Marissa Werner
Organization:Sports Milwaukee, Championed by VISIT Milwaukee
Marissa Werner spearheaded creation of Sports Milwaukee – VISIT Milwaukee’s dedicated sports department – to focus solely on making the Greater Milwaukee area a prominent sports destination.
Now leading Sports Milwaukee as director, her long list of responsibilities and accomplishments to date include achieving over 100 percent of sales goals for several consecutive years, maintaining strong relationships with local and national clients, and developing strong partnerships with local venues and stakeholders.
In her decade with VISIT Milwaukee, Werner has assisted in hosting major events such as NCAA Men's Basketball Championships, Ryder Cup, PGA Championships, USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships, USA Volleyball 18's Girls National Championships, AVP Milwaukee Open, USA Ultimate College Championships, USA Fencing North American Cup, WFTDA National Championships, USA Table Tennis Open Championships, and US Open, in addition to top industry shows NASC Sports Event Symposium and Connect SPORTS Marketplace.
Werner’s over 10 years of experience have been sports market related. However, her nearly 20 years of hospitality experience conveys her knowledge in several other markets and success in different leadership roles.
Her career began in New York City as a senior catering coordinator with Grand Hyatt New York. Opportunities soon arose at Hyatt Regency properties in Los Angeles, North Lake Tahoe, West Hollywood, and Irvine. With Hyatt, Werner took on various management roles in catering, sales, and services. These experiences made her a more well-rounded and adaptive leader who continues to look for new challenges and ways to improve her skill set.
Prior to joining the VISIT Milwaukee sales team, Werner was an account executive for the Milwaukee Bucks. In this role she implemented new business strategies within corporate sales and group ticket sales, successfully grew revenue in 43 existing and new accounts by $35k over a 10-week period, and developed a marketing plan to increase revenue for the 2010-11 season business-to-business ticket program.
Additionally, Werner has assisted in hosting top industry shows with VISIT Milwaukee, such as the NASC Sports Event Symposium and Connect SPORTS Marketplace. She also serves on the Board of Directors for SportsETA (previously the National Association of Sports Commissions).
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