ST. LOUIS — The region’s tourism bureau on Tuesday said that a prominent attorney and former ºüÀêÊÓƵ Rams executive will serve as its interim chief as it searches for a replacement for its departing president.
Robert Wallace will take a leave of absence from law firm Thompson Coburn and take over for outgoing Convention and Visitors Commission President Kitty Ratcliffe on Aug. 12, according to a commission news release.
Ratcliffe, 65, previously announced she would retire at the end of August, roughly 10 months before her contract was set to expire, amid growing concerns about sagging sales, poor staff morale and cost overruns on the downtown convention center expansion.
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Wallace has been the commission’s attorney since 2013. The New York native earned his undergraduate degree at Yale, where he lettered in football, then obtained his law degree at Georgetown.
He spent three decades in the NFL, serving as chief contracts negotiator for the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Cardinals and Philadelphia Eagles before rising to run the entire business side of the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Rams, where he was one of the highest-ranking Black executives in the league.
He joined downtown firm Thompson Coburn in 2012 as a partner and chair of the firm’s sports law group.
In a news release, Wallace said his experience with the commission and the Rams, who played in the Dome that the commission manages, would allow him to “contribute to our mission on day one.â€