About

Kara Franker is a chief executive officer in the tourism industry who leads strategic planning and execution of marketing, communications and sales initiatives, including branding, budgeting, integrated international advertising campaigns, content creation and strategy, social media, public relations, website development and crisis communications. She’s also a lawyer.

Kara is the CEO of Visit Estes Park in Colorado. She leads the strategic planning and execution of all operations including tourism marketing initiatives, stakeholder communications, government relations, staff management, financials and community engagement efforts.

Formerly the Senior Vice President of Marketing & Communications for Visit Lauderdale, Kara managed a $10 million marketing budget, led a team of creative and analytical tourism experts and reported regularly to community-led advisory boards.

Before joining Visit Lauderdale’s executive team, Kara was CEO and founder of her own tourism marketing and communications firm, which provided strategy, team management, client promotion, writing, research, on-air talent, video production and content creation services to convention and visitors bureaus.

A seasoned journalist, Kara has been featured as a travel expert for Coastal Living, Condé Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure, Travel Channel, Travelocity, Orbitz, HGTV, Huffington Post and more. Additionally, she serves as Editor-in-Chief of several luxury lifestyle print magazines in the Palm Beach, Aspen and Miami markets for the award-winning Modern Luxury network of publications.

A licensed attorney in the state of Florida, Kara earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in journalism and strategic communications from the University of Kansas, William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications. Additionally, Kara is a former NFL Cheerleader for the Kansas City Chiefs.