By Melinda Landry

Amarillo (TX) Civic Center Complex Marketing Administrator Han Owens has fulfilled a dream in earning United States citizenship.

“The process is hard because you have a gazillion paperwork to do,” the newly minted citizen said. “You can’t help but to wonder and worry because your loved ones are here and you don’t want to leave them here.”

Han, who grew up in Taiwan, came to the United States as a high school exchange student in Denton, Texas. She stayed to attend, and later graduate from West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas. After she earned her bachelor’s degree in 2011, she started a job with the ACCC and got married in 2012. Han’s new goal was to become a citizen of the United States. She applied for the Green Card process and said that she never expected that she’d spend the rest of her life in the U.S., receiving citizenship. Han passed her naturalization test in November and completed her Oath of Allegiance at a Naturalization Ceremony on January 7, 2019.

Han is married to Texas native Nathan Owens. The couple has a two-year-old daughter named Addelyn Rose and two dogs, Raiden and Samantha.

The Amarillo Civic Center Complex staff is proud to be a part of Han’s legacy.

Melinda Landry is Event Manager for the Amarillo Civic Center Complex.

By Scott Powers

The Orange County Convention Center, operating for nearly two years under interim and acting leadership, will be taken over by the former leader of the Austin Convention Center, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings announced.

Mark Tester, who was described as someone who literally grew up in the convention industry and eventually rose to leadership positions in Chicago and Austin, Texas, was announced as the new executive director of the Orange County Convention Center, which is the second-largest in the country behind Chicago’s McCormick Place. He will start February 10.

“I believe Mark Tester’s goals of creating high-end customer service and driving economic impact through sales and marketing aligns perfectly with my expectations for what the Orange County Convention Center can be, both now and in the future,” Demings said in a news release.

The center, which has 2 million square feet of exhibition space, has been under interim and acting leadership since late winter 2018 when Kathie Canning left the executive director’s position. For part of that period, former Mayor Teresa Jacobs held open a search for a new leader for Demings, who was elected in August 2018 and took office in December 2018.

The center is growing. Orange County has embarked on a $605 million expansion and improvement that will create a new grand concourse and a multipurpose venue that will bring the total exhibit space to 2.3 million square feet.
Tester’s father operated destination marketing organizations and later, convention and trade shows. After entering the industry himself, Tester spent 13 years working in the Chicago convention community. There he held senior positions at both the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau [now Choose Chicago] and the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, the owner and manager at that time of McCormick Place, the nation’s largest convention facility. In 2008 he became director of the Austin Convention Center.

“I greatly appreciate the support of Mayor Demings and the Orange County Board of County Commissioners, and look forward to working with the strong team at the OCCC,” Tester said in the release. “I have always had great admiration for the phenomenal work of the OCCC and its employees, and look forward to my role in Orlando, the nation’s premier destination for conventions.”

Scott Powers is an Orlando-based political journalist.

By R.V. Baugus

Professional sports teams relocating is not new. In the NFL, the Oakland Raiders became the Los Angeles Raiders then the Oakland Raiders and now the Las Vegas Raiders. Somebody got raided. Speaking of Los Angeles, the NFL Los Angeles Rams became the St. Louis Rams only to again become the Los Angeles Rams.

In the NBA, perhaps the most unusual mascot move came when the New Orleans Jazz became the Utah Jazz. The Charlotte Hornets were born and moved to become the New Orleans Hornets. After Charlotte rebirthed a franchise they took with them the Hornet name while New Orleans decided on Pelicans in honor of its being the Pelican State.

Maybe the most awkward feeling in sports is when two professional sports franchises share a venue. It has worked well at MetLife Stadium where the NFL New York Giants and New York Jets both play.

Across the country, both the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers play at STAPLES Center. Those old enough to remember recall the Clippers migrating north from San Diego while keeping the appropriately named Clippers which certainly fits with San Diego. Heck, even the Lakers arrived back in the day from being the Minneapolis Lakers.

