🏆2025 Legacy Award: Julie Pingston, Choose Lansing

The annual Legacy Award honors leaders and visionaries in the Michigan tourism industry and is presented to a person or organization that has positively impacted the industry in a transformative way.

 Julie Pingston, CDME, CMP, CTA began her career in tourism with the U.S. Travel & Tourism Administration within the Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C. She joined Choose Lansing in 1993, and after 27 years was named President and CEO in March of 2020. As CEO, Julie leads the Choose Lansing team toward the mission to positively impact the Lansing community’s quality of life by developing the region as a visitor destination, while also creating opportunity for the industry through development of the first Certified Tourism Ambassador program in Michigan and facilitating the Lansing region's first master plan for tourism.

 Throughout her more than 32 years of service to Michigan’s tourism industry, Julie has been a passionate advocate for improving accessibility in travel, developing programs like Lansing's Sensory Friendly Destination initiatives, which have been recognized as best practices at the state and national levels. Her efforts in the Greater Lansing region earned her recognition as an Accessibility Champion to Watch from TravelAbility in 2024, and the Lansing community was named by Accessible Journeys Magazine as the #2 destination in the country for accessible travel, especially for those with neurodiversity.

 Julie currently serves as President of the Michigan Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus, just one of many leadership roles she has served in Michigan’s tourism industry and in the Greater Lansing community.