Chicago CTB's Interim CEO Post Goes to Utter

Bureau's marketing VP takes reins while board collects more resumes

By Michael Hart and Rachelle Crum -- Tradeshow Week, 8/15/2005

When Chris Bowers left the Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau CEO post on Aug. 5, he handed over the reins to Vice President of Marketing Bill Utter — for now.

Utter was selected as the CCTB acting CEO just days before Bowers' departure, to pinch hit while the bureau board continues its search for a permanent chief.

"He was just the perfect choice," CCTB Chairman Phil Stefani said.

Utter joined the bureau in 1999 following a stint as Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's director of communications, and a 12-year career as a television and newspaper journalist.

Utter is indeed a candidate for the CEO job, Stefani noted. However, the board is "still looking" and "collecting resumes."

"There's no reason to rush anything," Stefani added. "If the ship isn't broken, let's not push the panic button."

Although Stefani told Tradeshow Week last month that the bureau board "already has a candidate that we're speaking to right now," the sure-thing candidate "did not work out," he said.

Utter said he is interested in the permanent position.

"If the board wants to consider me for this, I'd be honored," he said.

Stefani announced July 13 that he had accepted the resignation of Bowers, 16 months into his 3-year contract with the bureau. Bowers, who previously held senior positions in sales, marketing and operations for United Airlines, returns to the private sector — taking a position as senior vice president, customer strategy, sales and marketing, for NES Rentals, an equipment rental firm also based in Chicago.

Bowers represents only the most recent departure of a high-ranking CCTB official. Former bureau President Deborah Sexton is now president and CEO of the Professional Convention Management Assn. and Mark Tester, former vice president for convention sales, is now senior director of convention sales for the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority.

However, Utter said it would be a mistake to read too much into the changes in personnel.

"We're seeing a healthy economy again, and people are seeing opportunities again," he said. "It's a time of transition at the bureau, there's no question about that. But there's still a deep bench."

While Bowers, with his three decades at United, was quite familiar with the travel industry, Utter would bring a wide familiarity with the Chicago political landscape, thanks to his years working for both Daley and in the local media.

"The bureau world has changed because there are more expectations," Utter said. "Knowing the local landscape is as important as any other part of being a bureau head."