Canadian Tourism Commission strengthens its top ranks, appoints new VP International.

Charles McKee adds extra travel and tourism know-how to newly integrated Americas and Overseas marketing teams.

The trick is finding the right man at the right time. So on June 15, Charles McKee will join the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) as its new vice president International. He will report directly to Greg Klassen , senior vice president Marketing Strategy and Communications.

McKee joins the CTC from Air Canada, where he served for seven years, most recently as vice president, Marketing, based in Montreal. But his in-flight experience doesn’t stop there. McKee also piloted a number of key activities within Virgin’s travel and tourism division, including Global Sales & Distribution for Virgin Atlantic Airways in London, and Marketing and Sales for Virgin in the US. His career also stopped over in Tokyo in the mid 1990s, where he successfully introduced the Virgin brand to the Asian market.

What’s more, McKee is also well-travelled within the online travel industry world. While living in the UK, he served as executive vice president of LastMinute.com, Europe’s largest online travel company, where he was responsible for overseeing seven international markets.

At the CTC, McKee will be responsible for the newly integrated Americas and Overseas marketing teams at our head office as well as in our global offices. Ready and willing to leverage his industry know-how to propel our CTC marketing and sales programs, he is especially excited to harvest our afterglow conversion strategy for 2010 and beyond.