Leaders in DeSoto County are tasked with finding two new administrators to run the Landers Center now that the multi-purpose venue’s executive director and chief financial officer have been fired as construction crews add on to the facility.
On Jan. 6, Todd Mastry and Jason Morgan were relieved of their duties during a special DeSoto County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau board meeting. Mastry served as the Southaven facility’s executive director while Morgan operated as its chief financial officer.
Both men were fired less than a month after construction began on an $85 million expansion to the Landers Center, per a report from the Commercial Appeal. The project will serve to expand the venue’s convention center and a 240-room Embassy Suites hotel. Construction is anticipated to continue until 2027.
Mastry had been the Landers Center’s top administrator since 2008 and played a role in planning the facility’s expansion project. He has also overseen operations at the BankPlus Amphitheater at Snowden Grove since 2021. Morgan took the CFO job at the Landers Center in 2021 after spending over a decade at a Memphis agricultural venue.
At this time, no official statement has been made by officials with the DeSoto County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, which owns the center, regarding the reason for the terminations. Joel Crews, who has served as the Landers Center’s general manager, is running the show in the interim.
The Landers Center is the home of the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies’ G-League affiliate, the Memphis Hustle. The venue also hosts a myriad of concerts, entertainment events, a flea market, and more.
