ESTES PARK — Sarah Leonard, who has been executive director of Visit Longmont for nearly three years, is poised to take on a similar role in Estes Park.
Sarah LeonardLeonard was one of two finalists to become CEO of Visit Estes Park, the local marketing district for the tourism-dependent town at the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park, along with Tyler Daugherty, executive director of Explore Siouxland in Sioux City, Iowa.
Leonard interviewed on Oct. 1 with the VEP board, which decided to tentatively offer her the position at its Monday meeting. The board’s leaders have two weeks to negotiate final contract terms with Leonard before the appointment can become official.
The CEO role at Visit Estes Park has been vacant for more than a year after Kara Franker, who had taken the job in May 2021, left for the Sunshine State to take the top job at the Monroe County Tourist Development Council, which promotes visitation in the Florida Keys.
Mike Zumbaugh, VEP’s chief financial officer, was appointed interim CEO while the organization sought a permanent leader. A leading candidate for the job had been Cindy Mackin, a 2020 BizWest Women of Distinction honoree who had been hired by VEP as community engagement director in April 2024 after serving 12 years as director of Visit Loveland. However, on May 6 Mackin was placed on administrative leave because of undisclosed internal issues, and she resigned in August.
Before taking the Longmont job in January 2023 that had been vacant for more than a year after the departure of Nancy Rezac, Leonard had spent 10 years as president and CEO of the Alaska Travel Industry Association, where her service included an advisory role with the National Parks Conservation Association. She received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with an emphasis on public relations and a master’s degree in recreation management and tourism from Arizona State University.
While directing Visit Longmont, that organization signed a first-ever memorandum of understanding with the Latino Chamber of Commerce of Boulder County to support local tourism business owners and create awareness of the Longmont area as a diverse, culturally rich traveler destination. It also worked to gain support among Longmont officials to create and implement a tourism improvement district to raise money to promote the city to out-of-towners.
This article was first published by BizWest, an independent news organization, and is published under a license agreement. © 2025 BizWest Media LLC.
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