Richmond Metropolitan CVB Executive Team Bios

Jack Berry
Cleo Battle
Jennifer Carnam

Jack Berry, President and CEO

Jack Berry is the president and CEO of the Richmond Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau (RMCVB). As the Richmond Region’s official destination marketing and tourism organization, RMCVB is responsible for promoting the Historic Richmond Region – including the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover, Henrico and New Kent, and the city of Richmond – as a premier tourism and convention destination, as well as for sales and marketing of the Greater Richmond Convention Center. RMCVB promotes the Region to meeting planners, tour operators and leisure travelers. A private, not-for-profit organization, RMCVB also operates the Visitor Centers located at the Greater Richmond Convention Center, the Richmond International Airport and the Bass Pro Shops on Interstate 95.

After taking the reigns as president and CEO in 1992, Berry made customer service a top priority in the RMCVB mission. Since then, RMCVB has won numerous awards including Southeast Tourism Society’s 2008 Shining Example Award for CVB of the Year, the 2008 Meetings & Conventions Gold Service Award, and the 2008 Award of Excellence from Corporate & Incentive Travel Magazine. More than 5.7 million people visit the Historic Richmond Region annually, contributing more than $1.8 billion to the local economy.

Prior to his role as RMCVB president and CEO, Berry served as the general manager of the Richmond Centre for Conventions and Exhibitions from 1990-1992. Before coming to the Historic Richmond Region, Berry worked as a sales and promotions manager for Norfolk SCOPE, Norfolk, Virginia’s convention and entertainment venue. Berry also worked for the Independent Players Association from 1975-1979 as assistant to the executive director, the late Bill Riordan, promoting an indoor men’s professional tennis circuit and managing top players such as Jimmy Connors and Ilie Nastase.

Berry is an active member of the Historic Richmond Region community, serving on the Board of Directors for the Retail Merchants Association, the Henricus Foundation, the Richmond Sports Backers, the Jefferson Davis Association, and the Richmond Strikers Soccer Club. Berry also serves as chairman of the Board for Virginia Civil War Trails. He serves on the Central Richmond Taxicab Advisory Board and is a member of the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden Marketing Committee and the James River Task Force Committee. Berry also volunteers for Junior Achievement.

Originally from Chicago, Illinois, Berry is a graduate of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Cleo Battle, Vice President of Sales and Services

Cleo Battle is Vice President of Sales and Services for the Richmond Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau, the destination marketing organization for the Richmond Region. He is responsible for attracting meetings and conventions to the Region and servicing those groups while they are in Richmond. Under his leadership, the Sales and Services department budget has grown from $600,000 in 1997 to 1.1 million today. During his tenure, convention bookings have increased, services to meeting planners have expanded and the number of staff members has grown.

Battle has worked in the hospitality industry for 19 years. He began his position as Vice President at the Bureau in 2000. Previously he served as the Bureau’s Director of Sales and Sales Managers. Before joining the Richmond Metro CVB, he spent 10 years in the hotel industry as General Manager, Assistant General Manager and Director of Sales. Battle earned a Hotel Restaurant Management degree from Metropolitan State College in Denver, Colorado in 1988 and a Masters of Business Management from Averett College in Virginia in 1997.

Battle serves on the Virginia State University Hospitality Advisory Board, Meeting Planner International Multicultural Initiative Committee, Elegba Folklore Society Board of Directors, American Society of Association Executives Associate Alliance Committee, Metro Richmond Sports Backers Board of Directors and the International Association of Convention & Visitors Bureau Membership Committee.

Jennifer H. Carnam, Vice President of Marketing

Jennifer Carnam is Vice President of Marketing for the Richmond Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau. She is responsible for leading the strategic development, planning, coordination and execution of all activities related to marketing the Richmond Region as a tourism destination. RMCVB’s marketing mission is to grow the overall economic impact on the Greater Richmond area by attracting visitors to the region. This is accomplished through targeted marketing communications initiatives, including advertising, promotions, positive media coverage, online marketing, and strong customer service initiatives.

Jennifer brings 30 years of core marketing experience in the travel/tourism, hospitality and entertainment industries. Prior to joining RMCVB, she headed up tourism research for the Southeastern Institute of Research(SIR) and the Boomer Project as Vice President - Project Development Director, where her focus was on clients such as the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and the National Folk Festival in Richmond. Before moving to Virginia in early 2006, Jennifer spent nine years as the Director of Marketing for Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc., in Memphis, TN. Her responsibilities included brand management, research and marketing for the world-famous Elvis Presley brand and Elvis Presley’s Graceland, one of the world’s best-known attractions. Prior to joining EPE, Jennifer worked for Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. as a senior marketing executive and media spokesperson.

Jennifer began her career in the hospitality industry with Holiday Inns, Inc., now Intercontinental Hotels Group. She was a key member of the original team that developed the Homewood Suites extended stay hotel brand, and headed up field marketing in support of the Homewood Suites, Hampton Inn, and Embassy Suites hotel chains.

Jennifer is a native of Southern California where she graduated from California State University, Northridge, with a degree in communications. She is a member of the Travel Industry Association’s ESTO Education Committee, a member of the Advisory Board of JSRCC’s School of Culinary Arts, Hospitality and Tourism, and the Signature Events and Activities Work Group for the Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission. She volunteers on a regular basis in support of community and charitable activities. In Memphis, Jennifer was a founding board member of Diversity Memphis, and served on the boards of the NCCJ and the Memphis Advertising Federation.