Hargrove International Partners

Cheryl Hargrove is President of Hargrove International, Inc. With an emphasis on cultural heritage tourism, Cheryl has worked with a diverse collection of clients over the last three decades. Cheryl utilizes her international network and broad industry experience to offer clients added value and access. A native Georgian, Cheryl has consulted on cultural heritage tourism projects in all 50 states and more than 15 countries.

Author of Cultural Heritage Tourism: Five Steps for Success and Sustainability (Rowman & Littlefield, May 2017), Hargrove is frequently asked to speak on trends and best practices in cultural heritage tourism.  

The former Associate Director for National Geographic Society’s Center for Sustainable Destinations, Cheryl is perhaps best known as the first Director of Heritage Tourism for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. She developed the key steps and principles for sustainable tourism focusing on history and culture and produced the publication Getting Started: How to Succeed in Heritage Tourism and companion video, Preserving the Past … Building the Future. In partnership with the National Trust, she also helped develop content for www.culturalheritagetourism.org. 

A Certified Tour Guide, Hargrove has a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Georgia and a Masters in Tourism Administration from The George Washington University (GWU). She also holds a Certificate for Tourism & International Cooperation for Development from the UNWTO Themis Foundation and The George Washington University. She currently serves on the board of directors for the Coastal Georgia Historical Society.

Other tourism industry experience includes six years with Explore Georgia, the state tourism office (most recently as the Director of Industry & Partner Relations); director of public relations, and the UK office, for Travel South USA and the 1982 World’s Fair. 

 

Carole has over a decade of experience in the travel industry specializing in cultural, heritage, and agricultural tourism. She has served as Cultural Heritage Tourism Director for KY Department of Travel and also Tourism Director for HandMade in America. Before taking time off to become a mother, she owned Meritage Consulting where she had continued her involvement in community development and strategic planning. She has served on several boards including Preservation Kentucky, Friends of KY Folk Art, HandMade in America, and chaired the inaugural National Cultural Heritage Tourism Director’s Committee. Her past clients include Charlotte Regional Partnership, North Carolina Arts Council, Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, Appalachian Regional Commission, Orange and Chatham County Arts Commissions, Kentucky Artisan Heritage Trails, and the Southern Maryland Agricultural Commission. Along with Cheryl Hargrove, she co-authored AgriCultural Tourism: Asset Building and Marketing, a workbook sponsored by the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area.

Carole received her BA in Art Education from Murray State University and did her graduate work at Middle Tennessee State University where she received her MA in Public History and Cultural Resource Management, focusing on Appalachian craft and tourism. Carole lives with her husband, Philip, and son Liam in Charlotte.

John Bauser brings 30 years of executive management, fundraising, board development, advocacy, and strategic planning experience to his consulting engagements with a wide range of both established and emerging nonprofit organizations.

John’s strategic planning work uses innovative approaches from both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors.   His board development expertise, drawn from years of experience as an executive director of large and complex organizations, has helped many organizations improve their governance. Known for his creative approaches to problem solving, John has conducted feasibility studies, campaign plans, and development audits for more than 80 local, national, and international organizations.

Prior to launching his career as a consultant, John’s spent 13 years at the helm of some of the nation’s most respected orchestras, where he earned a reputation for sound fiscal management and innovative programming.  His tenure in higher education included five years at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where John served as Assistant Dean and Director of Development for the Faculty of Arts & Letters and, later, as Director of Corporate Development university-wide.

John received his Bachelor and Master’s degrees (in Music) from the University of Illinois and did post-graduate work at the University of Miami, where served as adjunct faculty for three years.  has conducted workshops for GuideStar, the Southeastern Museums Conference, League of American Orchestras, Leadership Greater Washington (DC), the African American Nonprofit Network, The Foundation Center, and Booz Allen Hamilton’s Nonprofit Leadership Conference.

 

 

Cultural Heritage Tourism Consultant Specializing in Sustainable Tourism Development, Planning, Management & Marketing

Rita Robinette has a diverse background in market research, strategic planning, product development, and marketing. She specializes in helping communities PROTECT, CONNECT and PROMOTE their Cultural Heritage Resources. During her career, Rita has provided professional consulting, market research, and technical services to tourism destination organizations, Main Street associations, nonprofits, tourism-related small businesses, and government entities. She has extensive experience in the development of feasibility studies, marketing plans, websites, custom online applications, and the design of both print and digital promotional materials.

