hotels Hawaii and the Associates Financial Services.
He also taught a marketing course at Hawaii Pacific University. Earlier, he taught retailing, marketing, advertising, public relations and promotional strategy and communication, serving on the faculties of four mainland universities.
Nauser's appointment completes the HVB reorganization that Casey began when he became the HVB's top executive in July.
In October, Casey hired Rick Chapman as vice president for sales to generate convention business, particularly for the Hawai'i Convention Center which is due to open in the summer of 1998.
In November he hired Kazumasa Tamura as vice president Asia-Pacific and Terry Lynne Hee as vice president of finance. The HVB has since hired sales representatives and appointed sales agents on the mainland and in Southeast Asia.
Casey has said his aim was to build a strong management team emphasizing the HVB's main thrust, marketing, with efficient management and strong financial controls.
The HVB gets about 90 percent of its funding from taxpayers, under a contract to operate as the state's tourism marketing organization. The rest of its budget come from corporate membership.