Visit Raleigh’s Loren Gold to Succeed Dennis Edwards as CEO in 2027

The Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau, better known as Visit Raleigh, has named longtime Executive Vice President Loren Gold its next president and CEO, effective Jan. 1, 2027.

Gold will succeed Dennis Edwards, who announced his retirement at the end of the year. The Visit Raleigh Board of Directors unanimously elected Gold to the position, elevating an executive who has spent nearly 22 years helping shape the destination’s tourism and events strategy.

In a way, Gold has worked towards the promotion throughout his entire tenure at Visit Raleigh. Hefirst threw his hat in the ring for the top job in 2007, two years after joining the organization following global sales roles at Wyndham and Marriott. Edwards was selected for the position and subsequently tapped Gold as his No. 2, moving him out of sales and into a role overseeing everything from marketing and public relations to data and technology and sports.

Now, as he prepares to take the helm serving Raleigh and all 12 municipalities across Wake County, N.C., Gold told eTourism that much of what Edwards established during his tenure will remain in place.

One lesson, in particular, has stuck with him: “He wouldn't take full credit for everything that's happened over the last 20 years.”

Instead, Gold said, Edwards leaned on his team and “built an incredible culture” that helped the organization deliver major milestones, including the opening of the Raleigh Convention Center in 2008. Since then, annual visitation to Wake County climbed from 10.4 million to 19.1 million, while visitor spending increased from $1.7 billion to more than $3.4 billion.

The organization's staff retention offers another measure of that culture. The average Visit Raleigh employee has been with the organization for 15 years, well above the national average employee tenure of 4.1 years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Raleigh 3.0

Gold plans to build on that foundation while putting his own stamp on a destination entering what he calls its “Raleigh 3.0” era.

A substantial pipeline of convention, sports, entertainment, and hotel projects is reshaping Raleigh's visitor infrastructure, creating new opportunities for the CVB to pursue larger groups and generate additional business.

Among the major developments:

• Lenovo Center: The home of the Carolina Hurricanes is undergoing $300 million in arena upgrades, including new lower-bowl seating, expanded concourses, upgraded technology, hospitality improvements, and additional fan amenities. The work is expected to wrap up in summer 2028.
• Lenovo Center District: Plans for an approximately 80-acre mixed-use district surrounding the arena include 200,000 square feet of retail, a 150-room hotel, a 4,300-seat ballroom, and public spaces. A potential office tower of up to 550,000 square feet and a separate parking deck are also in the pipeline. If approved, the development could break ground as early as 2027.
• Raleigh Convention Center: The convention center is preparing to break ground on a $400 million expansion later this year. The project will add 298,100 square feet, bringing the complex to approximately 798,100 square feet. Plans include a 50,000-square-foot divisible hall, an 18,000-square-foot ballroom, and 13 meeting rooms, with completion expected by early 2030.
• Red Hat Amphitheater: The outdoor music venue is relocating one block south to accommodate the convention center expansion. It is expected to open at its new location for the 2027 concert season.
• Hotel Indigo Raleigh Downtown: The hotel officially opened Oct. 1 following a $36 million transformation. It offers 204 guest rooms and 4,150 square feet of dedicated venue space.
• Sheraton Raleigh Hotel: White Lodging acquired the property in March 2026 and is now planning a comprehensive renovation beginning in early 2027 to convert it to the Westin brand.
• Omni Raleigh: The planned 600-room hotel next to the convention center is targeting a late 2028 opening. It will offer 61,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 20,000-square-foot ballroom.

The hotel pipeline, in particular, could change Raleigh's ability to accommodate larger conventions. Once the new properties are fully operational, Gold expects the city's peak room-night capacity to increase from 800 to upwards of 1,200.

Already, these developments are giving the CVB "a huge uptick in lead production since this summer when a lot of these announcements went out,” Gold said.

The convention center expansion should also give Visit Raleigh more flexibility to book overlapping events, rather than limiting the facility to one major group at a time.

Once the expansion is complete, “we could pretty consistently have two groups simultaneously operating, maybe even with a third group,” Gold said. “But there’s a process to that."

Preparing the Team for Growth

Gold's first priority as CEO will be ensuring Visit Raleigh's workforce is ready to capitalize on the additional capacity.

That includes working with JLL, a specialty workplace strategy consultancy, to better “understand kind of the booking timelines and when certain size groups are making key decisions on where to choose,” he said.

The goal is to align the organization's sales strategy with how different-sized groups make booking decisions, giving Visit Raleigh a better understanding of when to engage planners and how to position Raleigh as a destination among competitors like Atlanta, Boston, and Tampa.

Gold also sees an opportunity to bring the team up to speed on technology, particularly as customer relationship management (CRM) tools evolve.

Visit Raleigh uses Granicus Destinations, a CRM platform tailored to the destination marketing sector. As the system continues to introduce automated tools, Gold wants to ensure the workforce is keeping pace with the changes and making effective use of the technology available.

He’s bullish on agentic AI, in particular, pointing to an initiative Visit Raleigh tested in partnership with the Carolina Hurricanes during the team's playoff run leading up to the Stanley Cup.

The pilot placed an AI agent on both the hockey team's website and Visit Raleigh's website to field specific questions about Hurricanes tickets and help visitors plan their trips to Raleigh. Someone traveling to the city for a playoff game, for example, could ask the agent what to do while in town.

The Carolina Hurricanes recorded a 40% increase in inbound inquiry traffic over the two weeks of the CVB partnership compared with the entire 50 weeks before it.

Gold now wants to roll out similar agentic chatbots to Raleigh's leading facilities and attractions, expanding the technology's role in connecting prospective visitors with relevant information and experiences.

The initiative is part of a three-year technology program that feeds into a broader, 10-year master plan formally known as the Destination Strategic Plan 2028 (DSP 2028). Developed in partnership with Edwards, the plan is now in its seventh year.

Measuring Success in Year One

As Gold prepares to take over, he already has a framework for evaluating his first year at the helm.

Continued implementation of DSP 2028 will be central to that assessment, including whether Visit Raleigh achieves the goals set for year eight of the plan. Gold said progress against those objectives will help determine whether he has had a successful first year.

He will also be responsible for a broader set of key performance indicators, ranging from room nights and website traffic to public relations placements.

For Gold, the transition is the latest milestone in a 38-year career in the industry. His advice to other CVB and destination marketing leaders looking to take on greater responsibility is straightforward: “Learn. Learn from having conversations not only with internal staff but external stakeholders.”

The industry may be large, but it is also small enough for destination leaders to learn from one another, he said, pointing to the network of destination marketing organizations across the country.

“Be intentional.” That means being deliberate about learning, he said, while building relationships with peers at other DMOs who can offer perspective, experience, and insight as leaders take on new roles.

Photo Credit: Visit Raleigh