Mardeen Mattix, a 28-year veteran of the San Diego Convention Center, has been chosen as the new chief executive of the bayfront facility following a nationwide search to replace its departing leader.
Most recently serving as deputy CEO and chief financial officer, Mattix, 50, was selected from what was described as “a highly competitive candidate pool’ that included leaders from across the convention center, tourism, hospitality, and venue management industries.
She replaces Clifford “Rip” Rippetoe, who is retiring after 10 years in the CEO role. Mattix appointment is effective immediately, although Rippetoe, 66, will remain with the center through July 2 to assist with the transition.
Her appointment was made official during a Wednesday board meeting of the Convention Center Corp. Since joining the center in 1998, Mattix has held multiple leadership roles in event management, sales, accounting, ifnance, and executive administration.
Mattix will earn a yearly salary of $427,000, slightly higher than her predecessor’s annual pay of $417,747.
“I’m excited to be the CEO because I feel like my career path here has kind of led me to this point,” Mattix said in an interview. “I’ve been able to work in so many different areas of the convention center and within the industry that with the challenges we’re facing and the opportunities ahead of us, I think I’m the right person at the right time for the next chapter.”
Mattix’s selection comes at a pivotal time for the city’s 37-year-old center, which was last expanded in 2021. While a highly popular center among meeting planners across the nation, it has long suffered from deferred maintenance and faces $400 million in needed repairs and capital improvements over the next two decades.
The city, though, is now moving forward with the first phase of a five-year plan to undertake nearly $120 million worth of urgent repairs to the aging facility, thanks to the passage in 2020 of Measure C, the much litigated initiative that called for a hike in the city’s hotel room tax to pay for a convention center expansion, homelessness services and road repairs.
Key among the center’s needed repairs is a major overhaul of the aging central plant that houses the building’s entire heating and cooling systems. Increasingly, it’s been plagued by system failures that include the boilers and chillers, electrical infrastructure, plumbing and roof leaks.
While Measure C money can be used for such repairs, the primary goal of the initiative was to expand the center, a long-sought civic initiative that has yet to come to pass. Most recently, the City Council dipped into the Measure C revenue to help fund the city’s arts.
“Measure C in my mind is for the future of the building, so I do believe we need to stick to the voter intent, and that is for the expansion of the building, and yes, they are using some of that for modernization, so I do think that that will make somewhat of a dent (in addressing deferred maintenance),” she said. “And not all of that $400 million is due right now, obviously.
“There is a portion of the city TOT (transient occupancy tax) that is supposed to be used for marketing and tourism and economic development of the region, but that money over time has been used more generously for funding the general fund. I would like to see reinvestment from the city back into the economic engine that supports creating the TOT, to fund the existing building needs.”
An expansion of the center, she believes, is still critically needed, even though construction costs have soared since the original project was conceived more than a decade ago. As a result, it’s unlikely the original project could now be funded solely through the higher hotel tax. Not only would the expansion need to be downsized, but the city would also need to find additional funding sources.
“I don’t know how much everything would cost, but I know that there are three critical parts that have to be part of an expansion,” she said. “We have to have exhibit hall space added on. We need to have at least an 80,000-square-foot ballroom, and we need more meeting space.
“We already have so much demand for this convention center, so by having an expansion, not only would we able to keep the larger shows that have already outgrown us but are still trying to find creative ways to be here, but we’d also be able to layer in other business, which would keep the hotels full that would in turn create more TOT for the city and create more jobs for the region.”
Throughout her tenure, Mattix has helped guide the convention center through some of its more challenging moments, including the transformation of the facility into an emergency shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic recovery efforts to restart business after a prolonged period of canceled conventions and trade shows.