24 Aug Travel Leaders Group Names Dina Ruden as its New Senior Vice President of Communications and Public Relations
Ruden is returning to the travel industry and will be responsible for fully integrating the public relations team into Travel Leaders Group’s marketing operation.
New York, NY (August 24, 2017) – Today, Travel Leaders Group announced the appointment of Dina Ruden, CTC, as Senior Vice President of Communications and Public Relations. Ruden will manage the organization’s brand reputation and oversee internal and external communications. She will also be responsible for ensuring that the public relations efforts focus on a cutting-edge approach that embraces all forms of new media and engages customers with information and solutions. Ruden will report to Travel Leaders Group’s Chief Marketing Officer Stephen McGillivray and will be based in New York.
“Dina brings more than 25 years of communications leadership and advocacy expertise to Travel Leaders Group, at a time of growth and expansion for our company and our industry,” said Ninan Chacko, CTC, Chief Executive Officer for Travel Leaders Group. “We look forward to welcoming her back to the travel industry and beginning her work with our communications team to tell the success stories of our various brands and further elevate consumer interest in working with our more than 40,000 travel agent experts.”
Ruden will join Travel Leaders Group beginning September 18, after more than a decade as Director, Public Relations and Communications, with the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) in Washington DC, the nation’s largest independent federal employee union representing workers in 31 government agencies. While at NTEU, Ruden led the creation and execution of an award-winning public service campaign, “Federal Employees: They Work for U.S.,” to promote the contributions of federal workers to the nation, recognized by the Public Relations Society of America and PR News. Her team won a PR Daily award for “cause advocacy” for the “End the Shutdown” campaign during the 16-day government closure in 2013.
Prior to that, Ruden served as Director, Communications & Public Affairs for American Express Consumer Travel Network, and was Senior Vice President, Communications at the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) where she launched the “Without a Travel Agent, You’re on Your Own” campaign. She was also previously the Executive Editor of ASTA Agency Management and worked as a senior editor at Leisure Travel News and Business Travel News.
“I have always been a firm believer in the power of public relations, particularly as it relates to our overall marketing efforts. As such, we have now aligned our Communications and Public Relations team within our Marketing department,” added Chacko. “By fully integrating public relations into our marketing operation, we will be able to ensure consistency and coordination of our brand messages, continue to foster an ongoing dialogue between our brands and our customers by telling captivating stories, and measure and analyze our public relations results to a greater degree.”
Ruden, who earned a Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) executive designation, holds a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Youngstown State University and a master’s degree in Communications from the University of Hawaii. She is married to Paul Ruden, who retired as Executive Vice President, Legal and Industry Affairs from ASTA.
With annual sales of over $21 billion, Travel Leaders Group is the largest traditional travel agency company in North America, comprised of approximately 30% of all travel agencies in North America that are wholly-owned, franchised, or member agencies. It’s a leader in both the retail travel agency space and corporate travel, and consistently ranks as one of the top travel companies nationwide.
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About Travel Leaders Group
Travel Leaders Group (www.travelleadersgroup.com) is transforming travel with a commitment to our vacation and business travel clients via our progressive approach toward each unique travel experience. Having already assisted millions of travelers, Travel Leaders Group manages leisure, business and franchise travel operations under a variety of diversified divisions and brands, including All Aboard Travel, Andrew Harper Travel, Colletts Travel, Cruise Specialists, Nexion, Protravel International, SinglesCruise.com, Travel Leaders Corporate, Travel Leaders Network and Tzell Travel. With annual sales over $21 billion through over 7,000 locations, Travel Leaders Group ranks as one of the industry’s largest traditional travel agency companies.