{"id":164703,"date":"2026-08-04T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=164703"},"modified":"2026-08-03T16:32:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T21:32:36","slug":"kinney-ferris-executive-director-of-visit-oxford-ms-earns-certified-destination-management-executive-designation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/kinney-ferris-executive-director-of-visit-oxford-ms-earns-certified-destination-management-executive-designation\/","title":{"rendered":"Kinney Ferris, Executive Director of Visit Oxford MS, Earns Certified Destination Management Executive Designation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Visit Oxford MS<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0is proud to announce\u00a0that\u00a0Executive\u00a0Director\u00a0Kinney Ferris<\/strong>\u00a0has\u00a0earned the\u00a0Certified Destination Management Executive (CDME) <\/strong>designation.\u00a0The designation was\u00a0recognized at the association\u2019s 2026 Annual Convention, held\u00a0July 21\u201323 in Portland, Oregon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CDME program is the only certification program\u00a0in the tourism industry\u00a0specifically designed for destination management professionals and is the industry\u2019s highest individual educational achievement. The program\u00a0prepares destination organization professionals to\u00a0leverage\u00a0their experience and apply their knowledge with a focus on vision, leadership,\u00a0productivity,\u00a0and implementing business strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cAchieving the CDME designation is an important milestone that reflects both rigorous learning and a commitment to leadership excellence,\u201d said Kathleen Davis<\/strong>, CDME, president & CEO, Destinations Texas, and chair of the CDME Board. \u201cThe program equips senior destination professionals with the strategic insight and practical skills to strengthen their organizations, serve their communities and help shape the future of our industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ferris has served as executive director of Visit Oxford since November 2019, after joining the organization in 2009\u00a0and holding several leadership roles. In her current position, she has championed a results-driven approach to marketing Oxford, Mississippi<\/strong>, as one of the Southeast’s premier travel destinations. Under her leadership, Visit Oxford has received\u00a0numerous\u00a0accolades, including the Southeast Tourism Society’s 2022 Tourism Office of the Year award and multiple honors from the Mississippi Tourism Association<\/strong>, including Destination Marketing Organization of the Year in 2022, 2023 and 2025. Ferris was also recognized individually as the Mississippi Tourism Association’s Member of the Year in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEarning the CDME designation is a meaningful milestone in my commitment to strengthening Visit Oxford and serving our community,\u201d said Ferris. \u201cThis achievement ensures that Visit Oxford remains at the forefront of the trends, strategies and best practices shaping the tourism industry. By continuing to evolve alongside our industry, we can better position Oxford as a premier destination for visitors.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Visit Oxford MS\u00a0is proud to announce\u00a0that\u00a0Executive\u00a0Director\u00a0Kinney Ferris\u00a0has\u00a0earned the\u00a0Certified Destination Management Executive (CDME) designation.\u00a0The designation was\u00a0recognized at the association\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":164705,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[19,307],"tags":[35526,35525,35529,35527,17646,23081,35530,4,35528],"class_list":["post-164703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-local-people","tag-cdme","tag-certified-destination-management-executive-cdme-designation","tag-destination-marketing-organization-of-the-year","tag-kathleen-davis","tag-kinney-ferris","tag-mississippi-tourism-association","tag-mississippi-tourism-associations-member-of-the-year","tag-oxford","tag-southeast-tourism-societys-2022-tourism-office-of-the-year-award"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/00077_Ferris_Kinney_2025.JPG.jpg?fit=525%2C525&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164703"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164703\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":164746,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164703\/revisions\/164746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}