The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority board on Monday tapped a local financial executive, Marcel Vernon Sr., to lead the quasi-public agency, aiming to move beyond controversies surrounding its diversity practices and a failed deal to redevelop land next to its flagship facility in South Boston.

Last week, the board narrowed the pool of finalists for the CEO position to two: Vernon, currently CFO of Bay Cove Health Services in Boston, and Hootan Kaboli, senior vice president of Events DC, MCCA’s counterpart in Washington. . In the end, Monday’s vote was unanimous in favor of Vernon, the local candidate.

Vernon has resided in Massachusetts for the past decade, working as chief financial officer for the state Department of Revenue and trial court system and then for the University of New Hampshire, before joining Bay Cove in mid-2023. Local connections helped give Vernon an advantage. “The uphill climb of getting to know the area, the ins and outs of the state, is the only negative against (Kaboli),” said Cindy Brown, board member and executive director of Boston Duck Tours. “Marcel checks the box in that regard.”

Vernon’s supporters on the board also noted his work in the hospitality sector as a casino industry executive in the early 2000s and generally viewed him as a more seasoned executive, with a broader range of experiences. and financial acumen.

MCCA board member Sheena Collier, who led the executive search committee and worked with talent search firm Koya Partners to vet the candidates, cited the “overall leadership qualities that Vernon would bring and would truly “They would help move the MCCA forward by instilling, frankly, confidence in the people again.” who work here.”

Collier was referring to the clouds that hung over MCCA when the previous executive director, David Gibbons, who had been appointed during Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration, abruptly left nearly a year ago. Gov. Maura Healey had already removed most of the board members and replaced them with her own appointees earlier in the year. Gibbons, a seasoned hotel executive, left amid two controversies in his final year: concerns about how he handled the bidding to redevelop more than six acres in the shadow of MCCA’s iconic Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, as well as a external audit by law. Prince Lobel Tye who demonstrated that the MCCA fell short in its diversity practices for hiring, promotions and contracting with suppliers.

After Gibbons left, former board chair Gloria Larson, former president of Bentley University, returned to the authority to serve as interim CEO while the board conducted its search; Larson had chaired the board from 1999 to 2010, a period that included the construction of the BCEC and its opening in 2004.

As interim CEO, Larson earned an annualized compensation package of nearly $300,000, including a potential bonus, similar to Gibbons’. On Monday, the board voted to enter compensation negotiations with Vernon.

In addition to the flagship convention center in Southie, MCCA also manages the Hynes Convention Center in Back Bay, the MassMutual Center in Springfield and the parking garage beneath the Boston Common. Vernon would lead a staff of more than 400 people and a budget of almost $100 million. He currently manages a budget that is about twice that of Bay Cove’s CFO.

During interviews with the board of directors on Monday, both Vernon and Kaboli were asked about their vision for the future of MCCA. Vernon said he would engage private sector leaders to find ways to build more hotels in Boston, and would try to generate additional revenue by coming up with new uses for the BCEC at a time when it would otherwise be dormant.

Vernon recounted how he attended business school at Syracuse University, with the goal of graduating with an MBA and then finding a job as a CEO. He said it didn’t turn out the way he thought.

But with the board’s vote Monday, he finally landed the CEO job he dreamed of as an ambitious young business school student. “At the age of 24, I thought I would be a CEO,” Vernon said. “Here I am at 54 years old.”

You can contact Jon Chesto at [email protected]. follow him @jonchesto.