HVCB selects veteran
ad man as marketing VPJay Talwar previously handled
the state agency's account
at Milici Valenti Ng Pack
Veteran Honolulu ad man Jay Talwar has been named vice president of marketing for the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau, replacing David Preece, beginning Jan. 1.
Talwar, who has worked in advertising for more than 20 years, is director of account service at Milici Valenti Ng Pack Advertising, the bureau's North American ad agency, and has led the HVCB account team for the past four years. His clients, past and present, include Hawaii's largest medical insurer Hawaii Medical Service Association, Sheraton operator Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. and Outrigger Hotels & Resorts.
Preece left the bureau in April to serve as president and chief executive of the nonprofit Travel Institute in Wellesley, Mass.
Talwar also will fill the void left by the sudden departure of Tony Vericella, a longtime Hawaii tourism marketer who quit as the bureau's chief executive in July after a critical state audit.
In October, the bureau named John Monahan, former chief of the Liberty House stores, as president and CEO. At the time, Monahan acknowledged that tourism was not his expertise and said he would bring in a senior marketing officer.
Milici, a top local ad agency, recently had its contract renewed by the visitors bureau, with a four-year pact for North American advertising and media buying that starts in January.
The bureau, Hawaii's longtime tourism marketer, has lost the state-funded job of attracting international arrivals to the islands, and will be responsible for attracting business travelers and North American visitors, the state's largest source of tourists.
Talwar, born in India, started his ad career in San Francisco and moved to Hawaii in 1995. He was a senior executive at the now-defunct Peck Sims Mueller Advertising agency before joining Milici, where he has been a senior executive for six years. Talwar previously worked on the agency's account as an employee of Milici Valenti.