Meet Clifford “Rip” Rippetoe of San Diego Convention Center

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rip.

Rip, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’ve been very fortunate in this industry. I started my career in performing arts as a stagehand, designer, director and a technical director.

Then, I had the opportunity to manage a theater in Las Vegas. It was part of a complex that was also home to a 2,000 seat historic theater, a 100,000 square foot performing arts center and a 10,000 seat AAA baseball park where the farm club of the San Diego Padres played.

In 1992, I was asked to go to our sister facility, as Director of Facilities at the Las Vegas Convention Center through an exchange program with my counterpart there. He came to my complex and I went to the convention center. The intent was for it to be a 90-day work shadowing program. But by the end, we both liked what we were doing – and so did our managers – so they decided to keep us in those positions, and that launched my convention center career.

Since that time, I have been involved in sports entertainment and convention industries. I was the general manager of the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City. I also was the executive in charge of a not-for-profit organization that provided spectator services for the Olympic Winter Games of 2002. After that, I became a Senior Vice President for GES, a national vocational services contractor for the convention industry. Those roles gave me the opportunity to start my own consulting firm where I spent a few years working as a consultant to convention centers, arenas and theaters. In the fall of 2012, I was selected through a national search to become the President and CEO of the Kentucky Venues in Louisville, Kentucky where I managed both the convention center and the State Fair. Then in 2016, a national search began for the next President and CEO of the San Diego Convention Center Corporation. I always wanted to work at this convention center, and I was fortunate enough to be selected for the job in the spring of 2016. Our convention center welcomes guests from around the world to enjoy all that San Diego has to offer.

I wouldn’t be here without my mentors, especially Richard (Dick) Shaff, a former General Manager of the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. He provided me with an education and an orientation to this industry. The International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM) is another group of professionals that has been a great resource for me. This network includes members from every venue type and promotes education, advocacy and professional standards. Their certification program is held in high regard. I earned my Certified Facility Executive designation (CFE) through IAVM. There have been less than 400 CFE’s awarded over the past 40 years, and I am very proud of this achievement.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not always been a smooth road. I have been in the industry for over 30 years at this point my life. The industry has changed a great deal over the years. Keeping up with industry trends and metrics that support our business model is important, but this takes time.

Executives have to be able to read a great deal of information in order to prepare their teams for future trends. I advocate for research within our organization and with other industry organizations. This research provides us with the ability to better serve our communities and our constituents.

The convention industry is subject to the cyclical nature of the economy. Every economic downturn affects how we do business. Many of the struggles that we have as an industry come from infrastructure that needs renovating. The economic downturns often create a lack of funding for our facilities. We took an innovative approach this past year, applying for a historic $25.5 million “IBank” loan from the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank. This allowed us to complete several important renovations and upgrades to our facility that first opened in 1989.

Cities all over North America understand the value of tourism and particularly the convention attendees who spend their money while visiting. This past fiscal year, the San Diego Convention Center generated $1.1 billion to our regional economy. The ability to stay competitive, and to be able to provide economic impact to our communities, is a constant struggle. Fortunately, San Diego is a great destination with a great package of amenities. We remain competitive even when the economy struggles.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about San Diego Convention Center – what should we know?
The San Diego Convention Center is known as one of the premier gathering places in the United States. Many people know us for Comic-Con International, the San Diego International Auto Show and we are fortunate to host major medical meetings such as BIO. We have contracted events on our books that reach 18 years into the future. Show planners and meeting planners know that they will receive excellent customer service, a team who wants to serve them and a destination package that few other cities can compete with: a world-class convention center, hotels within walking distance, entertainment and restaurants within walking distance, and an international airport that is only 10 minutes away from the facility. All of this sits in sunny San Diego where the average temperature is 69 degrees year-round. As I write this, it is 70° outside with clear skies.

But what we at the San Diego Convention Center are best known for is that we facilitate the building of a small city every week for the most important week of that customer’s year, and then we take it down, and do it all over again the next week, and the next week, and the next week etc… We take great pride in our retention rate, with over 70 percent of our customers being repeat business. They tell us they want to return and experience our destination.

We’re also known as one of the most sustainable convention centers in North America. We diverted over 80 percent of our refuse from the landfill last year alone. We achieved LEED Gold Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council in April of 2017. Our kitchen has no garbage disposals and we compost all leftover, inedible food. Leftover edible food is donated to the local rescue mission and food bank.

Last year, we were able to donate the equivalent of over 85,000 meals.

We not only take great pride in our service, we take great pride in our social responsibility response. We live out our core values of integrity, service, collaboration, courage, and accountability.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I have learned along the way that in order to be a good leader, one has to be a good follower. I wish I would have learned that sooner. I’ve had more than one mentor mention that to me over the years, but I never truly understood it then. This includes taking better care of myself both physically and spiritually. If I knew then what I know now about the power of meditation, I would have begun doing that sooner.

I also learned along the way that keeping information to myself was only feeding my ego. Sharing knowledge and being a mentor to others is perhaps the best calling a leader can have. A person can have every great title, and all of the accolades that come from being the head of an organization, but if they are nothing before they have a title, then they’ll never be anything with it.

I can’t say that I would try and learn the industry any differently than I did. What I would have done is read more about leadership, human behavior and a servant management style. Reading is so important. This leads to better communication, writing and the ability to discern how to make good decisions. I read ferociously, but this has not happened until recent years. I wish I would have done that right out of college. And just to be clear, I would not have read fiction, or textbooks, or even essays; I would have read about what’s going on in the world around me, the economy and the human spirit.

I’m fascinated by the concept of emotional intelligence. I see so much opportunity in becoming a better leader by understanding the emotional intelligence of my team members. I could not have read about this sooner simply because it is a relatively new topic in leadership styles. But I believe that it will become fundamental for all good leaders.

Contact Info:

• Address: 111 W. Harbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92101
• Website: https://visitsandiego.com/
• Phone: 619-525-5200
• Email: communications@visitsandiego.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/SDConventionCtr/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SDConventionCenter/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/SDConventionCtr
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/user/SDConvenCtr

Image Credit:
San Diego Convention Center Corporation

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