Margie Sitton is the Sr. Vice President of Sales and Services for the SDTA and has held this position since 2008. In this role she oversees a team comprised of national sales managers, sports development, conventions service coordinators, site managers and events. The goal of her team is to find new business for the destination’s 135+ meeting and conference hotels, while assisting planners with their annual and repeat meetings.

Since joining the organization, she has implemented a variety of unique programs to benefit the SDTA and the San Diego meetings industry. In 2009 she launched the highly regarded site experience program (most commonly referred to as San Diego’s  “secret weapon”) that has steadily increased the conversion of leads from 44% per year to be consistently above 90% over the last five years. Several years ago she created San Diego Meeting Certified….a unique training program designed to ensure that all San Diego sellers at hotels, venues and attractions can articulate the San Diego brand, understand customer’s needs, create memorable site experiences and provide the best planning assistance of any destination.

Prior to joining the SDTA Margie was the regional VP of sales and marketing for Starwood and Hilton hotels for Southern California, Arizona and Nevada. She started in the hospitality business directly out of college working as desk clerk at the Sheraton Universal and in a few short years was promoted to the Director of Sales and Marketing. Margie was transferred to San Diego in 1988 to open the Sheraton Grande Torrey Pines (now the Hilton Torrey Pines) and made up her mind never to leave San Diego.

In 2015 she was named Sales Person of the Year at the Gold Key Awards for The San Diego County Hotel Motel Association and in 2019 was recognized by the San Diego chapter of MPI on Global Meetings Industry Day for her outstanding achievement and commitment to bringing more meetings to San Diego. In 2020 Margie was named to CONNECT’s Corporate “15 over 50” of industry leaders and innovators.