Former Venues Today Hall of Headlines honoree Sarah Haertl is starting fresh, not only leaving her position as SMG regional director of Marketing for BOK Center and Cox Business Center in Tulsa, Okla., but leaving SMG and the industry altogether.
"It was not an easy decision to leave SMG or BOK Center," Haertl told Venues Today. "The building is filled with such good people and I love them."
She was lured away by local advertising agency Acrobat Ant, which recently worked with BOK Center to rebrand the facility's concessions stands. Haertl said the opportunity was just too good to pass up, appealing to her creative side, desire to stay in Tulsa, and drive to get back into sales as director of Sales and Marketing.
Acrobat Ant is an advertising agency, marketing firm and digital group that already has some industry ties. Coming up, the agency will work with another of Haertl's former employers, Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, Kan., to rebrand and remodel its concessions stands.
"I hope to stay industry-connected because Acrobat Ant has done so much great stuff for BOK Center and is now working with Intrust Bank Arena, so I hope that when industry people need something they can call and still stay connected," said Haertl. "There are so many amazing people in this industry that I'd hate to lose that connection."
There are a few projects that Haertl plans to wrap up before her last day at BOK Center, Jan. 2, after which she is thinking about scheduling some down time. Her current plan is to begin her new role Jan. 12.
"After Christmas and having had kids in the house for two weeks having been off school, it will be nice to take a week to put the house back together and take all the Christmas decorations down, maybe even get my nails done," she said. "It's silly stuff — a little personal stuff that working 60 hours a week in this industry we don't get to do."
Contact: Acrobat Ant, (918) 938-7901