Peggy Williams-Smith: The Zenquest of Leaders with Jess Ollenburg

Thank you for joining us today as we talk with Peggy Williams-Smith, fellow Milwaukee native, highly accomplished veteran of the hospitality industry, leadership mentor, president and CEO of Visit Milwaukee… and so much more. Please find the landing page at: Peggy Williams-Smith: The Zenquest of Leaders with Jess Ollenburg — zenquest.online.

Our show enjoys worldwide listeners and the services of Ollenburg LLC are delivered worldwide as well. That said, many of our episode guests enjoy some connection to our hometown metro-Milwaukee.

Milwaukee and Wisconsin are together garnering so much positive attention, growth, success, tourism and honored among the best places to visit and best places to succeed. 

It’s really exciting, and we recognize Peggy, Visit Milwaukee and some of our favorite hometown cohorts for shining a light on the exciting things happening. 

Peggy joined Visit Milwaukee as the company’s first female president and CEO in 2019. 

She credits her accomplishments to surrounding herself with a great team, and we’ve watched great humans jumping to collaborate with Peggy, because they trust her dedication to get it done. 

Visit Milwaukee has launched exciting, dynamic marketing campaigns to increase economic impact to the community and elevate the city’s reputation. 

Peggy’s focus on strategic partnerships has deepened the company’s local connections and allowed to develop a nimble team that is more responsive than ever to changes within the travel and hospitality industries. 

This was none more apparent than during the pandemic when Visit Milwaukee became the go-to source for information for the hospitality industry and the industry’s No. 1 advocate on state and local levels. 

Milwaukee boasts nearly 200 individually unique neighborhoods and nearly 200 independently owned and operated restaurants.  

Our own company enjoys the good fortune of representing so many employers in the restaurant and hospitality industry, and we see the positive impact of Peggy’s work. It’s exciting! 

From promoting the city to the nation during the Milwaukee Bucks’ championship run to leading the city’s bid to secure the 2024 Republican National Convention, Williams-Smith’s strategic leadership will ultimately result in economic gains for Milwaukee for years to come. 

Prior to her work at Visit Milwaukee, she worked for Marcus Hotels & Resorts for over 22 years and held leadership positions at varying levels throughout the division. 

Williams-Smith is a proud mentor of other women in business and uses her free time to support so many charitable causes. 

Peggy resides in Milwaukee with her husband, Tim Smith, their fabulous niece, Jocelyn and their Boston Terrier, Tito Fenway.