An organization focused on promoting tourism in the south and southwestern suburbs, Visit Chicago Southland, has named Mary Patchin as its new CEO and president to begin next month.
Mary Patchin, who was promoted from vice president of sales and has worked for the organization for 25 years, will replace retiring CEO and President Jim Garrett once his tenure officially ends June 30.
“We are elated with Mary Patchin as the new president/CEO,” Garrett said in a news release announcing Patchin’s promotion. “Her experience in tourism, commitment to Visit Chicago Southland, and knowledge and passion of the Chicago southland region will serve her and the area well.”
Visit Chicago Southland, which until recently was named the Chicago Southland Convention and Visitors Bureau, is a nonprofit founded in 1986 that receives funding from a state grant requiring matching funding from community contracts, membership and programming. The money is used to market the south suburbs as a destination for leisure, events and meetings and advocate for the development of attractions to draw visitors.
Patchin said her main focuses will be executing a three-year plan developed in 2023 to build strong relationships between the organization, local communities and their clients, especially in areas of hospitality and group business, which she focused on heavily in her past role.
This includes becoming certified through an international group of similar tourism marketing organizations through meeting set goals, she said.
Patchin said she’s also preparing for national tradeshows starting in August that are important for marketing the Southland as a primary destination for everything from work meetings to sports tournaments.
“Weddings, family reunions, class reunions — we have an abundance because we have a lot of banquet facilities and hotels out here,” Patchin said. “And we have so many great events that take place throughout the entire year here too, a little something for everybody.”
Patchin joined Visit Chicago Southland after graduating from Purdue University in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in restaurant, hotel, institutional and tourism management, according to the news release. She has involved herself in the finance, public relations and marketing departments of the organization, though she always worked in sales.
She said she has wanted to work for a convention and visitors bureau since she was 16.
“I was one of those annoying kids that called every 1-800 number for every state tourism office,” she said. “So I’ve always loved the industry, at a young age, even before really understanding what tourism was.”
With Garrett leading the organization for 28 years, Visit Chicago Southland earned the 2024 Illinois Excellence in Tourism Award for Best Website by the Illinois Office of Tourism and received Diversity Inc’s 2011 Community Spirit Award.
Patchin said she plans to keep the organization focused and ahead of competing convention bureaus by meeting people where they’re at and relying more heavily on those who live in the marketed communities.
“A lot of the work that we do tends to be outside of the region, and what we’re trying to do is really be a better education tool for local residents, because local residents are really the best tourism ambassadors,” Patchin said.
She said that includes building up community awareness with hospitality partners.
“While we really try to focus with an online presence, there is still in part of what we do here that would be in print or local media,” she said. “It’s just creating that exposure the best way we can and working with our partners to do that.”
Patchin was approved to become Visit Chicago Southland’s CEO and president at the organization’s April 25 quarterly board meeting.
ostevens@chicagotribune.com
