Safety (and Security)


AT&T STADIUM’S PAUL TURNER, CSSP, CVE, LEADS BY SHINING EXAMPLE


First


   kids running around and shouting with glee as they played catch and, otherwise, just enjoyed getting to be on the same turf as the venue’s local and iconic residents, the Dallas Cowboys.  


 as the


the same tu Cowbo


     one year before the mammoth venue opened, as the senior directorrec or of event operations. Over the joyous noise below, Turner takes aurne  not even he could have foreseen as a youngster growing up in the in th Los Angeles area.


  below 


as the seniior diir ctto er ta es a 


en ake ter growin 


    ng upg


I was a kid 


he


d,” Turner  


e


“I was not a big fan of pro football ,when I was a kid,” Turner  buddies over to the house and eat a lot of junk food and watch theattch football game. A number of those at the time were obviously Cow-     Dallas Cowboys and, oh, by the way, it’ll be the second NFL team you work for and third pro sports team you work for, and you’ll be   - mark team, I would have asked, how the hell is that ever going to happen?”


k food an wer obv  


 w he secon bviouslly


nd wa h the y Cow


  he w-


  


  is tha


 urne    


or and ou’ll be     ver go


  of


e Academyem or 





nd NFL team d yo


  FL ea


oing to


    for having someone with the industry chops of Turner, but so to is IAVM, for which Turner serves as chair of the Academy for Venue  - agement School.





er, but so to is r Venue  


 


    desire to work in a sports industry,” Turner said. “But, I found the right match for my skill set and the role that I do for what I really care about. I don’t mean to minimize it, but to me it doesn’t really     about safety, it’s about security, it’s about the chance to really creatte


    aid. “But, I found the I do for wha I rea to me it do sn’t ea 


oes  


  und he ally allly





   


       ance to really create


  


 


pllayed cattc urf as the


    ch e


Paul Turner, CSSP, CVE, surveyed the landscape from an empty suite at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, onto the football playing field below.


something that is very special. That’s really shaped my philosophy.” Indeed, it is a career that has taken some remarkable twists for a


guy from SoCal whose most early association was to nothing less than a euphonium. A what?


BEATING THE DRUM    


the public assembly venue profession, you likely check him as a sta- dium guy. Prior to coming to Dallas, Turner had started working in 2004 at Lincoln Financial Field for the Philadelphia Eagles. one year after that stadium had opened. However, go back to the formative  High School and went on to earn a degree in speech communication at California State University, Long Beach. That degree came only after Turner switched from a music education major. Music was always a part of Turner’s life growing up. He was in his


high school marching band and became its drum major, a position he would also gain with the college band. As for the instrument he played, “Well, I played baritone horn. I usually tell people trombone because they give me a look when I tell them I played a euphonium (note: I just gave him that look). It’s pitched like a trombone, but looks like a small tuba.” Despite switching majors, the music and performance side stayed


with Turner, and he became introduced to what would eventually become his career profession when he landed a position running the recital hall on campus. “I thought, you work on campus, you get paid. It isn’t a very hard


job. So, my sophomore year, I got the job and started running the recital hall,” he said. From there, Turner stayed involved in the music department, and after serving as a technician for the recital hall, landed other positions on campus including front-of-house manager work at the theater, as  “So, I was kind of a jack-of-all-trades, and that’s what really got me interested in facility management,” Turner said.


By R.V. Baugus


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