Bob Johnson Returns to New Orleans

Bob Johnson didn't think he would ever run a convention center.

But since Sept. 4, he's been doing just that as president and general manager of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. He replaced Jimmie Fore, who retired April 1.

"New Orleans attracted me to New Orleans," Johnson said when asked about his new position.

It's like going home, he added. Johnson most recently was vice president of operations development for SMG, but served as general manager of SMG's Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans from 1985 to 1995.

Johnson moved back to the southern city before Fore retired, hoping to go to work in the tourism industry there to help the city's recovery after Hurricane Katrina.

He said he had suffered a little survivors' guilt, even though he hadn't lived in the Big Easy for a decade. Heading the convention center was exactly the type of position he was hoping for as the city continues to rebuild.

"It's certainly challenging," Johnson said. "I don't want this to sound like a cliché, but for me, it's become a mission of love, really."

Nine candidates were in the running for the position after a nationwide search for Fore's replacement began at the end of March, said Warren L. Reuther, chairman of the Ernest N. Morial Exhibition Hall Authority, the board that oversees the convention center.

Johnson's background — in New Orleans and at SMG's corporate offices in Philadelphia — set him apart from the other eight, Reuther said.

"He has a lot of experience in convention facility management and a lot of experience with stadiums," Reuther said. "He knows New Orleans; he lives in New Orleans."

At SMG, Johnson coordinated pre-opening services for facilities that were in design or under construction. That's especially helpful for New Orleans because of the recent convention center board vote to cancel a previously planned expansion and focus instead on funding improvements to the current space intended to attract more corporate and executive conferences.

"That's what I was doing at SMG corporate," Johnson said.

"I think we ended up with the best candidate," Reuther said.

Johnson said the core business of the convention center is citywide conventions and tradeshows, but because of Katrina's devastation and the rebuilding in the city, the center's going to fill vacancies in the building with those new events.

"The long-term goal is to regain that occupancy rate that New Orleans enjoyed," he added.

Johnson's move made sense to one of his former colleagues at SMG.

"He's a strong, strong manager, a strong executive and really understands the inner workings of facilities," said Gregg Caren, senior vice president of strategic business development at SMG. "I think it made a lot of sense for him to pursue it."

Johnson said that two years after the hurricane hit in September 2005, he's struck by how normal much of New Orleans looks now. Some areas of the city are still being rebuilt, but for convention attendees, most of the city will look the same as it did before Katrina — including the convention center.

"We are very fortunate to have him," Reuther said.