Always on the Go

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04/06/2003
1,297 words

Always on the Go -- Convention Center chief Kathy Coffey spends her energy
putting Yakima's best foot forward

By DORI HARRELL
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

There's no such thing as a quiet work day for Kathy Coffey.

As general manager of the Yakima Convention Center, Coffey has raised millions to expand the facility three times.

Bookings are up 145 percent since she took over 15 years ago.

As chief executive of the Yakima Valley Visitors and Convention Bureau,
she has spearheaded the tourism industry here.

She targets Puget Sound travelers looking to escape their busy lives, and
wine enthusiasts hoping to discover a new, quality taste in the Yakima
Valley.

Tourism spending in Yakima Country grew last year even as most counties in
the state saw spending stay flat or decline.

And the driven, focused Coffey has big plans for the future, such as
improving the city's image along Interstate 82 and revamping downtown.

But if you ask about her career accomplishments since heading up the
convention center and visitors bureau, she doesn't name any of the above.

She talks about her former employees Lonie Rahm and Lynn Edwards, who went
on to lead visitor bureaus and chambers and now run their own tourism
consulting firms.

Or Connie Upton, who was hired by Coffey in 1993 as director of sales for
the convention center and is now its assistant general manager.

"It's about people. They're my biggest legacy," Coffey said.

The petite 55-year-old with short, curly blond hair and the energy of a
5-year-old claims an unshakable commitment to the Yakima Valley.

Her roots here certainly run deep.

She was raised in Selah, with her father, Marvin Kelley, working as an
irrigation engineer for Yakima Cement.

Her mother, Betty, starred as Miss Betty on the local version of the
syndicated Romper Room, one of the first children's television shows.

Her grandfather, Gil Burns, served as the mayor of Yakima in the 1950s.

Her parents in the 1960s moved to Ellensburg and still live there today.

After graduating from Selah High School, Coffey and her first husband,
Roger Buchanan, moved away for a stint of cattle ranching in Canada.

The couple moved back to Yakima within a year and had a baby boy, Aaron
Buchanan, who is now 35 and lives in Selah.

"He's the pride of the my life," his mother said.

The couple divorced in 1972 and Coffey found herself a single parent.

"I had nothing but a smattering of college-level English lit courses. But
I had to get a job to feed this boy," she said.

She landed a position as a front-desk clerk for the Holiday Motor Hotel,
now the Union Gospel Mission.

She quickly became addicted to the travel industry, and since then, hasn't
turned her back on it.

"I fell in love with front-desk work, with the whole industry," she said.

She was quickly recruited away to serve at the Garden Villa, now the
Doubletree Hotel in Yakima.

"I just kept going up," Coffey said, "from front-desk manager to
reservation manager to banquet manager and then to sales manager."

She didn't even pause her climb up the corporate ladder when she married
Rex Coffey, a produce buyer for Safeway, in 1974.

"I was passionate about working," Coffey said.

When Rex received a promotion in 1978, the family moved to Walnut Creek,
Calif.

"I cried forever," Coffey said. "I love the Valley."

She played around with a leisurely lifestyle for a while, learning tennis
and taking some college courses.

But the Sheraton Hotel in Concord lured her back into travel and made her
its director of sales.

"I was awestruck to work in such a competitive environment," she said. "I
learned my craft and observed my peers. I learned how to sell facilities."

She eventually took a job as a sales director with Red Lion Hotels to help
open the company's flagship facility in San Jose.

"This was its first major market. All eyes were on us, and here I came,"
Coffey said. "I was scared to death."

But after working 14-hour days for two years, she led the facility to No.
1 in reservations of hotels near airports.

"It was probably the most rewarding, and horrible, experience of my life,"
she said. "It was exciting, yet stressful."

She and Rex returned to Yakima in 1986, and Coffey intended to quit work
for good.

She picked up her tennis racket and learned to ride horses.

But once again, leisure escaped her. In 1988 she was asked to apply for
the job as executive director of the Yakima Valley Visitors and Convention
Bureau.

The city owns the convention center and contracts with the bureau to
manage the facility.

That meant Coffey would also become general manager of the
23,000-square-foot center, a position she hadn't held before.

She accepted the job.

"The industry is in my blood," Coffey said.

At that time, the convention center catered mainly to local businesses.

Coffey immediately set out to attract businesses and associations from
around the state. She later launched advertising to attract tourists here
from Puget Sound. She also began recruiting sports associations.

"We had never done any tourism or sports promotions before," she said.

In 1992, personal tragedy struck when Rex died. Though devastated, she
held onto her job.

Her drive remains undiminished.

Today, tourism is one of the fastest growing industries in Yakima County.
In 2002, tourists spent more than $228 million in the Valley, up from $224
million the year before.

Last year, she helped form a public utilities district to raise more than
$6 million for the latest 23,000-square-foot addition to the convention
center.

Once complete, the center will stand at 80,000 square feet, more than
triple its original size.

It will be the largest facility in Central Washington, but still smaller
than the Spokane center. Spokane is Yakima's largest competitor, Coffey
said.

"The expansion will make us more competitive with Spokane," she said.
"We'll be able to go after larger associations, and have more than one
group here at a time."

For example, the Yakima Convention Center recently hosted 1,000 Washington
Education Association delegates. Coffey hopes the new facilities will
encourage this group to sign up again for Yakima.

Next month, she will open a new wine visitor information center along
Interstate 82, a $500,000 project she started three years ago.

"It's a jewel," Coffey says. "Many times I felt this wouldn't happen, but
I'd grit my teeth and say, "Yes, it is.'"

Her friends and family say her passion for tourism and Yakima has helped
strengthen the community.

"She has put Yakima on the map as far as the city is concerned," said
state Sen. Alex Deccio, a Yakima Republican. "She is probably responsible
more than anyone for the convention center's success."

Coffey married Ken Messer in 1998. Messer serves as general manager of
KIMA-TV and KLEW-TV.

He said she considers Yakima her community. Not as if she owns it, but in
wanting to help improve it.

"She is focused and passionate and driven to do the best job possible - to
sell Yakima over its competitors," Messer said.

Robin Pollard calls Coffey a visionary.

"She pulls up her sleeves and sees the job through," said Pollard,
director of economic development for the state Department of Community,
Trade and Economic Development.

Pollard formerly managed the state's tourism office, and worked closely
with Coffey on tourism issues.

Coffey is the brainchild behind uniting tourism and wine in the Valley,
Pollard said.

It's an asset, she said, that Coffey has remained with the visitors and
convention bureau so long, because many projects take years to develop.

"There have been efforts to recruit her away, but it's home to her and
she's committed to that region," Pollard said.

How long will Coffey dedicate herself to Yakima's tourism industry?

"Until it's not fun anymore," Coffey said. "But, I have the best job in
Yakima and there's still so much to do."

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