The incoming operator of the Hawai‘i Convention Center has hired a former Outrigger executive to be its new general manager.

Teri Orton, former vice president of condominium resort marketing for Outrigger Enterprises Group, will be the first woman to serve as general manager since the center opened in 1998. Orton will begin Dec. 18.

The Hawaii Tourism Authority chose Los Angeles-based AEG Facilities in August to replace SMG Hawaii, the contractor that managed the underperforming 1.1 million-square-foot facility since before its opening. While SMG Hawaii won several facilities awards, it routinely fell short of expectations to fill Hawaii hotel rooms with high-spending business visitors. It met its annual goal of 700,000 hotel room nights only once, in 2005. Last year it booked 356,515 room nights.

Orton said she is excited about the opportunity to join AEG Facilities in operating the center.

"Together with the veteran existing staff members, I am looking forward to working in conjunction with all of the community and hospitality stakeholders along with the (Hawaii Tourism Authority) and Meet Hawaii sales team in marketing the center and the Hawaiian Islands as an unmatched business meetings destination," she said in a statement.

The authority has agreed to pay AEG $17.9 million in 2014 to operate and market the center, which cost $350 million to build. The company will have a tall order to fill. Now at its 15-year point, the center is still bringing in less than half of the $1.9 billion in annual visitor spending that taxpayers were promised that it would net during the planning phase.

Brad Gessner, vice president of convention centers for AEG Facilities, said the company aims to significantly boost the use of the facility and will work with HTA and the Meet Hawaii Team, a joint effort of the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau and the Hawai‘i Convention Center, to grow group and business arrivals and to create alternative users for the facility.

"Part of our proposal was that AEG will provide staff and expertise to assist the HTA in developing a master plan for the center," Gessner said. "We will work to implement the new Hawaiian music and dance museum and to identify other redevelopment opportunities."

He said a hotel tower, restaurants, retail and live entertainment venues have been discussed and are viable based on his experience with the Staples Center, which is home to both the Lakers and Clippers of the NBA, and the L.A. Live entertainment district, which is a 4 million-square-foot sports, entertainment and residential district adjacent to the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Orton, who was chosen from a field of eight, will play a key role in the redevelopment, Gess­ner said.

"Normally, we recruit from the convention management center industry, but the more we learned of Hawaii, the more that we felt it was imperative that we found someone from the islands who understood the challenge of marketing that destination," he said. "It’s not an easy task to get conventions, trade shows and corporate events to do their events there because of how far it is and the perception that everyone is just laying on the beach over there."

Orton has 17 years of hospitality experience ranging from hotel general manager to director of sales and marketing and other roles with Outrigger Enterprises Group, Embassy Suites, The Ilikai, W Diamond Head, Sheraton Princess Kaiu­lani and the Huntington Beach Hilton Resort.

"We are very fortunate to have found in Teri an individual born and raised in the islands with outstanding travel industry credentials and a passionate belief in the strength and marketability of Hawaii as a meetings destination," HTA President and CEO Mike McCartney said in a press release. "Her proven track record of success and leadership will contribute greatly to elevating the center’s global presence and optimizing its usage."

Orton will take the helm with a mostly local team. Gess­ner said that AEG will retain 82 out of 85 current center employees.

"We strongly felt that we needed to bring in our own general manager," he said, adding that the company also eliminated a position in international sales because the job previously had been outsourced to contractors.

Gessner said the company is looking to fill a key operational job and will add one or two more sales jobs.

"We are focusing on sales and marketing to help implement the Meet Hawaii program," he said.

AEG and Orton are coming aboard when Meet Hawaii has begun to reinforce the Hawaiian Islands as a world-class group and business destination, said Brian Lynx, HTA’s vice president of meetings, conventions and incentives.

Year to date through Oct. 31, Lynx said Hawaii’s meetings, conventions and incentives business had brought 393,231 arrivals to Hawaii for a gain of 9.7 percent over the prior year. Lynx said the increase was below the HTA’s goal of increasing its business-travel arrivals by 13 percent in each of the next three years.

"The goals are aggressive, but with this transition taking place and, quite frankly, new leadership, this is our best chance to achieve them," Lynx said. "We are thrilled with the healthy increase, but there’s still opportunity for improvement in 2016, 2017 and 2018. We will be very aggressive and tenacious in building that base of business."

Gessner said AEG intends to leverage its presence in more than 100 venues across five continents and its network of more than 400 corporate sponsorship and advertising partners to attract more business travel and events to Hawaii.

"AEG brings to Hawaii our ability to market west of Hawaii in places like Australia and Malaysia where we have operations. We’ve already referred two pieces of business from Brisbane," he said.