Executive Bios

Wanda Collier-Wilson
President & CEO

Wanda Collier-Wilson is president and chief executive officer of the Jackson Convention & Visitors Bureau, a position she has served in since 1998. She leads a 22-member staff that includes the management and staff of the Mississippi Telecommunications & Conferencing Center. Collier-Wilson joined the CVB 23 years ago as receptionist and has held every position at the Bureau prior to becoming president and CEO.

Collier-Wilson has been nationally recognized by JET magazine and Black Meetings & Tourism magazine for her leadership as a tourism professional, and recognized regionally and statewide by a number of other organizations including the Mississippi Development Authority-Division of Tourism, which inducted her into its Tourism Hall of Fame in 2006. She was a 2006 Recipient of the Phenomenally She award in the Business Leader category for The Dr. Jessie Bryant Mosley Award of Excellence Exhibit presented by Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center. Collier-Wilson has also been named one of Mississippi’s “50 Leading Business Women” in 2006 by the Mississippi Business Journal. Under her leadership, the Jackson CVB was named “2005 Mississippi CVB of the Year” and won a Readers’ Choice Award in 2006 from Convention South magazine as one of the South’s top CVBs. The Mississippi Tourism Association recognized Collier-Wilson with an Excellence in Tourism Award in 2004.

Currently, she serves as vice president of the Mississippi Tourism Association and is a member of Destination Marketing Association International, Metro Jackson Attractions Association, Travel & Tourism Research Association and Southeast Tourism Society, and is a former board member of Keep Jackson Beautiful and the Capital City Classic Board of Directors. Collier-Wilson serves on the Mississippi Telecommunication Conference and Training Center Commission and the Advisory Board of Downtown Jackson Partners. She also created the Hometown Hero Awards to recognize outstanding achievements in Jackson tourism.

Rickey L. Thigpen
Executive Vice President

Rickey L. Thigpen serves as executive vice president and is responsible for development activity, foundation/governmental liaison work and new business initiatives.

A native of Jackson, Mississippi, Thigpen is a 1987 graduate of Mississippi Valley State University where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science. He also has done post-graduate work in finance and administration through the International Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus.

Thigpen is active in numerous professional and civic organizations, including Destination Marketing Association International, 100 Black Men of Jackson, Inc., Mississippi Valley State University National Alumni Association, Leadership Jackson Alumni Association, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and Alpha Foundation, Inc.

He is a member of Cade Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, where he serves on the Music Staff.

Jennifer R. Chance
Vice President of Finance & Administration

Jennifer R. Chance has served as vice president of finance and administration of the Jackson Convention & Visitors Bureau since 2005. Prior to joining the Bureau, she was an audit manager at the accounting firm Haddox Reid Burkes & Calhoun, PLLC, in Jackson, MS. She moved to the Jackson area in 1999 after receiving her Masters in Professional Accountancy from The University of Southern Mississippi.

Chance is a CPA licensed to practice in the state of Mississippi. She is an active member and has served as an officer for the Central Chapter of the Mississippi Society of Certified Public Accountants, the American Society of Women Accountants, as well as the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra - Encore. She is also a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Chance is a native of Columbia, MS. She and her husband, Jared, currently reside in Brandon with their son, Ryan.




Shun Hatten
Vice President of Sales

Shun Hatten is vice president of sales for the Jackson Convention & Visitors Bureau, a position she has held since 2002. Before joining the Bureau, Hatten worked within the industry as a hotel sales director for six years where she was responsible for training and opening hotels in various cities.

Hatten attended Hinds Community College and graduated from Jackson State University with a B.S. degree in biology. Hatten is a member of Professional Conference of Management Association and Destination Marketing Association International. She also serves on various other committees within the industry.

Linda Mann
Vice President of Marketing

Linda Mann is vice president of marketing for the Jackson Convention & Visitors Bureau. She brings over twenty years’ experience in tourism where she has worked in the hotel, attractions, events, travel agency, and travel publication industries. She has served at both the state and local levels in domestic travel marketing. With a background in the performing and visual arts, Linda has developed a special interest and expertise in promoting cultural tourism in Jackson and has been a contributing writer for local, regional, and national publications.

During her first four years with JCVB, Linda was special projects manager, coordinating Bureau events, continuing education and promotional programs for the local industry and administering the Bureau’s marketing grants program. She serves on many ad hoc planning and marketing committees for local cultural organizations and has contributed to award-winning marketing projects.

Linda is a member of the Mississippi Tourism Association, the Metro Jackson Attractions Association, the Public Relations Association of Mississippi, the Public Relations Society of America, the Travel and Tourism Research Association, the Craftsmen’s Guild of Mississippi, the Mississippi Chorus, and the Institute of Interfaith Dialog.