Former Monrovia City Manager Confirmed as Head of LA Convention Center

This story was written by City News Service and posted by Nathan McIntire

The Los Angeles City Council unanimously confirmed Robert "Bud" Ovrom as the permanent executive director of the Los Angeles Convention Center today. Ovrom, who already was serving as the temporary director of the event venue, would keep the $230,536 annual salary he received as Building & Safety General Manager, his former post.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who recommended Ovrom for the job, is expected to sign off on the appointment. Ovrom would be overseeing dramatic changes at the convention center, including ones that involve the continuation of a close relationship with developer Anschutz Entertainment Group.

With city leaders looking to get more use and revenue out of the aging and cramped Convention Center, Ovrom has promised to add 4,000 hotel rooms around the venue and expand the convention space to a million square feet from the existing 720,000 square feet.

Ovrom will also be charged with guiding the privatization of the Convention Center, a path proposed last year after the venue was found to have been running at a deficit. He will be involved in contract talks with AEG, which recently won a bid to operate the Convention Center.

The contract with AEG still requires approval by the City Council and the mayor's signature, while a bidder that was not recommended for the job, SMG, has formally challenged AEG's qualifications and alleged preferential treatment by city officials.

Some city leaders are also considering a back-up plan in case AEG's other agreement with the city to build a 76,000-seat football stadium and renovate the convention center falls through -- a possibility after the entertainment company missed a deadline to identify a football team that could relocate to Los Angeles.

When the development agreement with AEG was approved by City Council last September, hopes were buoyed that the Convention Center, which officials say is under-utilized and has in recent years lost out on lucrative bookings, would be upgraded along with the construction of a $1.1 billion football stadium in downtown Los Angeles. Ovrom last month began circulating a tentative "action plan" in which he stated the convention center's focus is still on providing "needed support to AEG, the City Council and the mayor to achieve the primary goal of bringing a stadium/NFL team to the site of LACC's current West Hall."

"Indeed, not only should the city fully honor its contractual obligation to AEG, it is the recommendation of this report that the city should also use its considerable political and economic influence to oppose any other possible NFL location anywhere in L.A. County, other than at the Convention Center site," according to the plan.

Other efforts to bring a football team back to Los Angeles involve stadium projects in the City of Industry and at Chavez Ravine, near Dodger Stadium. Ovrom's plan also floated a 250,000 square feet "new hall" to expand space at the venue, and the possibility of having the UCLA football team play at the planned downtown football stadium.

Also included in his report are plans to bring in a professional soccer team and stadium, work with Universal Studios to market a new Harry Potter theme park, and promote waterfront attractions at the port.

Ovrom is additionally expected to take on "broader tourism police" and work closely with the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board, according to Villaraigosa aide Vicki Curry. Ovrom was a deputy mayor for economic development during Villaraigosa's first term, overseeing the convention center and tourism projects such as L.A. Live and the W Hollywood hotel.

Under Mayor James Hahn, Ovrom was CEO of the now-defunct Community Redevelopment Agency. Before that, he was city manager for Burbank for 18 years and served shorter stints as the city manager of Downey and Monrovia. Ovrom succeeds Pouria Abbassi, who resigned last year to lead Phoenix House, an organization that provides drug rehabilitation services.