The Kansas Tourism division is excited to announce Colby Sharples-Terry as the new Tourism Public Relations and Communications Manager.​

Many of you already know Colby in her role for the past four years as Fiscal, Signage & Grants Manager for the state tourism office. Before coming to the state, Colby served as a regional manager in the beauty industry covering Overland Park, Lawrence, Topeka, Manhattan and Wichita.

 “When I accepted the fiscal position here at the state, I didn’t know at that time how much I was going to love my job and the team I joined,” says Colby. “While I’ve thoroughly enjoyed a fiscal role, I am excited to be able to bring my artistic side to the team.  The state doesn’t like it when you get creative with accounting,” she jokes. “When I read the job description for the PR and Communications Manager, I knew this was the type of role I wanted to be in to serve the Kansas Tourism Industry.”

In her new role Colby will be responsible for developing, implementing and tracking results for all PR related programs and events for the Kansas Tourism division; such as media familiarization trips, media events, PR or media tradeshows and journalist visits. She will also be responsible for developing and tracking travel blogger and influencer programs and is the point of contact for all tourism media requests and inquiries.

 “Colby’s positive attitude, open personality and determination to do her very best at everything she does makes me confident that she is the right person for this job.  There is great potential in this position to help move the marketing of Kansas forward and I could not be happier that Colby has accepted the challenge,”  said Bridgette Jobe, Director of Tourism.  “Colby’s love for Kansas is shown in her first blog  promoting family travel in our state.”  

Colby’s new responsibilities will begin Monday, June 29.  She can be reached at colby.terry@ks.gov or 785-296-6292.