Jimmie Fore Departs Ernest N. Morial Center

Jimmie Fore's swapping tradeshows, conventions and meetings for quarter horses, black buck antelope and bighorn sheep.

The president and general manager of Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans has left life in the Big Easy for the hill country of Texas. His resignation was effective April 1.

Fore assumed his post in New Orleans in May 1991 after serving as general manager of McCormick Place in Chicago. He previously was executive vice president of the Astrodome-Astrohall Stadium Corp. in Houston and executive vice president of the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau from 1971 to 1973. He began his 42-year career at the Houston Convention & Visitors Bureau as director of public relations and convention sales.

But don't try to tell him he's retiring.

"I've never looked at this as retirement," Fore said. "It's a change."

The Texas native owns property in his home state and wants to oversee development of buildings and guest houses on the land.

"This was a good time," he added. "The buildings (damaged during Hurricane Katrina) are now back up and operating at full capacity."

The hurricane caused millions of dollars of damage to Morial and forced the center to cancel shows for roughly 10 months. Intl. Workboat Show, held Nov. 29–Dec. 1, was the first for which the convention center was 100-percent operational.

"I tried to put a lot of that out of my mind," Fore said of the hurricane that forced 25,000 people to take shelter at the convention center despite the fact that it wasn't designated as an emergency shelter and didn't have food, water, medical supplies or electricity.

"There were just so many things that we were unable to do for the people who came here," Fore said. "One of the great disappointments was being involved in something like that and not being able to help. It was frustrating."

But guiding the convention center through the aftermath and having meetings, tradeshows and conventions return — and new events express interest in New Orleans — has been the silver lining.

"That's been extremely gratifying," Fore added.

J. Stephen Perry, president and CEO of the New Orleans Metropolitan CVB, worked with Fore for more than 10 years.

"What he brought (to New Orleans) was the most quiet, unassuming manner which, for a lot of people, hid the fact that he ran one of the best facilities in America," Perry said. "He's genuinely one of a kind."

Perry expressed confidence that the Ernest N. Morial Exhibition Hall Authority will find someone capable of taking the reins of the convention center during the national search for a permanent replacement for Fore. The board hired a Minnesota firm to conduct the search.

"I think they'll have big shoes to fill," he added.

In the meantime, Ricky Compeaux, who served as assistant general manager for five years under Fore, is the interim president and general manager of Morial.

"Jimmie has been a true friend, not only to the tradeshow industry and Helen Brett, but also to show managers and show promoters through a career that has brought him from Houston to New Orleans to Chicago and back to New Orleans," said Robert Kolinek, president of Helen Brett Enterprises, which holds four shows a year at Morial.

"One of the things I'm going to miss is the employees here," Fore said. The employees, though many had lost their homes to Hurricane Katrina, were committed to the building and its success. "They're almost like a family to me. Maybe they are a family to me because I've spent more time with them than I have my own family."