Jerry Harper is a graduate of UC San Diego with more than 15 years of experience with the City of Phoenix. He began his city career in the Community & Economic Development Department where he worked on several downtown projects including TGen, the ASU Downtown Campus and CityScape. During his tenure in the Economic Development Department, he served as the project manager for the construction of the then city-owned Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel. Since 2012, Harper has served as a Deputy Director at the Phoenix Convention Center, managing Sales & Marketing initiatives and the venue's marketing contract. He and his team are responsible for promoting the Convention Center and downtown Phoenix to attract clients to the nation's fifth largest city. In addition to his role at the Phoenix Convention Center, Jerry serves as a board member for the Tourism & Hospitality Advisory Board and Arizona State University's Center for Services Leadership.
Q: What do you enjoy most about your role at the Phoenix Convention Center?
It's two things. First, it's the people. I think we have what I would consider a high-performing team here at the Convention Center. We have subject matter experts up and down the entire organization. I think it's because of those people that the second thing I like most about my role is the management of a variety of very diverse events. Every day here is different and there is something new that we get to see and experience when we come to work every day.
Q: What is a favorite memory you have of your time at the Phoenix Convention Center?
All of the mega events we've had that are sports related stand out to me because I'm a big sports fan. But my favorite memory is when I brought my son here during the NCAA Men's Final Four in 2017. He was just under three at the time and just seeing the wonder in his eyes, it was almost the same type of look that you see from a kid going to an amusement park for the first time. Our entire Lower Level was transformed into this collegiate athlete's playground and to see how excited and curious he was, he had never seen anything like it and didn't know what to make of it. I remember grabbing him and picking him up to see this activation where we could dunk balls and seeing the smile on his face and knowing all the hard work that went in behind the scenes culminated in that smile on his face when he dunked that basketball. Whether it's sports or anything else, someone is going to have a similar type of experience when they come here for whatever it may be.
Q: What is a skill you've had to sharpen in your role at the Phoenix Convention Center?
A skill I've had to sharpen in my role is speaking to people or groups that I didn't know much about. I remember when I got into this position, shortly thereafter I had to go on a sales mission and I was put in a room with meeting planners, Visit Phoenix, and one or two of our sales managers and was immediately called upon to speak to the group about the Phoenix Convention Center, and I didn't know that was coming. I really thought I was going there to observe and then was immediately put on stage. The bad news was I didn't see it coming and the good news was I didn't see it coming. I didn't have time to develop any anxiety and immediately went to what I knew, and what I knew was this building. What I knew was Downtown Phoenix, having been in Economic Development before, and so I put the two together and talked about the destination. I would like to think that it was successful. That's when I realized that I was going to be put in situations where I can be called upon at a moment's notice and needed to always be ready for situations like that. I think the reason I say that this was the skill I've worked on the most here is because before being in this position, I had the time to prepare and understand who I was speaking to and gear whatever presentation toward their expectations and needs where here I needed to learn to be a lot more flexible.
Q: Do you have any restaurant or coffee shop recommendations near the PCC?
There was a restaurant called Breadfruit that closed during COVID-19, and that was my favorite. But the good news is they started using the kitchen at Bitter & Twisted Cocktail Parlour. It used to just be bar food there, but now you can get jerk chicken and all the same food Breadfruit used to serve.
Q: What's your favorite feature of the PCC?
I have so many things I could say, but really, it's the peach empanadas made by Aventura. It's partly because I'm from the South, and there's two pies that I love and that's a pecan pie and a peach pie. And those peach empanadas are pocket-sized peach pies. They are famous. Chef Nova created them for Super Bowl in 2015, when the fan activities were held at our facility, and they flew her out the next year to San Francisco for the Super Bowl to make them again.