Clarity Over ComplexityWe believe simplicity scales. Whether in strategy, leadership or systems, clarity wins every time.
Who We Are
The Team
The Team
Behind the Work.
We believe that high-performing organizations are built the same way by fusing leadership, culture, and strategy into something greater than the sum of its parts.
Our Values
Our Values & Non-Negotiables.
Clarity Over Complexity
Alignment Over EverythingWhen operations, people, and strategy align, momentum becomes inevitable. We always connect the dots.
Human Systems FirstA strategy only works if people believe in it. We believe in people and design structures that empower, not control.
Candor Builds TrustWe speak the truth and only partner with leaders who are ready to grow both as humans and as leaders.
Midwest Nice AuthenticityWe don’t take ourselves seriously and you always get what you see. Also, we’re from Kansas so we open doors for others and give the two-finger wave while driving to everyone.
Bold is BeautifulWe embrace outside the box thinking because real change starts with brave ideas and brave leaders.
Meet the Team
The People You’ll Work With.
Founder · CEO
Brett Oetting
“Every framework we deploy was forged inside a real DMO.”
Brett Oetting has spent his career building organizations that were told they couldn’t be built, and leading teams through moments that didn’t come with a playbook. The result was winning national awards in three different industries.
As founder of Oetting Alchemy, Brett works with destination organizations, civic boards, and travel industry leaders to achieve the kind of alignment that makes strategy more than a document. His approach is practitioner-led, not theoretical: every framework OA deploys was forged inside real DMOs, with real budgets, real boards, and real community pressure.
He began his career in the Darden Restaurants system, where he learned that standard operating procedures and aligned culture are not opposites. They are the same thing, built in the right order. Brett then spent over 10 years in hotels working every position from banquet manager to general manager to EVP of Operations. Brett entered the DMO world in 2014 and spent the next decade building high impact organizations and teams.
At Visit Topeka, Brett grew the organization from eight staff to 48, was a leader in the creation of the Greater Topeka Partnership civic integration model, and led Visit Topeka to become the first DMO in Kansas to achieve Destinations International DMAP accreditation. He then joined Visit Corpus Christi with four staff and a mandate to build something great. Over five years, he doubled the budget, grew the team to 28 professionals, won the 2022 Texas DMO of the Year, and led VCC to earn DMAP accreditation with distinction. Fewer than 25 DMOs worldwide hold that designation.
Brett currently chairs the Destinations International CDME Board of Directors and teaches Destination Leadership and Destination Economic Development in the program. He is a Working Genius Master Facilitator, a Certified Birkman Professional, and a founding board member of the DI CDME program.
When he is not working with clients, Brett is most likely talking about the history of Kansas, planning his next experience with his wife Amber, or researching catamaran routes in the Caribbean. They live in Kansas City with their golden doodle Remi and their cat Lucy.
Director of Operational Excellence
Meredith Darden
“Operational excellence creates the calm for leaders to do their best work.”
If leadership is the spark that starts the engine, Meredith Darden is the finely tuned system that keeps it on the road and moving toward the horizon.
With over fifteen years of experience navigating complex, fast-changing environments, Meredith has built her career on a single conviction: big visions only succeed when they are backed by relentless clarity and intentional structure. She spent a decade at Visit Corpus Christi, rising from the front lines to Chief Operating Officer, mastering what she calls “the process behind the process.”
As Director of Operational Excellence at Oetting Alchemy, Meredith serves as the bridge between strategy and execution. She is a practitioner of first-principles communication, believing that when a team is aligned in language and purpose, momentum becomes inevitable.
With Working Geniuses of Discernment and Enablement, Meredith has a rare ability to sit in the middle of complexity and find the thread that leads to clarity. She doesn’t just identify what needs to be done. She anticipates the needs of the room before they are voiced.
After years of leading organizations through growth and transition, Meredith knows that starting over is simply another form of training. Whether she is tightening a cross-functional handoff or restoring her mid-century modern home on the Texas Gulf Coast, she brings the same commitment: human-centered systems are the foundation of any thriving culture.
When she isn’t orchestrating the behind-the-scenes work at Oetting Alchemy, you’ll find her outdoors with her family and her two blue heelers, or finding inspiration in the quiet, steady work of building something meant to last.
Real Conversation. Real Diagnosis. Real Plan.
A 30-minute call is free. We’ll hear where your organization actually is, name the highest-leverage move, and recommend the right entry point.