Former Fashion Outlets exec takes helm as new Rosemont tourism chief

A new boss is now in charge of marketing the tiny-yet-powerful entertainment and business mecca of Rosemont.

Katie Walsh was appointed this week by Mayor Brad Stephens as the new director of the Rosemont Convention & Tourism Bureau after 11 years as senior marketing manager at the Fashion Outlets of Chicago.

Walsh led retailer relations, external partnerships, tourism marketing strategies and programming initiatives at the two-level, 530,000-square-foot indoor shopping center in Rosemont. For nine years before that, Walsh was marketing manager at Water Tower Place and co-marketing chair for The Magnificent Mile Association business nonprofit.

In her new role, Walsh will oversee efforts to draw visitors to the 2.5-square-mile town, which only has 4,200 residents, but a daytime population of 100,000 who frequent offices, hotels and village-owned venues including a convention center, stadium, theater and entertainment district.

“We look forward to the continued growth, leadership and innovation she will bring to Rosemont’s thriving tourism efforts,” Stephens wrote in a letter announcing her appointment.

Walsh formally takes on the administrative duties held over the years by Grant Bailey and William Anderson, two longtime administrators who work in the tourism office inside the 840,000-square-foot Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. Bailey is president of the Rosemont Chamber of Commerce board and Walsh is vice president.

The Rosemont convention bureau is one of 38 such agencies across the state that receives funding from the Illinois Office of Tourism to advertise and promote events and venues.