We are all looking forward to the positives that can be
gained from this action to move towards private management. SMG is an experienced
and qualified management firm that has been down this road before. With a key hire like Lorenz Hassenstein
secured to lead up operations, they are already out of the gate strong. We are looking forward to seeing this vibrant
economic beacon shine again.
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The Convention Center will be under a new boss - or a couple
of bosses - beginning Dec. 1.
Executive director Ameenah Young will be gone. SMG, the West
Conshohocken facilities manager the center's politically appointed board has
put in charge of the state-financed center, has tapped facilities pro Lorenz
Hassenstein for a new position as operations chief, in charge of most of the
100 headquarters positions that reported to Young.
The rest, 12 managers including the legal, financial, and
personnel chiefs, will report to a new executive director, who will be paid
$220,000 in 2014, less than Young's $267,500, plus benefits.
The executive director represents the state, which financed
the big-but-underused center in hopes of boosting Philadelphia tourism and
hotel revenues, jobs, and taxes. That post is supposed to be filled at a board
meeting Wednesday.
Hassenstein, a Wilmington native, was a vice president at
Advertising Specialties Institute, the Trevose-based group that, among other
things, runs trade shows for corporate marketing people. He left that position
in July. Among his duties there, according to his resumé, was "reducing
headcount while maintaining exceptionally high levels of customer satisfaction."
His role at the Convention Center is different, Hassenstein
told me. "The mission here is, one, to make the building a better
partner" to its users and beneficiaries, "and two, to improve
customer service across the board," he said.
His new boss at SMG, Bob McClintock, tells me that will mean
hiring, not cutting, staff, a job made easier by the fact that about 25 of the
100 jobs are now vacant, and by Young's success at running the facility below
budget the last few years.
SMG may move more people from back-office to
customer-focused jobs. But the firm has promised to keep total payroll within
the center's previous budget.
A key part of SMG's mission is persuading leaders of the
carpenters and other Convention Center unions to ease limits on letting
customers set up their own shows. That would mean fewer union hours on some
jobs, in exchange for bringing in more shows, in hopes of increasing overall
union hours.
McClintock says SMG was able to persuade unions in Chicago
and Detroit to update work rules in exchange for the promise of more shows and
more hours, which he says SMG delivered.
Given all the players involved, won't union leaders,
vendors, and contractors who have a beef with SMG be tempted to work around its
staff and appeal to the center staff and board, as they have in the past?
Won't be a problem, McClintock affirms. He knows a lot of
people are checking show bookings and other public data. We're all watching to
see if the private-sector pros can do this better.
Source: Philly.com
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