New State Fair hire will oversee safety

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - The Indiana State Fair Commission announced the hiring of David Shaw on Thursday. Shaw will be the chief operating officer for the commission and will oversee emergency planning and safety at the fairgrounds.

The position was created as a result of the investigation into last year's stage rigging collapse. Witt Associates, one of the companies who investigated the collapse, found the Fair Commission's emergency response plan at the time to be inadequate. Witt recommended the board create the COO position.

Shaw is a Ball State University graduate who has 20 years experience in the entertainment industry. His background icludes eight years as the general manager for three venues in the Chicago area.

"It really prepared me to take this role head-on to be exposed to different expectations, different rules, different guidelines, and that was a great opportunity," Shaw told commission members.

Shaw's start date is May 21. He says his first priority is to study and work on the recommendations that came out of the investigative reports from the collapse.

"(David's) directive is to be 100 percent compliant with what Witt recommended, what Thorton Tomasetti recommended and also the IOSHA report," said commission Executive Director Cindy Hoye.

Shaw will have expert help when it comes to re-writing the emergency response plans for events at the fairgrounds. The commission also hired former IMPD Officer Jessie Olvera as the new emergency management officer. Olvera told commissioners he has already started on reworking the current emergency plan.

"We are not recreating anything; we are not having to do anything that wasn't already there. We are taking things that are there and making them way better," said Olvera.

24-Hour News 8 requested to talk to both Shaw and Olvera about how they planned to improve safety. We were told they two men would not be made available for interviews until next month at the earliest.