March 28, 2024

St. Mary’s Gets New Tourism Director

Tourism Director St. Mary's County

Jason Aul has been selected to lead Visit St. Mary’s MD, a newly established tourism organization in St. Mary’s County.

Mr. Aul comes to St. Mary’s County from Washington, DC, where he most recently managed tourism and brand management with Brand USA, an organization dedicated to marketing the US as a tourism destination.

He holds a masters of public policy and administration from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and a bachelor of arts in political science, public policy focus from George Washington University in Washington, DC.

“I was drawn to St. Mary’s people, culture, and boundless experiences. As the first director of Visit St. Mary’s MD, I look forward to immersing myself in the tourism community and working collaboratively with stakeholders to raise the bar for tourism here in this beautiful county,” Mr. Aul said.

Focusing on destination development and marketing, Mr. Aul will direct Visit St. Mary’s MD through implementation of the county adopted tourism and hospitality master plan. The master plan was a result of input from the St. Mary’s tourism community that identified key county tourism assets and amenities and provided strategies to enhance the county as a tourism destination and grow the local economy, Visit St. Mary’s MD, a 501(c)6 organization, has a 10-year operating agreement with St. Mary’s County to carry out all tourism activities on behalf of the county and grow the tourism industry.

A five-person Foundational Board of Directors, made up of key stakeholders tasked with guiding the county through the process of establishing a separate non-profit entity, conducted the search process. Once established, Visit St. Mary’s MD will seek to expand the board to include 12 to 15 individuals with broad representation from the tourism industry and business community. The creation of this new entity demonstrates St. Mary’s County’s commitment to implement the tourism and hospitality master plan in support of an innovation-driven economy in St. Mary’s County.

“This is an exciting time for the St Mary’s County’s tourism industry. The creation of a new, nimble non-profit entity that will be led by Jason will push tourism to the next level,” said Chris Kaselemis, St Mary’s County Economic Development director. “Jason will bring together stakeholders to improve the visitor experience and attract more tourism dollars to St. Mary’s County.”

Visit St. Mary’s MD will be co-located with the Department of Economic Development at the governmental center in Leonardtown.

To learn more about Lexington Park, visit the St. Mary’s County Community Development Corporation’s Leader member page.

St. Mary’s County Community Development Corporation

46940 South Shangri-La Drive, Suite 7

Lexington Park, MD 20653

301-863-7700

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