People

Baseball
Steve Violetta, San Diego Padres executive vice president/business affairs, resigned his position. Violetta had been with the team since 2002.

Lane (left), Lovetere (center), McCraig

Basketball
National Basketball Development League franchise owner Southwest Basketball LLC hired Tara McCraig in Austin, Texas; Josh Lovetere in Tulsa, Okla.; and Latisha Lane in Fort Worth, Texas, as account executives.

Continental Basketball Association director of public and media relations Todd Anderson resigned his position.

Colleges
The Association of Collegiate Conference and Events Directors-International named Diana Hakenholz director of member services and Theresa Todd part-time accountant and promoted Courtney Hudzik to database manager.

Anderson

The Army athletic department promoted Christian Anderson from media relations assistant to media relations assistant director.

The University of Akron named Pat Kreger associate athletic director for development. Kreger was director of the Hurricane Club at the University of Miami (Fla.).

The Atlantic Coast Conference named John Clougherty coordinator of men’s basketball officials.

Design
Sean McGarrity was named director of finance and operations for Brisbin Brook Beynon, Architects and Stadium Consultants International Inc.

Facilities
Palace Sports and Entertainment promoted Bryan Szlaga from event accountant to event accountant/contract specialist.

Mikulak

Dover International Speedway hired Stacey Mikulak as corporate account executive. Mikulak was an intern at the NASCAR corporate marketing office in New York.

Football
The Minnesota Vikings named a new ownership structure: Zygmunt Wilf, chairman; Leonard Wilf, vice chairman; Mark Wilf, president; Lester Bagley, vice president of public affairs and stadium development; Rob Brzezinski, vice president of football operations; Steve LaCroix, vice president of sales and marketing; Steve Poppen, vice president of finance; and Kevin Warren, vice president of operations and legal counsel.

Horse Racing
The National Thoroughbred Racing Association named Craig Fravel Western region consultant. The consultancy will not affect Fravel’s position at Del Mar.

Churchill Downs Inc. named William Carstanjen general counsel and chief development officer. Carstanjen was general counsel and managing director for GE Commercial Finance-Energy Financial Services.

Lacrosse
The National Lacrosse League’s Edmonton Rush named Duane Vienneau president and Ahmed “A.J.” Johma director of lacrosse operations.

Marketing
The Urban Sports and Entertainment Group LLC hired Nigel Hall as national account manager. Hall was vice president of marketing for the NBDL’s Arkansas RimRockers.

Other
World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. hired Michael McNeil as vice president of partnership marketing. McNeil was director of development for New York City’s Olympic organization.

XOS Technologies hired Dave Almstead as senior vice president of programming for XOS Network. Almstead was vice president and general manager of Comcast Local.

Tickets.com named Larry Witherspoon and Andy Donkin co-presidents. Witherspoon was vice president of technology services for the Seattle Mariners, and Donkin was president of Tickets.com’s Internet ticketing division.

Zager

Awards and Boards
The ECHL annual awards winners: Rob Patton of the Gwinnett (Ga.) Gladiators, award for excellence for ticket sales; Jeremy Zager of the San Diego Gulls, media relations award; the Bakersfield (Calif.) Condors and Long Beach (Calif.) Ice Dogs, ticket departments of the year; the Pensacola (Fla.) Ice Pilots, Award of Distinction; the Bakersfield Condors’ Web site, bakersfieldcondors.com, Web site of the year.

The National Athletic Trainers’ Association inducted Gerald Bell, Pete Carlon, Kathleen Laquale, Tony Marek and Rod Walters into its hall of fame. The association also named Terry Noonan and Jim Thornton to its board of directors.

The National Association of Sports Commissions named Greater Columbus CVB director of sports marketing Linda Logan chairwoman; Disney’s Wide World of Sports manager of sports programming John Bisignano vice chairman and chairman-elect; San Antonio Sports Foundation associate executive director Bill Hanson treasurer and Gainesville Sports Organizing Committee executive director Jack Hughes secretary.

Schutt Sports named Tim Maloney Sales its Agency of the Year for 2004. Members of the agency include Tim Maloney, Eric Stoffel, Craig Schlichting, David Greaux, Jim Bulkey, Don Starner, Dennis Gundling, Jeff Engle and Billy Mills.

Dave Edson was named to the JELD-WEN Tradition Foundation board of directors.