Gregory Payne brings to the Mountain Hope Good Shepherd Clinic board a wealth of connections from his extensive involvement in the Sevier County community.

He grew up in South Knoxville, attended Walters State Community College in Sevierville and began his career in Gatlinburg. He worked first in the hotel business before entering the tourist guide industry.

He is sales manager for the What-to-Do Guide. He said that as an account manager at another area guide for nearly three years, he consistently heard that the What-to-Do Guide was always number one in response. When the sales position opened up with What-to-Do, he saw a tremendous opportunity. He says, “It didn’t take me long to realize that I needed to combine my years of experience developing and implementing marketing strategies, including branding and ad design, and my years of vacation publication experience, with a superior publication and company, to advance my clients’ and potential clients’ market share.”

Gregory’s strengths lie in customer service and operations. He does everything from taking photos for clients to assisting with ad layout, helps clients with front line strategies and trains team members to enhance their customers’ experience.

He is extremely involved in his community, having served six years on the Gatlinburg Tourism Advisory board, as a board member of Gatlinburg Hospitality, with the United Way of Sevier County for six years (two years as board chair), ten years on the Relay For Life steering committee, and 15 years as a Rotarian, as well as numerous other area organizations.

He enjoys working out at the gym, yard work and dreaming of sailing. He lives with his daughter Lindsey, who works in insurance and hospitality; his Lab, Doberman, Sheltie and cat.