Thomas B. Riford is President and CEO of the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau (www.marylandmemories.com) and happily touts the area's unique offerings—including five national parks, eight state parks, over 30 museums, and a number-one-shopping-destination ranking in Maryland. A graduate of Cornell University, decorated Marine Corps veteran, winner of the Chamber of Commerce 2004 Business Volunteer of the Year Award, and 1989 CBS Radio News Reporter of the Year, Riford is also a thrill-seeker. In 1994, this former professional skier and racer set a world record for most vertical feet skied in a four-hour period. In 2009, Tom Riford accepted, on behalf of the Hagerstown-Washington County CVB, the Maryland Cultural Heritage Tourism Award from Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley. The award recognized the CVB's work, along with a committee of tourism professionals and historians from four states, done in connection with the 150th Anniversary of John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry.