[3/5/04]Former Vicksburg resident Emy Bullard Wilkinson has been tapped by the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau board as executive director.

Wilkinson is the executive director of the Corinth Area Tourism Promotion Council. She will start her new duties here April 12.

“It was a wonderful opportunity to come back to Vicksburg,” Wilkinson said.

The 11-member board that oversees the VCVB has not taken an official vote to hire Wilkinson, but chairman Eric Biedenharn said that will happen at the board’s meeting on March 25. The board met with Wilkinson last week and offered her the job then, Biedenharn said.

The VCVB announced the decision to hire Wilkinson Thursday.

Biedenharn said Wilkinson will be paid $65,000 annually, the same salary as her predecessor, Lenore Barkley, who retired in September.

Board member Lamar Roberts said the decision to hire Wilkinson was unanimous after a series of interviews with other applicants.

“I think she’s great,” Roberts said. “I was for her six months ago.”

Wilkinson is the daughter of the late Nat Bullard, a former Vicksburg mayor and chancery judge, and Betty Bullard, who owned Harrison House antiques and tearoom. She is the sister of Warren County Assistant District Attorney John Bullard. Wilkinson has been with the Corinth tourist bureau for 7 1/2 years and was the director of tourism in Yazoo County before moving to Corinth. Roberts credits Wilkinson with building the Yazoo tourism bureau from the “ground up.”

“Vicksburg is moving forward,” Wilkinson said. “You’re definitely going to see new things.”

The VCVB operates on a budget of about $850,000 annually, funded by a special tax on room rentals and restaurant and bar tabs.

The VCVB spends most of its budget on advertising Vicksburg as a tourism destination and designing and printing brochures for year-round use and special promotions. The agency, created by the Legislature and managed by board members appointed by city and county officials, also operates tourist information centers on Clay Street across from the Vicksburg National Military Park, in the VCVB headquarters downtown and in the visitors center at the national park.

The board has received some scrutiny lately with Mayor Laurence Leyens saying he might ask for the resignation of some city appointees if a more solid development plan isn’t devised. Attendance by board members has also been an issue with some members missing more meetings than the bylaws allow.

Biedenharn has responded that the VCVB is transitioning toward better days, and that criticism has come from those who don’t like change. Meetings have been changed to evenings in hopes more volunteer appointees will be able to attend.