Patrick Mason was raised on a Minnesota horse farm and earned a BSBA in ‘73 at Denver University. Then, he spent 10 years in destination marketing with Marriott Corporation in Washington DC, Chicago and New York. Completed EST Eight Day Training in 1978, the Industrial Marketing Strategy, Executive Graduate course at Northwestern University in 1983, and in that year was recruited to administer a $6 million national real estate marketing/lead generation budget for U.S. Capital Corporation in Columbia, SC. The firm sold condominiums valued at $600 million during his three-years there.

In 1986, Patrick and Leyla Mason formed American Lodging Resources, Inc., a C-Corporation consulting firm specializing in research, lead generation and “place marketing” focusing on the hospitality, real estate and tourism industries. Within a year, they forged an unusual alliance between the private sector and the SC Tourism Department to measure the economic impact of in-migration and to position the Carolinas to attract affluent newcomers of all ages. Today that division is called the Center For Carolina Living (DBA: CarolinaLiving.com) one of the country's most recognized multi-state destination marketing and research firms.

Pioneers in psychographic databases and web-survey marketing, his team has produced the CarolinaLiving.com Guide to Visitation, Relocation and Retirement since 1986. Annually, the Guide and website will be used by 500,000 people as a resource. These tools “register” 4,000-6,000 families annually who complete the 26-question Carolina Lifestyle Survey™, generating 25,000 visitor/relocation prospect leads for Carolina organizations seeking market share increments.

Research collaborations include Clemson, USC, Coastal Carolina University, UNCA, UNCW and Wake Forest University. Carolina Universities and companies engage the Centers’ database for market segmentation, feasibility and economic impact output studies seeking to identify demographic and psychographic motivation profiles of visiting/in-migrating families.


Among 200 Client Relationships since 1986:

• Del Webb, Pulte, Hovnanian, KB Home, SCANA, Sea Pines, Daniel Island, Centex Homes, Biltmore Farms, SC & NC Tourism Departments, Leonard Call & Associates, Kingston Plantation, Woodside Plantation, Crescent Resources/Duke Energy, Beaufort, SC, Lennar Homes, DR Horton, Wakefield Development, Cliffs Communities. Plus, dozens of tourism destination marketing organizations.


Civic & National Leadership:

• Fellow: USC Center Of Economic Excellence in Tourism & Economic Development

• Honorary Fellow: USC International Tourism Research Institute.

• Associate Adjunct Professor: Clemson University since 1996.

• Member, Urban Land Institute SC District Council

• Graduate, ULI Center For Sustainable Leadership Class of 2008

• Board SC Wildlife Federation

• Member, US Green Building Council

• Member, South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce

• Past Chair, SC Eldercare Trust Fund (Administrates donations from SC tax form “check-offs”)

• Founding Member, National Society for Developmental Marketing directed by David Wolfe.

• Awarded, “District Sertoman of the Year” by Sertoma International.

• Founding Board: LINC ($2 million Velux grant-Linking Intergenerational Networks in Communities).

• Founding Corporate Board Secretary to Alabama Real Estate Holdings, Inc. a private company funded by the Retirement Systems of AL, which owns eight Marriott hotels on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail.


Community Development:

• Produces workshops and keynotes on in-migration trends and the resulting economic development outputs for tourism and residential industry leaders, associations and economic development organizations.

• Published articles for Columbia Business Journal, USC Business & Economic Review and various Carolina Regional Business Journals. Appeared on CNN, PBS Carolina Business Review, SC ETV Radio and often-quoted in national press, including the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond-REGION FOCUS.


Personal:

• Hatha Yoga practitioner, since 1980.

• Jazz enthusiast.

Celebrating 25 years in 2011, Leyla and Patrick Mason direct the Center For Carolina Living enterprise, which operates from their "electronic cottage" home based headquarters on Blossom Street in Columbia's Sherwood Forest Hills. Six employee associates "tele-commute" from their home offices via state-of-the-art Mac technology.