Leonie Patrick
General Manager | Moscone Center
Leonie Patrick’s work at the ASM Global-run Moscone Center in San Francisco is impressive by any measure, but especially when it comes to helping keep the City by the Bay in as positive a light as possible while making an impressive economic impact.
As the 42-year-old Moscone Center’s general manager, a post she’s held since March 2023 after spending 21 years in the convention sales department at San Francisco Travel, the city’s destination management organization, Patrick notched a few successes in the last year.
The convention center, with its ASM-owned Savor concessionaire, generated more than $20 million in food and beverage revenue in 30 days, a monthly record for the center, with total annual F&B revenue topping $51 million, a post-pandemic high.
That run started with a Google convention in late August, followed by Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference, then a small group called Disrupt and finally Workday Rising. In all, the Moscone Center did 13 conferences from mid-August until November’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, where Chinese President Xi Jinping held a meeting with President Joe Biden.
“The Department of State and the White House selected Moscone Center to hold the APEC Leaders’ Week, where world leaders from 21 Pacific Rim economies gathered to discuss and promote economic trade in the region,” Patrick said of the event. “Our city and venue exceeded expectations for the client and it was a resounding success for the U.S. government.”
Patrick believes women have made strides in the live entertainment business and she’d like to see more women of color in leadership positions, calling it “a huge opportunity.”
Her own opportunities were fostered by mentors, not the least of whom was her mother, Fumi.
“She had a quiet wisdom, listened intently, lived passionately and gave her opinion freely to those closest to her,” Patrick said. “After spending over three years in a Japanese concentration camp in Heart Mountain, Wyoming, she left at the age of 17, by herself, to cross the country to Boston, ‘the Cradle of Liberty.’ She rarely complained about this injustice and moved on. She graduated from college at the age of 71, summa com laude, with a passion for language, mastering Japanese and French and learning seven others.”
Patrick is looking forward to the city hosting the NBA All-Star Game in 2025 and Levi’s Stadium in nearby Santa Clara hosting the Super Bowl in 2026.