Cleveland Medical Mart & Convention Center Adds Senior Staff and Establishes Industry Advisory Board

Bennett, Milner assume Senior Vice President and Operations Director roles

CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc. (MMPI) announced earlier today the addition of two senior management members to the Cleveland Medical Mart & Convention Center (Cleveland MMCC) operational team, naming Jim Bennett as Senior Vice President and Brian Milner as Director of Operations. Bennett and Milner will begin their duties immediately.

“I am privileged to be part of the team that is working to make this exciting new community asset a driver of our hospitality industry in the years ahead”

Bennett, a resident of Cleveland since 1982, will bring his more than 40 years of experience as a management consultant and senior line manager with McKinsey & Company and KeyCorp and board leader in both the corporate and nonprofit sectors to provide the overall leadership and direction for Cleveland MMCC. Bennett brings strong management and medical industry expertise to the project. He will work closely with Vice President and General Manager Brian Casey and the Cleveland MMCC team.

“I am privileged to be part of the team that is working to make this exciting new community asset a driver of our hospitality industry in the years ahead,” said Bennett. “I’ve been encouraged and energized by the support and commitment of everyone involved – the County leadership, Cleveland’s healthcare community, a number of civic organizations, the business community, and my new colleagues at MMPI in Chicago and here at Cleveland MMCC.”

Milner brings more than two decades of facility management experience to Cleveland MMCC, including a lengthy career overseeing a nationwide portfolio of facilities with ARAMARK Sports and Entertainment. Milner will develop the staffing and operational aspects of the operations department, including the implementation of operations strategies, policies, and practices.

County Executive Ed FitzGerald praised the addition of the two executives as "a strong indication of the increasing momentum of the Medical Mart project and the continuing commitment of MMPI to make the project a success. The addition of Mr. Milner and particularly Jim Bennett, who brings 40 years of high-level management experience and long commitment to the Cleveland community, is an indication of the dedication of all parties involved to creating the best product possible."

MMPI has also announced the establishment of an Industry Advisory Board to provide a medical industry and customer perspective on the activities and tenants that would make the facility attractive to permanent showroom tenants and healthcare industry-related meetings and trade shows.

“Our long-range plan has always been to continue strengthening our team as Cleveland MMCC progresses toward opening in 2013,” said Mark Falanga, MMPI President. “At the senior management level, this process started last year with the hiring of Brian Casey as General Manager. It continued when Craig Thompson joined Tony Prusak on our sales team four months ago. Now, we’re delighted to add two additional senior people with a combined six decades of proven industry experience to our staff and to announce the establishment of an Industry Advisory Board to further strengthen our Cleveland operations.”

The Cleveland MMCC Industry Advisory Board includes executives from industry leaders such as Cisco, GE HealthCare, IBM, Invacare, Johnson & Johnson, Philips Healthcare, STERIS, Stryker, Smith & Nephew, and Foundation Medical Partners.

About Jim Bennett

Bennett joins MMPI after a four-decade career that includes 30 years with McKinsey & Company in a number of leadership positions, three years as senior executive vice president with KeyCorp, and the past decade serving as a senior management consultant for major corporations and as a consultant and as a director and CEO for several early stage internet businesses.

Bennett currently serves as Director and client developer at Within3, an internet firm he helped launch in 2005, and Managing Director of the Bennett Group LLC, a senior management consulting firm with practices in strategy development, organizational effectiveness, and board governance.

During his 30 years with McKinsey, 13 of which were in Canada, Bennett served as Managing Director for the Firm’s Canadian and Midwest practices, chair of the Clientele and Professional Development Committee, and as a member of the Executive Committee and Shareholders Committee. After joining the firm in 1968, he was elected Principal in 1974 and Director in 1980 and his work spanned strategy, operations, and organizational effectiveness across a wide range of countries, functions, and industries ranging from energy and automotive, through to health care, consumer products, financial services, and professional service firms. In the healthcare industry, Bennett was a leader of the Firm’s payer and provider practice, first in Canada and later the United States. From his base in Cleveland, he worked extensively with the management and physician leadership of the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals in addition to the leading integrated systems in Indianapolis and Dayton.

