Detroit auto show venue makes changes in management

The management company that oversees the Detroit auto show's venue, Cobo Center, has promoted assistant general manager Claude Molinari to general manager.

In the new role, Molinari will oversee all of Cobo's operations for the firm, SMG. 

Molinari succeeds Thom Connors, a 34-year veteran of SMG, who had served as general manager of Cobo since November 2010, shortly after SMG took on management of the venue.

Connors, 65, will continue his corporate role as regional vice president for West Conshohocken, Pa.-based SMG, overseeing multiple venues, including Cobo Center.

"Claude and I came to Detroit together five years ago when SMG was given the (management) contract," Connors said in an email to Crain's Detroit Business, an affiliate of Automotive News. 

"We have worked together very closely since day one at Cobo to change the culture, reorganize the business, improve labor relations, build the brand and increase both service levels and bookings."

Molinari, who has been with SMG for 18 years, has served as assistant general manager of Cobo since January 2011. During his tenure in Detroit, he was promoted to the additional role of regional director of operations for SMG Mideast, overseeing the operations departments of 15 regional facilities.

Before coming to Detroit, Molinari was assistant general manager of Pittsburgh's David L. Lawrence Convention Center and general manager of SMG Exposition Services, a subsidiary of SMG. In that role, he gained experience at some of the nation's largest convention centers, including the Las Vegas Convention Center and Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York.

SMG also promoted Cedric Turnbore, a 26-year veteran of the hospitality industry, the last six years at SMG, to director of operations for Cobo from senior operations manager, with oversight of production, sustainability and janitorial services.