The executive director of the nonprofit corporation that oversees the taxpayer-funded Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland is stepping down later this year. 

George Hillow said in a resignation letter to the Cuyahoga County Convention Facilities Development Corporation’s board chair, Warrensville Heights Mayor Bradley Sellers, that he plans to retire Nov. 1.

The convention facilities corporation also watches over the adjacent Global Center for Health Innovation, once known as the Medical Mart.  

Among the hallmarks of Hillow’s stewardship is the makeover of the Global Center – which struggled for decades to become a technology and medical business incubator as once envisioned. It’s currently being transformed into an extension of the convention center. 

Hillow gets credit for being a financial watchdog at the Global Center, which struggled to even file its taxes on time before he came on in 2015. He also blew the whistle on questionable expenses submitted to taxpayers by one of the contractors in charge of the day-to-day operations of the Global Center. 

Here’s the brief backstory on that: Hillow refused to sign off on the expenses submitted by BioEnterprise, then-headed by Aram Nerpouni, that included charges for liquor, a pricey Las Vegas meal and $110 bottles of wine, among other things. Then-County Executive Armond Budish’s appointee to the board signed the reimbursement check over Hillow’s objections. Internal and external audits later determined that the expenses were not fully justified and found that BioEnterprise also submitted duplicate billing to another entity through which it was receiving state grant money. 

BioEnterprise and the convention facilities board reached a settlement that netted the board more than $200,000, though the state auditor argues taxpayers are still owed $116,000 for unauthorized charges. (No one was ever charged for submitting the questionable expenses.)

In his resignation letter, Hillow said he’s pleased to have helped taxpayers find a better use for the troubled Global Center. Its conversion will be complete in time for the massive 2024 American Society of Association of Executives convention in August. 

The Cleveland Board of Zoning Appeals down a member

The board announced at Monday’s meeting that Terri Hamilton Brown has resigned, though no explanation was given as to why. (She temporarily stepped away in 2023 to become Cleveland’s interim economic development director). With just four members left on the five-member board, a tie vote means someone’s appeal will be denied. 

You can learn more about the issues before the most recent board meeting here from Documenters Tina Scott, Brittany Merriweather and Nicholas Ventura. 

Former Lakewood mayor joining MetroHealth board

The MetroHealth System is getting another board member who should know a thing or two about hospital finances. Cuyahoga County Council has signed off on Michael Summers, who was Lakewood’s mayor from 2010 to 2020. His tenure included a contentious 2015 battle over the future of Lakewood Hospital, which was operated by the Cleveland Clinic and wasn’t generating a lot of patient traffic. Summers backed replacing it with a family health center, which the Clinic opened three years later.

He will be joining other new board picks that include Sharon Dumas, who was finance director under Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson; Nancy Mendez, CEO of the nonprofit Starting Point; and Ronald Dziedzicki, a retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. and former chief operating officer of University Hospitals-Cleveland Medical Center and University Hospitals Physician Services.