Aldridge Gardens CEO Tynette Lynch named Alabama Tourism Executive of Year

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The Alabama Tourism Department recently named Aldridge Gardens CEO Tynette Lynch as its Alabama Tourism Executive of the Year for 2017.

Lynch was chosen for the award because of her dedication and service to the state’s tourism and hospitality industries over the past 30 years.

She is the past chairwoman of the Alabama Travel Council and has served on the Alabama Tourism Department Advisory Board since 2007. She also is the incoming president of the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau’s board of directors.

Lynch, who lives in the Highland Lakes community off U.S. 280, said she was honored to even be nominated for the award. “To be chosen by your peers to receive an award is very special, and I am thrilled,” she said.

Lynch formerly served as general manager for the Mountain Brook Inn and Holiday Inn Homewood and in 2003 founded a consulting company called Hospitality Business Solutions. In 2005, she was hired as director of sales and marketing for The Wynfrey Hotel and in late 2007 was named general manager there.

She returned to Hospitality Business Solutions as president and CEO in 2009 and was named CEO at Aldridge Gardens, a 30-acre public garden facility owned by the city of Hoover on Lorna Road, in 2013.

Lynch was the recipient of one of 13 awards given out at the Tourism Department’s annual conference at the Sheraton Hotel in Birmingham. Others receiving awards included:

  • Birmingham Mayor William Bell, who received the Government Advocate Award for his leadership in creating the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument.
  • Kim Graham Smith of the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau, who received the Rising Star Award for outstanding work in graphic design and production.
  • The McWane Science Center in Birmingham, which received the Alabama Themed Campaign Award for a marketing campaign called “Equation.”
  • Al Mathis of Childersburg, who was inducted into the Alabama Tourism Hall of Fame for 40 years of work developing DeSoto Caverns.
  • Gary Ellis of Gulf Shores, who also was inducted into the Alabama Tourism Hall of Fame. Ellis founded Compass Media and co-founded the Gulf United Metro Business Organization.
  • Pedro Mandoki of Gulf Shores, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award for founding Mandoki Hospitality more than 30 years ago to promote and manage Gulf Shores Plantation.
  • The OWA Theme Park in Foley, which was named the 2018 Attraction of the Year. The 520-acre park opened in July and features thrill rides, midway games, restaurants, shopping and a hotel.
  • Paula Steigerwald, president and CEO of the Huntsville Botanical Garden, who received the Professional of the Year Award for leading the garden since 2002.
  • City of Foley, which was named the Tourism Organization of the Year for its continued commitment to sports tourism with the opening of a new sports complex featuring 16 outdoor fields and a 90,000-square-foot indoor event center.
  • Jerry Fouse of the Tennessee Valley Authority, who received the Partnership of the Year Award for his ongoing work with the Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association.
  • Scott Burbank of the Alabama Tourism Department, who won Employee of the Year for his commitment to excellence in the tourism finance department.
  • Dekalb Welcome Center, which won the Welcome Center of the Year.