Bills President & CEO RUSS BRANDON will be the spokesperson for New York-based accounting firm Bonadio Group during its upcoming Western New York business campaign. As part of a two-year agreement, Brandon will speak on the firm's behalf on "strategies that go behind building a successful business team in the Buffalo area." Bonadio Group is one of the "largest CPA firms in Western New York." Brandon is a native of East Syracuse and a graduate of St. John Fisher College in Pittsford (RBJ.net, 8/13). Bonadio Group has roughly 550 employees (ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE, 8/14).
MUSIC CLASS: JHE Production Group Founder JAY HOWARD has reached an agreement to buy Charlotte-based Total Event Production. All of NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series tracks use JHE to "set up hospitality for teams and sponsors during race weekends and produce driver introduction shows and prerace concerts by TIM MCGRAW and other famous singers and bands." Other projects include IndyCar events and work for Ford at the PGA Tour Greenbrier Classic in West Virginia (BIZJOURNALS.com, 8/13).
INTO THE LIGHT: Arizona State OT CHIP SARAFIN has "publicly come out as gay." He told Compete magazine he began telling teammates he is gay during the spring. Sarafin: "It was really personal to me, and it benefited my peace of mind greatly." He is the "first active major-college football player to come out publicly" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 8/14). More significant than the revelation is "what happened after it. Support. Thoughtful reflection. And, gasp, indifference" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 8/14).
ICE, ICE BABY: Chargers GM TOM TELESCO accepted Broncos Exec VP/Football Operations JOHN ELWAY’s ice bucket challenge, “receiving a cold bucket of ice water poured over his head” after practice yesterday “in the name of ALS awareness and fundraising” (ESPN.com, 8/13). Saints QBs DREW BREES, LUKE MCCOWN, RYAN GRIFFIN and LOGAN KILGORE yesterday took the ice bucket challenge "up a notch by stripping down” to their girdles (ESPN.com, 8/13).
NAMES: Packaging Corp. of America BOD Chair PAUL STECKO has committed to give $1M to support Penn State's Football Excellence Fund. The team locker room in the Lasch Building will bear the name of the Paul Stecko family (PSU)....Clippers Owner STEVE BALLMER and his wife, CONNIE, gave $250,000 to the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility, which supports a statewide law that would require background checks for gun sales (SEATTLETIMES.com, 8/13)....Braves bullpen coach and Venezuela native EDDIE PEREZ yesterday “became an American citizen." He maintain dual citizenship (AJC.com, 8/13)....Former NBAer QUENTIN RICHARDSON listed his five-bedroom, 10,900-square-foot, Palos Heights, Ill., mansion for $1.1M (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 8/14).
BEST WISHES: NASCAR driver MARTIN TRUEX JR.’s girlfriend, SHERRY POLLEX, was recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 8/13)....Sabres assistant coach BRYAN TROTTIER revealed that former Islanders coach AL ARBOUR “is suffering from dementia” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 8/14).
