By Kathy Bergen and John Byrne | The state legislative panel studying ways to revamp McCormick Place may recommend that an interim “trustee” take the helm for about 18 months while operations at the convention center are restructured, according to sources familiar with negotiations going on in Springfield Wednesday.
Whether the newly-named trustee would replace or work with the existing chief executive officer was unclear, the sources said.
Hispanic business leader Juan Ochoa is the CEO of the Metropolitan Pier
and Exposition Authority, the state-city agency known as McPier that
owns and operates the convention center.
The most likely candidate for a newly-created trustee post is Regional
Transportation Authority Chairman Jim Reilly, who is advising the
legislative panel, sources confirmed. The potential development was
reported earlier today by the Capitol Fax blog.
Such a move would bring Reilly back to familiar territory. He formerly
served as chief executive of McPier, and as head of the Chicago
Convention and Tourism Bureau, which books business at the convention
center.
Ochoa was appointed to the CEO’s post in 2007 by now-ousted Gov. Rod
Blagojevich.
Ill. House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, co-chairs the McPier
joint legislative panel and has expressed a desire for a change in the
agency’s management.
The House-Senate panel on McPier may issue its full set of
recommendations to the General Assembly later this week, and legislative
leaders are aiming for passage of a reform bill before the session ends
early next month.
Mayor Richard Daley said Wednesday he supports a legislative proposal to
separate Navy Pier from McCormick Place, because the two venues are
like “apples and oranges.”
“They’re two different venues, which is good, because Navy Pier
basically has nothing to do with conventions. It’s almost an amusement
and cultural center there, which is really good. So you separate that
out and have McCormick Place deal with conventions,” Daley said.
“Everybody realizes that’s the right thing to do.”
