Dan Cook

Cook joined Visit Annapolis & Anne Arundel County in March of 2022 as the Director of Marketing & Communications and was promoted to his current role as Senior Director of Marketing & Brand Management in January 2025. He oversees the marketing, advertising, business analytics, and the internal creative studio of the organization and has earned several accolades for the organization’s many marketing campaigns.   

Prior to joining Visit Annapolis & Anne Arundel County, Cook spent six years in the Prince William County Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism Office, a destination marketing organization. Prior to his last role as the Acting Director of Tourism, he oversaw the division's marketing and public relations tactics. He received the 2017 “Employee of the Year Award” from the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging, Hospitality and Travel Association (VRLTA) in October 2017 where he was recognized for leading the effort to achieve industry accreditation. While there, he was instrumental in the County’s recovery efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic and assisted in securing a variety of funding grants from the Virginia Tourism Corporation.  

Cook earned his ears at “The Most Magical Place on Earth,” the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, as part of its College Program. He held several internships including operations, market research, sales, and marketing. He graduated from Southern Illinois University - Carbondale with a bachelor’s degree in Speech Communications/Public Relations. He ventured into the tourism industry in the shopping mall sector, first as a Tourism Marketing Coordinator at The Taubman Company, followed by roles at King of Prussia Mall, a dominant retail space in the nation with more than 450 stores. Cook continued his retail marketing journey at Lerner Enterprises where he spent more than nine years as the Director of Retail Marketing in the DC region before transitioning back to tourism. 

A native of Chicagoland, Cook currently resides in Northern Virginia with his family. He and his wife are avid cruisers and enjoy traveling the world together. He is a graduate of both Leadership Anne Arundel (Class of 2024) and Leadership Prince William (Class of 2018) and is active with both Destinations International and U.S. Travel’s Emerging Leaders Program, both tourism industry associations. 

His favorite place to visit within Anne Arundel County is the Maryland Renaissance Festival every fall, where, as he quotes - “the people watching is truly a chef’s kiss.”