Jay Green, Phoenix Convention Center Director, Retiring

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. April 08, 2009

PHOENIX, AZ, April 3, 2009 - Phoenix Convention Center Director Jay Green announces his retirement after managing staff and operations for the Convention Center and Venues since 2001. During his tenure, the Phoenix Convention Center completed a $600 million expansion, which increased the size of the facility to 880,000 square feet of rentable exhibit and meeting room space. Under Green's leadership, the Phoenix Convention Center was the official NFL Super Bowl XLII media headquarters, host of the NBA All Star Jam Session and several large events including the Rock n' Roll Marathon expos that drew more than 25,000 attendees at each event.

Green announced his retirement to staff, stating that after eight years and the completion of the expansion project, the time is right for him to retire effective April 30.

"When Jay assumed leadership of the Phoenix Civic Plaza he was charged with overseeing the expansion project and taking the facility to the next level by making it more competitive," said Deputy City Manager David Krietor. "He not only accomplished but exceeded his goals by managing the facility transition into the Phoenix Convention Center, a state-of-the-art premier conference venue."

Green's career spans more than 33 years within the public assembly facility management industry. Throughout his career, he has managed six facilities including the Phoenix Convention Center; Reno Sparks Convention Center, Reno, Nevada; the Northwest Expo Center, Seattle, Washington; Canadian Airlines Saddledome, Calgary, Canada; Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, Washington; and the Kingdome Stadium in County of King, Seattle, Washington. He is a member of the International Association of Assembly Managers (IAAM) and served as District Vice President on the IAAM Board of Directors as well as on several IAAM national committees. Green was Board of Regents President and an instructor at the prestigious IAAM Public Assembly Facility Management School in Oglebay, West Virginia for 15 years.

Green came to the Phoenix Convention Center in 2001 after the city of Phoenix conducted a national search for a new director. Prior to working for Phoenix, he was the general manager of the Reno-Sparks Convention Center in Reno, Nevada where he was responsible for the operation of the 261,000 convention complex. Green is a Certified Facilities Executive and has a Masters of Business Administration degree from the University of Washington and a Bachelor's of Arts degree from the College of Idaho.

Upon retirement, Green plans to relocate to the northwest, golf, travel and spend quality time with his family and close friends.

John Chan will become the interim director of the Phoenix Convention Center on May 1. Chan began with the city's Economic Development Department in 1992 and has since been involved in a variety of city initiatives including community development programs, economic development and downtown redevelopment. He assisted more than 180 companies in relocating or expanding to Phoenix, creating more than 35,000 new jobs. He became Director of the Downtown Development Office in 2006 and has been responsible for overseeing projects such as the development of the ASU Downtown Phoenix Campus, planning and development of the Phoenix Biomedical Campus including the U of A College of Medicine and construction of the Sheraton Hotel, among other projects.