The Boston Convention and Exhibition Center's main entrance on Congress Street. Photo by James Sanna | Banker & Tradesman Staff / file

The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority plans to tap businessman and former public official John Barros to lead the agency after significant turmoil and turnover of its leadership in recent years, according to sources familiar with the choice.

Barros was Boston’s chief of economic development under Mayor Marty Walsh. He also served as the executive director of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative and unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Boston in 2013 and 2021. Barros is currently the managing principal at Civitas Builders, according to his LinkedIn, and has also been the head of commercial brokerage Cushman & Wakefield’s Boston office since leaving public service.

The MCCA Board has a 4 p.m. meeting on Friday to “consider the appointment of an Interim CEO.”

Barros did not return a request for comment for this story.

Former CEO Marcel Vernon Sr. resigned from the agency’s top job in December just over a year into his tenure, departing with a severance package worth $500,000. He left voluntarily, amidst reports of clashes with the board.

As of December, the Senate Committee on Post Audit and Oversight launched an investigation into allegations of corruption and mismanagement of public funds, among other issues, at the MCCA, which Vernon reportedly welcomed.

Vernon was appointed in October 2024 following an almost year-long search triggered by the resignation of former executive director David Gibbons. Gibbons stepped down in late 2023 after a series of disputes with the board, amid allegations of racial discrimination within the agency, an outside report on diversity and inclusion, and controversy over the handling of a redevelopment process for state-owned land in South Boston.

MASSterlist editor Gintautas Dumcius contributed to this story.