Cree Lawson, 1995 Belmont alumnus, was recently featured on Forbes for his success in providing ROI to destination marketing organizations. Lawson is the CEO and founder of Arrivalist, an organization which seeks to measure the way media moves consumers from one destination to the next.

Lawson explained to Forbes that his company wants to “make it easier for marketers to connect people with places and to make marketing more of an invitation and less like an ad.” He continued with, “We feel we can build insights and predictive analytics on the way people travel and the impact that has on local economies.”

Lawson started Arrivalist in 2010, and after designing and patent pending the technology, the company is now fully launched and serving destination markets. The company’s first launch partner was the Atlantic City Conventions and Visitors Authority after hurricane Sandy, which dropped tourism counts in Atlantic City to historic lows. Arrivalist helped measure the impact of digital advertising with the data to prove the value of its investments.

At Belmont, Lawson was an English major and editor of the Belmont Vision, helping make it one of the first five college papers to be published online. Lawson saw great success after graduating: starting Travel Ad Network and turning it into the largest travel information audience in the world, serving in marketing roles for companies such as the Associated Press, Gannett and Time Warner Trade Publisher, as well as being a nationally-recognized investigative reporter.

“Tourism and destination marketers are my heroes. It’s the toughest marketing challenge there is to convince someone to go from one location to another. We have an opportunity to help tourism take its rightful place at the center of economic development and provide tourism marketers with a clear measurement of their digital advertising investments,” Lawson told Forbes.

To read the full article on Forbes, click here.

Belmont alumna Courtney Hensley was recently named as a 2015 Higher Education Power Broker by Risk & Insurance.

Hensley is a senior member at Aon Risk Solutions in Franklin, Tennessee. Her Education Power Broker award, “Excellence Under Pressure,” was given for her help guiding a new risk manager to close three loss claims under no obligation. One client told Risk & Insurance, “It’s hard to quantify the amount of money we’ve saved by taking Courtney’s advice, but she’s been instrumental in our department’s success.”

To read more about Hensley’s accomplishment, click here.

Rayvon Owen, a recent Belmont alumnus from the University’s School of Music, is competing on this season of American Idol and since his audition, Owen has wowed the show’s panel of celebrity judges.

During Wednesday night’s Idol airing, the Top 48 contestants performed for a live audience at Los Angeles’s House of Blues before sitting in front of the judges to learn their fate at what host Ryan Seacrest called “the final judgment.” The last performance before the chance to sing for America’s vote, the two-night House of Blues Showcase round whittled the contestants down to the top 12 women and the top 12 men.

During Owen’s evaluation, Jennifer Lopez delivered the news. “Some people do good in the auditions, and some people do better when they’re in front of an audience. And I think you did really great – and I think that’s why we want you in the Top 24,” she said.

Owen returned to a very excited group of supporters as he announced, “I am one step closer to being the next American Idol.”

Tune into FOX next week to follow Owen’s Idol journey. For more information, click here.