Lisa Harrington, CEO of Abiding Strategy, Helps Navigate Change: Leadership Through the Storm

“The venue industry will lead the way into our recovery and heal the hearts of the people of this country ,as we are able to re-engage and begin rebuilding our economy.” – Lisa Harrington

Reengaging after a crisis is a leadership challenge that we don’t have to practice often. You can make the transition work in your favor. if you are prepared in advance. How can you handle your own stress, communicate with your crew, and deal with the unexpected circumstances that will impact the client experience? Readiness is the key to success!

Join us virtually October 26-30, 2020 for VenueConnect 2020 as we welcome Lisa Harrington, CEO of Abiding Strategy, as our conference opening keynote speaker. Lisa will guide us on how we can all navigate the current needs for change by using leadership to navigate the storm.

Don’t forget! Members who register before September 30th will be entered for a chance to win 1 of 10 American Express Gift Cards (value $50). Don’t delay! Register NOW for VC2020 Virtual!

Mindy Abel, Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, CA, United States

Pamela Adolphi, Martin Center for the Arts, Johnson City, TN, United States

Kim Allison, Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, GA, United States

Justin Barton, Walter P Moore, Houston, TX, United States

Abigail Bayliss, Darwin Convention Centre, Darwin, NT, Australia

Nick Bermensolo, Rose Quarter, Portland, OR, United States

Tanja Blasko, Mesa Community College Performing Arts Facilities, Mesa, AZ, United States

Chris Bragg, Greensboro Coliseum Complex, Greensboro, NC, United States

Greg Brereton, Veolia, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Gena Buhler, Theatre Projects, Denver, CO, United States

Lance Cardoza, Capitol International Productions, Lincolnshire, IL, United States

Fredrika Chase, Georgetown University, White Plains, MD, United States

Hazel Cockram, Raleigh Convention and Performing Arts Complex, Raleigh, NC, United States

Beth Dawson, Western Australian Cricket Association – WACA, East Perth, WA, Australia

Tamara Day, Ticketek Pty Ltd, Subiaco, WA, Australia

Marisa Estrada, Mesa Community College Performing Arts Facilities, Mesa, AZ, United States

Phil Evans, Auckland Live, Auckland, , New Zealand

Zachry Godfrey, TripleRoot, San Antonio, TX, United States

Adrian Goldenthal, Mesa Community College Performing Arts Facilities, Mesa, AZ, United States

Benton Guy, Mesa Community College Performing Arts Facilities, Mesa, AZ, United States

David Hansen, Legacy Events Center, Farmington, UT, United States

Taja Harrington, Scope Arena, Norfolk, VA, United States

Lucas Johnson, Raleigh Convention and Performing Arts Complex, Raleigh, NC, United States

Renee Jung, San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, CA, United States

John Mancuso, SKA Consulting Engineers, Greensboro, NC, United States

Andrew Mann, Greensboro Coliseum Complex, Greensboro, NC, United States

Bridget March, Event Center at Archer, Cheyenne, WY, United States

Angelica McGrew, Mesa Community College Performing Arts Facilities, Mesa, AZ, United States

Billy Miller, Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, GA, United States

Krystalynn Newbury, Mesa Community College Performing Arts Facilities, Mesa, AZ, United States

Charmaine Nocciolino, St. John Ambulance – WA, Belmont, WA, Australia

Lois Penny, Ungerboeck Software International, Chermside, QLD, Australia

Warren Persaud, Greensboro Coliseum Complex, Greensboro, NC, United States

Kyle Rivieccio, Mesa Community College Performing Arts Facilities, Mesa, AZ, United States

Ruth Sager, Mesa Community College Performing Arts Facilities, Mesa, AZ, United States

Abby Scheife, Wisconsin Center District, Milwaukee, WI, United States

Paul Shannon, Perth Concert Hall, WA Venues & Events Pty Ltd, Perth, WA, Australia

Jennifer Smart, U.S. Cellular Center, Kansas City, MO, United States

Amelia Spina, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, United States

Andrew Stephenson, ASM Global Pty Ltd – Suncorp Stadium, Milton BC, QLD, Australia

Marianne Sweden, Raleigh Convention and Performing Arts Complex, Raleigh, NC, United States

Christopher Tubilewicz, Mesa Community College Performing Arts Facilities, Mesa, AZ, United States

Rob Tweddle, Ripples Penrith, St Marys, NSW, Australia

Lux Ullrich, Mesa Community College Performing Arts Facilities, Mesa, AZ, United States

Sherron Washington, The P3 Solution, Silver Spring, MD, United States

Michaela Wooldridge, Mesa Community College Performing Arts Facilities, Mesa, AZ, United States

David Young, Scope Arena, Norfolk, VA, United States

By Scott Mullen, CVE

On March 12 we were about to tip-off the Missouri Valley Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament at the TaxSlayer Center. The teams were on the court warming up and after an emergency conference call with the NCAA, the decision was made to cancel. Like many venues we were shut-down suddenly and had no idea of the massive financial blow we were about to get hit with.

