Board names Jodi Davis as new general manager for Bank of Springfield Center
Jodi Davis, who started working at the Bank of Springfield Center as a teenager selling tickets, has been named its general manager.
The Springfield Metropolitan Exposition and Auditorium Authority board announced the decision Tuesday at its board meeting. SMEAA governs the BoS Center.
Davis succeeds Brian Oaks, who was named senior vice president and chief operating officer of the Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau in late October but stayed on at the BoS Center through the end of the year. Oaks had spent the last 18 years at the BoS Center including the last 14 years as general manager.
Davis, who was assistant general manager, has spent 28 years at the BoS Center. Davis also served as event coordinator, comptroller, director of event staff and services and interim concessions manager.
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The building opened as the Prairie Capital Convention Center in 1978. The SMEAA board voted in July 2016 to give naming rights to Bank of Springfield for $150,000 per year for 10 years.
“I am so honored and grateful that the SMEAA board has chosen me as the next general manager,” Davis said. “This building has become a second home to me over the years. I have quite literally grown up here."
Davis even got engaged in the center's main hall. Her husband, Mitch, surprised her disguised as Santa at a Friend-in-Deed event.
"I have a deeply vested interest in securing the future of the BoS Center. I promise to act in the best interests of our community and look forward to serving in this extended capacity," Davis said.
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Oaks said he was happy for Davis.
"Jodi has forgotten more about this building than most people could ever hope to know," Oaks said. "I know that I would not have been as successful in my time at the building without her by my side. She is a fantastic asset to the BoS Center and I know she will serve the community well.”
Davis has a bachelor's degree in management from the University of Illinois Springfield.
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Longtime Bank of Springfield Center employee named general manager
