HOT SPRINGS -- Gordon Mahoney, Visit Hot Springs' chief operating officer, is retiring Dec. 27 from his duties with the Hot Springs Convention Center after 21 years, and from a 30-year partnership with Steve Arrison, Visit Hot Springs CEO.
"I started in September 1998," Mahoney said. "I had been working for Arrison for about seven or eight years before that and he came over here and his skill set and my skill set are entirely different. He's a marketing guy and I'm a nuts-and-bolts guy, so I followed him over here. He wanted me to take over the building side of things and I did. We've been together for 30 years. Gosh, I would say we make a good team."
Arrison said when he was hired the completion of the convention center was underway, and he realized he needed to hire Mahoney or else he would be in trouble.
He said he and Mahoney make a great team because where his skills are weak, Mahoney's are strong, and vice versa.
"I'm happy for him and sad for us," Arrison said. "Anything that has been accomplished here you have to give Gordon credit."
Mahoney said the convention center, which was more like a civic center when he started, went from a 70,000-square-foot facility to a 200,000-square-foot facility.
"It went from a very small operation to a very large operation," he said. "Getting that up and running, staffed properly and staff trained, it was basically like opening a new building where there hadn't been one before. It was a lot of fun, it really was."
Shortly after the expansion was complete, the arena was added to the convention center in 2003.
"The arena allows us to book a lot of sporting events we just couldn't handle before. We can do basketball, we can do volleyball, we can do pickleball now, small concerts, and that type of thing. We use it for graduations as well. Before, we could do some of those events, but it tied up the exhibit hall," Mahoney said.
"Our mission [is] to bring visitors into Hot Springs, so it allows us to continue our regular conventions as well as a basketball or concert or whatever at the same time. And it expanded our size of trade shows we can do."
Aside from the arena, Mahoney said other landmarks in his career include enduring the Y2K problem, consistently adhering to Americans With Disabilities Act requirements and combating the issue of a possible active shooter.
"Going through the Y2K [a projected computer problem worldwide on Jan. 1, 2000], that was interesting. It wasn't as big of a deal as we thought it would be. When we changed to the year 2000, everyone thought the computers were going to lock up and the world was going to end. Anticlimactic, maybe," Mahoney said.
He said addressing the seating requirements to meet Americans With Disabilities Act requirements was once a "hot button" issue, as changes had to be made to provide optimal seating for everyone.
"And now, of course, the active shooter situation, security issue and all that -- that's a hard thing to do," Mahoney said. "Security has always been a concern because we invite people into our building. People come here to have meetings of all different shapes, sizes, forms, nationalities, everything; we welcome them all -- except we don't want bad people coming in. So how do you keep the bad people out, you know? General common sense planning that we've followed for years."
Mahoney describes his career as "just kind of evolving."
"Growing up I was in the heating, ventilating, air conditioning field, which encompasses lots of things: A little plumbing, a little electrical, a little bit of everything," he said. "And I've just always been interested in building maintenance, and that's just kind of where it started. This is not where I thought I'd be when I retired, but it is. Arrison, I think, has been a big factor. He's a good guy and he lets me do what I do, which is important."
There will be no replacement for Mahoney's position.
"Jennifer Walcott is director of operations, so she is taking over the event side, kind of front of the house as well as back of the house, planning for the events," Mahoney said. "That includes the housekeeping department, the setup department, the audiovisual department and the maintenance and repair department. We've hired a computer person, an administrative [information technology] guru, if you will. I think his title is director of IT."
He said the other responsibilities he had as COO will be divvied up.
"Arrison will assume some of them and Jennifer will assume the majority of them," Mahoney said. "She's been on board for a little over a year. We wanted a smooth transition, so we've been working on that, and she's very good. She has a lot of experience in hotels, she comes from a hotel background as I do, and that's in the hospitality industry. It's about service. She's got a wealth of experience there."
Although friendships must be "left at the front door" of his job, Mahoney said it is his co-workers he will most remember after his retirement.
"We have the greatest team; I mean I'm just a guy. We've really got a great team, we really do," he said. "And Mr. Arrison, he's a great man, as well as a good leader."
Mahoney said he doesn't know what his future holds after retirement.
"My wife retired two years ago, so I'm just going to take it as it comes," he said. "I'm going to go home and have a little workshop, we've got two or three acres there, and just do whatever I want to do when I wake up. We're going to go down to L.A. in January -- Lower Alabama -- to go see the snowbirds. We've done that the last couple of years, so instead of spending a week, we're going to spend most of January down there."
Metro on 11/18/2019