Presented by: George Zimmermann Vice President, Travel Michigan   George Zimmermann is the Vice President for Travel Michigan at the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), a position he has held since 2001.   During his tenure at the MEDC, Travel Michigan created and launched the award-winning Pure Michigan branding campaign, and the Michigan state tourism Web site, michigan.org, has consistently been ranked the most popular state tourism Web site in America. The success of the Pure Michigan campaign and its proven return on investment helped increase the funding for tourism promotion in Michigan from $8 million in 2001 to $30 million in 2009.   Prior to coming to the MEDC, Zimmermann was the Director of Tourism for the State of Ohio. He was named "State Tourism Director of the Year" by the National Council of State Tourism Directors in 1997, and has authored three travel-related books. Mr. Zimmermann also spent more than a decade in front of the camera as a broadcast journalist and as a television producer and director in Texas, California and Ohio.   Special thanks to our sponsor!