The Clippers, though, are ready to have their own venue with the release of the first images of the planned Inglewood arena it hopes to call home in 2024. Inglewood, you will recall, was at one time the Lakers home with the Great Western Forum.

The NBA basketball team’s proposed 18,500-seat arena will have a three-dimensional oval design with an exterior of diamond-shaped metal panels inspired by the concept of a basketball swishing through a net. The panels have been designed to provide solar benefit for maximum energy efficiency, as part of the facility’s LEED GOLD-certified design.

The Inglewood Arena will revitalize mostly vacant land under the flight path of Los Angeles International Airport. The project is targeted for completion by fall of 2024, following the expiration of the Clippers’ lease at STAPLES Center.

In our industry, “on the move” does not refer to just people, but as you can see venues, teams, and franchises as well.

By Cynthia Weaver

The Phoenix Convention Center (PCC) welcomes Mamava Pods to its campus in downtown Phoenix. The Mamava Pods, which are private lactation suites available for nursing mothers on-the-go, will offer PCC guests a safe and secure space to breastfeed or pump milk for infant children.

Made in America, Mamava Pods are a turnkey, all-in-one private nursing room for public spaces. The pods are compatible with the Mamava app with a Bluetooth-enabled SmartLock. Guests will be able to use the app to locate the pods in the Convention Center, see when the pods are available and unlock the door for access. The app is available for download in the Apple App Store or Google Play. Guests who do not have the app can obtain assistance from a Venue Host staff member at any of the PCC Information Desks.

“The new Mamava pods at the Phoenix Convention Center are an added benefit for parents and families looking for a calmer, more private nursing experience. This is another exciting step toward making Phoenix the most family-friendly city in the nation,” said Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego.

Nursing Moms can find Mamava Pods, which are ADA accessible, at more than 450 locations across the U.S. and Canada, including Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. The pods at the Phoenix Convention Center are easily identifiable featuring custom mural designs created by PCC’s Planning Graphic Designer, Diana Moissonnier. PCC has two pods, each with different designs. The pod in the West building features a desert landscape image and the North building pod features a Sedona-inspired image (photo above).

Cynthia Weaver is Public Information Officer/Convention Center Communications Director for Phoenix Convention Center & Venues.

The following is the obituary that appeared in the Tennessean for industry friend Tom Powell.

Thomas Joseph “Tom” Powell passed away at Alive Hospice in Nashville on January 21, 2020 at the age of 86. Tom was born in Scranton, PA on July 18, 1933. He was a proud graduate of the University of Scranton. Tom was preceded in death by his parents Tom and Alice, his brother Bobby, and his first wife and mother of his children, Rosamond. He is survived by his wife, Christine, his children, Julia Mulherin and her husband Paul, Alice Stanley, Thomas and his husband Paul Hill, Kevin and his wife Anne Marie, his five grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and cherished nephew and nieces. Tom was a sportswriter for the Tennessean from 1958 to 1972. He was the race announcer at the Nashville Speedway in the 1960s and 1970s. Tom was editor of Amusement Business Newspaper from 1972 to 2006. Since 2007, Tom has written a weekly column for the Outdoor Amusement Business Association (OABA). During his long career, Tom was the recipient of many awards and honors including a board of director’s special award from the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA), being inducted into the International Independent Showmen’s Association (IISA) Hall of Fame, and the Showmen’s League of America Hall of Honor, as well as countless others. The funeral service for Tom will be held at Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Donelson at 1:30 on Saturday, January 25, 2020. A celebration of Tom’s amazing life will be held immediately after the church service at the VFW at 1907 Lebanon Pike in Nashville. In lieu of flowers, please send a donation to the International Independent Showmen’s Association (IISA) Scholarship Fund in Tom Powell’s name.

IISA Scholarship Fund

6915 Riverview Drive

Riverview, FL 33578

As Tom would say at the end of each his columns, “Have all great days, and God Bless”.