Connect: It’s his business to sell out Spokane

The trinkets and pictures people keep on their desks often describe them better than the title on their nameplate. In the case of Harry Sladich, president and CEO of the Spokane Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau, that certainly holds true.

“I love speed, I love to go very, very fast,” Sladich says, gesturing at the model motorcycles and die-cast Ferraris on his desk and all around his office. “Cars, bikes, it’s just always been part of my life.”

Sladich’s pride is a light yellow ‘68 Firebird convertible, which he drives to work, weather permitting. But his garage also holds a KTM dirt bike and an Italian Aprilia road bike.

“My mom cried when she saw me pull up on that – and she pleaded with me to sell it and I didn’t,” Sladich says, clearly feeling guilty. “The dirt bike is my stress relief tool, because it’s so physical to ride it. We go to the races with that, and up to Seven Mile and out to Moses Lake to ride.”

His wife of 21 years, Shawn Sladich, usually doesn’t come along.

“She had a dirt bike for a while, but today it’s mostly me and my high school buddies,” Sladich says. “I am planning to sell the Aprilia. I want a BMW instead, the RT 1100 – that’s like the new bikes the police is getting.”

When he’s not straddling a bike, Sladich is selling Spokane to out-of-town corporations and organizations looking for a place to hold their conventions. And now he’s got a newly expanded convention center to fill, a development that’s moved Spokane up a tier in the convention market.

“We can now compete against the big cities. We’re stealing business from cities like Portland and Sacramento,” Sladich explains. “And when they write about that in their newspapers, we get great satisfaction out of that.”

Sladich has been at the CVB since May 2005. He previously was in the hotel business for 16 years, last working for Sterling Hospitality as vice president of sales.

“When John Brewer, who had this job before me, asked me to put my name in the hat, my response was, ‘No, no, I don’t want to do that,’ ” Sladich says. When CVB office staff started lobbying him – they knew him because he was on the CVB board at the time – Sladich began to reconsider.

“I don’t do well with Monday-morning quarterbacks and I worried that in this position you sometimes have to be a little political,” Sladich says. “I can be very direct. If the elephant is sitting in the room, I’m the kind of person who’ll point at it and say, ‘Look, people, it’s right there.’ “

He says he’s never regretted taking the job.

“In the beginning, I sometimes sat in meetings with people I’d only read about,” Sladich says. “I often wondered how I’d gotten to be invited – but then you realize that these high caliber business people are people just like the rest of us, with their own troubles and trials and tribulations.”

During Sladich’s tenure, Spokane had a big success hosting the 2006 State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

The city completed the convention center expansion that was funded with money voters approved in 2002. That’s opened up opportunities to host bigger events.

And retailers are seeing more Canadian shoppers, thanks to the falling U.S. dollar.

Sladich recently worked to get a commitment to bring the 100 Years of Motorcycles show to the Spokane County Fairgrounds this summer – not such a hard sell, perhaps, given that promoter Josh Bryan’s relationship was rocky with many residents of the former host town Rosalia.

As the Spokesman-Review has previously reported, Sladich says he’s gotten concessions from Bryan to assure that the event lives up to its $1 million billing, or at least doesn’t lead to the complaints that plagued the Rosalia event – things like public urination and drunkenness, and clogged streets.

A previous motorcycle event that Sladich championed fell far short of expectations.

He had predicted 55,000 people would pay to attend the 2006 Orange County Choppers tour stop at the Spokane County Fairgrounds. Instead, 22,000 tickets were sold, and the fairgrounds had $23,000 in uncovered expenses.

More recently, Sladich worked with Washington State University officials who tried unsuccessfully to land a presidential debate for Spokane. And while he wasn’t involved in the decision, Sladich later defended those officials’ controversial decision to turn down the vice presidential debate that was offered instead.

“We would rather save ourselves for another day when we can get a presidential debate,” he said at the time.

Incredulous boosters in St. Louis quickly jumped at the offer Spokane turned down, welcoming the opportunity to be in the spotlight. They noted that the 2004 vice presidential debate attracted 43 million television viewers.

Under Sladich’s leadership, the CVB also decided this year not to distribute three privately-produced visitor and dining guides, angering the guides’ publishers, who are CVB members.

Sladich noted at the time that the CVB produces its own materials, for which it sells advertising. And, he said, some of the other publications were confusing.

“He is very aggressive in pursuing his goals and utilizes a very practical, for-profit, sales approach that has reaped benefits for the organization and the community,” Larry Soehren, vice chairman of the Spokane Public Facilities District.

Born in Anaconda, Mont., Sladich’s family moved to Spokane when he was only eight months old.

“Yes, this is my hometown,” he says. “Many of my buddies left, you know, for a bigger city and all that, but I stayed because I just love it.”

He grew up in the neighborhood around St. Aloysius and Gonzaga University.

Harry Sladich Sr., worked in administration at Gonzaga for 40 years and Marguerite Sladich was a stay-at-home mom.

“I’m the oldest – I have two sisters, Jennifer, who’s just now moving back from Venezuela where she’s lived with her husband, and Susanne who’s here in Spokane,” Sladich says.

After Gonzaga Prep he went to GU for a year, then started working in the hotel business.

“In school, I guess I was kind of the class clown,” he says. “I use humor in life and work. It’s an effective way to ease tension.”

So is he the fun boss with the constant jokes?

“No, I can laugh at a situation but we better hit the numbers and do what we are supposed to do,” he says, adding that he’s not afraid to be vulnerable around his staff. “I’m not afraid to say I’m sorry or that I wasn’t right.”

At the same time, he’s competitive and says he really hates to lose.

Soehren says that shows in Sladich’s approach to business.

Outside of work and bikes, much of Sladich’s life revolves around his 7-year-old daughter Sabrina. He’s the incoming board chairman for Spokane County Boys and Girls Club, a position he’s filling after Denise Stanton.

Sladich has spent time at the club with the kids, playing ping-pong and in other activities.

“It’s amazing to see how they crave contact with an adult, they just want to be with you,” Sladich says. “And sometimes it’s so little it takes to help them. So little.

“I think those of us who have what we need sometimes forget that.”

Pia K. Hansen can be reached at (509) 459-5427 or piah@spokesman.com.