High Profile: Gretchen Anne Hall

She beats the buzzer, whether reaching to rebound a basketball or taking on the monumental effort of directing renovation of the 76-year-old Robinson Center.

“I think I’m proud and relieved. Proud to deliver the project; relieved that we didn’t find something major that was a huge setback. I think the community is just going to love the facility.”
“I think I’m proud and relieved. Proud to deliver the project; relieved that we didn’t find something major that was a huge setback. I think the community is just going to love the facility.”

On a mid-September afternoon, less than two months before the reopening of the renovated Robinson Center, Gretchen Hall -- wearing a hard hat and safety vest, flats replacing heels -- ducks through a PVC strip door and into the 76-year-old building.

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“She … has kept the project together and moving forward as well as I think anybody could. It’s been impressive. The result is on-time, on-budget and we’re getting ready to get the keys. The proof’s in the pudding.”

SELF PORTRAIT

Gretchen Hall

DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: Sept. 3, 1978, Pine Bluff

THE WORST JOB I’VE EVER HAD WAS probably working a fireworks tent in Sheridan.

MY FAVORITE CHARACTER TRAITS IN PEOPLE ARE integrity and honesty.

MY PET PEEVE IS probably dishonesty — trying to be something you’re not, [being] fake or phony.

SOMETHING PEOPLE DON’T KNOW ABOUT ME: When I was probably about 10, I was the Grant County Greased Pig Champion — in my pink cowboy boots! I think it was the pink cowboy boots that helped me chase down that pig and beat the boys.

THE ONE THING I WILL NOT EAT IS sardines. My dad loves sardines. They stink.

ALWAYS IN MY FRIDGE YOU’LL FIND pickles. My dad makes really good homemade pickles.

THE ARTIST — LIVING OR DEAD — I WOULD LIKE TO SEE PERFORM AT THE RENOVATED ROBINSON CENTER IS: I really wouldn’t mind seeing Elvis on that stage again.

ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE ME: driven

Hall, president and chief executive officer of the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau, is greeted by a symphony of buzzing, sawing, scrubbing, hammering and beeping -- a cacophony of sounds playing the tune of progress. She walks the center's halls, completely in command, entirely sure of where she's headed.

The Robinson Center, the performance hall and convention center in downtown Little Rock, has been a second office for Hall since July 1, 2014, when the historic Art Deco structure closed for its $70.5 million renovation.

The center's grand reopening is Nov. 10, with the bureau receiving the keys to the building this Tuesday.

Hall knows just about every inch of the structure, having spent many hours inside during the past two years-plus, walking around, and up and down.

The 38-year-old Sheridan native has always been an athletic type, a standout in three sports in high school who lettered four years in basketball at Lyon College.

Now, though, she works in an office, overseeing a budget of nearly $17 million and about 120 full-time employees, with another 60 or so part-time and seasonal workers. So her current exercise regimen is walking the nearly complete building.

On this afternoon, there's still a lot of work needed on the building, which had been gutted to its steel and concrete bones before its transformation. Hall, and everyone involved with the renovation, is ready to show off the new Robinson Center.

"The initial reaction we're going for is, 'Wow,'" Hall says. "That's our goal. We hope people will come in and be amazed by the performance hall and the beautiful views from the new ballroom and conference center and that outdoor terrace. The views of downtown, and the [Arkansas] river and the lights -- it's just going to be spectacular from that conference center space. When you walk into the performance hall it is just beautiful. It is totally different from the previous house."

There are a lot of thanks to pass around for the renovation. Certainly to the people of Little Rock, who voted in December 2013 to dedicate the existing 2 percent advertising and promotion tax to fund the project. The city leadership, architects, designers, contractors, workers, bureau employees -- all and more deserve applause.

Lastly, there's Hall, who since May 2011 has been head of the agency that manages the building, which in its long history has welcomed concerts and performances by artists ranging from Elvis Presley and Ray Charles to Wilco and Dave Chappelle.

The renovated building's first event is the Nov. 12 Opus XXXII, The Symphony Grand Ball, the annual gala fundraiser of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.

But there's no rest until the job is done, so Hall works around the clock, tirelessly, striving for perfection. That's just her nature.

"Gretchen is extremely hands-on, which is good," says Jim Rice, senior vice president and chief operations officer with the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"From the get-go, she insisted on effective and constant communication between the design team and the construction company. She is a part of every element of this project. She's done a great job of delegating out to the staff. She ... has kept the project together and moving forward as well as I think anybody could. It's been impressive. The result is on-time, on-budget and we're getting ready to get the keys. The proof's in the pudding."

Born in Pine Bluff but raised in Sheridan, Hall initially wanted to be an architect. Her favorite school subjects were math and science, but she had a love for art, drawing and creative design.

She also was heavily involved in sports, playing volleyball and basketball and running track. Volleyball and track were just pastimes though. Basketball was her passion.

Hall moved from Sheridan High School to Mount St. Mary Academy in Little Rock for her senior year, graduating in 1997. Then she went to Lyon College on a basketball scholarship.

One problem: Lyon College doesn't offer architecture as a field of study. Hall instead majored in general business and economics and played basketball -- the No. 3 guard primarily -- all four years.

Hall describes herself as a "decent" basketball player. Perhaps that's modesty speaking, as she was named second team All-TranSouth Athletic Conference her senior year and once scored 26 points in a game.

