Cleopatra Vaughns, RN, CPIW, manager, community relations at Blue Shield of California, will replace outgoing Chairman Frank R. Kent and serve a one-year term as the new chairman of the board. Last year, Vaughns served as vice chairman of the board.

Vaughns is the first female chairman in the Bureau's 88 year history. She is a graduate of Providence College of Nursing and the University of California, Berkeley.  A successful entrepreneur, she founded The Ivy Shoppe, a retail ready-to-wear store. Currently, she is chairman of the board of Sojourner Truth Senior Housing Complex in Oakland, a member of the board of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Bay Area Chapter, national parliamentarian, National Association of Urban Bankers, elected national director of resources and western district governor of the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women's Clubs, Inc., and recently elected to the board of directors of The Bankers Club of San Francisco. Among numerous other awards, she has received the 1998 Walter Bremond Community Service Award from the Bay Area Black United Fund.
Frank R. Kent, managing director at United Airlines, will serve as immediate-past chairman, Tom LaTour, president of Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group Inc., was elected to a second term as vice chair. Former secretary/treasurer Bill Poland, president of Bay West Group, was also elected vice chair. Gianni Fassio, president and CEO of Paho d'Asti, was elected secretary/treasurer. He was formerly marketing committee chair.

The newly-elected standing committee chairs are;

• Hank Biddle, general manager, San Francisco Marriott Hotel (convention committee);
• Tom Noonan, president, Hotel ,Development Services (marketing committee);
• Louis Meunier, executive vice president, external affairs, Macy's (membership committee);
• and Jon Handlery, senior vice president and general manager Handlery Union Square Hotel (tourism committee).

The 15 directors elected to serve three-year terms include:

• Lisa Benau, vice president, Victorian Inn on the Park;
• Darlene Cochran, president, Gray Line of San Francisco;
• F.X. Crowley, business manager/secretary, Theatrical Federation of San Francisco/Local 16;
• John Hutar, deputy general manager, Hotel Nikko San Francisco;
• Gary Isaacson, general manager, The Freeman Companies;
• Kathy L. Lohan, executive director, National Maritime Museum Association;
• Jordan Meisner, vice president and managing director, Grand Hyatt San Francisco;
• Bob Mendes, owner, McDonald's;
• Richard Miyashiro, senior vice president and chief operating officer, Pat Kuleto Restaurants;
• Michael Penn, executive director, Black Chamber of Commerce;
• Stephen J. Seabolt, president and chief executive officer, Sunset Publishing Corporation;
• Maureen Sullivan, vice president, M.G. West;
• James Thigpen, president, Thigpen, Ltd.;
• Volker Ulrich, general manager, Pan Pacific Hotel;
• and Peter Wilde, general manager, ANA Hotel San Francisco.

The newly elected directors join those continuing their three-year terms and executive committee members to form the elected leadership of the bureau.

The bureau is a private, non-profit membership organization that has worked to market San Francisco as a tourist destination since 1909. All directors' and officers are elected from more than 2,200 bureau members firms.