Hawaii Tourism Authority is hiring veteran Marriott executive Pattie Herman to fill its top marketing slot, which has undergone plenty of turnover in recent years.

Herman will start Dec. 2 as HTA’s vice president of marketing and product development. Herman will fill the role left vacant by Karen Hughes, who tendered her resignation in August and worked through Friday. According to the terms of her employment offer, the annual salary for her exempt at-will position will be $200,000.

Hughes, who began work on Dec. 17, replaced former Chief Marketing Officer Leslie Dance, who left in May 2018. According to the terms of Hughes’ contract, her base salary also was $200,000. She also got a one-time incentive bonus of $30,000 that stipulated that she would have to return $15,000 of it to HTA if she did not stay employed at HTA for two years.

Herman, who currently serves as the director of sales and marketing for Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa, has decades of experience in Hawaii’s tourism industry. At Marriott she worked under HTA CEO and President Chris Tatum, who served as area general manager at Marriott Resorts Hawaii before he took over leadership of the state agency.

“In addition to having a long and successful career in the visitor industry, Pattie’s experience and success in the Asia market will be vital as we continue to focus on this high-spend traveler,” Tatum said in a statement.

Raised in Yokohama, Japan, Herman moved to Hawaii while in high school. The fluent Japanese speaker is a graduate of Star of the Sea School and Kapiolani Community College.