BANGOR – The Greater Bangor Convention & Visitors Bureau board of directors announced Wednesday that it has hired a new executive director.

Kerrie Tripp, who was chosen from a field of more than 20 applicants for the position, has extensive experience in sales and fundraising. She will assume her new duties with the CVB on April 7.

“The board is pleased that [Tripp] has accepted our offer and feels she brings a great amount of knowledge of the CVB and the Greater Bangor area to this position,” James Gerety, the CVB’s board chairman and manager of the Bangor Mall, said in a statement Wednesday.

The CVB’s top position had been vacant since last September, when Richard Greene, a Bangor city councilor, abruptly resigned after less than three months on the job. At the time, Greene cited an “employment issue” and desire to move on to new ventures as his reason for leaving the post.

According to Gerety, Tripp has worked with nonprofit organizations for the past seven years, with responsibilities ranging from day-to-day operations and business development to public relations and customer service.

Tripp currently serves as regional director for the American Heart Association’s operations in northeastern Maine.

Her primary duties there have included organizing the Northeastern Maine Heart Ball and the Northeastern Maine Heart Walk, which involved working with the association’s executive leadership, committees and volunteers.

In a former role as the CVB’s director of meetings, conventions and membership sales, Tripp worked with meeting planners from Maine and from around the country, creating requests for proposals and distributing them to CVB members.

She was responsible for upwards of $2 million in new meetings and convention business in the Bangor area.

Tripp also has worked in sales for Cumulus Broadcasting and managed several retail establishments in Maine, New York and California.

The Greater Bangor CVB is a nonprofit organization devoted to stimulating the local economy by promoting Greater Bangor as the preferred destination for meetings, conventions and visitors.