Convention bureau will undergo change at top

Tom Muldoon has been a driving force of the convention and hospitality industry in Philadelphia for 25 years.

But the well-known, affable president and chief executive of the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau is stepping down - retiring - at the end of next year, the bureau's board of directors announced yesterday.

Muldoon's successor, in what the board terms a long-term planned transition, will be Jack Ferguson, the No. 2 honcho at the convention bureau and executive vice president of sales and services.

Muldoon, 69, will stay through the completion of the $786 million Convention Center expansion, which is now under way. Ferguson, 61, will take over in 2011 as the larger convention center opens.

"It will be a seamless transition," said Nick DeBenedictis, chairman of the bureau's board, which will conduct a national search for a new head of sales and services.

Muldoon is inextricably associated with tourism in Philadelphia. He advocated for building the Convention Center in the early 1990s, and later lobbied tirelessly for the expansion.

"Tom probably has more longevity than any convention bureau president in the country," said DeBenedictis. "Mayors come and go. Governors come and go. Tom has been such a steady hand. Tom is Mr. Outside, the face talking to the politicians and the policy leaders."

DeBenedictis said Ferguson is a trusted, experienced, and respected successor.

"If you want to know mechanically how we are doing - how many conventions are we booking, did we get the right message out to the group coming in three years - that's all Jack," DeBenedictis said.

Ferguson, a Philadelphia native, joined the visitors bureau in 2003. He has worked 40 years in the hospitality industry. Under his direction, the bureau books nearly $1 billion in convention business annually.

The Convention & Visitors Bureau has 64 employees and a $12.7 million annual budget. The bulk of those funds come from a Philadelphia hotel-room tax.

Muldoon, who hails from Brooklyn, N.Y., said that for the next 14 months he will continue "to do exactly what I'm doing. And Jack will continue to do what he's doing."

In the first six months of 2011, Muldoon said, he will provide "an extra pair of hands" and "do everything possible to help Jack."

The reason for announcing the leadership transition now is to let customers and staff "know who's in charge and how this is going to work," he said. "This is all aimed at making that Convention Center more successful. We only have one goal, and that's to book business."

"If I had my way, I'd probably work until 80," said Muldoon, who managed hotels for 22 years before joining the bureau in February 1985. "But the reality is by the time I finish here in 2011, I'll be almost 71."