Wisconsin Center District

In May, Wisconsin Center District celebrated the grand opening of Baird Center after its monumental, $456 million expansion and modernization. The new, state-of-the-art center, which hosts conventions, meetings, banquets, concerts, sporting events and much more, will bring in visitors from around the country.

“We’re a catalyst for the hospitality industry in Milwaukee,” says Sarah Maio, Wisconsin Center District’s VP of Marketing and Communications. “We’re creating jobs with our hundreds of staff, but we’re also bringing in visitors who are staying in hotels, dining at restaurants, going to bars, patronizing small businesses. That’s money our city and state might not have seen otherwise.”

Besides the newly expanded Baird Center, the District also owns and operates the historic Miller High Life Theatre and UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. Since 2018, Marty Brooks has led the organization as President and CEO, overseeing the major expansion of Baird Center. “Marty has really shaped the culture of our organization,” Maio says. “We’re bold, proud, and experience obsessed, and those core values have allowed us to execute amazing events at a high level.”

The District’s leadership team has spearheaded partnerships with organizations around the city and state and helped bring in events from around the nation, such as the Republican National Convention, drawing 50,000 visitors in July.

“The past few months have been full of major accomplishments for Wisconsin Center District – and by extension, Milwaukee,” says Maio. “We’re so excited for what the future holds.”