LTVA hires executive director

unedited June Tahoe Mt. News

By Kathryn Reed

Carol Chaplin wants to change the trend of LTVA executive directors not having long tenures at the South Shore tourism agency.
With a 10-year-old and 13-year-old, she ends to stick around until they graduate from Whittell High if not longer.
“This is the next step for me ... moving from the property level to the destination level,” Chaplin said immediately after the meeting.
She doesn’t see this as a stepping stone to something else, but a job to have for a number of years.
This is the second time the 51-year-old vied for this position. In the 1990s she lost out to Ron Spellecy. Ironically, Bill Chernock applied for the position then as well. He didn’t get the job until after Spellecy, Skip Sayre and Terry LeBan left their marks.
Now Chaplin gets her turn to lead the agency that has a $4.5 million budget. She takes over after Patrick Kaler left. He never returned phone calls to explain why he really left. Kaler had been at the helm for the 3.5 years after Chernock left for Southern Nevada.
After the board unanimously voted for Chaplin on May 29 she seemed undaunted by the organization’s past or the region’s uncertain future economic times. She said a board retreat planned for this summer will help define the direction of the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority.
Chaplin beat out 82 applicants for the job.
Besides her day job as the sales and marketing director for Aramark for the last six years, Chaplin has spent the last two years on the LTVA board as the Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce’s representative. She has been in the marketing business at the lake for a quarter century
Chaplin plans to be at the LTVA full time by the end of the month.
Chaplin will have one position to fill rather quickly. Nicole Cox, LTVA special events manager, is leaving for San Diego soon.