The U.S. Tennis Association has hired sports industry veteran Harlan Stone as the new chief marketing officer of pro tennis, giving him responsibility for promoting the U.S. Open and the Olympus U.S. Open Series.
His first day is March 10.
Stone, who is leaving his job as president of Major League Gaming Properties, is the first high-profile replacement for a string of top executives who have departed the USTA since last September’s Open. He replaces Michelle Wilson, whose last day was Friday and who is joining WWE next week.
“This hire puts together a really tremendously talented team that is ready to put on the best U.S. Open ever,” said Gordon Smith, the USTA’s executive director. Stone will report to Smith.
Smith, who took his position in late 2007, has been blamed in some industry circles for letting key executives in the pro tennis group, led by the departed Arlen Kantarian, leave the USTA in the last few months. Smith has denied he had a role in their leaving.
He moved quickly to hire Stone, so much so that Stone’s boss at Major League Gaming called his departure “out of the blue.” MLG Properties is the sales and sponsorship division of the professional video game league.
Talks between Stone and Smith began just a few weeks ago, a search firm was not employed, and no other candidates were formally interviewed for the post. Also, Stone’s contract runs only through the end of the year, with the USTA keeping its options flexible for 2010, sources said.
Stone’s predecessor as CMO of pro tennis, Wilson, had a multiyear deal, a source said.
Stone, 51, said he is leaving his post at MLG, a position he took last September, largely because of his passion for tennis. In college at Virginia, he played against Harvard’s Jim Curley, now the USTA’s managing director of tournament operations, and he recently played against Smith.
The career change has happened so quickly that Stone last week had little to say about how he would approach the U.S. Open and the series other than that they had been in good hands. He also will be responsible for the non-tennis entertainment choices at the Open as well as marketing Davis Cup and Fed Cup.
Prior to joining MLG, Stone was a partner at Velocity Sports and Entertainment from 2002 to 2007, working with range of sponsors and properties that included IBM, BMW, Visa, AT&T, the NFL and Cirque du Soleil. Between 2000 and 2002, Stone was the CEO of Momentum Worldwide, the promotional arm of McCann-Erickson. From 1987 through 2000, he was a partner at Advantage International, which was later renamed Octagon.
Octagon has a substantial tennis presence.
By leaving MLG, Stone forfeits options he held with the venture, but he will stay on the board of directors.
“For Harlan, this is pursuing a dream,” said Matthew Bromberg, MLG’s president and chief executive. “It definitely came a little bit out of the blue, and I’m certainly disappointed to lose him, but I’m also really excited for him. Anybody who knows him knows how much of a tennis fan he is. He’s still going to be with us in this new role, and he’s still one of the true believers in what we’re doing, which is good news.”
The major slots left to be filled at the USTA are chief executive of pro tennis, previously held by Kantarian; head of the U.S. Open Series, vacated by Alan Gold; and managing director of business affairs, previously held by Tandy O’Donoghue. Several other less-senior positions have been filled.
Staff writer Eric Fisher contributed to this report.
