Ratcliffe to Step Down as Explore St. Louis CVB Chief

The Board of Commissioners of Explore St. Louis, the city's convention and visitor bureau, and president Kathleen (Kitty) Ratcliffe have announced jointly that Ratcliffe will retire on Aug. 31. A search for her replacement will begin shortly.

Ratcliffe has been a fixture in the CVB world since the early '90s, when she joined the Baltimore Area CVB, later becoming president of the Jacksonville (Fla.) and the Beaches CVB and executive vice president of the New Orleans bureau before heading to St. Louis. 

"Kitty Ratcliffe is held in the highest esteem in the hospitality industry for good reason, and has successfully managed the St. Louis tourism industry through some challenging times during her 18 years at the helm," the board said in a statement.

"I have been fortunate to spend my career in an industry I love — hospitality," Ratcliffe said, "working with some of the finest individuals both here in St. Louis and across the country. I am grateful for the many awards I have received, but it is the daily work with our stellar team members to bring revenue to this community that has driven my vision. With this in mind, I have decided to retire Aug. 31, stepping down several months earlier than originally planned, assisting in a smooth transition to ensure that the critical work of Explore St. Louis continues to be the focus of our community's efforts."

Convention center expansion complications

Several local news reports point to cost overruns on the America's Center convention facility expansion project as a contributing factor for Ratcliffe's early departure from a contract that was set to expire in June 2025.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, $30 million of a $250 million settlement from a lawsuit over the relocation of the NFL's Rams to Los Angeles is helping fund the first phase of the expansion, which began in May 2023. The newspaper reported earlier this year that the project is being pinched by rising construction costs, and last month the paper said that millions more were needed to complete the expansion.

A career of accolades

"Kitty's work ethic and dedication to advancing our tourism community are amazing, which is what the past 18 years have called for," said board chair Steve O'Laughlin, president and COO of Lodging Hospitality Management. Ratcliffe is a past international board chair of Meeting Professionals International; she received MPI's Industry Leader Award in 2023, and twice brought the MPI World Education Congress to St. Louis, in 2012 and 2013.

Ratcliffe also has served on the boards of the Professional Convention Management Association (and received PCMA's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022); Destinations International (and was inducted into DI's Hall of Fame in 2019); and the U.S. Travel Association, among others. Locally, she has served on the executive committee for the Missouri Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus for more than 17 years and was inducted in the Missouri Tourism Hall of Fame last year.