Gathan Borden

Marketing Manager, Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau
Louisville, Kentucky
Age: 31

Anyone who’s worked with the Louisville CVB knows Gathan Borden or at least his multimedia footprint. Officially the bureau’s marketing manager but known as the self-dubbed social media guru, Borden’s got his physical and digital fingers plugged into a variety of outlets: advertising, print media, direct mail, Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter. He’s liberal with shout-outs to local vendors and tweets about how important travel and tourism are to his hometown. “A little over three years ago, my current job didn’t even exist,” he says. Now, the bureau hosts summits to educate people on social media navigation. That’s a full 140 characters from Borden’s childhood dream of becoming a civil engineer. “I was really into math and science, then took public speaking and marketing in college,” he says, finding his eventual knack for connecting people and products. After five years in sales for local broadcasting outlets he spotted a marketing opening for the CVB and literally sold himself, via three face-to-face interviews, as the best candidate for the job. —M. Boisclair