Kirk Goodman was introduced as the new General Manager of the Ford Wyoming Center at the Casper City Council pre-meeting on Tuesday.

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Goodman is taking over for Brad Murphy, who served as the GM until his retired on January 13, 2023.

"Under Mr. Murphy's leadership, the management contract has yielded a reduction to the City's general fund investment for the events center," a memo from Zulima Lopez, the Parks, Recreation, & Public Facilities Director to the city stated. "This was achieved despite increasing operating costs, COVID-19 shutdowns in 2020, and the slow recovery of the event industry from COVID-19. Mr. Murphy's contributions as GM are notable, and we wish him well in retirement."

Looking to the future, however, Lopez introduced Goodman to the Casper City Council and he didn't waste anytime in expressing his appreciation of Casper's hospitality.

"I've never met nicer people in my entire life," Goodman said. "Here, everyone is generally kind and welcoming and the staff we have at the Ford Wyoming Center is top notch."

Mayor Knell asked Goodman what his plans were for the Ford Wyoming Center.

"It's been exciting," Goodman said of his time in Casper. "This is my fourth week here and working with Zulima and finding out the plans from the city to reinvest in the facility. I think they're exciting. You have a 40 year old building, it's obviously 40 years old. You know the problems that come with a 40 year old building. But the team before me and currently have taken such great care of the facility. These additions that we're going to be  making throughout the next few years are really exciting."

Goodman also spoke about his plans for the future of the Ford Wyoming Center.

"Adding to the breadth of what we do entertainment wise, we're really excited about." he stated. "We're building warmer relationships with great promoters like Live Nation, AEG. We hopefully will have a big announcement to make about a concert in November before too long. That will be exciting. And just continuing to offer not only a lot of programming but also a diverse level of programming to meet a lot of people's needs, not only here in the community but in the surrounding area, and just hopefully hit a lot of folks who will find a reason to come to Casper, come to a show, patronize the local businesses, stay in the hotels, and just continue to drive that economic development that the facility has."

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