Darlene was appointed Executive Director of Tourism Nova Scotia in May 2022, after filling the role of Acting Executive Director along with maintaining her role as Director of Sector Development for the year prior.

As Executive Director, Darlene is focused on establishing strong relationships with industry stakeholders, understanding global best practices, making research-based decisions, and leveraging national, regional and local partnership opportunities to support Nova Scotia's tourism industry recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

As Tourism Nova Scotia’s Director of Sector Development, Darlene was responsible for tourism experience development and sector development initiatives aimed at improving Nova Scotia’s competitiveness as a tourism destination.

With over two decades of tourism experience, Darlene has extensive experience working with organizations, businesses and communities to ensure the growth, market-readiness and sustainability of Nova Scotia’s tourism products and experiences.

Darlene began her career with Industry Canada in the regional tourism office responsible for implementing federal–provincial tourism development agreements and leading sector development initiatives. In 1995, she joined the provincial tourism department as a tourism development officer and later advanced her career by working in other branches of government with a focus on tourism product development. Darlene has a degree in Science from Dalhousie University (1988), and a degree in Tourism & Hospitality Management (1992) from Mount Saint Vincent University.

Joann joined Tourism Nova Scotia in January 2017 as Chief Marketing Officer. In this role she is responsible for destination marketing and sales strategies designed to promote Nova Scotia as a leisure travel destination.

Joann is a marketing professional with over 18 years of marketing experience. She completed her MBA at Dalhousie University and has worked for a range of recognized brands including Unilever, Pepsi-QTG, Kruger Products, Sobeys and Cadbury. After a stint in Toronto, she returned to her home province of Newfoundland where she helped guide the marketing of the Grenfell Campus of Memorial University. In 2013, she moved back to Nova Scotia to work with Johnson Insurance, leading the marketing for Atlantic Canada as their Atlantic Head of Marketing.

As Director, Research, Planning and Decision Support, Anna leads Tourism Nova Scotia’s research programs to support evidence-based decision making across the organization. She also leads key corporate initiatives, including strategic and business planning, and TNS’ performance measurement.

Anna joined Tourism Nova Scotia in May 2014, a natural extension to her more than 20 years of experience in leveraging market research to inform strategic decision making. Most recently, Anna worked with Efficiency Nova Scotia, where she developed the organization’s market research practice.

Anna holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Mount Allison University.

As Acting Director of Outreach and Engagement, Afton is responsible for managing and directing internal and external corporate communications activities. She works to encourage collaboration between Tourism Nova Scotia and our partners and deliver initiatives to build confidence in Nova Scotia's tourism industry.

Afton joined Tourism Nova Scotia in 2018 as a communications advisor, managing Tourism Nova Scotia's corporate communications channels including the website, newsletter, and social media. Afton has a background in media and communications and first got involved in tourism working as a tour guide at Peggy's Cove and a travel counsellor at provincial visitor information centres.

Afton holds a Bachelor of Arts from Mount Saint University and Bachelor of Journalism from the University of King's College.

As Tourism Nova Scotia’s Director of Sector Development, Heather is responsible for experience development and sector development initiatives aimed at improving Nova Scotia’s competitiveness as a tourism destination. Heather fosters innovation in collaboration with internal and external partners to develop competitive tourism products and experiences through Tourism Nova Scotia’s Experience Development and Business Development teams, and oversees the province's tourism visitor servicing strategy via five provincial visitor information centres (VICs) and province-wide VIC programming,  

Heather has led the strategic development and delivery of effective Tourism Nova Scotia partnership programs and supports to enhance the province’s tourism offering. This includes the TIAC Innovation Award-winning World Class Experience EXCELLerator Program, the season-extending RADIATE Tourism Program, and the community tourism capacity-building Emerging Destinations Program.  

Her extensive knowledge and appreciation of tourism partners, culture and heritage and passion for sustainably growing tourism in Nova Scotia, combined with her enthusiasm and energy, make her a natural collaborator. Heather has worked with government and industry partners on a range of initiatives including the Climate Adaptation Leadership Program for Coastal Parks, the Cultural Tourism Strategy for the Mi’kmaq of Nova Scotia, the Shared Strategy for Trails in Nova Scotia, and most recently Atlantic Canada’s UNESCO Tourism Corridor Strategy with Destination Canada. 

With a Public Relations degree and over 25 years in provincial government, starting in marketing and communications with the Nova Scotia Museum to Tourism Development Advisor, and as Manager, Experience Development with Tourism Nova Scotia for the past 10 years, Heather has strategically motivated, managed and led teams to achieve results.