New Hamilton County Tourism CEO Karen Radcliff Champions Community & Connection
Hamilton County is known for many things, from the Palladium to Ruoff Music Center to its varied hiking and biking trails. Karen Radcliff, Hamilton County Tourism’s new President & CEO, is one of many who loves to hit the trails.
“I really love the way our parks ramp up to do outdoor concerts for people in the summertime, and they’re all very clean and safe and beautiful,” Radcliff says. “And then the linear park systems, the trails. I really like to hit the trails when I walk or ride bikes or something like that.”
Hired as CEO in March of this year, Radcliff is a 30-year employee of Hamilton County Tourism (HCT) and a 25-year resident of Westfield. She settled in Indiana after grad school, obtaining a job as manager of communications at the Eiteljorg Museum, and was later hired at HCT. Thirty years ago, HCT worked with a fraction of the budget, and her office was in a closet. Since then, Radcliff has served as chief strategy officer, vice president and interim CEO.
As CEO, Radcliff is now working with a whole different side of the company as integral support.
“Rather than working very intimately with our own operations, now I feel like I’m working more intimately with other organizations around the county to do some of the same thing,” she says. “And hopefully I can be more of a support system for some great ideas that we align with and how we get some things across the finish line.”
HCT is a nonprofit quasi-government organization that operates under a board and receives revenue from hotel taxes in Hamilton County.
Though many may think only of big destinations such as Paris, London and New York City when the word “tourism” is brought up, tourism is a $1 billion industry in Hamilton County. From leisure travelers to business travelers to sports teams, the county has destinations for all. According to Radcliff, HCT works on creating the image of Hamilton County as a whole before focusing on specific attractions, destinations or restaurants.
Radcliff says being in the tourism business means being in the people business.
“I do conduct business for sure,” she says. “But I think my motivation around that is more because I am very curious. I love what I’m doing. I like to maximize people. And I like to maximize ideas.”
Radcliff has seen the ways tourism changes, watching trends in other parts of the U.S. and in other countries, being a part of the rise of social media and watching it change tourism in real time, and being part of an ever-growing nonprofit.
Her extensive experience has impacted how she leads.
“As I’ve had leadership roles, I definitely subscribe to this idea of servant leadership, where you tip it upside down and I’m there to actually support people who might report to me,” Radcliff says. “Because if I can support people, remove obstacles, then there’s a team of people getting out there and doing great work, rather than me trying to say, no, run that by me, run that by me, run it by me.”
This fall, Radcliff and HCT will run a campaign to publicize more of Hamilton County’s trails, which have become an integral part of the county’s culture.
For more information on HCT, visit visithamiltoncounty.com.
