Growing up near the lush Mountain Shadows resort in Paradise Valley, David Rosenbaum selected his career path at an early age.

Rosenbaum, director of sales for Fort McDowell Radisson Resort, remembers asking his mother, ‘What do guests do at a resort?”

“They play golf, they relax and they eat fantastic meals” was her description. Rosenbaum decided that’s where he wanted to work, and not following his father’s career as a physician. He was only four years old when the family moved from Chicago to Arizona.

His first employer was Mountain Shadows where a teen-age Rosenbaum delivered room service.

He is the new volunteer chair of Fountain Hills/Fort McDowell Visitors Bureau, an advisory group to the Chamber of Commerce.

The Visitors Bureau is “all about exposure…exposure for our region as a destination,” says Rosenbaum. He sees his role as a guide in the process and to keep the relationship strong between Fountain Hills and Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation.

His election as a Chamber board director, his Radisson sales position and 45 years of living in Arizona groomed him for the Visitors Bureau position.

From his room service job, Rosenbaum was promoted to housekeeping, bell desk, car parking attendant and reservations office, all at Mountain Shadows.

He later branched out to sales at another Paradise Valley resort, La Posada, where he stayed for 14 years. He served four years as director of sales at Tempe Mission Palms.

Along the way, he earned a degree in business management at Arizona State University.

“I got my real training by working in resorts and hotels,” says Rosenbaum. “As you can see, my heart’s in resorts.”

In June 2004, two years before the first shovel of dirt was turned for the 246-room Radisson Hotel at Fort McDowell, Rosenbaum opened a sales office and booked business conferences and conventions.

The hotel is owned by the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation and managed by Tristar Hotel Management Company. The property has won numerous awards from Carlson Hotels Worldwide and holds the 2007 AAA Four Diamond Award.

Promoting Fort McDowell Radisson resort comes easily because of  guest amenities:

“What makes us different is we are where many Scottsdale resorts used to be: very nice resorts in the natural desert. Then, little by little, the town and city crept in. Not on this resort. It’s all about the views, adventures with the casino, Fort McDowell Adventures and We-Ko-Pah, and the Native American spirit,” says Rosenbaum.

His mind is already concentrating on 2009 and 2010 to book hotel rooms and services.

“There’s no time limit how far out we book,” says Rosenbaum. Some groups are scheduled three or four weeks out or as long as three or four years.

In the first year of operations, about 69 percent of Fort McDowell Radisson guests were business-oriented. Rosenbaum heads a staff of seven managers divided into territories for marketing and promoting the hotel nationally and internationally.

The ideal combination is about 60 percent business clients and 40 percent leisure travelers, says Rosenbaum.

Rosenbaum is past president of Hospitality, Sales and Marketing, an international trade organization, and is involved with Meeting Professionals International.

In his leisure time, Rosenbaum enjoys “seeing Arizona from his Harley.” His weekends begin with “a good cigar and an ice cold martini.”

The Visitors Bureau meets the first Wednesday of every month, alternating between the Chamber of Commerce office and Radisson hotel.