Julie Roller Weeks

From climbing Mt. Sunflower to taking selfies with miniature Statue of Liberty replicas, Julie Roller Weeks is a proud ruby-sneaker-wearing Kansan who loves exploring and sharing Kansas!

Julie returned to her home county six years ago to serve as Director of the Abilene Convention & Visitors Bureau with the City of Abilene, Kansas.

Through her leadership, Abilene was named Destination of the Year by the Midwest Travel Network, Best Historic Small Town by USA TODAY, Favorite U.S. by TravelAwaits, Friendliest Small Town in the U.S. by TravelAwaits, Best Small Town to Visit by Smithsonian Magazine, Best Roadside Attraction (World’s Largest Belt Buckle) by TravelAwaits, and many other accolades. She has hosted more than sixty travel writers in Abilene and has spoken at tourism conferences in Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri. In 2023, she was named to Ingram’s 50 Kansans You Should Know.

Before joining the CVB, she worked at the Kansas Department of Agriculture on the Ag Marketing team with the From the Land of Kansas and farmers’ market programs; the Pottawatomie County Economic Development Corporation, where she served as the Director of the Kansas Sampler Festival; and as a Main Street Director for Downtown, Augusta Inc.

Julie is a graduate of Kansas State University, Kansas Chamber’s Emerging Leaders program, Kansas Farm Bureau Masters program, Eisenhower Series of Excellence in Public Service Series and ICMA Gettysburg Leadership Institute. She participated in Wichita State’s MiniMPA program and is currently pursuing a Master’s in Public Administration.

She is a Kansas Destination Specialist and serves as Past President of the Travel Industry Association of Kansas; President of the Kansas Rural Communities Foundation and Eisenhower Series for Excellence in Public Service Series; Vice-Chair of Dickinson County Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunities (CEO) program and Dickinson County Republican Party; and Registrar for the Abilene Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution. She is a board member for the Kansas I-70 Association, North Central Kansas Tourism Coalition, and Dickinson County Community Foundation Impact Investing Team.

Julie is also a member of the Abilene Chapter Rotary Club and its sister club “Faux Ro”, and the Flint Hills Bourbon Club.

Julie and her husband, Ryan, reside in a historic home in Abilene, Kansas. She enjoys collecting Fiesta dishes, decorating for the holidays, genealogy and traveling.