Kim Summers Named Chief Executive Officer of Placer Valley Tourism and @the Grounds

Longtime marketing and tourism senior executive Kim Summers has been named chief executive officer of Placer Valley Tourism and @the Grounds.

Summers has been with Placer Valley Tourism since 2008, hired as the hospitality manager and later promoted to marketing director of the organization that brings hundreds of events annually to Placer Valley.

She has been serving as interim chief executive officer of both organizations since early March 2022. The organizations’ boards unanimously approved the hiring of Summers on September 19.

The position includes managing @the Grounds, an effort to transform the decades-old Placer County Fairgrounds into a multipurpose event campus.

“I am so excited and thrilled to become the next CEO for Placer Valley Tourism and @the Grounds,” Summers said. “Through my career at Placer Valley Tourism, I have seen the organization grow tremendously through sports tourism and evolve with the addition of @the Grounds and the Roebbelen Center.”

Today, Placer Valley Tourism attracts more than 500 events per year, from regional sports competitions to the Brick Palooza-Lego Festival in November. It brings in more than 150,000 people and generates $21 million to the economy every year.

“We are very excited for this next chapter of Placer Valley Tourism and @the Grounds, and look forward to the continued success of both organizations,” said Lauryl Hernandez, chair of Placer Valley Tourism and @the Grounds board of directors. “Kim is absolutely the right person to lead these organizations to the next level.”

Summers, who earned a bachelor’s degree in business with an emphasis in marketing from Sacramento State University, was the Sacramento River Cats senior promotions manager for four seasons before joining Placer Valley Tourism.