New Era, New Leader: Ralenkotter Takes Over at LVCVA

Gary Tufel -- Tradeshow Week, 6/14/2004

One era is ending at the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority, and another is beginning. On July 3, Manny Cortez will retire as president and CEO, 13 years to the day after he took the job. The following day, Executive Vice President Rossi Ralenkotter officially takes his place.

Ralenkotter will ascend to the top LVCVA post after spending virtually his entire career with the organization. He spoke recently to Tradeshow Week Contributing Editor Gary Tufel about his career, his plans for the future and the challenges he'll face.

Question: You've been with the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority for how long?

Answer: Thirty-one years. I began as a marketing analyst, was promoted to director of tourism, then director of marketing, senior vice president of marketing, executive vice president, and now president and CEO.

I moved here with my family from Covington, Ky. when I was 4 years old, went to Arizona State University for a marketing degree, then came back to get a master's degree in business administration from the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

I've always had the goal of becoming president and CEO of the LVCVA, and that opportunity was given to me. There was a succession plan in place for me to succeed Manny Cortez. I get to market the most exciting destination in the world, and that is a great opportunity.

Q: What about the way Cortez did things will remain the same, and what do you plan to do differently as far as marketing Las Vegas is concerned?

A: Under Manny's direction, we got established as the No. 1 tradeshow destination in the U.S., and completed the buildout of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Manny put Las Vegas in the position we're in today, and he faced a lot of challenges in his 13 years here, including that of 9/11. He provided very strong leadership. Now, we want to expand the city as a leisure, corporate meeting and tradeshow destination, and the major means will be through marketing and branding.

Q: There's been some debate recently in both the tradeshow industry and the general public about whether Las Vegas should market itself as a family-friendly or an adult destination. What direction will you go?

A: The whole family direction was always more media coverage than actual fact. We've always had a certain percentage of families coming here, but when a few properties added some family attraction areas, the media covered it heavily. Our maximum thrust is toward the adult market.

Q: Do you still encounter any resistance from religious or other groups because of the perception of Las Vegas as "Sin City?"

A: Now that gaming has proliferated across the country, this kind of resistance is no longer a consideration. We can attract all sorts of groups to Las Vegas.

Q: Las Vegas has been the destination of choice for many tradeshows for years, but the business has really boomed recently. What more can, or will, you do to attract shows?

A: How do we maintain our No. 1 status in tradeshows? Aggressive marketing, and that's true for corporate meetings and all our business. As well as our approach to national tradeshows, we're expanding our efforts in the international leisure market now that the effects of 9/11 on international travel seem to be lessening. We have to have various campaigns to address our various market segments.

We'll be adding 8,000 new hotel rooms in the next 15 to 18 months, and there are more to come. There are over 9 million square feet of event space. The fact that we have three of the 10 largest exhibition facilities in the country is a huge attraction for tradeshows. We have been very aggressive in attracting all kinds of shows for various windows of availability in our own convention center as well as in the others in the city.

Las Vegas is a full-service destination. It's the only city that was designed to host tradeshows and conventions, and we offer everything for tradeshow groups: the accessibility of our airport, room availability, shopping, dining and special events. Our repeat business confirms that we have maintained our success.

Q: What kind of internal changes do you plan to make at the authority?

A: We're going to analyze our marketing programs and financial position and provide our board with a vision statement this fall on how we'll be marketing the destination. But we've just completed a reorganization of our marketing department that Manny and I worked on. Our marketing and sales activities have been built on solid and aggressive research in our markets and with our customers, and that will continue. We're flexible in the marketplace, and if we need additional staff to accomplish our marketing goals, we'll certainly look at that.

Q: After all this time, is Manny Cortez really done? Or will he be involved with the authority in some kind of support or consultative capacity?

A: Manny put in 36 years of public service and he's still involved in several civic organizations in Las Vegas, but I don't know of any plans by him to continue to work with the LVCVA.