Wolf names ex-Pa. Convention Center chief to gambling board

Pa. Gov. Tom Wolf appointed Ahmeenah Young, who was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority until it replaced her with a private management firm in 2013, to a $145,000-a- year position as a member of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, which oversees the state's dozen gambling casinos.

The casino board meets every four weeks. Young replaces David Woods, a Delaware County Republican who served on the Convention Center and Septa boards and was appointed to the gambling panel by previous Gov. Tom Corbett. Woods' three-year term is expiring.

"Ahmeenah's business acumen, vast experience, and commitment to serving her community make her a natural fit for the Gaming Control Board," Wolf said in a statement. He noted that Young, of Philadelphia, oversaw a $35 million budget and presided over the center during its state-funded $786 million expansion. That was the largest public construction project in the state's history.

Young was paid $267,500 a year in 2013, her last year before SMG, a West Conshohocken-based facilities management firm, was brought in to run the center. She was also given a $460,000, 18-month consulting arrangement with the center, to begin after she stepped down.

Young's departure was followed by the resolution of longstanding union/management issues at the center, with a new labor agreement allowing exhibitors more power to hire their own contracted staff to set up displays.

(Revised)