08/17/2017

Ron King Named General Manager of Huntington Convention Center, Global Center

The industry veteran previously led the team at Dallas' Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center

SMG, the convention center and facility management firm hired by the Cuyahoga County Convention Facilities Development Corporation (CCCFDC) to manage operations for the Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland and the Global Center for Health Innovation, recently named Ron King as the new general manager, effective Sept. 13, 2017.

“Ron has been an outstanding leader of multiple large convention center complexes in Dallas and San Diego, as well as leading SMG’s efforts in Salt Lake City and San Juan,” said Gregg Caren, SMG executive vice president. “Ron brings more than three decades of experience, including opening two separate convention facilities, into a tremendous facility in Cleveland that is a major part of the city’s reemergence as a convention destination.”

King comes to Cleveland after leading the two-million square-foot Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas for the past six years, working directly with the City of Dallas and the Dallas City Council as the executive director for the Convention and Event Services Department for the city of Dallas. King also served as contract administrator for other city-owned facilities and organizations, including the Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Omni Convention Center Hotel, American Airlines Center and Union Station, the city’s transportation hub.

“Attracting a nationally-known convention center general manager like Ron King validates the quality of this facility and Cuyahoga County’s emergence as a major destination for conventions, trade shows, and meetings,” said George Hillow, executive director, CCCFDC. “The CCCFDC board looks forward to working with Ron and the SMG team as we continue to attract major events into the city of Cleveland.”

“Cleveland is one of the nation’s hottest destinations in the convention industry right now and I’m very excited to rejoin the SMG team and work with our partners, including Destination Cleveland, the city of Cleveland, and Cuyahoga County to land major conventions and trade shows in the future,” said King. “Having had the pleasure of opening and expanding two SMG facilities in Salt Lake City and San Juan, I’m ready to bring my enthusiasm and three decades of experience to Cleveland at a time when the community has shown it can attract and successfully host major events such as the 2016 Republican National Convention.”