If Spokane had a fan club, Harry Sladich, president and CEO of the Spokane Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau, would be its most vocal member. A resident since before he can remember, Sladich spends his days evangelizing the merits of the community to anyone and everyone elsewhere who might come to visit.It’s his job but also his passion.

“I’m a product of what I sell,” Sladich says, explaining that after growing up here, he couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. He gazes affectionately across downtown from his windowed corner office in the Spokane Business Resource Center building, then leans forward to speak with conviction and animation about why he loves Spokane and his job.

From the short city blocks sprinkled with great restaurants and shops to the outdoor recreation and quick access to nature and an average of 280 days of sunshine, Sladich’s pitch is nothing but praise for the city he has been selling for three years.

Sladich “understands what we have and is so enthusiastic about what this community has to offer,” says Rich Hadley, president and CEO of Greater Spokane Incorporated. “He has such a passion for this community, having grown up here. He has a way of not just exuding the passion but for turning it into a dynamic marketing emphasis.”

That passionate pitch is paying off and is part of the reason the CVB has been so successful under Sladich’s tenure, Hadley says, noting the annual economic impact of tourism has grown in the last five years from $500 million to $800 million.

After 28 years in the hotel business, Sladich says he never expected or even wanted to make a career shift to where he is now. But when the previous president, John Brewer, stepped down, he asked Sladich to apply for the job.

“I said, ‘No way,’” Sladich says with a laugh, adding that he changed his mind when two of the organization’s current employees, Jeanna Hofmeister and Polly Phelan, also lobbied him to apply.

“He was someone with the right stuff. Smart, funny, and really a great sense of seeing things clearly and knowing how to address things,” says Hofmeister, vice president and director of destination marketing for the CVB.  “He was somebody we respected and admired and liked. … We are a great team of soldiers, but you have to have the right general at the top.”