Meet the Team!
Neil Paul
Executive Director
Neil Paul is in his fifth year as the full time Executive Director at Visit Anderson after serving as the Interim Director for 17 months; however, no stranger to Visit Anderson, Paul served as the Sales Manager at Visit Anderson from January 2010 through May 2015.
As the Executive Director at Visit Anderson, Paul is responsible for the day to day activities of operating Visit Anderson to include marketing and advertising as well as leading the staff and visitors center. In addition, Paul is responsible for bringing fishing tournaments to Lake Hartwell and Anderson County and works closely with Anderson County Parks in events related to Green Pond Landing and Event Center. In addition, Paul continues to work in the sports tourism market and serves on the Board of Directors for the South Carolina Sports Alliance.
Since moving to Anderson, Paul has been involved in many facets within the community. He is a graduate of Leadership Anderson (Class 30) and was named to the “20 Under 40” Class of 2012. Previously, he has served on the Board of Directors for the Trojan Club at Anderson University, the Anderson Area Touchdown Club and Anderson Area Clemson Club where he also served as President. In addition, Paul is a graduate of the Southeast Tourism Society’s Marketing College and was a recipient of the “Gamechanger” Award in 2018 given by Connect Sports for outstanding work in the field of sports tourism.
Paul and his wife (Michelle) reside in Pendleton and have three sons (Cody, Grayson, Wyatt). Paul enjoys fishing and everything about fishing, traveling and spending time with his family.
Whitney Ellis
Sales Manager
Whitney Ellis is the Sales Manager at Visit Anderson and has been for over 4 years. She started in tourism in 2004 with the South Carolina National Heritage Corridor, one of two federally designated heritage areas in South Carolina. She traveled the state learning about the history of South Carolina from the founding fathers of SC who traveled from Barbados to SC to the wonderful South Carolina State Parks and everything in between. Working in tourism for SCPRT, Oconee County CVB and now Visit Anderson, Ellis has a vast knowledge of tourism across the state. She has her TMP from Southeast Tourism Society as well as her CTIS from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis per American Bus Association.
Ellis’s job duties at Visit Anderson include managing the Visitors Center, attending conferences such as American Bus Association, South Central Motorcoach and Travel South to secure bus tours to the Anderson area. She coordinates and secures conferences coming to Anderson and assists them with catering, site locations, hotel accommodations and more. Ellis works with our local hoteliers and vendors to coordinate hospitality rooms, meeting space, catering, and any other needs for various sporting events in Anderson. She works to ensure these events go off seamlessly.
Ellis also assists in developing all marketing material that Visit Anderson produces. This includes the Destination & Lake Guide, Meeting & Event Guide, Sports Guide, Motorcoach Profile Sheet and more.
Ellis has two daughters ages 17 and 15 years old. In her spare time, she likes to play tennis and travel. In her travels, she likes to bring back ideas from other cities to implement, if possible, into the Anderson Community.
