(Serena Bishop Gordon | Photo courtesy of Serena Bishop Gordon)
If you’re visiting Bend and you see someone on a lilac gravel bike smiling and waving hello, it’s definitely Serena Bishop Gordon, Visit Bend’s sustainability director.
“If residents don’t say hi, visitors pick up on that,” said Gordon, “You want to be in a place where people love where they live and play. We want visitors to feel welcome and return — if not, it’s just a short-term win.”
Talking to Gordon, about the tourism industry, the environment, the Central Oregon trails on which she dominates on that lilac gravel bike, her 12-year-old rescue pup Piper, morel hunting with her husband Ben, or just about anything that she is passionate about, you’re going to get a level of enthusiasm and engagement that is downright contagious.
“Change is all around us. I can complain about the changes or I can step into the arena and help direct those changes. If you’re not driving the narrative, someone else is. From a selfish standpoint, I’d like to inject my priorities into that situation,” Gordon stated.
Gordon joined the Visit Bend team in 2019, with the goal of making change in the place she has called home since 2006. With a background in conservation giving from The Conservation Alliance, where she spent nine years as the Membership Program Director, Gordon was new to the tourism industry, but was refreshed by the leadership and team that she saw at Visit Bend.
“At Visit Bend, we observe how other Destination Marketing Operations are measuring success — with short-term benchmarks and KPIs — and realize that model doesn’t make sense,” she stated. “If we don’t take care of our natural environment and our community — our destination, our home — will fail to be remarkable and desirable and filling hotel rooms will not be achievable. Our goal is to continually reinforce the importance of the balance of sustainability — economically, socially and environmentally.”
Gordon oversees the Bend Sustainability Fund, a Visit Bend program that began in 2021; since then it has reinvested $2.29 million in lodging-tax revenue into 17 projects that help create sustainable experiences in the community.
“We are completely reframing how we think of tourism: the underlying resources support the profit, not the other way around,” said Gordon. “I’m fortunate that I get to work with an entire team of people who share a common passion for creating a sustainable destination in a way that might even motivate others to follow suit.”
When Gordon isn’t in Visit Bend’s office on Lava Road, she can be found on adventures such as traversing the lava fields of Iceland, recently earning a spot on the podium in one of the world’s most challenging and otherworldly gravel races. “The Rift” is described as “a gravel race through the dark lava fields of Iceland…taking place on the tectonic split between North America and Eurasia.” Gordon is a decorated gravel racer, this year winning Lost & Found Gravel, West Coast GRVL, and Oregon Coast Gravel, and standing on the podium at Grinduro, The Rift, Cascade Gravel, and Oregon Trail Gravel.
Gordon also shares her expertise in two annual women’s gravel camps, one in the spring and one in the fall, called Special Blend Gravel, which she founded and designed to help riders improve their riding to the next level through elevated bike handling, nutrition and fueling, equipment knowledge and overall confidence while enjoying world class coaching and the scenic beauty of Oregon’s Columbia Gorge and McKenzie River areas.
“I feel so privileged to be able to do work that is meaningful, inspiring and impactful. Nothing feels better than doing good for my community,” said Gordon.
