Dennis to help communciate space challenges during expansion campaign

Dean Dennis

Global Spectrum, operators of the Pueblo Convention Center, along with the City of Pueblo, yesterday introduced the new General Manager of the Pueblo Convention Center. Dean Dennis, the Pueblo Convention Center’s first general manager and Global Spectrum’s Vice President of Business Development and Client Relations, has returned to Pueblo to manage the facility he helped first open in 1997.

Gary Trujillo, chairman of the Urban Renewal Authority of Pueblo (URAP), the committee which has contracted Global Spectrum to manage the 21,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, said he’s pleased to have Dennis back and overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Pueblo Convention Center.

“He not only successfully managed the facility, but played an important role in planning the convention center and seeing it come to fruition,” said Trujillo. “Dean was a positive influence in the past, and we feel he’ll have a positive impact during the expansion campaign and in the future.”

John Page, Global Spectrum chief operation officer, said he’s confident Dennis will continue to be successful in Pueblo.

“Dean helped put the Pueblo Convention Center on the map,” said Page. “We’re fortunate that he has decided to relocate back to Pueblo and know that he’ll continue to positively impact Pueblo by garnering new events and ultimately leading the charge for expansion.”

The City of Pueblo is asking voters this November for permission to use the city’s sales tax vendors fee to fund the expansion of the convention center. The vendors fee is money retained from retail merchants for collecting city’s sales tax. The expansion would provide additional space to attract new events and additional conventions.

“The coming year is critical as we look to expand the center to create more opportunities,” said Dennis at yesterday morning’s press conference. “As I look at the business the convention center has and the business that’s been lost, it is clear that the next step is to expand.”

Prior to working as General Manger of the Pueblo Convention, Dennis worked as Vice President of the Convention and Visitors Council for the Greater Pueblo Chamber of Commerce from 1992 to 1997 before leaving to become the General Manger of the Pueblo Convention Center for Globe Facility Services in 1997. A post he held until 2001 when he was promoted within the Global-Spectrum family to develop new business in North America.

Dennis has more than 15 years of industry experience, including time served as board member of the Colorado Travel & Tourism Authority and as president of the Tourism Industry Association of Colorado. Dennis graduated from Public Assembly Management School at Oglebay in 1998 and was named Global Spectrum’s General Manager of the Year in 2000.

Born in South Dakota and raised in Center Colorado, Dennis later came to Pueblo to attend the University of Southern Colorado before entering the tourism industry with the Greater Pueblo Chamber.

“It’s good to be home,” said Dennis, who will continue to work as Global’s Spectrum’s VP of business development while managing the facility. “It is truly a privilege to have an opportunity to come home after all these years and re-take the reigns as Global Spectrum’s general manager of the Pueblo Convention Center. I step back into this position with the confidence that we are ready to bring a wide variety of events and groups to the Pueblo Community.”

The Pueblo Convention Center is located in the heart of downtown Pueblo and is the site of the “Home of Heroes” Memorial Plaza. The facility is managed by Global Spectrum (global-spectrum.com), the fastest growing firm in the public assembly facility management field with more than 70 facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

The Philadelphia-based company is part of one of the world’s largest sports and entertainment companies, Comcast-Spectacor, which also owns the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association, the Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League, Flyers Skate Zone, a series of community ice skating rinks, Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, a regional sports programming network, Ovations Food Services, a food and beverage services provider, New Era Tickets, a full-service ticketing and marketing product for public assembly facilities, and Front Row Marketing Services, a commercial rights sales company and 3601 Creative Group, a full-service in-house advertising agency. In a partnership with Disson Skating, Comcast-Spectacor annually produces 10 nationally televised figure skating spectaculars on NBC.


For more information about the Pueblo Convention Center’s new general manager, contact Jessi Pospahala Ones at 719-583-4962.

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Wednesday, July 02, 2008