Carroll R. Armstrong, the head of Baltimore's lagging convention effort, will be replaced amid growing dissatisfaction with his performance, sources said yesterday.
Clarence T. Bishop, chairman of the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association, is expected to step in - at least temporarily - to succeed Armstrong as president and chief executive officer, one source said.
Bishop, who most recently served as the second-ranking executive for the group that headed the region's unsuccessful bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics, has called a special meeting of BACVA's review and evaluation committee today.
The departure of Armstrong, after he headed BACVA for nearly seven years, would come as the association undergoes the first top-to-bottom review of its operations, including staffing and administration.
The review, now nearing completion, was ordered after articles in The Sun in June detailed how the $151 million Convention Center expansion has failed to meet projections for attendance and convention bookings.
"Carroll will step down," said one source with knowledge of the board's discussions. "He's been under fire for several months by a significant number of board members specifically on performance accountability, both in terms of booking and our competitive standing against major, high-performing convention and tourism centers."
The source said Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, who appoints the BACVA board, also is unhappy with Armstrong's performance.
"Carroll is going to be departing in part because of dissatisfaction by board members and the mayor with his performance. I know that leaving was the furthest thing from his mind," a source said.
The mayor declined several requests for interviews, but a spokesman, Gerry Shields, said yesterday, "The mayor has yet to meet with the auditor nor has he met with Mr. Armstrong about the audit."
While the timing of Armstrong's departure could not be determined yesterday, another source said, "Clarence [Bishop] is going to take over on an interim basis."
Armstrong, who is in San Diego on business, did not return repeated phone calls.
Bishop declined to acknowledge today's meeting. When asked about Armstrong's departure, he said: "There is no letter of resignation before me. I do not have anything before me, and I won't speculate on anything that serious."
Shortfall reported
The Sun reported last summer that instead of the 50 conventions a year projected by a 1993 feasibility study, the Convention Center has attracted a high of 41 conventions and a low of 26.
Combined attendance at trade shows and conventions - the most critical areas - also never reached the 330,000 projected. Attendance has ranged from a low of 192,625 in fiscal year 1999 to a peak of 234,394 in fiscal 2001, just 1,000 more than the number a decade earlier.
The expansion had been expected to propel Baltimore to the front tier of convention cities, allowing it to compete for meetings that had been beyond its grasp. But, The Sun reported, the convention center's advance bookings were low, dipping to only six in 2007.
In his Nov. 15 notice to board members calling today's meeting, Bishop indicated that the review's findings were critical.
"In the course of the review and evaluation, an issue has arisen that requires the steering committee's full and immediate attention to resolve before next week's end," Bishop said. He also advised attendees to keep tomorrow afternoon in reserve because the matter could require an additional day.
Review 'not positive'
Consultants from Performance Management Inc. of Stamford, Conn., the firm conducting the review, have spent weeks assessing BACVA's performance and have interviewed BACVA staff, board members and others in the industry. Their report is due to be completed by Dec. 9.
"The review is not positive," said one source. "We are an underperforming convention and visitors association."
Another source close to the review said a consensus among many in the tourism industry is that "Carroll has to go."
O'Malley specifically had asked that the evaluation include an audit of room-nights and an analysis of BACVA's contribution to convention bookings since the Convention Center's expansion. He also asked for a review of BACVA's marketing spending and an examination of how potential conventions are targeted.
New numbers obtained by The Sun show that BACVA continues to miss sales goals by a wide margin.
According to a recent BACVA report for the July-September quarter, hotel nights booked by BACVA met only 25 percent of its sales goal and fell by more than half, to 40,333 nights, from the same quarter of the previous year. BACVA's sales goal was 158,750.
Last month, BACVA officials announced a plan to focus on attracting small groups and leisure travelers over the next 18 months as the city's hospitality industry copes with a downturn in business travel.
Specifically targeted will be smaller regional, association and corporate meetings within a five- to six-hour driving distance that haven't committed themselves to sites for next year through 2005, BACVA officials said during an annual presentation of their marketing plan to members.
Also, competition will stiffen with convention centers - all bigger than Baltimore's - set to open in Washington, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Boston in the next three years, Armstrong said at that meeting.
Convention hotel
Armstrong's pending departure also coincides with a new proposal for a 750-room headquarters hotel adjacent to the convention center - a project that Armstrong has long sought. For years, Armstrong has said that without a headquarters hotel next door Baltimore cannot compete for key convention business.
Developer Robert L. Johnson - the billionaire founder of Black Entertainment Television - and partner Robert M. Gladstone, chairman of Quadrangle Development Corp. of Washington, submitted an unsolicited proposal to the city to build a 24-story hotel on the north side of Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
Armstrong, 57, grew up in Baltimore and began his career in the convention business as sales manager for the new Baltimore Convention Center in 1978. He also worked in executive positions at the New Orleans and Washington convention centers.
Former colleagues have credited him with playing a vital role in the success of convention centers in his positions as national sales manager at the Washington convention bureau and marketing director for convention centers in New Orleans and San Diego. In each of those cities, he oversaw the opening of new convention centers and developed aggressive marketing plans for them.
He came to Baltimore in 1996, from a position as the San Diego center's marketing director, finishing ahead of more than 100 other applicants for the job. He was awarded a three-year contract for the post, which then paid $120,000 a year. As of July 2002, his salary was $180,000, according to BACVA officials. That contract expires in 2004.
Armstrong arrived at a critical time for BACVA, which had been dogged by controversy since former Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke ousted its governing board in the midst of the expansion that doubled the Convention Center's size.
The association also had weathered a blow to its reputation among meeting planners nationwide - who book $50 billion in conventions a year - because of the ugly battle in which the mayor slashed $400,000 from BACVA's budget. The agency had been without a permanent director for more than nine months.
Bishop and Olympics
O'Malley named Bishop BACVA chairman in March. At the time, he had spent three years in a full-time position as co-leader of the ultimately unsuccessful effort to bring the 2012 Olympic Games to the Baltimore-Washington area. That group was disbanded after the region was eliminated as a contender Aug. 27.
Prior to the Olympic post, Bishop worked with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, where he held several management positions and oversaw daily operations for the $52 million independent federal regulatory agency.
He also worked as an executive assistant for operations for Baltimore and as chief of staff for two congressmen, including former Rep. Parren J. Mitchell of Baltimore.
Bishop holds a master's degree in urban planning and public policy analysis and a bachelor of science in mathematics, both from Morgan State University.