The IL Governor issued a mandate that there would be no mass gatherings allowed to take place until there was a vaccine or treatment distributed and we have been postponing and cancelling what was going to be a solid run of upcoming events ever since. We had to refund or prorate our building sponsorships and suite leases resulting in virtually no income for the foreseeable future. This led to furloughs and layoffs of most of our employees and we were desperate to find a way to qualify for relief funding.

There has been relief funding available for some entities in our industry but since like many other venues we are a quasi-governmental municipal authority that is not part of a city, county or state budget, we were left out. Unfortunately, civic center authorities that are set up as municipal corporations, civic center authorities, and municipalities are not eligible for most if not all of the elements of the federal Coronavirus stimulus package when it comes to venues like ours (The Illinois Quad City Civic Center Authority).

We saw the need to take action to lobby and educate our elected officials about our situation. Many of them mistakenly assumed we would fall under the city’s budget and they could cover our losses with funding they could qualify for but that was not the case.

The first thing we did back in April was get together a coalition of other venues in the state that were also set-up as quasi-governmental entities. We compared resources and utilized the city of Aurora, IL’s lobbyist, Dan Shoman, and he was extremely helpful in putting together an organized effort. We contacted our respective state and federal elected officials and informed them of our situation and the economic peril we faced. In our case we conveyed that we were projecting a net loss of $2.4 million the upcoming fiscal year due to the shut down and that we represented approximately $100 million annually in economic impact to the regional economy.

We next received valuable support from IAVM’s President, Brad Mayne and Board Chair, Tammy Koolbeck, who advocated for our cause. They were both amazing and were an impactful force throughout our efforts. We were able to utilize the expertise of IAVM’s lobbyists, Elizabeth Frazee and Chani Wiggins of Twin Logic Strategies. They offered strategic direction and opened lines of communication to several influential politicians to further our cause.

We also sought out advocacy from Moline Mayor, Stephanie Acri, and our current Board Chair, Reggie Freeman, who is also the Mayor of East Moline. They wrote letters and put us in touch with key players in the state. The Quad City Chamber of Commerce President, Paul Rumler, and Visit Quad Cities President, Dave Herrell, were terrific resources for information as well.

The majority of our efforts since May have been directed towards getting included in government stimulus bills to qualify for the Payroll Protection Package and the Cares Act. Although there wasn’t any immediate success, we continually educated more and more political figures in regard to our dilemma and I believe getting more people involved ultimately paved the way for our next push for Coronavirus related expenditure relief.

In July one of our Board members, Jeff Nelson, informed us that Navy Pier and some of the museums in Chicago that were also Illinois Authorities similar to ours, were candidates for government assistance through the Local Coronavirus Urgent Remediation Emergency Support (CURES) program. This program is federally funded from the Coronavirus Relief Fund using dollars allocated to Illinois through the CARES Act. We contacted The Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity and discovered that we had to act fast because the deadline to apply was only a couple days away so our staff leaped into action. Thanks to the efforts of our Assistant Executive Director, Rocky Jones, Sr. Accounting Manager, Kim McVey, and Director of Operations, Kevin Snodgrass, who put together all the details for the DCEO application, we got it submitted just before the deadline for applications expired. We were informed on August 20th that we were eligible to qualify for reimbursement of up to $484,622 in relief assistance!

The TaxSlayer Center will be using these reimbursement funds to underwrite some of the COVID-19 related projects we are undertaking in the coming months during the shutdown. We have projected expenditures of over $1 million on these projects. Among the upgrades will be a retrofit to automatic flush valves and faucets in all public restrooms, bacteria killing UV lights to disinfect escalator handrails, WIFI upgrades to support mobile concession ordering platforms for contactless payment, installation of hand sanitizing dispensers throughout the facility, the purchase of electrostatic sprayers to disinfect seats & armrests along with new PPE inventory and several other COVID-19 remediation measures.

