• June 2, 2011

Visit Florida, the Sunshine state's official tourism marketing corporation, has hired St. Petersburg Times newsroom leader Kevin McGeever to the new position of editor of Visit Florida digital and print consumer communications.   In more than 27 years at the Times, McGeever directed news coverage as assistant sports editor, metro editor and senior editor for online news, helping the newspaper and its website win state, regional and national recognition. Since 2004, McGeever was the first day-to-day editor of Tampabay.com, leading a culture change from a print-centric newsroom to a web-first publishing environment.   "The heart of a brand rests in providing content that is highly relevant and stories that are told well," said Susannah Costello, VP of Brand for Visit Florida. Kevin will lead that effort."   The organization says visitFlorida.com, the state's official source for travel planning, is the most-trafficked state destination marketing organization website in the country. It was honored recently by Holmes Group North America with a Silver Sabre award for the way in which it used consumer-generated media in addressing last year's the Gulf oil spill. Part of that program involved real-time testimonials, video and other media from Floridians and visitors documenting conditions at beaches statewide.