>Who We Are >Executive Team >Dennis Castleman

Dennis M. Castleman - Vice President, Industry Relations

Dennis Castleman joined TIA in October of 2007 as Vice President, Industry Relations.  He brings twenty seven years of  travel and tourism experience to the association. Prior to joining TIA, he was the Assistant Secretary for the Division of Tourism, Film and the Arts for the State of Maryland and Director of the Maryland Office of Tourism Development, a role he was appointed to in 2003.  In May 2004, Governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. named him to a newly created post of Chief Marketing Officer for the State of Maryland.

Castleman began his hospitality career working at a resort in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania in 1980.  From there, he joined ITT Sheraton Corporation, a subsidiary of one of the largest hotel and leisure companies in the world, to work as the Catering and Conference Manager at the Sheraton Palm Coast Resort in Florida. He worked at several hotels in the ITT Sheraton portfolio during his seventeen year career, including properties in Savannah, Georgia, the Meadowlands in New Jersey, Washington D.C., and Monterey, California. 

In 1991, Castleman moved to Howard County Maryland and went to work at the Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel, holding a number of positions, including Director of Sales and Marketing, Director of Revenue Management and Director of Food and Beverage. In 1998, he became the general manager of  The Hamilton, a 318-room luxury hotel in the heart of downtown D.C.  From there, he became the Area Director of Operations for MeriStar Hotels in the Philadelphia area.

Castleman served on the Board of Directors of The Travel Industry Association and was Chair of the TIA Foundation.  He is currently Vice President of the Central Maryland Chapter of Cystic Fibrosis.

Castleman resides in Laurel, Maryland with his wife, Deborah, and their three children.

Updated 3/7/08