John Weisbrod was named chief operating officer for RDV Sports.
Weisbrod’s responsibilities will include the overall management of the RDV Sports staff and daily business operations for each RDV Sports entity.
From September 1997 until his promotion, he served as vice president and general manager of the company’s International Hockey League team, the Orlando Solar Bears.
Prior to that, he spent four seasons as executive vice president, director of operations and alternate governor of the American Hockey League Albany River Rats. During his tenure with the AHL team, attendance increased 72.3 percent.
Weisbrod joined the Albany front office after retiring as a player from the NHL San Jose Sharks due to a career-ending shoulder injury. He was originally selected by the Minnesota North Stars in the fourth round of the 1987 NHL entry draft.
Weisbrod, 31, went to Harvard, where he was part of the 1989 NCAA Division I National Championship team.
RDV Sports is the parent company of the NBA Orlando Magic, the Solar Bears, the WNBA Orlando Miracle, RDV Sportsplex and Magic Carpet Aviation.
TENNIS
Rich Kaufman, U.S. Tennis Association director of officials, was named chief of umpires for the tennis competition at the
2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.
Lynn Welch, Tamma Cain, Beverly Jaeger, Al Penelton, Palma Vonderhorst and
Sharon Wright were also selected to work the 2000 Olympic tennis event.
SOCCER
Major League Soccer appointed
Tom Haidinger vice president of corporate partnerships and
Beth Conroy director of corporate partnership services for the Division I professional soccer league.
John Guppy was appointed senior vice president of sales and marketing for the New York/New Jersey MetroStars. Guppy was previously group director for Octagon.
The Buffalo Blizzard of the National Professional Soccer League named Keith Ford director of ticket operations and Ryan Handley and Troy Killian account executives.
Seamus Malin was named vice president of media content for Fuxito.com. Malin is a soccer analyst for ABC Sports and ESPN.
Bruce Arena joined Goalnet- work.com as commentator and analyst. The soccer Web site also named Joe McGinniss to its editorial team. McGinniss will write a weekly opinion column.
SPORTS COMMISSIONS
Donald P. Dufresne was appointed to the
Palm Beach County Sports Commission. Dufresne is a lawyer in the West Palm Beach firm Broad and Cassel.
SPORTING GOODS
Nike Inc. appointed
Charlie Denson regional vice president for Nike Europe. Denson has served as Nike Europe's vice president and general manager for the last three years.
Anurup Pruthi was named vice president of retail operations for Reebok International Ltd. Pruthi joined Reebok in 1994 as both controller and director of finance and real estate.
DuPont promoted Rodney J. Merriweather to global brand manager for the DuPont Dacron, Micromattique and Supriva brands. He will take over the global brand management responsibilities for the CoolMax, CoolMax Alta and Thermolite brands. Dana B. McCauley was promoted to e-commerce venture manager for the DuPont Polyester Enterprise.
MEDIA
Anthony Mormile was named baseball editor for
SportsTicker.
MARKETING
Cliff Savage was appointed executive vice president for
Steiner Sports Marketing. Savage previously spent five years as an executive with Franklin Sports.
Dayna McGrath was named a public relations director for Host Management Group. McGrath will primarily oversee all related activities for HMG client the National Athletic Trainers Association.
RPMC appointed Missy Madden director of new business development. Madden will be responsible for developing new business for the global entertainment and marketing firm.
Byron Hudtloff was named director of corporate marketing for Octagon's Athlete Representation Division. Hudtloff was formerly with the Washington Redskins as sales director.
Strategic Sports Group hired Steve McLaud as group account director and Josh Gordon as manager of information services.
Seth Zarkin joined Impact Sports Marketing as an account executive. Previously, Zarkin was with IMG in the client marketing division.
Sondra Baseggio joined Hermes Sports & Events as vice president of business development. Baseggio was previously with Fox Sports Net Ohio as director of marketing and communications. Tom Roth was named operations manager and will be primarily responsible for the coordination of the Ohio Games.
OTHER
Gary Burkart was promoted to first vice president and national advertising manager for
Flagstar Bank. Burkart has helped increase advertising and promotional programs, including title sponsorships for many sporting events.
Aim Technologies Inc. added Bill Nielsen as director of marketing. He was previously with Kellogg Co. for 10 years, serving in several senior management positions. Aim Technologies also appointed D. William Reynolds Jr. as chief technological officer. Williams is the founder and former president of Austin Software Foundry.
Diamond Players Club named Michael J. Maricle CEO. Maricle will continue as chief financial officer and a member of DPC's board.
Invest In Yourself LLC promoted Roland Hooks to vice president of operations. He previously served as senior consultant for the company.
Shawn McKenna was named project manager for the Adidas Training for Sport program.
AWARDS
Denny Crum, University of Louisville men’s basketball head coach, and Carol Ross, University of Florida women’s basketball head coach, received the Coaches vs. Cancer Champion Award.
The Continental Basketball Association named Ryan Hoover of the Rockford Lightning its Man of the Year.
The 1999 David Grey Special Service Award was given to Ericsson Open Tournament Chairman Butch Buchholz.
The Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) gave Nancy Lopez the Old Tom Morris Award, given in recognition of outstanding commitment to the game of golf.
Palmer Maples Jr., past president of Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, received the USGA Green Section Award. Thomas Watschke, professor of agronomy at Penn State, received the organization’s President’s Award for Environmental Leadership.
