Charley Johnson officially presents new Visit F-M CEO

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — For the past thirteen years, Charley Johnson was the Chief Executive Officer of Visit Fargo-Moorhead. Starting next week, he will finish that journey.

“I think it’s going to be wonderful, it’ll be a big change for me to not go to work every day. But it’s probably about time you know. You get to a certain age and it’s probably time to go rest somewhere,” said Johnson.

Although Johnson will be retiring from the position, he will continue to be involved with the convention center committee. Currently, the committee has nine proposals. Johnson hopes they will narrow it down to three or four by the end of October.

“They’re all potentially workable, usable projects, so it’s going to be a real struggle for our committee of four team to pair it down to three or four finalists,” said Johnson.

Shirley Hughes, who is succeeding Johnson, will also be involved in the committee. While she will not make any final decisions on the project, she is glad to be a part of the team.

“It is going to be such an important part of how we’re successful as an organization as well as a community. So, I’m hopeful that the community will, even though I’m new, take my thoughts around that and all the ideas that I have,” said Hughes.

In 2024, over $151 million was spent from just hotel rooms alone in the metro area. While the area has seen growth, the amount of Canadians crossing over has gone down.

“It’s had an impact on hotel occupancy and any kind of business in town. Border crossings for the last four to five months have been down anywhere from thirty to thirty-nine percent by month. And there’s been no sign of improvement yet,” said Johnson.

“We know we’ve got a little bit of a downturn, especially in Canadian traffic. There’s other things that are happening, so we have to address that,” said Hughes.

Hughes is still working alongside Johnson as of now. And he says that he is excited to see the work that is done.

Johnson says the committee will most likely submit a recommendation for the convention center no later than March of 2026.