DIA new VP of operations to focus on hospitality, service

Sven Gierlinger, formerly of Dearborn's Ritz-Carlton, has been named VP of Museum Operations for the Detroit Institute of Arts. The museum turned to a hospitality industry veteran to hone its customer service, increase marketing and diversify its funding streams.

Excerpt:

“I want to see tour buses out in front of the museum,” Seabrooks said she told Gierlinger. “If you talk to the people at The Henry Ford and other places, they have those, but the DIA hasn't had them up until now.” Before Gierlinger joined the museum, it was accommodating student and senior groups, but it wasn't pursuing group sales through sales calls to tour operators, hotels, and convention and visitors bureaus as it is now, he said.

The DIA is beginning its group sales push in metro Detroit and the rest of the state but plans to fan out later to other states, he said.

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