Walker Resigns From Washington Authority

Reba Pittman Walker, the general manager and CEO of the Washington Convention Center Authority, which oversees the Walter E. Washington (D.C.) Convention Center, said she was resigning her post effective May 30 citing “personal reasons.” Walker has been with the authority since January 2006.

“She said to us she had some personal issues she wanted to address,” said Beverly Perry, WCCA's chairwoman of the board. The top job at the authority is a demanding one, Perry added, so when Walker asked to step down they “wanted to fulfill her wishes.”

Perry said the authority intended to fill the post before Walker departs at the end of May, and at least one board member, Gregory O'Dell, CEO of the D.C. Sports & Entertainment Commission, has expressed interest in taking over the role.

Walker said of her tenure, “I have great enthusiasm for the people who make hospitality Washington, D.C.'s largest and most important private-sector business, and I have enjoyed making a positive contribution to the district and the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.”

Perry called local press reports “absolutely false” that said Walker's resignation was in response to tension between Walker and D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty's office.

Whatever the reason for Walker's sudden resignation, the job most likely became all the more demanding in the past few years as the Washington CC has struggled to keep up with competitors.

The center doesn't have an anchor hotel, though plans are on the table for one, and it also has had to contend with another option close to the nation's capital that opened its doors on April 25 – the Gaylord Natl. Resort & Convention Center in Natl. Harbor, Md., which has 2,000 hotel rooms and 180,000 square feet of exhibit space.

An anchor hotel next to the Washington CC has been in the works for the last few years, and in the fall a memorandum of agreement was signed by the city, the WCCA and a development group headed by Marriott, according to the authority. The project is expected to break ground in 2009 and have a three-year construction period. “This is a large and complex public-private project, and time has had to be taken to develop a business model and conceptual design that met not only Marriott's needs, but also those of all the District's stakeholders,” authority officials said.

Perry said the project was moving forward, and there would be approximately 1,100 rooms when the hotel was completed.

In the meantime, with Gaylord and all of its rooms nearby, she added, “I don't think (Gaylord) has been a factor yet.”

Bill Hanbury, president and CEO of Destination D.C., the district's bureau, said, “Many of the groups that meet at our convention center wouldn't consider Gaylord because they're too large for the space, or they want to be closer to Capitol Hill and D.C.'s vibrant downtown.”

And he may be right.

In the 2008 Tradeshow Week 200, Washington, D.C., showed up on the list as the 10th-ranked city with five shows including the No. 99-ranked Assn. of the United States Annual Meeting & Exposition that had a 250,000 net sq. ft. showfloor and close to 20,000 attendees at its 2007 event.

Even so, Hanbury still recognizes there will inevitably be some overlap between the Washington CC and Gaylord. “Many of the meetings Gaylord will pursue are too small to fit the citywide parameters for the (Washington CC),” he said. “However, when it comes to short-term corporate business, some competition will occur naturally between the facilities.”