Sara Otte Coleman

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT SARA OTTE COLEMAN

Skilled marketing professional with 36 years of diverse branding, strategic planning, industry leadership, advertising campaign management, public and media relations, social media strategy, sales and administrative experience. Leads branding and marketing for the State of North Dakota to various audiences including travelers. Results oriented focus with ability to execute complex projects across multiple organizations and engage various stakeholders. Manage $10 million annual budget, 15 staff, legislative process and reporting, relationship and alignment with Governor’s administration leads. Experience includes: global marketing, research, analytics, content creation and utilization, messaging, event planning and public speaking. Bio: Sara Otte Coleman has been with the North Dakota Department of Commerce as Director of the Tourism Division since 2003 and has over 3 decades of destination management, marketing and leadership experiences. Her tourism career includes 15 years at the Bismarck-Mandan CVB. She proudly serves the state as Tourism-Marketing Director and focuses on growing the awareness of North Dakota through industry development, strategic planning, statewide branding, consumer marketing and media relations. She attributes the growth of tourism to strong partnerships with tourism providers, a smart marketing team and great visitor services. She has a bottom-line focus and has worked to use research and data to improve the state’s marketing and its ability to motivate visitors to choose North Dakota. Sara also works to develop strategies to support workforce and business recruitment, leveraging the Be Legendary brand and marketing campaigns created for tourism to drive workforce development and strengthen North Dakota’s economy. Sara sits on several boards and commissions and currently chairs both the National Council of State Tourism Directors and the Western States Tourism Policy Council. She is past president of the Destination Marketing Association of North Dakota. She received the Tourism Leadership award presented by the North Dakota tourism industry and the Governor’s award for Excellence in Public Service for administration and was awarded the 2018 State Tourism Director of the Year, by the National Council of State Tourism Directors.