The program deadline for project completing and submittal for reimbursement is December 30 and our goal is to have all projects completed by mid-November. When the time comes to re-open for events, we want to make sure that our guests and employees have the safest possible environment and feel comfortable coming back to the building. We are also using this down-time to complete several other capital improvement projects using funds from our reserves to update our venue and plan to host a Grand-Reopening Ceremony prior to our first event back once the indoor mass gathering mandates are lifted.

The moral of this story is to use every resource available and keep swinging because you never know when it could pay-off. Hopefully this information is helpful to other venues that face this same situation.

Scott Mullen, CVE is the Executive Director of the TaxSlayer Center in Moline, IL, and serves on the IAVM Board as Director of Arenas.

By R.V. Baugus

I first met Jimmy Earl, CVE, in the early 2000s when he was going through the chair rotation on the way to becoming the Association’s President (now Chair) in 2004-05. Jimmy was someone I was eager to meet, and in all honesty it was to be able to make the acquaintance of someone who worked at the University of Texas, where I spent one glorious year of my college undergraduate days in 1976-77 when legendary Darrell Royal was coaching in his last season and legendary football icon Earl Campbell was running roughshod his junior year on campus.

I couldn’t wait to talk to Jimmy about all things UT (yeah, yeah, I know, those from Tennessee see this as blasphemy when it comes to deciding the real UT. Let’s just all get along and say we are both the real UT.). I seem to recall that I might have been more impressed with Jimmy and his oversight at the University’s Frank Erwin Center than he was with me. Or maybe he actually was impressed with this me and I just didn’t know it because of Jimmy’s easy-going, cool, calm, and collected manner. Jimmy always seemed to be the very definition of unruffled when most of the rest of us are running around like our fannies are on fire. Not Jimmy.

Part of me thought that once the discussions about all things UT were over that we would remain professional friends but that in his busy world I was not going to be of much significance to him in later years. Boy, was I wrong.

Today, as news came that after 40 years working tirelessly in this great industry, Senior Associate Athletics Director of the Frank Erwin Center, Jimmy Earl, was unhooking his career and heading into retirement. The news, naturally, gave me great pause to reflect on a working relationship that became a genuine friendship to this very day.

I will always remember sitting with fellow IAVM staff members in 2004 when Jimmy accepted the gavel to lead the association during the annual conference in Washington, D.C. As Jimmy strode onto the stage to the tune of “Duke of Earl,” he accepted the gavel from Mike Kelly, CVE. If I recall, it was before Jimmy made his acceptance remarks that he startled me from the stage by saying, “I’ve got something for R.V. Baugus.” The next thing I know, the University of Texas school song is playing and my fingers instinctively went up in the Hook ‘Em Horns sign.

I will never forget Jimmy for doing that. In one of the biggest moments of his professional career, Jimmy was thinking of me and wanted to do this kind gesture. No, you don’t forget things like that.

It did not take long for me to realize that a friendship was being forged that would go beyond Jimmy being employed at a school I attended.

Interviewing Jimmy in 2004 for his cover story as the incoming president was very memorable. My wife, Tanya, accompanied me on a drive to Austin to visit Jimmy and do the interview. Tanya was multi-talented and handled photography at the interview, including the picture of Jimmy next to the mascot Bevo statue outside the Erwin Center that he liked to use from that day forward and that you see with this article.

Jimmy immediately took to Tanya, and she to him. This would be significant a few years later when Tanya passed away during day surgery at the young age of 48. One of the people I remember talking to the most during my earliest, darkest days was Jimmy, always willing to just listen and be a friend and express his love and support for me. No, you don’t forget things like that.

Tanya and I usually made one trip a year during basketball season to watch the Longhorns play. I always let Jimmy know in advance that we were coming down, and even in the controlled chaos of game day, Jimmy came to our seats before the game with a hug for both of us and to visit before he resumed his work duties. No, you don’t forget things like that.

I remarried a couple of years ago to Charlotte, a blessing from God whom I met in a Grief Share class and whose husband had died two months before my beloved Tanya. It was then Charlotte’s turn to go to games with me, and Jimmy showed Charlotte the same welcoming friendship and attention he always gave Tanya.

Jimmy was very involved most recently in diversity and inclusive initiatives within the association. He was always looking for solutions and not problems, and wanted to make a difference in his beloved IAVM and industry to see these very important initiatives through for the next generations to follow. I never had a deep talk with Jimmy about these issues outside of our Diversity & Inclusive Leadership Committee monthly calls (of which I am the staff liaison), but would love to make another drive to Austin to just hang out and talk about real life and hear it from Jimmy and to try and do my very best to understand it and do what I can to make this a more equitable world to live in.

