Maria Swindell Gus

As director of Bartlesville Convention & Visitors Bureau, Gus constantly markets her city and its tourism assets. Bartlesville certainly saw an influx of visitors in 2012, when the cast and crew of August: Osage County descended upon the city. This wasn’t Bartlesville’s first brush with fame. Several movies in recent years have been filmed in the area, making Gus a “liaison for ‘Oklahoma’s Hollywood on the Prairie,’” she says. In addition to her hectic schedule, Gus enjoys performing with The Comedy Clinic, an improv group she has been with for more than a decade.