Baseball
The Cincinnati Reds hired former club manager Lou Piniella as a senior adviser to baseball operations.
The Toronto Blue Jays hired former MLB manager Eric Wedge as a player development adviser.
Basketball
The Phoenix Suns hired Tru Filyaw as creative director and brand manager.
Colleges
Syracuse University hired Anthony Di Fino as associate athletic director for business development.
University of Central Florida hired Scott Carr as executive associate athletic director and chief marketing officer. Carr was senior associate athletic director for external affairs at Auburn.
Facilities
Generator Studio hired Andrew Kesel as an architectural designer.
Football
The Atlanta Falcons hired Joel Collier as director of professional personnel. Collier was assistant general manager for the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Houston Texans promoted Amy Palcic to senior director of communications.
Hockey
The Pittsburgh Penguins hired Brett Baur as manager of partnership sales.
Marketing
The Aspire Group promoted Emily Embree to senior sales consultant leader for Louisiana Tech University and hired Nate Sayles as data analyst; Richard Kirtland as group consultant for the University of Kansas; Kevin Hill as sales consultant for the University of Maryland; Justin Morelli as manager of sales and service for the University of Toledo; Jeffrey Kowalek as senior sales consultant for Siena College; and for Colorado State University, Matt Harman as sales and service consultant, and Brandon Moyer as coordinator of database marketing and analytics. It also hired Ryan Agan, Derek Murray, Chris O’Shea, John Quigley and Peter Stephens as service and retention consultants for the University of Texas.
GlideSlope hired Michael Shaw to lead global revenue initiatives.
IMG Learfield Ticket Solutions promoted Brian Gilroy to general manager for Auburn University, Ryan Youngs to associate general manager for the University of Colorado and Chaz Cheeseboro to senior account executive for the University of South Carolina.
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FERGUSON
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Learfield Sports hired
Jeff Ferguson as general manager for Georgia Southern Sports Properties. Ferguson was director of sponsorship sales for Live Nation.
Learfield Licensing Partners hired Howard Smith as senior adviser. Smith was senior vice president of licensing for MLB.
Leverage Agency hired Roman Gorodetskiy as senior director of marketing partnerships. Gorodetskiy was director of partnership marketing and business development for Roc Nation.
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GRADY
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CRUM
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Viridian Marketing hired
Kelly Crum as strategic marketing manager.
Sportsdigita hired Christy Grady as executive vice president of business development. Grady previously was vice president of partnership marketing for Kroenke Sports & Entertainment.
Fermata Partners hired Brit Gordon as a global business development executive. Gordon was global licensing manager for Manchester United.
Media
ESPN hired Lonnae O’Neal, Latoya Peterson, Steve Reiss, Danyel Smith and Clinton Yates to the editorial team of The Undefeated. ESPN also named Patrick Stiegman vice president of global digital content; Chad Millman vice president and editorial director of domestic digital content; Alison Overholt editor-in-chief of ESPN The Magazine in addition to her role as espnW editor-in-chief; and Ryan Spoon senior vice president of digital product management.
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BANDELOW
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Fox Sports South and
Fox Sports Southeast hired
Jase Bandelow as coordinator of communication and social media.
BeIN Sports promoted Roy Meyeringh to vice president of business development and affiliate sales.
Altitude Sports hired Ken Miller as senior vice president of production and programming and Vic Lombardi as an addition to the network’s on-air talent lineup.
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HELLMAN
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FILIPPI
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MSG Networks promoted
Jeff Filippi to senior vice president of production and programming and executive producer and
Alison Hellman to senior vice president of marketing and promotion.
The Players’ Tribune hired Raphael Poplock as executive vice president of partnerships and business development. Poplock was vice president of games and partnerships for ESPN.
Motorsports
Joey Logano Racing hired Elliot Mabe as manager of sponsor services.
Multiteam Companies
AMB Group hired Heather Sautter as director of corporate marketing communications. Sautter was vice president of public relations and communications for Cooper Holdings.
The Madison Square Garden Co. named Jordan Solomon executive vice president of MSG Sports. Solomon was NBA vice president of team marketing and business operations.
Spurs Sports and Entertainment hired David Markley as soccer operations manager.
Soccer
Orlando City SC hired David Longwell as director of the club’s development academy.
Sporting Goods and Apparel
Columbia Sportswear and Swire Resources Limited hired Jason Zhu as general manager of their China joint venture. Zhu spent 13 years in Shanghai with Nike.
Sports Commissions and Tourism
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WARD
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The
Muskegon County Convention and Visitors Bureau hired
Caitlin Ward as sports and niche markets sales executive.
Other
The Tiger Woods Foundation hired Aaron Moszer as director of sales and promoted Gina Ekmekjian to director of events, Carolyn Romano to manager of events, Lea Segura to volunteer programs manager, and Brandon Wong to operations manager.
Boards & Awards
The Sports Turf Managers Association named to its 2016 board of directors Jeffrey Salmond, president; Tim Van Loo, president-elect; Allen Johnson, immediate past president, Sarah Martin, secretary and treasurer; Doug Schattinger, vice president of commercial; Weston Appelfeller, director at-large; Elizabeth Guertal, academic director; Nick McKenna, higher education director; Jimmy Simpson, parks and recreation director; Dan Bergstrom, professional facilities director; Robert Behr, schools K-12 director; Jeffrey Fowler, director at-large; and Randy Price, commercial director.
MP & Silva added former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell as a member of the advisory board for its Americas Champions League event, a planned annual soccer tournament that would feature clubs from the Americas and the Caribbean.
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.
