Author: peggy

David Clark joined Visit Mobile as President & CEO in 2017.  He has over 37 years of hospitality, lodging, and tourism leadership in Coastal Alabama.

He leads the tourism destination’s development through innovative collaborations with the City, the County, Mobile Chamber, Carnival Cruise, Mobile Airport Authority, Amtrak, Cultural Heritage tourism, and engagement with domestic and international leisure and convention promotions.  David serves as an ex-officio member of the Board of Directors for the state’s first Tourism Improvement District (TID) since its establishment in 2020.  The Mobile TID has provided innovative marketing and capital improvement resources to tell Mobile’s story in ways that were never possible before.

**Mobile Tourism experiences 3.4 million visitors annually.

**Visitor spending is $1.8 billion annually.

**Tourism spend has increased $400 million during the last 4 years.

**Tourism supports 22 thousand jobs in Mobile.

Prior to joining the Visit Mobile team, David worked for 4 years at Spectrum Resorts (Beach Club & Turquoise Place) and at the Grand Hotel Marriott Golf Resort & Spa in Point Clear, Alabama for 23 years.  During that time David was the recipient of Marriott International’s Top Hotel Operations for North America Lodging Operations.

Davis serves in leadership roles on numerous industry, civic, and cultural boards.  He is a graduate of Western Kentucky University and a lifetime member of the Professional Golfers Association of America.  He is married to Melinda Murphy Clark and has a daughter, Savannah.

Ryan C. Hankins

Executive Director, Ph.D.

Ryan Hankins is the Executive Director of the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA). PARCA is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, non-ideological research organization providing policy research, data analysis, and program evaluation to educate the public and equip the leaders of governments, schools, and nonprofits to improve the lives of all Alabamians.

In addition to providing overall leadership to PARCA, Hankins has conducted or led numerous research projects, including analyses of regional demographics, school finances, gambling revenue, and Medicaid expansion.

He is active in local and statewide nonprofit work and serves on numerous boards and committees, including the advisory boards for the Masters of Public Administration at Auburn University and both the Masters of Social Work and Department of Human Development and Family Science at Samford University. He has previously served on the board of the Alabama Association of Nonprofits, the Birmingham—Jefferson Food Policy Council, the Medicaid Citizens’ Advisory Board, the Bold Goals Workforce Development Council, the Executive Team of the Alabama Committee for Grade-Level Reading, the Alabama Counts! 2020 Census Committee, the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham, and is past president of the Alabama Association of Free Clinics.

He is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management Executive Education program, the Nonprofit Executive Leadership Institute, Leadership Birmingham, Leadership Alabama, and a Birmingham Business Journal Top 40 Under 40 Honoree.

Hankins holds a BA in religion and English literature, a Master of Divinity, and a Ph.D. in political science. He has completed additional studies at the University of Alabama Birmingham and Oxford University.

He and his wife, Meredith, a speech-language pathologist at United Ability, are the parents of three children.

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Updated August 2024

Sherry Sullivan
Mayor of Fairhope| Biography
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Sherry Sullivan, mayor of Fairhope, is serving her first term. Prior to running for Mayor,
Sullivan worked for the City of Fairhope for almost 17 years and worked for Riviera
Utilities as Director of Governmental Affairs and Economic Development.
Mayor Sullivan was awarded the designation as a Certified Municipal Official by the
Alabama League of Municipalities, is a member of the American Public Power Association
Policy Makers Council, a member of the Policy Board for the Eastern Shore Metropolitan
Planning Organization, Electric Cities of Alabama Executive Committee, Vice President of
the Alabama League of Municipalities, past member of the Alabama League of
Municipalities Committee on State & Federal Legislation, a committee member of the
Alabama Municipal Funding Corporation (AMFund), a member of the Eastern Shore
Chamber of Commerce Leaders Council, a member of the Baldwin County Mayor’s
Association and a member of the Kiwanis Club of Fairhope, and a member of Fairhope
Christian Church.
Since taking office Mayor Sullivan, along with the City Council and City Staff, has
completed or are currently managing approximately $60 million in utility upgrades and
quality of life projects.
Mayor Sullivan has one daughter, Abby, who is married and lives in Fairhope with her
husband, Steve May. Steve and Abby have three children and one grandchild.