Paul Upchurch has been appointed   president and CEO of Visit Milwaukee.  Upchurch was most recently chief operating officer for the Chicago-based TCA Holdings, an operator of private sports clubs and resorts. His background also includes serving as vice-president of hotel operations for Marcus Hotels & Resorts, which is based in Milwaukee. Upchurch succeeds Doug Nielson, who left the bureau at year’s end.

The Fairbanks (Alaska) Convention & Visitors Bureau has named Helen Renfrew as its director of meetings and conventions. Renfrew spent the past eight years as sales manager for the Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge.

The Austin (Texas) Convention & Visitors Bureau has named Val Mashaw  as executive meetings manager. She served most recently as corporate event director for the Fuddruckers, Inc., chain of restaurants.

Susanne Tunney has been named regional director of sales for the Midwest at Visit Baltimore. Tunney was most recently director of national sales for the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions at La Quinta Resort & Club in Southern California.

The San Antonio Convention & Visitors Bureau has opened a satellite office in Chicago, to be headed by National Convention Sales Manager Amy Brown. Brown has spent the past three years in the bureau’s San Antonio office selling the city and its Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center to the Chicago market.

The Curaçao Tourist Board in the Caribbean has promoted Andre Rojer to marketing manager for North America. Rojer, who will be based out of the organization’s Newark, New Jersey, office, has been with the board for more than five years, most recently as marketing coordinator.

Allison Cooksley Vasquez has been appointed national association sales manager at the Galveston Island (Texas) Convention & Visitors Bureau. Vasquez was previously state association sales manager for the Radisson Hotel & Suites in Austin, but she worked with the Galveston Island bureau from 2007 to 2008.

The Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association has appointed two new sales managers to its Washington, D.C., office: Jennifer Haire and Kenneth Hemsley Jr. Haire served most recently at Freeman Audio Visual Solutions as national sales manager for the greater Washington, D.C., area. She has also worked for the national event-planning company Experient. Hemsley served previously at Visit Baltimore, where he held several different positions including group tour and international sales manager, director of tourism development and national sales manager.

The Greater Louisville (Kentucky) Convention & Visitors Bureau has made two appointments: Katrina Gallagher has been named convention sales manager and Lauren McAlpin has been promoted to convention services manager. Gallagher spent the past six years as an account executive for Estes Public Relations in Louisville. McAlpin, who joined the bureau in 2008, was previously the visitors services coordinator at the bureau’s visitor information center.