The new director of Erie Events says he hopes to build for the future by counting on the past.

It was announced Monday that Gus Pine will be taking over the position from Casey Wells. He told us a top priority will be completing a planned market house for the waterfront.

He says the leadership of Wells will be a big help in moving forward.

“The benefit I have is the foundation, the groundwork that Casey and the board built for the past 30 years. Often times you have to come in and make drastic changes or spend a lot of time evaluating. Because I’m an internal candidate, and because of the work that Casey’s done, a lot of that can be avoided,” said Gus Pine, new executive director, Erie Events.

Pine was the general manager of the Convention Center and will assume his new role in January.