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December 15, 2009 - Northington Named Executive Director of Hurst Conference Center
For Immediate Release: Dec. 15, 2009
Contact: Tammy Koolbeck 319-929-5755
Venuworks has selected Charlton W. Northington as the Executive Director for the Hurst Conference Center in Hurst, Texas. Construction of the 51,000 square foot facility is scheduled to be completed in September 2010. VenuWorks of Ames, Iowa, will manage the building.
Northington has been in facility management and entertainment industries since 1992. He comes to Hurst from the Reno-Sparks (Nev.) Convention Center, where he was general manager. He is from Lubbock, Texas, and received bachelors and masters degrees from Texas Tech.
"It was very important for us to find an executive director who was experienced and knowledgeable in the conference and meetings industry," VenuWorks President Steve Peters said. "In Charlton, we believe we have found that person. He came to us well recommended from his previous posts with a reputation as a person that gets things done. That is very important in developing a new facility of this magnitude."
The facility is an upscale conference center. It will contain a 14,000 foot ballroom, with divisible areas as small as 900 feet, six meeting rooms totaling 5,700 square feet, and a full-service kitchen. As part of the project, there will be 400 covered parking spaces below the facility and in an attached parking deck.
"With the hiring of Charlton, we are excited to begin booking events and working with local businesses to grow the meetings business in Hurst," Hurst City Manager Allan Weegar said. "VenuWorks completed a regional and national search for this position and found a Texan native. Our staff looks forward to working with him."
Hurst is one the earlier suburbs that developed in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. An early boom town, Hurst developed the Transforming Hurst project that has as its centerpiece the Hurst Conference Center. The project has received critical praise from area media outlets. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, in an editorial, opined the following:
"Cities can't make redevelopment happen. Landowners and commercial developers do that. But cities can do a lot by coming up with the right ideas and making it as easy as possible for those ideas to become reality. Hurst leaders are doing that, and that's a good thing."
Northington will begin work on January 4, 2010.
"This is a great opportunity to work for an outstanding organization." Northington said. "I am excited to get to work and make this the facility the city has envisioned."
BACKGROUND
VenuWorks is well known for its success in providing full management services for arenas, theaters, and convention centers, which are primarily under the governance of municipalities, counties, colleges, and universities. VenuWorks, headquartered in Ames, Iowa, serves 33 facilities in 17 communities in 11 states. It also manages food and beverage operations and provides event booking and promotion services. VenuWorks also performs feasibility studies and consulting work for clients with existing and prospective public assembly facilities.
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