Georgia Aquarium’s interim CEO now permanent

Mike Leven, who once ran Days Inn, Holiday Inn and hotelier U.S. Franchise Systems, can take the “interim” off his desk at the Georgia Aquarium.

The hospitality whiz, who took over as chief executive officer at the world’s largest fish tank after former chief Jeff Swanagan announced in May he was leaving, is taking on the job full time.

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Ben Gray/bgray@ajc.com

In 1995, Mike Leven founded U.S. Franchise Systems, which franchised Microtel Inns & Suites and Hawthorn Suites hotel brands. He has also been president of Holiday Inn Worldwide and Days Inn of America.

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MIKE LEVEN
• Title: Chief executive officer, Georgia Aquarium
• Age: 70
• Hometown: Boston
• Family: Wife, Andrea; three sons; five grandchildren
• Education: Bachelor's from Tufts University; master's from Boston University

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“I feel very, very fortunate and, in a way, blessed to have this opportunity,” said Leven, 70. “On a happiness scale — and for someone like me I am never at a 10 because I think I can always improve something — I’m at an 8.”

The aquarium, which will make the appointment public Wednesday, had been seeking candidates for the job for the past few months. But after narrowing the field down to three prospects, Home Depot co-founder and billionaire Bernie Marcus — whose fortune built the downtown attraction — called off the search and told Leven he wanted him for the job. The three candidates never interviewed.

“He said, ‘Look, I don’t want to take the risk. I want you,’” Leven said of his conversation with Marcus. “I said I would stay until the end of ‘09. But he said ‘I want you permanently.’”

Leven takes over at a time when he has made several changes to improve visitor numbers. The aquarium, which saw 3.6 million visitors its first year, has seen that number dip to an anticipated 2.2 million this year. While the drop is not unexpected — most attractions see declines after the newness wears off — Leven said he didn’t want attendance to erode further.

In early August, he juggled staff, including accepting the resignations of two top aquarium officials and eliminating the job of a third. Days later he announced the traveling Titanic exhibit would soon open in the facility. At month’s end, officials introduced the first manta ray in a U.S. fish aquarium.

Attendance so far this month is up over the same period last year, Leven said. But he’ll wait for attendance figures to come in later this fall before calling the changes a success, he said.

“I think we’re in motion,” he said.

He said he took the job because of his personal friendship and respect for Marcus; he didn’t think more staff changes were healthy for workers and he wanted to see if the new initiatives he implemented would work.

“We still have a long way to go for me to be satisfied,” he said. “But there is a very positive environment around here.”

While Leven is new to the fish business, he is well known in the accommodations community.

In 1995, he founded U.S. Franchise Systems, which franchised Microtel Inns & Suites and Hawthorn Suites hotel brands. Before that, he was president and chief operating officer of Holiday Inn Worldwide. He served as president of Days Inn of America from 1985 to 1990.

The Boston native came to the aquarium after being one of the top officials at Marcus’ foundation. In February, Marcus asked him to look at operations of the aquarium to determine the direction the attraction needed to take to remain a top draw. Because of his new post, he has resigned from the Marcus Foundation to focus solely on the aquarium, officials at the aquarium said.

Even as the search for a CEO proceeded, Leven hinted that he wouldn’t mind turning his interim duties at the aquarium into a permanent role. In interviews, he would say he was having fun and was being challenged.

But he wasn’t sure his wife, Andrea, would go along. After all, he was supposed to be retired.

When he broke the news, he received her blessing.

“She said to me what she has said for 47 years, ‘If that’s what you want to do, then I’ll support it.”