I would probably also suggest to Jimmy that we head over to Trudy’s in Austin for some Mexican food, just to get a rise out of him telling me, “that’s not real Mexican food. You’ve got to go over to East Austin for real Mexican food.”

A few years ago while at the office, mail arrived in a box for me from Jimmy. I opened the box to reveal a cool UT pullover that I have to this day and am proud to wear. I don’t know why he sent it, but like everything else, the man did it because he wanted to. No, you don’t forget things like that.

Now comes the time when we celebrate, salute, and honor you, “Duke of Earl,” upon your retirement. You are most deserving and have left an example for all of us to follow about how to live, how to love, how to laugh. I am beyond proud to call you a dear personal friend and excited for the next glorious phase of your life, because, well, I am certain it will be something that I won’t soon forget.

Director of the Frank Erwin Center Announces Retirement

Austin, Texas – After over 40 years working in the facility management industry, Senior Associate Athletics Director of the Frank Erwin Center, Jimmy Earl, announced this week that he will retire at the end of September. Earl is only the third director of the Erwin Center since the building’s opening in 1977.

Earl was the first Events Manager of the Erwin Center and has also had experience in large convention complexes, such as the Fort Worth/Tarrant County Convention Center where he was the Manager from 1987 to 1990. Earl completed the Leadership Austin program in 1994, has served with the Austin Arts Commission, the UT Mentor program, Pflugerville Education Foundation (President), Steward Board Metropolitan AME Church, Travis County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (Public Information Officer), Amateur Radio Operator, Extra Class WB5MET and various other boards in Austin.

Earl is a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., a 1993 graduate of the Public Assembly Facility Management School at Oglebay and attended the Senior Executive Symposium at Cornell in 1997. He has also been an active member of the International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM), the acknowledged leader in public assembly facility management, since 1987.

He has served on several IAVM committees including Convention Centers/Exhibit Halls, Professional Development, Diversity, Arenas, Universities and Publications. Additionally, Earl has served on the IAVM Board as Director-at-Large Universities, Board of Governors Senior Executive Symposium, and the IAVM Foundation as a trustee. In 1995, he attained the Certified Facilities Executive (CFE) designation. He is also a past president of IAVM and in 2016, he was awarded IAVM’s Charles M. McElravy Award, which is given to a Professional, Honorary or Retired member of IAVM, who in the opinion of the Board of Directors has made extraordinary contributions to the Association or the profession of public assembly facility management.

Earl’s colleagues shared the following memories and praise upon hearing about his retirement.

“How could I not love the man who named me the “Moses of Rock ‘N’ Roll”? Jimmy is like that Sade song “Smooth Operator,” no matter what the problem, he always made it go away. He is not only a great building guy, but he’s my friend – I love you Jimmy “Duke Of Earl” – best of luck my friend!” – Louis Messina, CEO, Messina Touring Group, LLC

“The Frank Erwin Center brings special memories to mind, not only because of the wonderful basketball team performances and fan support, but because of the people. The people who supported athletics, entertainment, music and cultural events, that put Austin on the map. Over the decades, I have considered Jimmy Earl a friend and true teammate. He and I shared a passion about increasing diversity on our campus. He spent nearly his entire arena management career at the Erwin Center, rising to the very top level of respect in his profession while the venue emerged as the world’s most productive campus-based multipurpose arena. Jimmy cared about the success of our program no less than that of the biggest rock and roll show staged there. He listened to what mattered to us, and he and his staff worked tirelessly to deliver events in a first-class manner. I will miss our entertaining discussions and banter, from which we always emerged somewhat weary but ready to take on the next exhilarating opportunity to join hands and make our great University a more accessible and embracing place. For that, I’m ever thankful for Jimmy’s service and friendship.” – Jody Conradt, Former UT Women’s Basketball Head Coach (1976-2007), Texas Athletics

“Jimmy Earl has done an outstanding job for The University of Texas for many years. As Senior Associate Athletic Director, he has managed the Erwin Center, which is one of the most complex institutions within The University, with professional style and grace. The University owes Jimmy a great deal of thanks for the support that he has given our scholarship athletes, as well as the many people who have enjoyed a wide variety of events at the Erwin Center.” – Dr. William Cunningham, Former Chancellor (1992-2000), The University of Texas System