Kerry Painter, CVE, CEM, CMP, executive director of The Complex, Raleigh, N.C., was shocked when she learned of her newest honor—a Lifetime Achievement Award. The award will be presented by Carrie Paolone, CVP, CVE, CMP, and incoming chair of IAVM’s Convention Center Committee, during VenueConnect in New Orleans.
It was very fitting that Paolone, who is AGM of the Niagara Falls (Ontario) Convention Center, was the one informing Painter that she had been named the 2025 Convention Center Lifetime Achievement Award winner.
Kerry Painter talks about the politics of expanding a venue at the Super Regional in Raleigh.
“She used to work for me when I opened the Niagara Falls center,” Painter said. “She started as my employee. She’s been there for years. I’ve watched her grow and move up. We’ve always stayed connected. Our kids were kind of the same age. So it was pretty cool when she got to call and tell me I had won.”
Historically, the Convention Center Lifetime Achievement Award winner has been near or in retirement, which means Painter, who isn’t done yet, broke the mold.
“We wanted to allow her to enjoy her flowers now,” Paolone said. “She was going to win eventually; she scored so high.” Those scores are based on her years of service to the industry and participation in the association, which includes being Chair of IAVM from 2022-23. Best of all to Painter, this award comes from her peers.
“If I was to create a bingo card of things to accomplish, this wouldn’t have been on it. It was not on my radar as something to achieve. It’s just iconic, right? It’s the thing that means people remember the contribution you made,” Painter said. “It never occurred to me I could win. I was so shocked and surprised, and I screamed and I cried. That sounds silly, but, you know, it’s not one of those awards you applied for and your marketing department wrote a beautiful submission. It’s so much more meaningful because it’s from your colleagues.
While Painter is not ready to retire, she has accomplished enough to serve a lifetime. She has participated in expansion or construction of five buildings. “I do love opening buildings. I love the whole all of it, the adrenaline, the excitement,” Painter said.
Her experience includes venues in Raleigh; Tulsa, Okla.; Niagara Falls, Ont.; Slidell, La., and San Francisco.
She also loves developing something that represents a place that has its own personality, “then you leave and can look back at these cities and think, ‘I left that—I was part of the team that built that for future generations.’”
The build in Raleigh, where they are expanding the convention center and moving the Red Hat Amphitheater, brings that realization to life because the hotel has some triggers in the contract that happen in 50 years. “Our discussions are like ‘in 50 years, we will…’ and I think, wow, that’s the truth of this, right? These buildings are still here in 50 years, and you had a hand in doing it. You want to leave the right thing that will continue to grow and produce and get bigger. At the same time, it must be relevant now and the city needs to need it.”
Adam Cook, CVE; Trevor Mitchell, MBA, FASAE, CAE, CDP, and Kerry Painter, CVE, CEM, CMP, talk IAVM business.
Her first big project was City Hall in San Francisco. That venue was unique to Painter because, when she applied, she thought it was a theater, and quickly realized it was actually City Hall. It was meant to fulfill both roles, because San Francisco has ordinances that city buildings must be used to maximum effect. It was event/convention space nights and weekends, but at 9 a.m. it became City Hall. It was Painter’s first career foray out of her home state of Michigan, and it could be surreal, hosting a $250,000 wedding or a movie shoot at night, then making sure it was office-ready for 9 to 5.
Then she went to Louisiana to build the North Shore Harbor Center. She helped it grow from a pile of dirt compacting on swamp land to a convention center. “That was big for somebody who had never built a building.”
By Niagara Falls, her confidence and abilities had grown. The original plans for that convention center were literally drawn on a napkin, a “this is what it could be” moment. They imagined how it would fit on the land and where the loading dock would go. “Then I was off. I look back and think, wow, people trusted me to build a building, and I didn’t know any differently, and so I just borrowed ideas and knowledge.”
She asked for a lot of help from her cadre of friends and peers at IAVM, which she joined in 1997. She graduated from Venue Management School Years 1 and 2, in 1998 and 1999.
Since joining IAVM, which she begged to be part of, she has been giving back. She serves on the IAVM Foundation Board of Trustees, Board of Regents, Leadership Development & Nominating Committee and Region 5, which just hosted the Super Regional in Raleigh. The 100+ Women fundraising campaign for the Foundation is Painter’s brainchild.
She is also an instructor at Venue Management School and has taught at VMS Australia. Volunteerism is in her blood, including service at IAVM on the Venue Safety and Security Committee, the Foundation Task Force, the Audit Committee, the Awards Committee, VenueConnect Planning Committee and Venue eBooks Task Force, and that is just a partial list. Unbelievably, she’s just as active in her own community.
Though it’s probably not her last project, the Raleigh expansion is unique in that she has realized the full potential of her team. They are the age she was when she started building convention centers, and they can take it on. It’s also unusual in that she’s been in Raleigh five years and there’s no end in sight.
“I used my skills and asked questions, and they are me now. That’s how they get where I am. It’s really interesting to sit in the room and take my hands off the wheel a lot. It’s the first time I truly was conscious of it and watched it. I guess it is the legacy, right? It is the coming full circle.”