Hall will admit to being a "pretty good defensive player and rebounder."

"I'm probably uber-competitive by nature," says Hall, who is the daughter of Randy Hall, a retired industrial mechanic at the Pine Bluff Arsenal, and Dorothy Hall, also retired, who rose to become the first female associate director of the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service.

"My mother was also a basketball player. A very good one. In fact, she played in a high school basketball tournament in the basement of the [Robinson]."

Movin' on up

After graduating from Lyon College in May 2001, Hall became a basketball tournament organizer in the Southwest. She liked the work but the job bounced her between Phoenix and Dallas, and she "didn't want to constantly live out of a suitcase, and so I ended up back in Little Rock."

She started with the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau in November 2001 as an event coordinator. She quickly moved up, becoming the bureau's first director of merchandising and communications, managing the public relations, communications, and marketing initiatives. While working for the bureau, Hall went back to school, earning her master's of business administration from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2010.

When the bureau's top executive, Dan O'Byrne, left in late 2010 for a similar job in Jacksonville, Fla., Hall was named interim director before being named to her current position.

Capi Peck, chairman of the Little Rock Advertising and Promotion Commission, which governs the bureau, says Hall has been "very competent" and "very passionate" as CEO.

"She's really been a transparent and passionate leader," says Peck, who also was a commission member when it voted unanimously to hire Hall. "She's so hands-on and has been a wonderful leader. It's been fun to watch her reach her potential."

Besides Robinson Center, the bureau, the marketing arm of the city, also operates and manages the Statehouse Convention Center, Ottenheimer Hall, First Security Amphitheater and three downtown public parking facilities.

Little Rock faces a few challenges when attracting visitors -- including name recognition and capacity issues for larger crowds -- but Hall says once visitors are here they are hooked.

"We have a great product," says Hall of Little Rock. "We're very convenient, easy to get around, not a lot of congestion. We have a lot of natural beauty. The climate pretty much year-round allows for a lot of outdoor activities. We have a diverse showcase of museums and attractions. But time and time again we hear that it was really the friendliness of our people, the genuineness of the people here that our visitors really feel like we want them to be here.

"Our people really help sell the destination."

building a better center

The Robinson Center redo has been extensive. The $70.5-million price tag brings a world-class performance theater with bigger lobbies, more restrooms and better patron amenities. A new conference center addition is part of the work, along with a grand ballroom, meeting rooms and a 5,800-square-foot outdoor terrace with a sweeping view of the Arkansas River.

Plus, new back-of-the-house capabilities mean larger Broadway touring shows, such as The Phantom of the Opera and The Lion King, will soon be in Little Rock.

The finished Robinson Center is a "feat that we all should be proud of," Peck says. "Gretchen and Jim [Rice] -- the whole staff -- have lived [the project] 24/7 for the last couple of years. Everybody in Little Rock should be really proud of the job they've done.

"I'm really excited. I think this is going to have a huge economic impact on Little Rock and be a wonderful amenity for folks who live here and for visitors, and truly a state-of-the-art performance hall in a historic and iconic building."

But the completion of the Robinson Center renovation is only part of the bureau's successful 2016. In late August it was announced that the Miss Arkansas Scholarship Pageant, held in Hot Springs for the past 58 years, will be at Robinson Center for the next five. The renovation was one of the primary reasons Little Rock got the pageant, Hall says.

"We're hoping that Little Rock remains the home of the Miss Arkansas pageant long beyond those five years," she says.

Then, on Sept. 6, the Little Rock Board of Directors voted to buy the Cromwell building, catty-cornered from Robinson Center, for $3.35 million. The building -- where the bureau currently rents office space on the fourth floor, including Hall's office facing Robinson Center -- will be used mostly by the bureau.

A busy 28 months

Through all the triumphs, Hall has been at the center, earning praise from city leaders.

"She's had a very steady hand and has a good leadership team," Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola says. "Gretchen is one of the brightest young executives that I've ever worked with. She has exhibited a tremendous amount of energy, intelligence and hard work. I've been very impressed with how she's run the organization."

It has been a busy 28 months for Hall, especially the last few. But she has still found some time for herself.

She coaches the children of her older brother Jeffery in basketball, though she told parents she was probably a little too competitive to be coaching elementary school children. She says the coaching is a good break for her and one of a few she gets. "Every so once in a while -- and not nearly enough -- I enjoy spending some time at" Greers Ferry Lake.

Hall also has two "unofficially adopted children," two young women she helped raise and helped attend Lyon College. Debbie Onukwube is an occupational therapist in Northwest Arkansas, and KK Hodges is an accountant in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

For the past two years, a yellow safety vest and hard hat have become regular accoutrements to her wardrobe. She's ready to put them aside, get some rest and recharge for the bureau's next project, perhaps constructing an indoor multipurpose sports facility, an undertaking still in an early discussion phase.

The Robinson Center renovation has been taxing, but it's all coming together.

"It's a complete team effort," Hall says. "I'm very proud to be able to say that we have remained on-time and on-budget for 28 months managing a $70 million project in a historic building and structure that we literally gutted. You bust through all those walls and floors, and you think you know what you're going to find but you don't really know what you're going to find because you are in a building that has been adapted for 75 years and added onto and renovated and tacked up.

"I think I'm proud and relieved. Proud to deliver the project; relieved that we didn't find something major that was a huge setback. I think the community is just going to love the facility."

High Profile on 10/30/2016

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