Greater Columbus Convention Center Announces Promotions of Amy Huggins and Lea Westerfield

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Greater Columbus Convention Center Announces Promotions of Amy Huggins and Lea Westerfield

2/21/2019
The SMG-managed Greater Columbus Convention Center (GCCC) is pleased to announce the promotion of Amy Huggins to director of culture & training and Lea Westerfield to guest experience manager.

In this new role for the GCCC, Huggins will be responsible for establishing, implementing and overseeing a customized, best-in-class, convention-focused, exclusive training program for all GCCC employees, merchants and facility contractor partners, including Levy, Mills James, Fern and Smart City. Her role is designed to enhance the GCCC’s culture, propel improvement and set a higher standard of excellence for the facility.

Hired in 2000 as an event coordinator, Huggins progressively then held assignments as event services manager, quality control services manager and senior customer & guest experience manager. A graduate of the University of Dayton, Huggins achieved Certified Meeting Professional and Certified Tourism Ambassador (CTA) credentials. A facilitator for CTA training classes, she was chosen to receive the 6th Annual Tourism Ambassador Institute (TAI) CTA of the Year Star Award from among 13,000 eligible CTAs and the first Greater Columbus CTA Star Award from Experience Columbus, the city’s destination marketing organization.

Westerfield will lead the customer and guest experience programs at the facility, including oversight of the multiple Guest Services Centers and mobile locations within the venue and the ambassador and art docent teams. She will cultivate their expertise to assist in ensuring complete guest satisfaction for all visitors to the facility and implementation of world-class customer services standards within the facility.

Westerfield joined the GCCC three years ago and previously served as the GCCC’s guest experience coordinator responsible for coordinating the ambassador team.

Her additional assignments prior to joining the GCCC included employment with Steiner & Associates, where she was responsible for building the guest services team at Easton Town Center. She created the program that was successfully adopted as a template for other Steiner-managed mall properties, including Greene Town Center in Beavercreek, where she was guest services manager. Westerfield was also the special events liaison at the Dayton Art Institute.

“I am very pleased to announce the promotion of these two key members of our team,” said GCCC General Manager John Page. “I am very proud of Amy and Lea and look forward to working with them both more closely in their new roles.”

The award-winning 1.8-million-square-foot Greater Columbus Convention Center is owned and developed by the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority and managed by SMG. The GCCC offers 373,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit hall space, 75 meeting rooms and three ballrooms with a total of 114,00 square feet. The facility is the home of the first indoor, vertical, LED-illuminated hydroponic Smartfarm within a convention center and the largest contemporary collection of central Ohio art, including the popular As We Are interactive sculpture.

Founded in 1977, SMG provides management services to 243 public assembly facilities including convention and exhibition centers, arenas, stadiums, theaters, performing arts centers, equestrian facilities, science centers and a variety of other venues. With facilities across the globe, SMG manages more than 19 million square feet of exhibition space and more than 1.5 million sports and entertainment seats. As the recognized global industry leader, SMG provides venue management, sales, marketing, event booking and programming, construction and design consulting, and pre-opening services for such landmark facilities as McCormick Place & Soldier Field in Chicago, Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, Houston’s NRG Park and the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. SMG also offers food and beverage operations through its concessions and catering companies, currently serving more than 140 accounts worldwide.

Visit www.columbusconventions.com and www.smgworld.com for more information.

Contact:
jdavis@columbusconventions.com