Ashly Balding, Currently, Chief Sales Officer for Associated Luxury hotels International (ALHI), the company she joined 17-years ago as a National Sales Manager. ALHI, established in 1986, serves over 250 of the world’s most prestigious four-and five-star hotels and resorts and is the world’s leading independent Global Sales Organization dedicated to developing the meeting, incentive, convention, and exhibition marketplace exclusively for its prestigious membership portfolio.
After earning her degree from The College of Charleston, in Charleston, SC; where she currently serves her alma mater on their Hospitality & Tourism Management Executive Board; she headed to Hilton Head Island, SC to work as a sales manager at The Westin Hilton Head Island. It was in 2003, Ashly started with ALHI as National Sales Manager for the Southeast Region based in the Atlanta office. Later promoted to Director of Sales and then VP of Sales; Ashly was named Regional Vice President in 2012, leading ALHI’s Southeast U.S. team to record sales achievements. Then in 2015 she became Executive Vice President Sales for ALHI, responsible for providing sales leadership, coaching, strategy, and business development for the company’s US, Canadian, and European GSO interests, and soon thereafter, assumed the Chief Sales Officer role for the company which she serves today.
During her career she set company records by receiving the ALHI President’s Award for “Outstanding Sales Performance” each consecutive year of eligibility, including twice being awarded ALHI’s highest sales achievement recognition as the “Sales Executive of the Year,” and she continues to hold the company’s highest sales recorded in any single year. Most recently, Ashly was awarded the “Smart Women in Meetings 2019: Innovator,” by Smart Meetings Magazine.
As Ashly has developed as a leader, she supported a greater appreciation of recognition for her staff and clientele as a means of motivation while inspiring others. Leadership development is her priority. Ashly’s leadership journey has been a combination of art and science. Every day she wakes up and applies herself whether it be through reading, education, podcasts, mentors, executive coaching and surrounding herself with wise people. In her current role, Ashly is leading a team of 80 executive sales professionals and their staffs.
Creativity is also critical component of her leadership style. Ashly brings different thinking to extreme situations and believes if you are not creative, you are boring. Creativity stimulates better thinking and solution making while it is an important life piece both personally and professionally. Ashly works directly with the ALHI Marketing and Events team to establish ALHI’s Executive Level customer events including the ALHI Executive Exchange, the ALHI Insurance and Financial Leadership Exchange, ALHI Leadership Summits, and ALHI Executive Women in Leadership programs.
Life. Joyful existence is important. Outside of work she practices mindfulness through her love of yoga. Ashly has a passion and curiosity for life and well-being. She loves traveling with her family and meeting new friends along life’s journey. From bird hunting in Georgia, to sailing the BVI’s, to just vegging a few days on the beach; is all stimulating to Ashly and enables her to recharge to conquer her personal and professional goals. Still on her bucket list is to visit nations in Africa with her husband (who thru his profession as an architect – includes time and talents to build local schools and development projects for the vastly underserved communities in Africa through the non-profit, “Go Design”). Most importantly to Ashly is to continue to raise their two beautiful girls with the foundation of love, respect, faith, and a yearning for learning; and then later, to travel around the world in one trip with her husband when work and parenting demands slow down a bit somewhere on the horizon.
Finally, Ashly is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization and volunteers her time to non-profits where she resides in Dallas, TX.
Travel leads all of us into an exciting, chaotic, often unpredictable world. That uncertainty changes us — forcing us to grow beyond what we know to become someone stronger, wiser and more resilient. At Terranea last September, we had the privilege of hearing from DeDe Halfhill, a retired Colonel from the United States Air Force....