Two team members with the Wilmington and Beaches Convention and Visitors Bureau have received state board appointments and one team member has received an honor.

Wilmington and Beaches CVB sales manager Joel Smith and director of sports development Robert Cox have each been chosen to serve on a state board of directors, according to the release.

Smith was chosen to serve on the board of directors for the N.C. Society of Government Meeting Planners as second vice president, officials said. He will serve a two-year term (2019-2021), which began July 1.

"SGMP is a national association for individuals involved in planning government meetings and for the companies who provide facilities or services to those planners," stated the release.

Smith has been with the Wilmington and Beaches CVB since 2017, when he joined as sales manager.

Cox (right) was appointed a 3-year term on the board of directors of the N.C. Sports Association Board, according to the release. The nonprofit corporation aims to support and grow the sports industry in the state.

Cox also joined Wilmington and Beaches CVB in 2017. He previously served the sports board as chairman of the association from 2013 to 2015, stated the release.

And Wilmington and Beaches CVB's director of convention sales Molly Johnson (left) was awarded the Meeting Professionals International - Carolinas Chapter (MPI-CC) 2019 Corey D. Bizzell Award of Excellence, according to the release. She received the award at the association’s 2019 annual meeting held in May. 

Johnson has nearly 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry. She joined the Wilmington and Beaches CVB in 2015. 

Her professional memberships include being a member of MPI-CC since 2002 and serving as chapter president in 2010-2011, and currently, she is serving on MPI’s Global Chapter and Membership Advisory Council.

Johnson is a past recipient of the MPI-CC President’s Award (2017) and Supplier of the Year Award (2014), officials stated in the release. Last year, she received the organization’s 2018 Hall of Fame Award.

“We congratulate Molly, Robert and Joel on their industry honors and commend them for the contributions they are making to the meeting and sports markets through their service to respected travel trade organizations,” Kim Hufham, president and CEO of the New Hanover County Tourism Development Authority (doing business as Wilmington and Beaches CVB), stated in the release.