Rick Taylor is the Executive Director of the Hattiesburg Convention Commission and currently operates a convention center, a visitors center, a performing arts theater, an amphitheater, a museum district with six attractions, a zoo, a waterpark, and a little hidden museum in an alley. These attractions represent over 66% of all visitor spending in Hattiesburg with $207 million in direct input into the local economy. After completing college in Los Angeles, he began his 36-year career in the tourism and attractions industries with a five-year stint in tourism development in the British, Dutch and French West Indies before coming to Hattiesburg in 1993. While operating the Hattiesburg Tourism Commission, hosting Olympic teams for the 1996 Games, and building the Lake Terrace Convention Center, Taylor earned his Master’s degree in Economic Development from the University of Southern Mississippi. This combination of education and hands-on experience has led to a career of successful tourism and attraction development, operations and marketing. A strong believer that unique and compelling experiences create customers for life, Taylor implements this concept at each facility he develops. He is an advocate for motivated professionals to incorporate quality and creativity into every aspect of their career and responsibilities. He is an inductee into the Mississippi Tourism Hall of Fame, a recipient of Hattiesburg’s Hub Award, the international Edward L. Bernays Public Relations Award, Southeast Tourism Society’s Beacon Leadership Award and USM’s Margaret McCarthy Award for Tourism Industry Partner. He is a past officer of the International Association of Venue Managers and the Mississippi Tourism Association. He and his wife, Vicki, are parents of two boys, which are now, thankfully, officially out of the house.
