Norris Management represented by the Norris Conference Centers 30th anniversary logo

Norris Management has been Successfully Implementing Strategies That Drive Profitability in the Meeting and Special Events Venue Market Since 1990

Norris has operated in Texas since 1990 as a successful non-residential conference venue for all types of functions. Such as: meetings, seminars, exhibits, trade shows and social events (i.e. wedding receptions, dinner parties, banquets, proms and class reunions, fund raisers and a variety of company celebrations.)

We are a full service events business with expertise in catering, audio-visual, marketing, sales, operations, facility remodel and build out.

Norris, currently owns, operates and manages six (6) facilities in Texas:

  • Austin/Northcross, a 22,000 square feet multi use venue
  • Dallas/Northpointe, a 17,700 square feet day meeting venue
  • Houston/CityCentre, a 30,000 square feet multi use venue
  • Houston/Westchase, a 16,400 square feet day meeting venue
  • San Antonio/Park North, a 38,000 square feet multi use venue
  • Katy/The ARK, a 10,500 square feet multi use venue

Norris also owns, operates and manages two (2) Catering Divisions in Texas:

  • Catering By Norris/Houston
  • Catering By Norris/San Antonio

Annually we host approximately 3,600 “day meeting” events along with hundreds of weddings, Quinceañeras, special celebrations and numerous trade shows. We also host hundreds of corporate celebrations from award banquets, to retirement parties and holiday parties.

Customer service has been the strategic cornerstone of our success and is our key differentiator from our competition. Our commitment to client care establishes preference for us in the market and provides for steady, repeat business.

Approximately 65% of our clients repeat year after year and of those, 22% use us in more than one location. This allows us to create and maintain long-term relationships with key clients resulting in consistent, high quality bookings.

Our extensive interviewing process and hands-on training practices, allows Norris to start with quality individuals and coach/mentor them on our culture of service. All employees are trained in our customer service methodologies, and client feedback forms are reviewed rigorously with appropriate service adjustments made on an ongoing basis.

Meet Norris Management

Dave Norris

Mr. Norris is an Operating Partner at Surge Private Equity.  Currently, he is co-CEO of Norris Training Systems, LLC, along with his wife and co-founder of the business, Linda Hampton Norris.

Texas based Norris Training Systems operates 6 Conference and Event Centers in Houston, San Antonio, Austin and Dallas.  NTS also operates Catering by Norris, with full catering kitchens in San Antonio and Houston, which provides all catering for the Norris event centers, as well as outside catering to third party event venues in those markets.

Previously, from 1997-2002 Mr. Norris served as President of PCC Valves and Controls, a $300M subsidiary of Precision Cast Parts, a fortune 500 company based in Portland, Oregon. The division consisted of 8 pump, valve and controls companies with worldwide sales, and manufacturing in 7 countries.  Prior to that, Mr. Norris served as President of Houston based Keystone Controls, Inc., a $120M automation and manufacturing firm and Vice President of North America/South America operations for Emerson Process in Austin.

He is a co-inventor and patent holder for a controller designed to optimize exothermic batch reactors and worked as an electronic design engineer for 7 years before moving into sales and management in 1981.

Mr. Norris holds a BSEE from Iowa State University.  He joined Norris Training Systems full time in 2003.

Linda Hampton

Linda has been with Norris Conference Centers since its inception in 1990. Starting out as the company’s conference coordinator, she is now Vice President. Previously, Ms. Hampton was employed with Prentiss Properties, in the area of commercial property management. Prior to 1989, she was employed in various positions with the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce.

Linda holds a B.S. in Education from Baylor University, an MBA from Southwest Texas State University, and a Masters in Human Resources and Developmental Leadership from The University of Texas – Austin. In 1997, Linda became a Certified Meeting Planner.

Ms. Hampton has been instrumental in keeping up with industry trends via her participation and continuing education in industry specific organizations such as: Meeting Professionals International, Society of Government Meeting Professionals, American Society of Training and Development, Society of Human Resource Managers and the International Assoc. of Conference Centers.

Joe Effort, President of Norris Centers

Joe Effert is the President of Norris Conference Centers.  In 2024, he came to the position with an extensive background in operational and financial management, scaling decades in the hospitality industry.  An award-winning restaurant operator, his focus was in management of some of the finest dining establishments in California, Texas and the Midwest.  Joe headed countless restaurant openings from the ground up and managed several upscale establishments, as well as creating several award-winning wine lists.

He attributes his success in the hospitality industry to his love of people.  Joe specializes in interpersonal relationships and has a strong business acumen, which he is excited to bring to the Norris team.  His hobbies include riding his motorcycle, collecting vinyl records, and road tripping around America.

Chris ClymerIn 2001, Chris Clymer joined the Norris Center- Austin team as the General Manager while also creating and producing marketing collateral for Norris Centers, a function he had been doing since our inception in 1990. After years of successfully managing our Austin venue, Chris accepted a promotion to become our Vice President of Marketing.

Chris has studied photography at the Brooks Institute and continued his studies at University of Austin and St. Edwards University. Prior to joining Norris Centers, Chris was the Creative Director and Graphic Arts Supervisor at the Lower Colorado River Authority, where he taught himself a number of software programs required to succeed in today industry of photojournalism and marketing.

Our commitment is simple. We will apply our years of experience and expertise from marketing, sales and operations management resources to the success of this project, consistent with our existing successful portfolio of our own Norris Conference Centers.

To learn more about how we can assist you with creating a successful conference center, call us today at 713-780-9387 or contact us by e-mail at l.hampton@norriscenters.com.