Category: Awards

We’re happy to announce 2020’s honorees: Rick Abramson, Jimmy Earl and Carol Wallace.

A New Direction What seemed like a move toward retirement for Carol Wallace was just another door opening Starting a consultancy and easing into semi-retirement after 35 years of venues industry service appears to have been one of those best-laid plans that went a bit astray for former San Diego Convention Center Corp. President and CEO Carol Wallace. Now president and CEO of San Diego Theatres Inc., the nonprofit entity that runs the San Diego Civic Theatre and Balboa Theatre, Wallace was still with the SDCC and owned an impressive resume in 2012 when some of the center’s sales and marketing functions were shifted to the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau and moves to expand the center stalled.  Wallace started Carol Wallace & Associates, which offers consulting services in the areas of venue management, marketing and communications, staffing, facility development and expansion. The San Diego Convention Center, it turns out, […]

All With a Smile The always smooth Jimmy Earl helped make Austin arena a concert magnet Jimmy Earl is among the last of a vanishing breed, a self-made arena manager. His early training came on the job, supported by continuing education through groups such as the International Association of Venue Managers. Earl retired this fall after spending close to 40 years running the Frank C. Erwin Jr. Special Events Center, the University of Texas’ on-campus arena. The 16,734-seat home of Texas men’s and women’s basketball also stands as a lucrative concert venue.  He made a brief pit stop running the Fort Worth Convention Center from 1987 to 1990 before returning to Erwin Center after John Graham took over as director. Earl assumed his same position, senior associate director, before taking over for Graham as director after he retired in 2017. In Austin, considering UT is building the new $340 million Moody […]