plenary Experience Columbus’ Paul Astleford

just want you to put your history hat on and think what it was like to be working in San Francisco in the early- to late- ’70s. It was a flower-power scene that was nowhere else on Earth. [Laughs.] That was an incredible, incredible time.

Then I joined Disney. And I think my fondest memories of Disney were when my wife and I were stationed in Paris, preparing for the pre-opening of the Euro Disneyland project. That was an incredible time in both Susan’s and my life. And then I left Disney because I had the opportunity to become the president of the Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau.

Living in Chicago was a dream. We were empty-nesters by that time. Our boys had gone away to college, and we were living in downtown Chicago with our living room looking out over the lake and our dining-room window looking right down State Street, right past where the old Playboy Mansion was. And our little back patio up on the 19th floor was looking out over the Sears tower. And then getting to know Mayor [Richard M.] Daley, too — that was a high point in my career.

And then I got the offer, which I first declined, to come to Columbus. But I offered to come in, at their expense, and kind of counsel them as to what they ought to be looking for, and learned about the community and met a lot of the leaders and saw a community that had huge potential that had not been realized. And if you know me, I am driven by challenges. And I ended up coming to Columbus and have had an incredible time being here in Colum- bus. It has been fun.

One of the things that I am most proud of is being part of what I will call the leadership transformation of Colum- bus. Because Columbus, when I got here, was very much an independent- projects-driven, silo-mentality, developer-run community that had very little to do with creating a future vision for our community. And through the past decade, I just feel very proud to have been a part of the transformation to very much a hugely collaborative, visionary, and strategic-driven com- munity that is really taking this com- munity to where it could and should be in the world-visitor market.

We also created what we call the Stra- tegic Hotel Development Committee with our top community leaders, and we have opened the new Hilton [Columbus Downtown] that emanated from the discussions that took place over a period of about six years with that committee. And we created the Greater Columbus Sports Commission, which has really rocked this community with what they are bringing into this community. In general, what I think we have created here in Columbus is a new level of respect for the economic-devel- opment power of the visitor industry.

I cherish greatly the friendships that I built in this industry — and I am talk- ing about both the customer world, where I have dear, dear friends, as well as the various staffs of all those places I told you about. I am so proud of the teams that we were able to put together, including here in Columbus. I would match this Columbus team with any CVB team in the country, and I really mean that sincerely.

When you look at the history of this industry when I first got in it, back in 1969, it was a wild and emerging industry, including the hotel side of it. And everything was up for grabs. Your creativity is what really promoted you as an individual. And I watched this industry become more and more pro- fessional over those many years that I have been in it. And although that is probably necessary in the world we live in today, it is also a little disappointing to see those relationships and the fun and all of what the industry was, mor- phing into what I call a more pragmatic business assessment. It is a different level of accountability. Much more professional. But I am not sure it is as much fun.

. — As told to Christopher Durso

Costumed in Columbus Astleford at Experience Columbus’ 2011 annual meeting, posing with street performers from the city’s Highball Halloween event.

24 PCMA CONVENE DECEMBER 2012 PCMA.ORG