After more than 20 years helping to promote tourism with Pinellas County's St. Petersburg/Clearwater Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, Lee Daniel starts his first day (today, April 6) as the newly appointed development director of the Leon County Tourism Development Council. According to the Tallahassee Democrat, Daniel took over from Ken Morris, who assumed the position of interim director after Guy Thompson was asked to resign last October. Daniel, a graduate of the University of Kentucky and Ohio University, spent nearly nine years as a public relations professional with two NBA teams before switching to a career in the Florida tourism industry in 1986. (Daniel photo by Ted McLaren, St. Petersburg Times.)

Most recently, he served as assistant director and chief operating officer for the Pinellas tourism bureau. In an interview with the Democrat last week, Daniel praised the tourism potential of the Tallahassee area, the need for updated tourism research, and added that "cultural tourism" can be a strong draw for the state capital.

-- Robert Trigaux, Times Business Columnist