After a decade of serving as the general manager of the Long Beach Convention Center, Charlie Beirne is heading east.

Beirne has been appointed general manager of the Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center in Florida, the same post he has held at the Long Beach Convention Center since 2012. He will lead the Florida center as it continues work on a $1.3 billion expansion that began construction in 2019 and is expected to be completed in 2025.

A convention center in the midst of expansion is an environment with which Beirne is quite familiar. He was a key figure in the $60 million Pacific Ballroom project at the Convention Center, which played a part in transforming the center into a mainstay attraction in the city.

“We are privileged to have Charlie for what was initially a four month assignment over the past 11 years, as he has added much to the repositioning and enhancement of the convention center,” Long Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau president and CEO Steve Goodling said in a written statement.

“During his time at the Center, it has been recognized four times as Best in the West by the industry’s Stella Awards, and recently was recognized with PCMA’s Chairman’s Awards for its services to migrant children.”

Christian May-Suzuki is a reporter at the Long Beach Business Journal.