Brett Oetting has spent his career building high functioning teams that have reached the highest levels in their respective industries. Prior to his career in tourism, Brett was Executive Vice President of Operations at Parrish Hotels where he worked for 10 years winning multiple national awards in the hotel industry including a Wyndham hotels top brand in the country two years in a row as a General Manager. Brett also spent many years in the restaurant industry with Darden Restaurants where he won the coveted Red Lobster Diamond Club Award for top restaurant in the country. These two experiences with contrasting foundations; one a Fortune 500 company, the other a local hotel company success story paved the way for Brett’s ability to create unique and unorthodox office cultures focused on motivating each employee to reach their true potential by in-depth personality and growth profiling.
Prior to Corpus Christi, Brett was President & CEO of Visit Topeka, Kansas. Visit Topeka excelled by administering cutting edge marketing techniques and sales strategies while fostering solid partnerships to make the organization a trusted leader in the region. Brett displayed his persistency in sales negotiations when he announced Topeka as the new permanent home for the Country Stampede; one of the five largest country music festivals in the world.
Brett was also instrumental in the destination and experience development world for the city of Topeka’s growth. Assisting in the development of the Internationally iconic Evel Knievel Museum, Cyrus Hotel, indoor sports facility and IOC sanctioned indoor track for Washburn University, laying the groundwork for the future creation of the Topeka Sports Commission and the development and operations of Evergy Plaza where he worked with the local lodging industry to create the second Tourism Business Improvement District in the state of Kansas to help fund its completion and operations.
In his quest to revolutionize the travel and tourism organization industry and put tourism in the lead of the quality of place discussion, Brett led Visit Topeka and his award-winning staff to a new level of community influence. As a founding member of the Greater Topeka Partnership, Brett’s staff was responsible for all resource development, membership sales, marketing, communications and events for several similar community focused organizations. Leading these initiatives for the Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce, GO Topeka who handles economic development for the county and city, Downtown Topeka, and others, Visit Topeka creative team had the responsibility and ability to communicate a consistent voice for the region. While with the Greater Topeka Partnership, Brett re-developed the Chamber’s membership and investment strategy, the intercity benchmarking exchange program, and the special events strategy that all saw all-time high participation and revenues. He also created a resource campaign that raised over $750,000 in the first year and partnered in developing the Momentum 2022 campaign that raised over $7 million for the implementation of a five-year community-wide strategy.
Brett is also one of a handful of people worldwide with the Patrick Lencioni Working Genius Certification and able to facilitate the program to help organizations create high functioning teams.
Brett is a 2017 graduate in the Certified Destination Management Executive (CDME) designation, the highest industry designation and on the Board of Directors. He is also lead instructor and creator for the CDME course Destination Economic Development where he partners with industry leading Development Counsellors International, the Site Selectors Guild of America and International Economic Development Council on course curriculum. He is also the chair of the CDME course review committee ensuring the participants are learning the most current content to allow DMO’s to lead their communities.
Brett has now found himself focused on leaving his mark on Corpus Christi where he has led many initiatives including getting the organization accredited through Destinations International DMAP program and completed the cities first DestinationNEXT process and strategic plan.
Brett is one of two people in the United States to lead the development of two separate TPID’s for their respective cities, led the study of a convention hotel and entertainment district in downtown Corpus Christi, created the Corpus Christi Sports Commission and has developed a staff that have already won multiple local, state and national awards including most recently a national award for most innovative new brand.
Brett has been very involved with helping grow tourism in Corpus Christi and the state of Texas where he is a board member for the Texas Travel Alliance, Texas Association of CVB’s, an inaugural DMO board member of the Texas Hotel Lodging Association, Corpus Christi International Airport, Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corporation, and the Islands Strategic Action Committee.
Brett is also a past graduate of Leadership Kansas and Leadership Greater Topeka, as well as a Topeka 20 under 40 honoree. Brett served on numerous Boards including the Kansas Expocentre, Friends of the Topeka Zoo, Travel Industry Association of Kansas Education Chair, the Destinations International Advocacy Committee and is a past President of Active 2030 International which has raised millions for at-risk youth in the Topeka area.