Rich Gagliano & Ross Levi to Speak at the 2025 NYS Tourism Conference

In his role as Senior Vice President, Marketing at Empire State Development, Rich is responsible for oversight of the I LOVE NY tourism program as well as all New York State business development marketing.  Having joined ESD in 2019, Rich helped navigate the team through the COVID-19 related tourism industry downturn and its post-pandemic recovery efforts.

Rich brings with him over 20 years of marketing experience from the advertising agency world. With stops at global agencies including Grey, Ogilvy and Publicis, Rich has led integrated marketing efforts for brands such as IBM, JPMorgan Chase, Volvo, M&M/Mars and Dos Equis, including work on the "World's Most Interesting Man" campaign.

He holds a BS from SUNY Albany in Business Administration and Marketing/Communications.

Ross Levi joined New York State’s economic development agency in 2012 as Vice President of Marketing Initiatives and became Executive Director of Tourism in 2017. He leads I LOVE NY's tourism promotion and sales efforts, coordinates initiatives to bolster tourism industry partners across the state, and works closely with New York State Tourism Advisory Council. He was instrumental in launching and developing several new tourism programs, including: I LOVE NY's Path Through History, LGBTQ, Black and Accessible tourism segment programs; the Governor’s Tourism Summits, Adirondack and Catskill Challenges; tourism workforce job fairs; and the Tourism Return to Work and Meet in New York COVID-19 recovery grants.

Prior to joining ESD, Ross headed one of the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ civil rights organizations, worked in the New York State Senate and did marketing in the film industry for companies including 20th Century Fox and Universal. He is a published author and holds a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School, and a B.S. from Boston University, where he received local and national recognition for commercial writing and filmmaking.