Katherine O’Donnell
Executive Vice President, Richmond Region Tourism
Katherine O’Donnell serves as Executive Vice President of Richmond Region Tourism. She was named to the role in 2018 after 16 years of Marketing and Community Relations leadership for the organization. As Executive Vice President, Katherine is responsible for enhancing the internal and organizational processes of Richmond Region Tourism by providing strategic leadership and oversight of business development and relevancy.
Katherine’s primary responsibilities include organizational strategy, advocacy, local media relations, business development and revenue generation. She oversees Sports Tourism Development, Meetings and Convention Sales, Visitor Experience, partnerships, events and training, as well as the organization’s diversity and inclusion strategies and educational Foundation. Under her leadership, Richmond Region Tourism has consistently communicated the value and economic impact of tourism to the Richmond Region. She launched the wildly successful I Am Tourism community engagement program. She also pioneered OutRVA, the organization’s LGBTQ community-driven tourism effort more than 10 years ago and in 2019, she launched BLK RVA, a campaign to drive visitor spending to Black-owned businesses.
Katherine holds a B.A. in English and Journalism from the University of Richmond. She lives near the University with her husband, Darby, and children Norah and Henry. A North Carolina native, she says “y’all” regularly and spends her free time traveling and running.