William S. Norman

(April 27, 1938 - )

William S. Norman is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Travel Industry Association of America. TIA is the national, umbrella association that represents all segments of the U.S. travel and tourism industry in promoting and facilitating increased travel to and within the United States.

Mr. Norman received his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Mathematics from West Virginia Wesleyan College and his Masters of Art in International Relations from The American University. Additionally, he completed the postgraduate Executive Program at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Mr. Norman and his wife Elizabeth reside in McLean, Virginia. They have two children. Their daughter, Lisa Renee' is an attorney, and their son William, II is the communications coordinator with the Washington Redskins.

Mr. Norman began his career as a mathematics teacher in Norfolk, Virginia. In 1962, he was commissioned as an U.S. Navy officer. He served for eleven years. During his service he was deployed to Southeast Asia as a naval flight officer, taught at the U.S. Naval Academy, and served as the Special Assistant to the Chief of Naval Operations. He holds the U.S. Navy rank of Captain and earned numerous military decorations including the prestigious Legion of Merit.

During his career, Mr. Norman worked for Cummins Engine Company for six years. He began as the Director of Corporate Action and ended as the Vice President of the Eastern Division. He then went to work for Amtrak as the Vice President of Sales and Marketing and was promoted to Executive Vice President. In 1995, he became the President and CEO of TIA.

In the almost eight years since Bill Norman assumed command of TIA this former naval captain has exercised his leadership skills in a myriad of ways but three broad areas clearly emerge above the rest.

Bill Norman painstakingly built TIA's infrastructure, resources and capabilities so that today the association is a clear leader of the U.S. travel and tourism industry. It is a leader in gathering, analyzing and disseminating research across a wide range of issues of interest to the industry. And it is a leader in building aggressive international and domestic marketing programs including developing the SeeAmerica brand for the nation for use both at home and abroad. Bill Norman has accomplished this by building a strong team, by constant communication with the industry and by developing consensus and buy-in from all sectors of travel and tourism.

Bill Norman led a broad recovery program for the industry following the devastating attacks of September 11. Under his leadership TIA was everywhere, assuring Americans and the world that travel to and within the U.S. was safe and encouraging the public to resume their normal lives, including travel. Highlights included developing partnerships with the U.S. Postal Service and the U.S. Department of Transportation, creating domestic and international T.V. ads with President Bush, legislative efforts to make our boarders both safe and open to qualified visitors, and a continuous barrage of communications to the industry and public that travel is OK.

Bill Norman is now leading an industry-wide effort to establish a private sector managed private-public partnership to promote travel both to and within the United States in an environment where the U.S. is the only industrialized country in the world without a government funded tourism office and the nation is losing its share of world tourism. Working to get SeeAmerica Tourism Marketing Organization legislation approved by Congress and then secure matching federal funding is a major objective of TIA and the industry over the next 2 - 3 years. The industry's designation of Bill Norman and TIA to lead this campaign is a clear indication of Bill's leadership recognition among his peers.

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