Chief Sales Officer, Explore St. Louis

Explore St. Louis has retained SearchWide Global to find a bold, strategic, and results-oriented Chief Sales Officer (CSO) to lead the destination’s group sales strategy and execution. This role offers a unique opportunity to shape the future of a dynamic and growing city by building strong partnerships, driving innovation, and mentoring a high-performance team.

Explore St. Louis is the official destination marketing and sales organization for the region and manages the America’s Center Convention Complex, which includes:

• Cervantes Convention Center
• The Dome at America’s Center (67,000-seat stadium)
• The Ferrara Theatre
• St. Louis Executive Conference Center

Explore St. Louis operates on a $45 million annual budget, with $23 million dedicated to destination marketing and $9 million allocated to group sales efforts.

The CSO oversees a 13–14-person team in sales and contracts/scheduling, including a Director of Sales.

This role requires a hands-on leadership approach—working closely with team members, offering one-on-one coaching, and providing visible leadership across internal teams and external partners. The CSO also plays a prominent role in maintaining productive relationships with local hotel Directors of Sales and other community stakeholders.

The team is responsible for producing 650,000 group room nights in FY25, building on a performance of 560,000 room nights in FY24.

If interested in learning more about this great opportunity, please follow the link to apply or send your resume to our SearchWide Global Executive, Mark Gnatovic.

Mark Gnatovic, President of Retained Search | SearchWide Global, info@searchwideglobal.com