Menu
People and Pop Culture

People: Executive transactions

Baseball
The Philadelphia Phillies promoted Michael Stiles to executive vice president and chief operating officer.

Andy Viano stepped down as president and general manager for the independent Frontier League’s Schaumburg (Ill.) Boomers.

Colleges
Bradley University Athletic Director Michael Cross will resign at the conclusion of the women’s Missouri Valley Conference basketball tournament.

Facilities
AEG Brasil named Venancio de Castro executive director. De Castro was chief marketing officer for AIG Seguros Brasil SA.

Memphis International Raceway hired Craig Wack as director of public relations and marketing.

SMG named Nina Jackson regional director of marketing for the company’s Midwest region. Jackson will continue in her role as director of marketing and public relations for the SMG-managed NRG Park in Houston.

Football
The Minnesota Vikings promoted Kevin Warren to chief operating officer.

Golf
The PGA of Canada promoted Jeff Dykeman to chief business officer.

Hockey

DOBBS
The Columbus Blue Jackets hired Kathryn Dobbs as vice president of community relations. Dobbs was vice president of philanthropy for the YMCA of Central Ohio.

The Los Angeles Kings promoted Ryan Rock and Katie Hazelrigg to account executives for ticket sales and service, and hired Claire Winde as a customer service and sales representative.

Law

LEIBOWITZ
NFLPA-licensed agent Gary Leibowitz started a sports law group at Cole Schotz P.C.

Marketing
Roundhouse hired John Martin as creative director. Martin co-founded photo storage mobile app HitnQuit and was formerly creative director for Nike Action Sports and Outdoor.

Brand Promotions named Wendy Voss business development manager.

PIERCE
STONIS
Sport Dimensions promoted Todd Stonis to president.

Etihad Airways hired Patrick Pierce as vice president of sponsorships and events. Pierce was director of global marketing and communications for Aon.

The Aspire Group promoted Gina Roberto to strategic consulting and research assistant; Damon Olstead to team leader at Arizona State University; Adrian Pina to sales consultant at Florida International University; and Alec Hamm to team leader at Georgia Tech.

GROPPER
SHAPIRO
CONTI
HOROWITZ
Scout Sports and Entertainment hired Dana Horowitz as production coordinator, Dan Conti as associate director of events, Jason Shapiro and Brenna Flynn as account coordinators, Dino Koutsouris as an account supervisor and Josh Gropper as an associate.

KRAUT
Learfield Sports named Lucas Kraut general manager at the University of Memphis, Brad Harrison general manager at Marquette University, Dani Beliniski general manager at Colorado State, Eric Taylor general manager at the University of Pennsylvania, Tatia Benkonvich general manager at Sacramento State, Ryan Connors general manager at Northwestern University, Joey King general manager at Boise State and Lance Gerlach general manager at the University of Colorado.

Sports consulting group Huddle Up Group named Gary Alexander a principal. Alexander was executive director of the local organizing committee for the 2014 NCAA Women’s Final Four.

IRG Sports & Entertainment promoted Manfred Eissner to director of creative and corporate marketing and Shayna Keller to director of public relations and corporate communications.

Media
ESPN Audio promoted Amanda Gifford to senior director of daytime programming.

Fox Sports promoted Rod Conti to vice president of technical operations and production management and Sandy Gong to senior vice president of production management.

WGN-TV hired Jim Muno as director of sports partnerships. Muno was vice president of marketing and business partnerships for Navy Pier.

BigTeams hired Paige Keffer as vice president of business development. Keffer was a client marketing manager for AOL Platforms.

Andy Hobson resigned from Univision Communications, where he was senior executive vice president and chief financial officer.

Motorsports
Roush Fenway Racing hired Brian Cleek as senior vice president of sales and business development, Bruce Mosley as vice president of strategic marketing and Stacie Brenner as director of event marketing.

ZINDRICK
TRG-Aston Martin Racing hired Paul Zindrick as senior vice president of sales and marketing.

Speedway Motorsports named Bruton Smith executive chairman and Marcus Smith chief executive officer.

Multiteam Companies
The Madison Square Garden Co. named Gregg Seibert vice chairman and also vice chairman for AMC Networks. Seibert will continue in his role as vice chairman of Cablevision Systems Corp.

Olympics
Boston 2024 named Joseph Rull chief administrative officer. Rull was chief of operations and administration for the mayor of Boston.

Soccer
Toronto FC hired Devin Pleuler as manager of analytics. Pleuler was a statistician for sports data company Opta and wrote a column for mlssoccer.com.

Sporting Goods and Apparel
Donald Blair, Nike executive vice president and chief financial officer, will retire in October. Effective Aug. 1, Blair will be succeeded by Andrew Campion, Nike senior vice president of finance, strategy and investor relations.

Rawlings Sporting Goods hired Michael Zlaket as president and chief executive officer. Zlaket was president of Easton-Bell Sports.

Other

SCHUTT
UNDERWOOD
IMG Tickets promoted Travis Underwood to director of ticket operations for the Miami Open and Lucas Schutt to director of client services.

Chad Collins launched a new national recruiting firm, Legacy Search. Collins was director of recruiting for Prodigy Sports.

The Greenbrier resort named Doug Miller vice president of sales, marketing and promotions. Miller was executive director of communications for the New Orleans Saints.

Awards and Boards
The Sports Turf Managers Association named to its 2015 board of directors Allen Johnson, president; Jeff Salmond, president-elect; David Pinsonneault, immediate past president; James Graff, vice president of commercial; Tim Van Loo, secretary and treasurer; Jimmy Simpson, at-large director; Doug Schattinger, commercial director; Robert Behr, schools K-12 director; Dan Bergstrom, professional facilities director; Sarah Martin, parks and recreation director; David Anderson, director at-large; Matt Anderson, higher education director; and Jeffrey Fowler, academic director.

KAMINKOW
The Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation named Joe Kaminkow to its board of directors.

The L.A. Sports Council named Dave Allen, Auto Club Speedway president, and Christine Simmons, Los Angeles Sparks president, to its board of directors.


People news
To have your personnel announcements included in the People section, please send information and photos to Brandon McClung at 120 W. Morehead St., Suite 310, Charlotte, NC 28202, or email them to careers@sportsbusinessjournal.com. Electronic photos must be a jpg or tiff file for Macintosh, 2.25 inches wide at 300 dpi. Color only, please. News items may also be sent via fax to (704) 973-1401. If you have questions, call (704) 973-1425.


SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 18, 2024

Sports Business Awards nominees unveiled; NWSL's historic opening weekend and takeaways from CFP deal

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, BTN’s Meghan McKeown, and a deep dive into AppleTV+’s The Dynasty

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast from the New York Post and Sports Business Journal, ESPN’s Jay Bilas talks all things NCAA. Big Ten Network’s Meghan McKeown shares her insight into the Caitlin Clark craze. The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn chats all things Bean Town. And SBJ’s Xavier Hunter drops in to share his findings on how the NWSL is making a social media push.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2015/03/02/People-and-Pop-Culture/Careers.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2015/03/02/People-and-Pop-Culture/Careers.aspx

CLOSE