New executive director joins Tampa Convention Center with expansion underway and talk of more

TAMPA, Fla. - The coming new year is going to be busy for the Tampa Convention Center. The popular venue has a new executive director, one expansion underway, and there's talk of more expansion. 

"From the industry perspective, I kind of knew what I was getting into," said David Ingram, who recently became executive director of the Tampa Convention Center. 

Ingram spent 19 years in management at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, one of the largest in the nation, before taking over at the Tampa Convention Center. 

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Tampa’s convention center is much smaller, but Ingram said growing it could pay off. 

"A little bit bigger," said Ingram. "We don’t have to be huge, but we need to be a little bit bigger so that we can host those national events."

A $38 million construction project now underway will add meeting space and add a more modern facade to the building, which opened in 1990.

"It will be great when they do national shots of Amalie Arena or when they come in for the Bucs games," said Ingram. "That total design makes it look more modern and sleek."

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It’s a homecoming for Ingram, who spent his teen years in Tampa and graduated from the University of South Florida.

"When I left in 1997 a lot of the hotels were not here. The Marriott [Water Street] had just been built, and now I come to downtown, and it has completely changed," said Ingram. "It’s great. It’s phenomenal." 

He said Tampa now offers most everything conventions want. People who are in the business of bringing conventions wanted Ingram on their team. Santiago Corrada, president & CEO of Visit Tampa Bay, was on the search committee that selected Ingram.

"He understands that you have to go in together to land a big piece of business that has economic impact for the people that live here that create jobs," said Corrada. 

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Ingram said the work on the new facade and meeting space should be finished by June. That will allow parts of the Tampa Riverwalk to reopen. Ingram said temporary measures will be taken to secure the construction site during Gasparilla festivities in late January. 

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor has said she favors further expansion of the convention center, but no plans have been finalized.