New York's "tourism czar," George Fertitta is in charge of packaging and marketing New York City to tourists and corporations alike.

In the early 1970s, Fertitta teamed up with a partner, John Margeotes, to start an advertising agency; over three decades, Margeotes/Fertitta and Partners handled work for companies like Godiva, Hearst, McGraw-Hill, Campbell Soup, Disney, and Coca-Cola. Margeotes eventually retired from the agency and in 2005 it was merged with Neil Powell's upstart to form Margeotes Fertitta Powell. Fertitta later sold his share in the firm. Seeking a new challenge, he met with then-deputy mayor Dan Doctoroff to discuss the city's promotional plans, a meeting that apparently went rather smoothly considering Mayor Bloomberg named him CEO of NYC & Co. in 2006. He replaced former tourism chief (and alleged Giuliani paramour) Cristyne Nicholas; as part of his new job, Bloomberg also put him in charge of two other city promotional groups, NYC Big Events and NYC Marketing.

Fertitta's job is fairly straightforward: It's up to him to figure out how to get more people to come to New York City, eat in restaurants, see Broadway shows, stay in expensive hotels, and buy lots and lots of stuff. With slogans like "New York is Open, so Book it" and "Just Ask Locals," campaigns have featured the likes of Robert De Niro, Julianne Moore, Jimmy Fallon, Kevin Bacon, Cynthia Rowley, Ivanka Trump, Tim Gunn, and Tiki Barber. [Image via Getty]