Specialties:

Cultural Heritage Tourism Assessment with Recommendations  – Perform a preliminary tourism assessment of current/potential tourism assets and make recommendations for enhancing existing and developing new tourism destinations.

Cultural Heritage Sustainable Tourism Development Consulting & Strategic Planning –  Guide your community or heritage area through the strategic planning process, facilitate the conceptualization of the local tourism partners’ and stakeholders’ vision; help define tourism goals and provide strategies and recommendations to achieve those goals.

Destination Tourism Marketing Strategies – Development of effective Marketing Strategies that are aimed at Getting the RIGHT Information to the RIGHT People at the RIGHT Time.

Website Design & Custom Web Application Development  – Visionary web design and development of mobile responsive websites, WordPress and HTML 5 websites, and custom web applications. Other services include web hosting, SEO, Digital Marketing, and domain registration services. We help clients get the RIGHT information to the RIGHT people at the RIGHT time.

As an information architect, Rita supports the development of creative concepts by defining best practices for organization, management, and navigation of cultural heritage tourism information to bring it to the digital landscape.  Her firm,  Foresite Consulting, LLC, developed an online cultural heritage inventory management system that includes a series of web-based tools to help communities PRESERVE, MANAGE and PROMOTE their Natural, Cultural, and Historical Resources.  In 2020, Rita was a key Hargrove International team member and the developer of the Appalachia NonProfit Resource Center providing free online access to curated resources and virtual training for nonprofit organizations during the COVID-19 crisis (https://appalachianrc.arc.gov/). 

Ms. Robinette previously served as Director of Technology and Product Development for a regional economic development organization where she co-designed and managed an award-winning regional Internet portal presenting tourism resources in a 23-county region. During her career,  Rita worked in the corporate environment, for a regional non-profit, and as an entrepreneur, having started two consulting firms with operations spanning more than 20 years.   She has provided consulting and market research services to major corporations, government agencies,  nonprofits, and a wide variety of small businesses.  As lead consultant for her own firm, Rita assimilated county demographic and related data for the Tennessee Economic Development Center multimedia presentation system.  She has developed a county-wide cultural heritage inventory management plan and co-authored a heritage tourism plan for a county within a National Heritage Area.  She also has developed an online Artists and Craftspeople Directory for a tourism region.

As president of Young Strategies, Inc., Berkeley excels at all types of market research and strategic planning for tourism destinations large and small. With 20+ years of experience, Berkeley has worked with more than 100 destinations in 26 states and is a frequent speaker at national conferences. Young Strategies and HTC Partners recently collaborated on a project for Natchez, Mississippi with research demonstrating the potential for this historic city to grow its heritage tourism. Previous collaborations for Cheryl Hargrove and Berkeley Young include work in Oxford, Mississippi and Henry County, Illinois.

Scott Wayne, M.S., is the President of SW Associates, an international consulting practice focused on sustainable development through tourism for both public and private sector clients and organizations. Scott has over 20 years of experience in the tourism industry with a focus on international sustainable tourism development and investment.

His practice specializes in strategic planning, international marketing and policy-making. He has advised public and private sector clients in more than 25 countries. Some of his most recent projects include: World Bank sustainable tourism development and investment assignments in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Lebanon, Zambia, and Romania; tourism investment in St Lucia, Grenada, the Western Balkans, market feasibility projects to determine product mix for major resort development in China. SW Associates is currently a sub-contractor on USAID tourism development projects in Rwanda and the West Bank.

Scott is currently an adjunct professor at The George Washington University teaching Tourism and Destination Planning. He is also the author and editor of several publications for Lonely Planet Publications and Sierra Club Books, and numerous articles for magazines and journals. Scott holds a Master of Science with a concentration in International Public Administration from the University of Southern California and is fluent in English, French, and Spanish and has working knowledge of Colloquial Egyptian Arabic. He is a Fellow with the Royal Geographical Society, and a member of the Middle East Institute, the Africa Travel Association and the International Ecotourism Society.