Ed Harris, the President and CEO of Discover Lancaster, has been named 2023 Marketer of the Year by the Saint Joseph’s University Chapter of the American Marketing Association (SJU AMA).

The SJU AMA Marketer of the Year Award is given to a person or persons who have excelled throughout their career in their area of marketing. Harris joins distinguished company, as past winners of the award have included Dan Hilferty, Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, Allen Iverson, Pope Francis, Stephen Starr, the Phillie Phanatic, and Gritty.

Harris, a Roxborough native and Germantown Academy graduate, joined Discover Lancaster, the official destination marketing organization for Lancaster County, in June 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Although I arrived at Discover Lancaster during a challenging time, we had a great organizational infrastructure that made my transition here a smooth one,” said Harris. “We had four senior leaders who had been here a combined 50 years, and their expertise was and continues to be invaluable.”

Under Harris’s leadership, and once the shutdowns ordered by Gov. Tom Wolf were lifted, the tourism industry in Lancaster County quickly bounced back, setting a record for visitors (9.13 million) and dollars spent ($2.3 billion) in 2021.

“Lancaster County has proven to be a resilient and innovative travel destination time and time again,” said Harris.

He said that Lancaster County’s open space and outdoor escapes were key to attracting and sustaining the tourists, who are major contributors to the area’s overall economy.

“People came here for outdoor recreation and discovered that Lancaster County has a lot to offer, and so they’ve kept coming back,” said Harris. “We are one of the most unique destinations to visit in the United States.”

Harris earned his bachelor’s degree in marketing from SJU and his MBA from Boston College, the latter while working as a Senior International Brand Manager for New Hampshire-based Timberland. He pursued a career in marketing because he found it to be the perfect blend of business and art, which he was interested in from a young age.

“It was marketing that I excelled in because of my creativity, which I can attribute to my parents,” said Harris. “I was really inspired by my dad. His 9-to-5 was social work, but on the side, he would paint on canvas or he would be illustrating. He was a very talented artist. I was always inspired by all the works of art hanging in our house.”

Before arriving at Discover Lancaster, Harris was the Chief Marketing Officer at the Valley Forge Tourism and Convention Board from 2014 to 2020.

“No one markets better than Ed Harris,” said Dr. David Allan, a professor of marketing at SJU. “From his time as CMO at the Valley Forge Tourism and Convention Board to CEO at Discover Lancaster, more people have Ed to thank than anyone else for knowing about a travel experience extraordinaire.”

Learn more about Discover Lancaster and how it promotes Lancaster County as a timeless place for all to gather, explore, and rejuvenate.