Leadership Biography: Bill Otto
 President
and Chief Operating Officer
Marcus Hotels and
Resorts
William (“Bill”) J.
Otto became president and chief operating officer
of Marcus Hotels and Resorts, the full-service lodging
division of The Marcus Corporation (NYSE: MCS) in
April 2001. Mr. Otto joined Marcus Hotels and Resorts
in 1993 as Senior Vice President of Operations and was
promoted to Senior Vice President and Chief Operating
Officer in 1996.
Prior to joining Marcus Hotels and Resorts, Mr. Otto
worked for the Stouffer Group of hotels for 15 years
in positions including serving as general manager of
the Stouffer Nashville Hotel in Nashville, Tenn. He
began his career with Hyatt Hotels in Chicago in 1978.
A highly recognized leader in the hospitality industry,
Mr. Otto currently serves on the board of Visit Milwaukee,
IAHI- Intercontinental Hotel Group Brand Committee, Spirit
of Milwaukee, Junior Achievement of Greater Milwaukee,
and The Preferred Hotel Group. He is the past Chair of
Greater Milwaukee Convention & Visitors Bureau (now
known as Visit Milwaukee), Wisconsin Innkeepers Association
and the Governor’s Council on Tourism, and was
an appointed Wisconsin delegate to the 1995 White House
Conference on Travel and Tourism.
Known for his ability to envision what a hotel can
be while embracing its past, Mr. Otto has a proven track
record in and passion for historic hotels. The highly
successful Pfister Hotel, Hilton Milwaukee City Center
and Hotel Phillips, showcase how he helped breathe new
life into classic hotels. These "grand dames" not
only were restored to their former glory but were creatively
injected with new concepts that have led to new levels
of sustainable profitability. And while not historic
in nature, the company’s Grand Geneva Resort in
Lake Geneva, WI is truly a renaissance hotel in which
Mr. Otto played a key role in reinventing.
Mr. Otto received a bachelor’s degree in hotel
and restaurant management from the University of Wisconsin-Stout
and has earned the Certified Hotel Administrator designation
from the American Hotel and Motel Association.
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