{"id":2228583,"date":"2026-01-09T17:38:45","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T17:38:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2228583"},"modified":"2026-01-09T17:38:45","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T17:38:45","slug":"new-meca-president-excited-for-omahas-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/new-meca-president-excited-for-omahas-future\/","title":{"rendered":"New MECA president excited for Omaha\u2019s future"},"content":{"rendered":"

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OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – The Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority has a new leader who will help shape events and drive tourism to the city.<\/p>\n

Adam Straight has taken over as MECA\u2019s CEO and president, managing the organization\u2019s three properties: the CHI Health Center, Charles Schwab Field and the Riverfront. He replaces longtime president Roger Dixon, who announced his retirement last June after 25 years with MECA.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI really see this as my last stop. This really is at the top of the peak for me,\u201d Straight said.<\/p>\n

Experience in major venues<\/h3>\n

In Louisiana, Straight served as chief operating officer for the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, the sixth largest convention center in the country. Arenas he oversaw have hosted Super Bowls, NCAA Final Fours and the College Football Playoff Championships.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started in this business 25 years ago as an electrician and worked my way up,\u201d Straight said.<\/p>\n

MECA\u2019s board said they chose Straight<\/a> based on his experience and ability to guide projects within budget and to completion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are confident that Adam will pick up right where he left off in New Orleans, and where our former president and CEO Roger Dixon left off and continue to grow and improve all three MECA properties,\u201d said Diane Duren, MECA Board of Directors.<\/p>\n

Financial outlook and growth potential<\/h3>\n

Straight said he has already reviewed MECA\u2019s finances with the chief financial officer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have already sat down with our CFO to talk about the budget and the finances and we are in really good shape,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Straight believes MECA\u2019s properties can boost tourism and generate billions of dollars for the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you kidding me here? The opportunities here\u2026 the opportunities for growth and potential,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Straight takes on projects already in the works, including the CHI Health Center expansion. He expects it to give the city a competitive edge to compete with other convention centers in the region.<\/p>\n

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Copyright 2026 WOWT. All rights reserved.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.wowt.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – The Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority has a new leader who will help shape events and drive tourism to the city. Adam Straight has taken over as MECA\u2019s CEO and president, managing the organization\u2019s three properties: the CHI Health Center, Charles Schwab Field and the Riverfront. He replaces longtime president Roger […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[406968,387643,356595,421167,369327,351638,22036,431136,21741,22034,370856,39312,354484,422411,22271,349443,431134,386909,431132,431135,357509,308692,346464,352991,429603,420477,21848,431133,351949,23362],"class_list":["post-2228583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-billions","tag-budget","tag-center","tag-ceo","tag-charles","tag-chi","tag-city","tag-dollars","tag-entertainment","tag-events","tag-field","tag-for","tag-future","tag-gene","tag-health","tag-leader","tag-leahy","tag-mall","tag-meca","tag-millions","tag-omaha","tag-park","tag-parks","tag-president","tag-riverfront","tag-schwab","tag-sports","tag-straight","tag-venue","tag-venues"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2228583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2228583"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2228583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2228584,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2228583\/revisions\/2228584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2228583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2228583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2228583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}