Claire Hanan is Visit Milwaukee’s vice president of communications and advocacy, where she has worked to promote Milwaukee as the best leisure and meetings destination in the country since 2017. In her role, Claire oversees a team of communications, community engagement and government affairs professionals who work every day to elevate the city’s reputation and drive visitors to Milwaukee. In 2021, she was awarded the Rising Star award from the Wisconsin Governor’s Council on Tourism and in 2022, she was recognized as a PR Woman of the Year by PR News. In 2024, the Milwaukee Business Journal named her one of its 40 under 40 professionals and in 2025, BizTimes Milwaukee named her one of the 30 Milwaukeeans shaping the city’s future. An active member of the PR and tourism industries, she is a proud member of PRSA’s Travel & Tourism Executive Committee, a member and past co-chair of Destinations International’s Public Relations Committee and serves on the boards of the Milwaukee Press Club, Pabst Mansion and Imagine MKE. Prior to her work in tourism, Claire worked as a magazine journalist. She’s a proud Mizzou Tiger and mom of two.