BACK STORY ENCORE
Greg Ayers
President and CEO, Discover Kalamazoo Greg Ayers is always thinking about the next thing. The next convention, the
next sporting event, the next museum exhibit or other happening that will bring visitors to the greater Kalamazoo area. “People would be surprised that we are working on events right now that are all the way out to 2025,” says Ayers, who oversees Discover Kalamazoo, which promotes tourism for Kalamazoo County and a little beyond. It’s Discover Kalamazoo that is responsible for enticing both visitors and residents to experience the area’s wealth of attractions, events and activities. In advertising and marketing the area as a destination to tourists, Ayers says, the organization focuses on luring not only large groups and events, but the “simplest of groups, like a couple or family looking to visit the area for a few days.” “We’ve done an excellent job as a community working together to get Kalamazoo on the map,” Ayers says, “but the compliments and comments we get from people who visit the area or who organize groups to come to the area are what tell us we’re succeeding.” How did you end up here? Discover Kalamazoo is my third convention and visitors’ bureau position. After graduating from college at Illinois State University in Normal, I worked in minor league baseball, with the Peoria Chiefs, who are in the same league with the West Michigan Whitecaps and Lansing Lugnuts. I was there for just over four years, and then I went back to Normal to work at the Normal Area Convention and Visitors Bureau for three and half years. I then became executive director for the South Bend-Mishawaka Convention and Visitors Bureau and was there eightand-a-half years when I was recruited to come to Kalamazoo. What enticed me about the position here was that the organization had just split from the Kalamazoo Regional Chamber of Commerce and I had the chance (continued on page 45)
46 | ENCORE JUNE 2018