Heather Kirksey

Vice President, Public Relations, Corporate Events and Membership

Heather Kirksey is vice president of public relations, corporate events and membership at Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau (ACVB), where her team leads media relations efforts to bolster the city’s $18 billion hospitality industry. Along with developing and implementing strategies to increase Atlanta’s visibility as a top leisure travel and meetings destination, Kirksey also oversees issues management and crisis communications for the organization and provides counsel to ACVB’s executive leadership team. She also oversees member relations along with production of the organization’s corporate events including its annual meeting, Atlanta Hospitality Hall of Fame induction ceremony and quarterly member networking events. 

Kirksey joined the organization in 2014 as public relations manager and has served as ACVB’s director of public relations since 2016. She is involved in several professional organizations including Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA) Georgia chapter where she serves on the board of directors. She is a member of Destinations International’s Public Relations and Communications Task Force and sits on U.S. Travel Association’s Communications Advisory Committee. 

Previously, Kirksey served as chair of the marketing and communications committee for the 2020 NCAA Men’s Final Four, member of the communications committee for Super Bowl LIII in 2019 and member of the marketing and communications committee for the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship. She was recognized by PRSA Georgia in 2023 as the chapter’s Luminary Star award recipient and was named to the chapter’s inaugural Forty under 40 class in 2019.  

Before joining ACVB, Kirksey worked at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and supported the healthcare system’s sports medicine, orthopedic, transplant and foundation programs by managing external media relations efforts. Prior to life in public relations, she was an award-winning journalist who spent a decade in sports broadcasting in various markets throughout the Southeast. 

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