Snohomish County Tourism Bureau welcomes Ernest Matthews, Amanda Schäfer

Ernest G. Matthews, Jr.

Ernest G. Matthews, Jr. has joined the Snohomish County Tourism Bureau as Group Sales Manager. Responsible for promoting Snohomish County’s convention facilities to meeting and event planners, Matthews’ sales focus includes working with social, educational, military, religious and fraternal organizations to facilitate events and meetings in the North Seattle Region. Ernie graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in Business Management and began his hospitality career with Marriott Hotels where he held positions as Sales Manager in Des Moines, Salt Lake City and St. Louis.

He also served as Director of Sales in several convention hotels and moved into Regional Director of Sales positions with Sonmar Management overseeing eleven hotels in Washington and Oregon; then with Holland America — Westmark Hotels Division where he led a team of eight people in the sales and marketing effort of ten full service hotels in Alaska and the Yukon. Matthews has also worked for Peak Hospitality as a consultant in several locations including Taos and Santa Fe, NM, Port Arthur, TX and Douglas, AZ. He also held the position Director of Sales and Marketing for Peak Hospitality for their Hotel Cascada rebrand to the Wyndham Albuquerque Hotel & Conference Center early 2016.

As an industry leader, Matthews has served on various Lodging and Tourism Boards, and earned the Sales Person of the Quarter Award with Marriott Hotels Corporation for the Dallas Region.

Everyone at the Snohomish County Tourism Bureau is excited to welcome such an amazing leader in the hospitality industry to our North Seattle Meetings & Conventions Sales Team.

Amanda Schäfer

Amanda Schäfer has joined the Snohomish County Tourism Bureau as Visitor Services Coordinator. Schäfer is responsible for coordination of the Snohomish County Tourism Bureau’s volunteer program, development of hospitality trainings and office reception.

Schäfer has lived in Snohomish County for the last 14 years. She graduated from and taught at Edmonds Community College in their Hospitality & Tourism Department. she worked as a Special Events and Conference Program Coordinator for Aglow International. She has also served as Vice President of Committees at Maplewood Parent Cooperative School in Edmonds. Most nights you can catch her cross-stitching at home with her husband and two beautiful sons or out on stage with the Seattle Ladies Choir.

When asked what she was most looking forward to in her new role at Snohomish County Tourism Bureau, Schäfer said, “I have a huge heart for volunteerism and community engagement. I’m looking forward to learning from our volunteers what makes this program a success and expanding on that to make the Visitors Information Centers Program even better in years to come.”

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