As a Senior Executive Vice President at KeyCorp, Bennett was a member of the Executive Committee and Chair of Retail Banking, along with heading several bank wide functions. He also served on the board of Progressive Corporation.

For the past decade, Bennett helped develop several innovative start-up companies, including EmployOn, a human capital management business, NextMed Systems, an internet-based revenue cycle management firm for physician practices, and Within3, the world leader in building custom Web 2.0 healthcare professional communities for pharmaceutical companies, medical associations, and hospital systems. Since 2007, Bennett has focused on the introduction and development of industry clients, and Within3 now serves 10 of the 20 largest global pharmaceutical companies. He is a well-known lecturer at industry conferences on the impact of social media technology on health care.

Bennett has also continued his senior level consulting work through Bennett Group LLC, a firm he founded in 2002, focusing on overall corporate strategy development, organizational transformation, and top team effectiveness. He is core faculty member for McKinsey & Company's client leadership workshops, a personal development and coaching program for the Firm's newly elected partners.

The Youngstown, Ohio native is well known for his civic leadership in the nonprofit sector, working in the fields of economic development, social services, healthcare delivery, education, and the arts. He has been a Board member for dozens of organizations and has served as Chair of the Cleveland San Jose Ballet, the Cleveland Initiative for Education, the Visiting Committee of the Weatherhead School of Management, and the Grant Making Committee of the Cleveland Foundation.

Bennett graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy before earning his bachelor’s degree from Cornell in 1965 and his JD from Harvard Law School in 1968 with selected courses at Harvard Business School.

About Brian Milner

A St. Louis, Missouri native and former ironworker, Milner will develop the staffing and operational aspects of the Cleveland MMCC operations department, including the implementation of organizational strategies, policies, and practices. Milner will develop the operations department for the facility, manage outsourced contractors such as housekeeping, security, dock workers, and engineers, and supervise all building operations.

Milner brings two decades of nationwide facility management experience to MMPI, having spent nearly 10 years with ARAMARK Sports and Entertainment, including six years based in Anaheim, California as Regional Director of Facility Operations Stadiums and Arenas for the Pacific Region. ARAMARK Sports and Entertainment delivers a wide range of innovative solutions to more than 150 premier sports facilities, convention centers and entertainment venues throughout North America geared to creating memorable guest experiences by designing industry-leading hospitality, dining and catering, retail merchandise, and facility service programs.

From 2005-2011, Milner oversaw an extensive portfolio of stadium operations ranging from Vancouver, B.C. to San Antonio, Texas, overseeing plant operations, maintenance and field support. Milner created strategic support to implement operating procedures, safety and training programs, and financial responsibility, working directly with professional sports teams in the National Football League, National Basketball Association, and the National Hockey League. He also worked closely with the organizations to institute green, recycling and sustainability and LEED-EB programs.

Milner also served as Senior Director of Facility Services for ARAMARK Senior Living Services, based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, from 2003-2005, directing engineering and plant operations, housekeeping, laundry, grounds and security for a 47-acre facility spanning nearly 540,000 square feet. He began his career with ARAMARK as Director of Plant Operations and Engineering at a 440-bed hospital in St. Louis from 2001-2003.

For the past year, Milner served as Director of Housekeeping for the Cleveland Cavaliers and was responsible for day-to-day, event and post-event cleaning of the 750,000 square foot Quicken Loans Arena, including more than 150 staff members.

Prior to joining ARAMARK, Milner served in a variety of facility management positions with ServiceMaster, DNI Properties, and Wilhite Associates. No stranger to active construction sites, Milner was an ironworker with Ironworkers Local 396 in St. Louis for 15 years on high-rise office buildings, stadiums, arenas, convention centers, and major river bridges.

Managed by Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc., Cleveland MMCC will integrate state-of-the-art permanent showrooms in a 235,000 square foot medical mart with world-class trade show and conference facilities in an adjoining 230,000 square foot convention center underneath the medical mart and Malls B and C. The facility also includes more than 90,000 square feet dedicated to meeting rooms and a grand ballroom looking out onto Lake Erie.

Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc. is the world’s leading owner and operator of showroom buildings and trade show facilities, bringing buyers and sellers together in more than 300 market events, trade and consumer shows and conferences each year.

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