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People and Pop Culture

People: Executive transactions

Baseball
The Atlanta Braves hired Insung Kim as creative director and Adrian Williams as director of diversity and inclusion. Kim was a senior graphic designer for Populous, and Williams was vice president of corporate strategy for CSE.

The Tampa Bay Rays hired Orestes Destrade as director of baseball and community outreach.

The Class A South Atlantic League’s Delmarva Shorebirds hired Kathy Damato as community relations manager and Andrew Jewesak as a ticket sales account executive.

The Chicago Cubs promoted Kyle Evans to director of pro scouting in addition to his role as special assistant to the president and general manager, Alex Suarez to director of international pro scouting, Jason Parks to special assistant to the president and general manager, Greg Davey to coordinator of baseball operations, Albert Lyu to developer for research and development, Garrett Chiado to assistant for research and development, and John Baker to coordinator for mental skills. The club hired Ann Weiser as vice president of human resources and Jacob Eisenberg as an assistant for research and development.

The Cleveland Indians promoted Brian Barren to president of business operations.

The Class AA Southern League’s Pensacola (Fla.) Blue Wahoos named Donna Kirby vice president of operations and Matt Risse director of food and beverage.

Minor League Baseball named Dan O’Brien Jr. senior executive adviser to the president and chief executive officer. O’Brien was senior adviser for baseball operations for the Kansas City Royals.

The Class AA Texas League Frisco (Texas) RoughRiders promoted Ryan Rouillard to radio broadcaster and communications assistant, and hired Art Garcia as director of communications.

Basketball
The Miami Heat hired Shane Battier as director of basketball development and analytics.

Point 3 Basketball promoted Mikko Simon to chief operating officer and Michael McMillan to finance and operations manager.

Colleges
Grand Valley State University hired Jared Alexander as assistant athletic director for sales and marketing. Alexander was assistant athletic director for external operations at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

The American Athletic Conference promoted Catherine Carmignani to senior director of branding and sport administration.

San Jose State University Athletic Director Gene Bleymaier was named special adviser to the university president.

Marshall University named Taylor Strickland assistant director of athletic development for the Big Green Scholarship Foundation. Strickland was an assistant volleyball coach at the university.

Cleveland State University named Michael Thomas athletic director. Thomas was athletic director at the University of Illinois.

The University of South Carolina hired Justin King as associate athletic director for new and creative media. King was senior managing producer for the Alabama Media Group.

High Point University hired Alyssa Leonard as assistant athletic director for marketing. Leonard was assistant director for marketing and sales at Ohio University.

Michael Diorka, University of Pennsylvania associate athletic director for facility management, is retiring at the end of the month.

Temple University named Dave Gerson multimedia coordinator and specialist with advanced graphics.

Combat Sports
Alliance MMA hired Scott Sheeley as director of emerging markets. Sheeley was general manager for the Iron Tiger Fight Series. The Iron Tiger Fight Series named Nichole Castillo general manager.

Facilities
Byrne & Jones Construction hired Mike Czeschin as a project manager for its sports division.

New Hampshire Motor Speedway hired Steve Kirkpatrick as director of business development. Kirkpatrick was vice president of sales for Gameface Media.

Spectra by Comcast Spectacor hired Keith White as chief technology officer for its ticketing and fan engagement division. White was senior vice president of engineering for Ticketmaster.

Football
Carolina Panthers President Danny Morrison resigned.

COHN
Golf
The First Tee of Southeast Wisconsin hired David Cohn as executive director. Cohn was director of member services and communications for the Wisconsin State Golf Association.

Hockey
The Los Angeles Kings named Alex Chavez an accounts payable clerk and Ilyse Wolfe human resources coordinator, and hired Lauren Martino as an account executive for partnership activation.

C. COOK
LAWSON
VAN DAM
R. COOK
The Tampa Bay Lightning promoted Ryan Cook to director of corporate sales, Jim Van Dam to manager of corporate sales, Adam Lawson to manager of inside sales and Colin Cook to account manager of corporate ticket sales.

Law

SUSSMAN
Jenner & Block hired media, entertainment and sports lawyer David Sussman as special counsel for the firm’s content, media and entertainment practice.

