Explore Oak Ridge president resigns

Posted at 10:43 am August 30, 2018
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Marc DeRose

Marc DeRose, president of Explore Oak Ridge, announced Thursday that he plans to resign from the position next month to pursue other career goals.

DeRose served as president of Explore Oak Ridge, the city’s Convention and Visitors Bureau, for four years, a press release said. He plans to remain in the position until September 30 to assist in the search and transition to a new president.

“I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to serve Oak Ridge as president of Explore Oak Ridge,” DeRose said in a press release. “The team at Explore Oak Ridge, the board of directors, and our partners at the City of Oak Ridge were a critical part of every success Explore Oak Ridge experienced over the past several years. I’m confident that I’ll be leaving the organization in exceptional hands. The decision to leave Explore Oak Ridge was difficult and required a lot of consideration by my family and me.”

During the past four years, Explore Oak Ridge has played a major role in improving the local tourism economy, the press release said. The efforts included its contribution to the construction of the eighth rowing lane to enhance rowing’s impact on the city; the recruiting of several high-profile events to Oak Ridge such as the NCAA National Rowing Championship and USA Cycling National Championship; and the Manhattan Project National Historical Park website and marketing campaign, which includes plans to install interpretive national park signage around the city.

During this period, Explore Oak Ridge was able to secure more than $400,000 in grant funding for local tourism-related projects and help the city grow its hotel tax revenue by 16 percent, the press release said.

“We greatly appreciate Marc’s leadership during his four years as president,” said board chair Owen Driskill. “He is an exceptional organizer who provided vision and direction for Explore Oak Ridge and greatly enhanced tourism in the community. We wish him well as he starts a new chapter in his career.”

Explore Oak Ridge is a nonprofit organization that does destination marketing for the City of Oak Ridge. It will begin a nationwide search to recruit a new president in the weeks to come.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

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