University Plaza GM takes job at Virginia hotel

University Plaza Hotel and Convention Center General Manager Robert Henley has taken a position with a Virginia hotel.

On April 15, Henley is set to become general manager of Norfolk (Va.) Waterside Marriott, a hotel owned by TPG Hospitality. Henley, who was selected to lead the John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts-owned University Plaza in January 2012, will serve his last day with JQH on April 10, he said. Henley has worked for the Springfield hotel company for eight years.

"It's really location. It gets me back to the East Coast," Henley said of moving closer to relatives.

He said the decision to move from JQH was a tough one. Under Henley, University Plaza revenues grew by 20 percent last year.

"I compare it to, in sports, when you have a quarterback who has done a great job for you, and they move to another team," JQH Vice President of Sales and Revenue Management Phill Burgess said. "We wish we could keep him, but this is better for him personally, being closer to relatives."

Burgess said the company today started a nationwide search to replace Henley, who had most recently served as general manager of another JQH property - the Holiday Inn Joplin Convention Center and Spa - before moving to University Plaza.

Michael Bloom, general manager of JQH's Holiday Inn North in Springfield, has been tapped to serve as interim general manager of University Plaza.

The new general manager would come into a period of renovations for University Plaza, which is undergoing $2 million in improvements.