Marketing
Aquarius Sports and Entertainment promoted David O’Connor to chief financial officer, Brandon Rollins to client services manager and Andrew Haines and Tiana Flores to client services coordinator. The company hired Signe Hilton as director of client services and Kate Hyland as an administrative assistant.

SELLS
LEVINSON
PUTNAM
Professional Sports Partners promoted Kristin Putnam to senior manager of brand leadership and hired Adam Levinson as vice president of business development and Megan Sells as manager of brand leadership. Levinson was with Learfield Sports and Sells with Top Golf.

TSE Consulting hired Ronnie Hansen as a senior consultant and partner.

HERING
RESNIK
Taylor hired Jon Resnik as chief creative officer. Resnik was chief creative officer for Big Fuel.

Professional Sports Publications launched PSP Partner Marketing, led by PSP Executive Vice President Thom Hering.

The Aspire Group promoted Sally Folz to sales consultant for groups at Georgia Tech and Chad Hulse to sales and service consultant at Colorado State University, and hired Jacob Gmazel as a sales consultant at Georgia Tech, Kristin Toler as a sales consultant at the University of Maryland and Mackenzie Tapp and Megan Tews as sales consultants at the University of Minnesota.

Visa named Kate Gordon senior director of Olympic sponsorship marketing. Gordon was executive vice president of sports for United Entertainment Group.

BERG
MKTG named Michelle Berg executive vice president of human resources and operations for the U.S.

JP Sports & Entertainment hired Jaime Langan as senior director of business development.

Wasserman hired Calder Hynes as senior director of public relations and communications for team sports. Hynes was senior manager of public relations for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Media

CARLILE
RENFRO
GoVision hired former NFLer Mike Renfro and Patrick Carlile as regional account executives.

Artie Bulgrin will step down from the position of ESPN senior vice president of global research and analytics in May.

Harmelin Media promoted Conor Elliott to vice president of marketing technology.

CHO
MP & Silva promoted Suhyeon Cho to chief commercial officer.

YES Network hired John Zeigler as senior director of creative services. Zeigler was vice president of creative services and digital media for the Z Living Network.
 
Telemundo hired Gabriela Nuñez as director of sports publicity. Nuñez was manager of communications for ESPN Latin America and ESPN Deportes.

Motorsports

SCHULMAN
QUALLO
International Speedway Corp. corporate counsel for ISC Legal Shameeka Quallo has added the title of director of multicultural affairs.

Olympics
LA 2024 named Marla Messing vice president and executive director of sport leader relations, Peter Tomozawa vice president and executive director for partnerships and board relations, and Aaron Schulman manager of athlete relations.
 
USA Pentathlon named Tom Shepard chairman. Shepard is a partner and chief marketing officer for 21 Sports and Entertainment Marketing.

Frank Busch will retire as USA Swimming national team director, effective Sept. 1.

Soccer

BALLARD
BISHARA
The Los Angeles Football Club promoted Ryan Bishara to director of corporate partnership strategy and hired Jael Ballard as manager of business development.

Major League Soccer and Soccer United Marketing hired Karine Travieso as vice president of media sales, Crystal Chen as legal counsel, Rick Pineda as director of business development, Enrique Ferreyros as coordinator of international communications, Katerina Kariolis as coordinator of community relations and Paul-Michael Ochoa as coordinator of communications.

The United Soccer League promoted Gordon Bengtson to vice president of competition and technical development, Brett Luy to vice president of league operations and Dan Lohrs to director of league operations, and hired Adam Martin as senior director of compliance and associate counsel, Kevin Pikus as director of corporate strategy, Mackenzie Rector as broadcast coordinator and Matteo Trevisani as social media coordinator.

Sports Commissions and Tourism Boards

PUGH
MITCHELL
Las Vegas Events named Linnea Mitchell to its corporate marketing team. Mitchell is the owner of SRV Multi Marketing.

Other
Kore Software hired Darrel Pugh as European commercial director. Pugh was head of media, sport and entertainment for the U.K. and Ireland at SAP.

Awards and Boards

SLESNICK
The Orange Bowl Committee named Don Slesnick president and chair, Sean Pittman president-elect and chair-elect and Jose Romano first vice chair.

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.


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