The Sydney Convention and Visitors Bureau (SCVB) has appointed new director of sales Christine Judd to oversee a major boost in the bureau's business development activities worldwide.

Judd has 25 years' hospitality experience across four continents and was most recently Director of Marketing at the Four Seasons Hotel Santa Barbara, California.

She will steer the SCVB's expanded sales team as it steps up its business development initiatives worldwide, backed by the bureau's new partnership with Events New South Wales.

SCVB managing director Jon Hutchison said Judd had joined at a time of unprecedented support for the business events sector in NSW.

"The time is right for a new push into key international markets, backed by Events New South Wales and a new determination within Sydney's business events sector," Hutchison said. "The SCVB has embarked on a major expansion of its operations and Christine will be a key force in our strategy to win a greater share of the international business events market for Sydney."

Judd has worked closely with the SCVB previously as Director of Marketing for the Four Season Hotels Sydney and has held similar positions at the Peninsula Beverly Hills in California, the Conrad Hotel, Hong Kong and the Westin South Coast Plaza in Newport Beach, California.  She began her career in hospitality in London where she was Front Office Manager for the Richmond Gate and Petersham Hotels.

In recent weeks the SCVB has also announced key appointments in its overseas offices – Sue Wilkes in London as director of business development, UK and Europe, and Bondie Fung in Hong Kong as business development executive, Asia.

The appointments follow a new partnership with Events New South Wales which will see NSW Government support for the bureau more than double from its 2006-07 level and allow it to substantially increase the number of business events it targets.