Morial Center Welcomes Safety+ Attendees, New Safety Director
Attendees and exhibitors at VPPPA's annual national conference are meeting inside the sixth largest U.S. convention facility, which recently hired a new director for its Public Safety Department.
VPPPA's Safety+ expo fills two halls of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, making it one of the largest annual exhibitions for this industry.
The convention center boasts 1.1 million square feet of contiguous exhibit space and ranks as the sixth largest convention facility in the country, according to information available on its website.
Two weeks ago, on Aug. 16, the convention center announced that Mark Kaufman has been named to head its Public Safety Department. Kaufman had been vice president of operations for AEG Facilities in Oakland, Calif., previously. The Morial department has a staff of 73 public safety officers and administrative personnel; as its director, Kaufman is responsible for implementing security measures inside the facility, which hosted more than 128 events and nearly 800,000 visitors during 2016.
The Morial facility is scheduled to host this conference again in August 2019. The convention center recently installed a rooftop garden, collaborating with Instar Farm. The garden will provide freshly picked vegetables and herbs to Centerplate, which is the convention center's food and beverage provider.