Elaine Williams named to Eventex Powerlist of the
50 Most Influential Venue Professionals for 2025
The New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center (NOENMCC) has been selected as a 2025 Readers’ Choice Award winner by ConventionSouth, marking the fifth consecutive year the venue has received the publication’s highest distinction. More than 7,000 meeting professionals and industry supporters participated in this year’s nomination and voting process, making it one of the magazine’s most competitive award cycles to date.
The honor is recognized alongside another major achievement for the Convention Center. Elaine Williams, CMP, CEM-AP, Chief Commercial Officer, has been named to the 2025 Eventex Powerlist of the 50 Most Influential Venue Professionals. Eventex received more than 2,000 nominations from more than 70 countries this year. Only 100 global leaders make the main list, with select individuals highlighted across specialty categories, including venue operations and commercial leadership.
“These recognitions reflect the work our entire team puts forward each day,” said Jim Cook, President and CEO of the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. “Earning the Readers’ Choice Award for a fifth year in a row shows the confidence meeting professionals place in our venue and in New Orleans as a host city. Elaine’s achievement on the Eventex Powerlist exemplifies the strength of our leadership and the continued progress we are making in service, operations and events strategy.”
ConventionSouth, based in Gulf Shores, Alabama, is a national multimedia resource for planning events in the South and is distributed to more than 18,000 meeting professionals across the country. NOENMCC will be featured in the magazine’s December 2025 Awards Issue.
Since opening in 1985, the NOENMCC has generated more than $93.2 billion in total economic impact and more than $5.7 billion in tax revenue for Louisiana. The Convention Center continues to advance long-term modernization efforts, including the development of the Omni New Orleans, a new 1,000-room headquarters hotel that will strengthen the city’s appeal as a premier meetings destination. The project will enhance connectivity to the Convention Center, expand lodging capacity for large-scale events and support continued growth in New Orleans’ tourism and hospitality economy.
NOENMCC has also advanced its sustainability leadership. The Convention Center earned LEED Gold certification in 2022 and received a subsequent LEED Gold certification in 2025 under updated Operations and Maintenance standards, placing it among the largest convention center projects in the country to earn the recognition.
About the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center (NOENMCC)
New Orleans is Built to Host! With 1.1 million square feet of prime exhibit space on one level, all under one roof, NOENMCC is tied for the sixth-largest convention center in the United States. NOENMCC is a 2025 Exhibitor Magazine Centers of Excellence recipient and is consistently named a regional top workplace by The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate. A recent LEED Gold certification makes NOENMCC the largest LEED-certified project in Louisiana and the largest convention center project in the U.S. certified under LEED v4.1 Operations and Maintenance, as well as the first convention center in the world to be awarded initial certification under LEED Gold v4.1 O+M. A leading contributor to the city’s robust tourism economy, NOENMCC event activity has produced $93.2 billion in economic impact since its 1985 opening.
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