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After a rigorous screening and interview process, the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority’s (MCCA) Board of Directors voted to make an employment offer to Marcel Vernon Sr. to become their next chief executive.
Vernon Sr. and Hootan Kaboli were the final two candidates who had an open meeting interview with the Board of Directors today.
The process was intensive, as a group of community leaders called into question the MCCA’s process for identifying an executive director, which fell on the heels of a yearlong process to revamp the MCCA after accusations of racism.
A 2023 independent report, commissioned by the Authority and produced by the law firm Prince Lobel, found multiple issues that continued to plague the MCCA, which included the fact that, since 2019, no Black and Hispanic employees served in senior leadership roles and were denied chances to move up in the organization, and “management did not make it a priority to address these concerning demographic trends, either through the development of employees from underrepresented groups or diversifying/expanding its recruiting efforts.”
Boston Convention and Exhibition Center PHOTO: GENERALTSO
After the report was released, the MCCA committed to moving forward with a goal of transparency in its search for its new chief executive.
Board member Sheena Collier gave an overview of the process, which included partnering with Koya Partners, who spoke to the senior leadership of the MCCA, along with conducting town halls and speaking with numerous stakeholders throughout the state.
From those discussions, Collier said that the team was able to come up with competencies that shaped both the job description and the questions they asked throughout the process, which were “passion for the mission, a people centric leader, relationship builder and skilled communicator, industry knowledge, champion for diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging and accessibility, and a strategic and visionary leader.”
Once this was established, she said that they formally put out the job description into the market in early June, reaching out to over 200 contacts — both who applied and were recommended for the job position — making sure to have a range of representations of different types of candidate profiles.
Some candidates had previous experience at convention centers, while other candidates had outside leadership experiences that showed how they were prepared for this type of leadership position.
Collier also gave data on the candidates for this leadership position: 49% were people of color, 29% identified as transgender/non-binary, 21% did not disclose their race or ethnicity, and 25% did not disclose gender identity.
“I will just say really good for the Koya team, who really made sure that we had a very thorough process, even sometimes to the maybe chagrin of the chair and co-chair, at the pace that sometimes it required, but they did really make sure that we were doing things to make sure that this was an equitable process, including doing the dialog session with the executive/selection committee first and then with the full board about how you conduct an inclusive and equitable search, just to make sure that we could talk … upfront about biases that might come up throughout the process,” she said.
With 30 years of experience in leadership as a chief financial officer, Vernon said that he had the opportunity to spend a vast amount of time working domestically and internationally for both non-profit organizations and for-profit organizations where he honed his skills.
He also shared that he believes this position is a perfect fit for him, due to his professional experience working in the casino industry.
“I’ve spent an extent of my career working in the casino industry. I focused on guest service experiences that require high volumes of revenue generation, but when working in those spaces, what was critical was to ensure not only that the guests received proper guest service, but the employees were happy,” Vernon said.
Within the Commonwealth, he has managed $29 billion for the Department of Revenue, working with the average pass collection procedures for cannabis. Because of his work, he was able to move into the trial court to help them devise new structures in the financial space. In particular, he was able to implement new budgetary procedures.
Lastly, he shared that he has many relationships within the state since moving here in 2013, such as being active with the group Men Organizing for Support and Strength in Dorchester, which shares the objective and mission of economic growth.
“I think one of the key focuses that needs to continue is certainly investment: internal investment and external investment. I think we need to continue to expose the world to what we have here and the opportunities that can help us to drive tax revenues amongst community engagement, amongst other things. … I can leverage my experiences. I think I can leverage my relationships, and to continue to do my part to serve,” Vernon said.
Dr. Aisha Miller shared how she intentionally made sure that the people who work at the convention center were at the center of her decision to vote for Vernon.
“From the time I took on the responsibility, thinking about the people that cook the food, that keep this building clean. The day I started, they met me at the stairway escalator at the convention center and they looked me in my face and said, ‘I now feel hopeful … that you’re going to be the catalyst for change,’” she said. “Marcel, to me, is going to bring unity back to this convention center.”
The next steps of the process will be reaching out to Vernon about the future of this employment.
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