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Background

John Poimiroo got on a chair lift in 1973 with the owner of the Colorado ski area where he was working as a ski patroller, made a few suggestions and by the top of the lift was the area’s first director of marketing. His career in travel and outdoor marketing communications continued uphill, since. 

Before establishing P&P in 1999, John directed marketing communications and PR at two mountain resorts (Eldora and Squaw Valley), a theme park (Marriott’s Great America), an attraction (Roaring Camp Railroads), hotel and resort companies (Yosemite Park and Curry Co.), public relations agencies (Hoefer-Amidei and Ketchum Public Relations) and as state tourism director while serving as Deputy Secretary of the California Trade and Commerce Agency (’92 – 99).

He was instrumental in the establishment of the California Roundtable on Recreation, Parks and Tourism, the Western States Tourism Policy Council, the California Heritage Tourism Council, was a Commissioner of the California Sesquicentennial and was founding President and CEO of the National Parks Promotion Council.

The hallmark of his career, however, was conceiving and championing the California Tourism Marketing Act which changed how California funded state tourism marketing from government allocation to industry-elected assessment. Because of this innovation, California’s state tourism marketing budget rose from 48th in the nation ($3.2 million) to first in the nation and well over $120 million. 

In recognition of this achievement, in 1998 he was inducted into the California Tourism Hall of Fame, became the first alumnus to receive the University of Colorado’s Chancellor’s Tourism Award and was elected by the US Travel Association as America’s best State Tourism Director. He subsequently received the California Travel Industry’s lifetime achievement award, the F. Norman Clark Tourism Champion of the Year (2017) and was inducted to the California Outdoors Hall of Fame (2019).

During his career, John Poimiroo has received numerous honors in marketing communications, public relations, journalism and photography.  The Society of American Travel Writers awarded him the Bronze Award in the Cultural Scenic category of its prestigious Bill Muster Photo Competition (Wenzhou Brides) and a Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award for CaliforniaFallColor.com. He’d previously received a Gold Portfolio for travel photography and twice the Frank Riley Award for travel writing by SATW’s Western Chapter and was twice named “California Writer of the Year” in 2016  and 2020 by the Outdoor Writers Association of California.

John contributes freelance travel and outdoors articles to East West News Service, an international travel news site. He previously was editor and publisher of CaliforniaFallColor.com (judged California’s Best Outdoor Medium and Best Internet Site); wrote a travel and outdoors column for the oldest daily newspaper in California, the Mountain Democrat; and was executive producer and correspondent for On Travel, which provides radio features to the American Forces Network (one million listeners). His writing and photography have appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Sunset, California Magazine, National Geographic Books, Westways, Food & Beverage Journal and countless other publications.

John graduated from San Jose State University with a bachelor’s degree in Public Relations, and from the University of Colorado, Boulder with a master’s degree in Journalism.  He received fine arts minors at both universities, was initiated into Journalism’s national honor society, Kappa Tau Alpha, and was later Accredited in Public Relations (APR) by the Public Relations Society of America. 

He retired in 1996 from the United States Navy at the rank of Captain (O-6) after 30 years active and reserve service as a cryptologic officer. 

John races sailboats and is a member of Northern California Sheltie Rescue and the Sacramento Valley Shetland Sheepdog Club. 

He and his wife, Joan, live in El Dorado Hills. They have three married children and five grandchildren.