Center Stage

Editor's Note

I once heard our award-winning Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport described as the city’s welcome mat — often the first impression visitors have when they arrive. Following that analogy, that would make our convention center the foyer — and it’s an impressive one, one of the largest buildings in Louisiana. 

Our city is not huge, so it’s kind of amazing to think that we have a building right in the middle of it that spans about 3 million square feet and we rarely, if ever, step inside it.

In the 13 years I’ve lived here, I can count on one hand how many times I’ve been inside. A few times were for NOLA ChristmasFest with my family — which is celebrating its 10th year this year, and you should go — and the last time was last January, when I was fortunate enough to cover the 71st Miss Universe Pageant for Nola.com. I ended up sitting in the same row as our CEO of the Year, Michael Sawaya, in a night that I struggle to put into words. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but 6,000 screaming, stomping, flag waving people from all over the globe — a good portion dressed in floor-length sequins like they themselves were contestants — caught me completely off guard.

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In the thunderous chaos of the evening, not long before Miss. USA was crowned the winner, I was able to grab a few words with Michael. An extremely affable person, Michael was even more lit up than usual that night as he explained to me what a coup it was for New Orleans to host the pageant, whose social media followers alone numbered more than 23 million people around the globe. The event that night was being watched by approximately 500 million people in 165 countries — and sprinkled into the competition were various clips of contestants enjoying some of our local delicacies and attractions like City Park, The National World War II Museum and Mardi Gras World. It was publicity on a scale that’s hard to match, and it was happening at our convention center — a center whose economic impact is estimated around $2.5 billion a year.   

In our interview, Sawaya explained that what drew him to the job almost six years ago was the fact that not only that culturally is New Orleans a city like nowhere else, it holds possibilities unlike anywhere else not just in the U.S., but in the world. Getting people, groups, events, conventions, to want to come here is not a problem, but under Sawaya’s leadership, we will soon be welcoming them in a way that ensures they’ll want to keep coming back.   

A huge congratulations to Michael Sawaya and this year’s six Biz New Orleans Executives of the Year. It is an honor to share the incredible work you are all doing every day to carry us into a brighter future.

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Thank you for reading and Happy New Year!

 

 

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Kimberley Singletary

Kimberley Singletary, Editor
Kimberley@BizNewOrleans.com

 

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